Another Solution to the Land Scanner/Release Problem

It's probably been suggested before and I really don't want to start a new thread bashing land scanners or the people who use them. Although I do trade land, this suggestion comes mostly from my perspective as a land owner.

First, some observations:

1) Land traders that find public land, generally sell it at below market prices. This is good for everyone. Good for the land trader because they get an easy profit. Good for the residents of the sim because they can buy the land at below market prices.
2) Land that goes to auction usually sells at market or above. I've seen this over and over again, but there's one lot in Atis that is a gross example of this. I was outbid when it went to auction and for the past 2 months this PG lot has mostly been for sale at $10/m2 and remained empty. If this had been released instead and resold by an average land trader, I could have picked it up for $2 or $3/m2 easy.

It just seems to me that the solution to all of this is fairly simple. Instead of having released land broken up into 16m2 squares that are hidden from the land search function, it should remain whole and show up in land search at $1/m2. This would allow land traders to find the land without land scanners or flying around. It would facilitate getting the land to the people who want it and at reasonable prices.

I'd really like to see abandoned land treated this way too. I personally see no value in sending abandoned land to auction. I guess it acts as a $ sink, but it also seems to drive up prices in general and make it more difficult for the people who need the land to get it.

Amen. Well said. The 16M thing is just some artifact from some previous SL era when land was conceived in these terms. And it just opens up that land to griefers. There is a whole rash of ppl carving and buying up 16M to put signs, i.e. rotating George Bush signs. I saw one hapless newb right-click on a 16M to examine it and buy it thinking he was getting the whole land, but then just got the 16M and then his first-land privilege was gone.

I wish the Lindens would just put land for sale immediately when it is abandoned. Auctioning it often leads to pernicious situations like the bidding war in Boardman Publicking it only means that landbarons get it with scanners. They should just either mark it as first-land and let newbs have at it, for quick resale in many cases, or they should just put it for sale at $1/meter open to the public and give everyone the chance of having the thrill of flying around and finding it.

say what? I think there is a flaw in your logic. That land is ALREADY far below market prices. In this case the land trader is not providing a "service" that makes cheap land available. The land trader is making cheap land more expensive.


So maybe they are incompetent But don't be too sure. I have a piece of land that I won at auction by paying a rediculous price because I wanted THAT particular piece of land. I have something in mind I want to build on it. I'm busy with other projects, so in the meantime its for sale for about 25% more than I paid for it -- quite expensive, really. But if somebody buys it I'll feel great about the profit. If I still own it when I finish my current project, I'll take it off the market and build on it.

You may be surprised to learn that making a profit by trading land is not the only way to have fun in SL.

Buying land at auction is also a good way to get US$ into L$. You can buy land at auction for US$ and sell it in-world and be ahead becuase of the higher fees and mark-ups involved with trading L$ other ways. You can even sell it for less than you paid for it and still be ahead.

If you've been trading much land, you should have noticed that just like in RL, buying real estate has a huge emotional component for many people. They buy a particular piece of land because they like it, even if it costs too much. Many people can't stand paying "too much" for something, even when the excess translates to US$0.10. So those people won't buy expensive land. But there are a lot of people that will pay more than something is "worth" because that's what it costs to get it, and they want it. I do that sometimes.


The scanner controversy is not about land trading or land barons. I agree that there should be better information about land, but not just because of the scanners. The scanners should be banned because of what they do, not why they do it.

Better information about land would level the playing field so that casual players like me would not be at such a disadvantage to the professional game-the-systemers.


It turns land into a commodity market instead of a land lottery. That's actually more fair, because when its a land lottery in a scripted virtual world, only the clever professional wheelerdealers ever win. That does little for the average joe.

Besides, Linden needs money to pay for all those servers. They can either abandoned auction land, or they can raise your monthly charge. Include that in your calculations.

Buster

Yeah, that's smart, and that's why barons like Anshe can buy high or pay too high on the auctions some time and then appear to sell low in-world because they get Lindens which they can then later cash out when GOM is up with more favorable rates for them.

I think abandoned land has to be moved out faster. The first time the Lindens come to administer it with some transaction, turning it into Linden land with "red" should be the last time they come to it, they should instantly make it purple for auction, or green-grass for public, or orange for first-land. Do it all in one fell swoop instead of leaving it like chicken pox all over servers.

There's one in particular I want them to move on but I'm not going to say anything because I'd just as lief have it as Governor Linden red land than pay a fortune at auction or have some griefing newbie or alt perch on it.

I mostly agree with you here. But this is also true of land that is bought at auction and re-sold. This isn't really a service either. Land trading is not about providing a service. You can like it or hate it, but mostly it's not a service.

You can get something like a service when a big piece of land is bought and developed and marketed in some way. But I don't believe this is the most common scenario.

Anyway, I stand by my proposal. It's not perfect, but that's no surprise.

That's true. But also, if you look carefully at the land that she pays top dollar for, you can see that generally there's a good reason for it. In fact, if you want to find out what factors influence property values, go look at Anshe's land. It isn't all the same price per m2.

I'll bet Anshe's willingness to pay a higher price is also influenced by other factors, such as having extra or shortage of available tier, market demand or lack of it for certain land charateristics, or the general look of her portfolio. And its probably difficult for her to pass up a bargain.

Anshe obviously understands that people like to have a variety of choices. She has property that is slow-moving, but she needs it in order to have "everything" so that when people go to her, she'll have what they want. It's a "department store" business model -- people will pay a little bit more for a pleasant shopping environment that has a wide variety of choices.

Demand fluctuates. So any conclusion about what land prices ought to be or what characteristics influence land are only valid in the moment.

Buster

I am not opposed to your proposal -- but as I said, it isn't a "solution" to the secret satellite issue.

I agree with this too, but the way that many people perceive the problem seems to be in terms of scanning for public land. It is this use of secret satellites that's gotten the most press.

I think it would be helpful if we could somehow decouple the two issues.