Land is NOT scarce in SL ;)

There is an old saying in the real estate business in RL: "Buy land; they're not making anymore." This definitely does not describe Second Life

If anyone had doubts if Linden Lab would put a throttle on the supply of new land ... no way! Deep in the southeast, more than 40 new sims ready for the auction block have been put on the grid. And more than 30 are already in the bidding process. Most of them will be sold on Sunday.

As someone in the land business myself I am starting to wonder where the demand for all this new land should come from. 60 sims sold at the auctions in one week.

We all know that the Lindens are firm believers in the principles of the open market, supply and demand and that a fair price for anything can be established at an auction. Looking at the large and growing areas in yellow (for sale) on the map I seriously doubt that we are seeing supply and demand at work here.

True - And there's some, um, eccentricity, about release rates and timing too.

A little while back the auction site just cleared completely, removing a lot of un-bid sims, then after a day or so filled with scraps of recovered land. Then suddenly 15 new sims appeared!

I'm reminded of a movie dialogue:

'They said my methods were - unsound..'

'I don't see any method...'

Land Supply Exceeds Demand...

What the sky think about that ?

Land hasn't been scarce in SL since 2004.

Land isn't scarce, but just like in real life, desirable land can be.

The recent media publicity has, as expected, attracted one wave of people who all want to become "land baron" and now put huge amounts of US$ into the land market. We talk 5 digit US$ amount that some newcomers invest in the hope of future profit. One of them told me that he is willing to take losses for months in order to build his reputation and "get into the game". One other person told me that this year he decide to invest his earnings in virtual land instead of in the stock market. This is definitely good for the SL economy, since much fresh capital is transfer from people's RL earnings to SL, helping the grid grow.

... however it does screw the rest of us who play the game as a game. However much many of us dislike the 'capitalism' side - both of first and second life - it's very difficult to avoid suffering the consequences of it being there.

Lewis

Why is it I always agree with Dana, it is not as if we are married etc, indeed apart from here on these BBs we have never met. -

And I have also started to agree with Anshe Chung too. I was the person mentioned in her post about the Stock Market. But, lets qualify that statement (no disrespect Anshe). Nearly all my own real money is safely invested in real life property, asset backed investments (Stock Market equities) and hard cash. But.......every year from 2001 I always look for an "alternative investment", mostly this has been equities, penny share stuff that IN 95% OF ALL CASES goes bust. However there are the odd exceptions, for example in 2003 I purchased £1,200 worth of penny shares in a stock market information company (ADVFN.Plc) at around 1.2 pence each. I sold them for 6p.... also I was lucky enough to buy some Google shares at around $180 each and sold around $300. Mind you I have had my fair share of lemons too. -

This year I thought I would try Virtual Reality. But I would caution that you should only put into this platform what you are prepared to loose.... absolutely.... without worry. No, this is not a game; it is a platform for the sale of goods, services and entertainment. Second Life could really take off big time, especially if we start selling first life goods and services, another EBay if you like but in 3d.....a big big advantage. And we are here at the start. But...it could all fail big time. So only put in what you can absolutely afford to loose, 100%.


Oh yes, land is NOT limited; it can be created on demand within reason. Therefore land prices are now a little silly. However what IS limited is nice content. Which is why I sold all my land yesterday and am now a customer of Dreamland. I own (with Anshe's blessing) half a sim and I intend to continue to build nice houses that hopefully will sell. By the way Dreamland is very pleasing, drop in sometime and see for yourselves

Finally no more aggro on the mainland, no more ugly builds, no political signs, and no abandoned land.

What "suffering", Lewis? What Anshe describes is increased competition. Increased competition always leads to lower prices for the consumer.

Just because you dislike Anshe and other business people in SL, this does not mean, that everytime she describes a certain development in SL as "good", you must oppose this by reflex. You are not alone in this "Anshe likes it? So it must be bad! Anshe dislikes it? So it must be good"-school-of-thought, though.

The fact that people are willing to 'take losses for months' is *very* scary.

Quality sims are financially stable - more than stable.

What a nightmare it would be, if someone used a continent's worth of guinea pigs to 'learn the land business'.

Imagine living next to a half dozen empty sims, wondering if the owner had the smarts to pull it all together before they ran out of money.

Or if they were just going to cut losses and vanish with their continent overnight.


I honestly see the only responsible, ethical way to get going is incrementally - starting small, staying in black ink all the way.

Financial stability has got nothing to do with accepting losses for a few month. Most successful businesses in RL have been in the red for a while. One might argue - and many do - that a business person not taking loans to take advantage of a business opportunity, is not the best business person.

Sorry, but I fail to see where the "Nightmare" is here. I allways prefer an empty sim to an overcrowded one.

Looking at your own projects it is obvious, that this is the way you prefer to build your business. Having build my own business in First Life exactly like that, I sympathize with this attitude. I also understand that it might be good advertising to describe "my way" of doing business in this way.

On the other hand: Calling it the "only responsible, ethical way" (and implying that those who don't do it this way are irresponsible and unethical) seems a little presumptuous to me.

you can rent on an island grid. no capital investment, low low tier rate.

I prefer the mainland. Shouldn't we have the option of staying on the mainland instead of being forced onto an island - and lining the pockets of a land baron?

Lewis

Yes, I am being presumptuous, unabashedly so.

To take an extreme example, would you get on board an Airbus 300 when the pilot had never flown anything bigger than a Cessna?

Who knows, maybe the guy is a great pilot!




Second Life requires no licence to fly fifty sims at once. Plunk down the money, off you go.

The nightmare I would describe, is that of the five sims full of people that would lose their land when the tier from the other 45 took such an operator down.

Implausible? I'm afraid we may get to watch and find out.

I'm taking losses and don't expect to regain them, but I'm not buying my land to run businesses, I'm doing it to play with and have fun. It's a hobby. I'm not sure if the assumption that to put a few hundred dollars into SL without breaking even is somehow stupid is fair, unless you're assuming also that such people do it for virtual business reasons.

*shrug* I'm financially sound enough to pay that much for a hobby. And that's what SL is to me. Anyway, my two L$.