Guess Who Bought 10 of 15 Sims in the Last Four Days

I was checking past auctions and noticed that Ansche won 10 of 15 sim auctions since 9/6. What are the ramifications of one person acquiring that much land?

They will become rich

Another danger of an uncontrolled free market. Let's not forget a prime rule of capitalism: those who *have* the money *make* the majority of the money and can control entire markets. The rest of us get the crumbs that we can scrabble.

There's a reason that once upon a time the U.S. government (and other governments) actually had and enforced anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws. As an aside, have you paid any attention to what your U.S. goverment has been up to the past three or four decades with regard to monopolies? How many of you are aware that *most* of the popular retail stores in any given market segment are owned by the same corporation? Same for fast food. Same for pretty much any major consumer market. We are led to believe that there is diversity and choice out there, but really it's a relative handful of major corporations who own practically everything and do all kinds of defacto price fixing as a result.

But I digress.

LL allowing any one account holder to snatch up a majority of the game resources in this manner is irresponsible to the commonweal (the rest of us in SL, lol). You'll note that LL has no trouble taking some very direct control of the economy with actions such as reducing the input of L$ by terminating our ratings bonuses and by competing directly with GOM and IGE. Also by recently limiting the number of accounts per person and per household quite drastically. (Oh btw if you believe it was to "prevent fraud" - ROFL. It was really to prevent people from avoiding tier by having multiple alts to pool land allocations. A person with four AVs could get a 2048 plot for NO teir *and* they could earn 2000 $L per week on top of it. You do the math.)

Yet LL will gladly do *nothing* if one rich person is willing to throw tons of RL dollars at them, despite the fact that such a person is effectively monopolizing the most basic resource of SL and thereby screwing with the economy in a large way.

Unbridled capitalism is the BANE of average folks. Rich folks love it though, and money talks when it comes to government. That's why the U.S. is in such a sorry state these days, despite having a truly revolutionary and novel constitution.

Thomas Jefferson would be appalled at what's become of his fine and noble intentions.

Anshe (and all other small time land/content people) will be made irrelevant as RL corporations start noticing SL and bring in their massive resources to develop projects larger than you can imagine.

Very extremist view and a simplification of the market in the US, to be sure.

Eggy is right.

This is nothing compared to what large hosting companies will do if this whole meta-verse-whatever takes off and they do resale on a large-scale basis. Its interesting to watch it all develop, that is for sure.

There are further ramblings on the general subject over here.

A.C. Is already a land baron that buys land for 3 lds per meter and sells it for 6-9 lds a meter. she already has the land market over priced for buyers and sellers cant come close to what she makes. So how could this be any different from the wretched state it is in now?

Linden labs Needs to remember this is not the real world and does not need to follow the same insane cycle that the real world. I do not give a sh*t if some bung hole wants to buy the and sell the play money there can be price caps on land so everyone can have a chance at getting what they need to make there projects that make some nice things for SL instead of Putting up sim crashers like clubs and tringo and those @#$@!!ing Malls.

Sorry but I'm getting Pi**ed about this And I have a good deal of land my self I seen new people Who can not do anything but wander around and build neat thing in the sand boxes only to have them gone the next day it's sad. just sad to see sl crippled by mindlessness, when there is so much creativity that can be tapped. Stupidity should not be allowed to fester and grow in a world like SL.

Maxx is right.




We paid 3L/sm and 6L/sm for PG and M land respectively when LL was the primary (only) land broker. It's funny how that worked out.

This really is puzzling. My recent thread, linked to by Introvert Petunia above, and to be found at
/130/62/60956/1.html
shows fairly convincingly, I think, that merely trading unaltered land is a difficult and risky business, and actually profiting with empty land, by predicting and waiting for overall shifts in land prices, is effectively impossible.

I can only assume that the economic justification for this remarkable investment is in its actual use, not in trading it. Will they be more themed sims, extracting their margin from the threatened tier discount (that does look lucrative if you can fill them up, but might collapse at any moment)?

Or is it really profitable, to just buy at auction, divide and resell (my option (1)) ? Can it all be sold quickly enough to avoid the crippling accumulation of tier charges, which at 20-40% per month can wipe out profit with devastating effect? Is this why her resale price seems so greedy ? But how can it be too high, surely in the current situation, she wouldn't sell anything ?

If we are all just being stupid (my option (2)) can we not get together to remedy this ? How about a scripted "auction prim" on each plot of a quickly divided new sim purchased by a philanthropist group. Allowing anyone to bid, at anything above an at-cost price. Then you'd have the problems of somehow handling the "I lost my first choice, now I want my second" problem of multiple interactive simultaneous auctions. And the problem of people who didn't honour their obligations. You'd need them to prepay into a pool.

Then you have the problem of land unsold, and the accumulating tier. Makes you think, doesn't it. Before you know where you are, you're just another land baron, even if you think you are a philanthropic non-profit group.

I really don't know if a no-profit, sim-reselling, philanthrpoic group could work, or reduce prices. It would be nice for someone who cares to try, do one sim per week perhaps, and find out if they can be cheaper. But how happy would the implementers be to go on putting in hours of work for others, at no cost, week after week. And would that be morally dubious in itself ? It would only work if some new scripting technology almost completely automated the process. Then the barons would use it too, so all we are saying is, we would like the barons to automate some of their work, so they can sell cheaper.

I always recall the "Cooperative Movement" in the UK. A huge, aggressively socialist retailing movement. Owned by its customers, managed by their elected representatives, operated at no-profit, customers paramount. Masssively popular post war, still going fairly strong, and more recently employing a fully professional, highly paid team. Still no shareholders "ripping off the people" with their capitalist greed.

The result ? Cheap prices ? Undercutting the nasty profit-takers ?

Struggling and battling on, prices exactly as the rest of the competition. All neck and neck. The dream was an illusion.

If Anshe is making unreasonable profit, it's our fault. All it means is she needs competition.

It's not clear where she can leverage pure economies of scale. It's an auction, she isn't getting hidden after-auction volume discounts on the purchases (I hope). And I have been assured there is no above-sim tier discount we don't know about. Or have I got that wrong ?

well imagine some one with a millon dollor budgit comming in to sl

100k to purchase sims 100k to pay for a long time and the rest to do whatever hire people buy currency or what ever.

but that might not happen till sl give us havok 2 with and a lot more options

I'm not so sure you know. I think the margins are too tight for any major comany to bother with, but fruitful enough for a hard working individual with a little money to invest. Time will tell I guess.

Sorry.. I guess I don't have a grasp on this already....
How is Anshe's purchasing of those sims crippling SL?
Perhaps it is... but I just don't see it. What's you viewpoint?

Gabrielle

I really don't know what you are talking about.

I was a basic member for about three months. When I got my premium account, I bought First Land.

When the girl who had her first land next to mine decided to move, she offered to sell it to me, and I expanded my first land.

On the other side of me, Garnet Psaltry had bought up a bunch of first land. When I saw that, I bought the plot that was next to mine.
I could have bought more if I wanted to.

I just do not see any difficulty in "wandering around trying to find land." The only difficulty I see is that often First Land isn't listed or available.

The fact that people like Garnet buy it from others and offer it is good for me. It means the new players near me who bought it as first land have an incentive to sell it - they make a nice profit from it.

Then I can buy it, and that makes it easier for me to expand my First Land. I don't have to move anywhere or anything.

If people like Garnet were not there to do that, all us First Landers would be sitting cramped together in our little 512's, with no real incentive to sell. This system allows each of us to eventually get more land contiguous to our First Land.

See what I'm saying?

coco

Of all the realtors I have ever dealt with, Garnet Psaltery is far and away the best. I find she takes an active interest in her clients, charges reasonable prices and in general is a pleasure to do business with. I can't recommend her services highly enough.

My apologies if this has been mentioned before, but I'm thinking that perhaps it is not land sales but land rentals thay may be a fly in the ointment.

I suck at accountancy. That said, a well known third-party site advertises land rentals at L$400/1024m/week. Annualized that plot will cost L$20_800 or between US$83 or US$73. Note also that that rental fee is 4/5 of the weekly stipend of a premium account which would allow a "tourist class" player to rent a 1024m plot with some pocket change left over. Where do the rental L$ come from? Governor Linden. To whom are they transferred? The landlord. How much revenue does LL get from this hypothetical renter? Up to US$120/year.

If that hypothetical renter were to buy land instead of rent, the same player would send US$179/year to Linden Lab (purchase price of land excluded).

If my figuring is right (see disclaimer above) Linden Lab is in effect transferring US$60 in lost revenue directly to the landlord who is paying LL only US$36 in tier for that plot. Linden Lab is paying that landlord $2985/sim/year.

Someone please tell me where I have screwed up. If I haven't, the problem is not in land sales but in land rentals and OMFG!

Yes and no. It is true that if the tenants owned land, LL would get more revenue, but there are other factors to consider.

- I have many tenants who simply do not want to own land, and so its actually extra income for LL via the land lord. Some of the reasons for this include-

* There are those who simply do not want to deal with RL money. They earn money in world, and like to remain self sufficient using those L$ to hold their land. Until the day LL start to accept L$, these people will continue to rent.

*Some prefer a more organised world that you get from zoned residential communities and commercial centers. Until LL offer zoning to more than just a couple of sims, these people will continue to rent.

*Many simply do not want to invest L$ in land. They fear for the value of their land, and that they will lose money on the future sale of their land.

*There are those who prefer to not be 'tied down' to one plot. With renting, they are able to move plot, or simply cease renting at the end of their agreement with the landlord.

Some of these points of course over lap others, but I think that unless LL made huge changes, these are people who would otherwise not own land, thus increasing revenue to LL.

- There is also the cost of human resources to consider. This is perhaps one of the biggest, most overlooked outgoings.

*Zoned communities remove a lot of man hrs from LL staff. Many of the questions or disputes that would otherwise go to LL, are directed at and solved by the person running the community. Of course there are many things that only LL can help residents with, but some of the smaller things, border disputes etc, must take up a lot of LL's time.

*The difference in man hrs required to deal with the admin and billing of one person renting to 200 residents, against dealing with those 200 directly is obvious.

I am a landlord, so maybe a tad biased But I think these are all valid points.

I had to check the date to see if this thread was bumped form last winter. Land prices have been incredibly low compared to what it was back then. Talented and creative people are leaving because they can't find reasonably priced land? What are you talking about?

I don't see the problem with LL focusing its staff on addressing technical issues which effect everyone rather than taking on land management duties to service the relatively small percentage of users interested in land.

I'm sorry if my post made anyone think that I was disparaging landlords. I know and appreciate that they provide a service that people are willing to pay for and I have no doubt that it takes capital and much sweat to provide it. I simply was given cause to ponder the rental market and its effects.

Assuming for the moment that my calculations are correct, I can't even say with any confidence that such recompense is fair or unfair, especially considering the multitudinous risks. If anything I was simply shocked by my (possibly false) realization.

I certainly didn't feel you was

The way I see it, Landlords and Land dealers offer a mcuh needed service in SL. The only question is - Should this be done by LL or residents?

I doubt very much that the money they 'lose' to land dealers and/or landlords is enough for them to consider taking on this role themselves. Anshe (as well as myself and many others) put a LOT of hrs in. I doubt that LL could do it cheaper using LL employees. I maybe wrong, again time will tell.

You haven't, Introvert. The sim owner pays tier at approximately one third the rate of a smallest landowner. This "tier discount" is precisely what funds all the landlord's running costs, and of course his margin. This is, it seems, (as you here demonstrate) not generally understood.

LL is apparently considering reducing or deleting this tier discount. The implications are sufficiently complex and interesting that I have moved my thoughts, first posted here, into a thread of their own, to stop cluttering this one up with slightly off-topic stuff:

/130/29/61030/1.html#post637762

Ellie,

To use the lowest tier rate is totally misleading. What you will find is those who prefer zoning, also prefer larger plots. At the moment, 60-70% occupation results in breaking even. Any reduction or total removal of the discount would for sure completely destroy the rental business in SL.

edit to add: Dont forget also, that many sims have 'protected land', which of course brings no income.

If this happened, landlords would have to more than double the rent, and then only with 100% occupation would he/she break even.

Absolutely, Hiro. I did not mean for moment to give the impression that the landlord actually enjoys such a margin on every plot, even potentially. Of course the average figure depends on the actual mix of plot sizes, and the occupancy level has a huge effect on where the break-even point will be. If I gave a different impression, I welcome the opportunity to correct it.

I'll post a similar clarification in the separate thread in a minute. I don't want to support mindless landlord bashing.

I have looked at the whole thing in a spreadsheet, and I'm not running to participate as a landlord. I am not one to share the view that this is all a rip off. Far from it, and if I can bite the bullet and get my last bit of land sold, it is in my mind to consider being your tenant, and letting you take all the risks for me.

The purpose of my posting on this topic is to get us all discussing it in advance, so we are prepared on how to react if it becomes imminent, consultation is invited, or it is actually sprung upon us.

Personally, my instinct is against this change, but the more I think about it, the more I see both sides.

I can tell you that right now, I am just breaking even. Sure, as soon as I fill up more plots, I will be in the black. But the average 'profit' on sim a *before* L$>US$ charges, US$>£ charges, and paypal charges runs at US$85-125 on *100% occupation*. I can say that not only from experience of my own communities, but from looking at other similar communities.

I have 100% occupation in a couple of sims, but they are subsidising other sims that are far from it. If and when all sims are 100% occupied, or close to, I think the margins are already low enough considering the US$1250 outlay for a sim, and the huge amount of time it takes to run zoned communities.

Don't take my word for it tho, get out there, take a look around