New Residents Being Scammed?

We can settle this argument easily without me giving away who made the horrible offer. What is a fair value of noob land? If all those who condemned can't make a much greater offer then 2/ms then that would suggest 2/ms is a fair value of land and therefore not a scam. So plz to those complaining. Post down what price you will pay and my friend will sell to you.

Land for a pittance? So far that's the highest offer i've seen so that would suggest that is a fair offer.

Re: Psyra
The "scammer" is in no way forcing these people to sell. He is just advertising he is buying first land for those who are willing to sell. So when does advertising become a scam? So if someone sells their first land to you it isn't a scam just because you didn't aggressively advertise like the "scammer" did?

If the land is in the sim where this all seems to have started, and if I were in the market for land in that sim (and I am not) I'd feel quite the thief if I asked for less than L$5 per meter. I'd go as high as L$6.5 at the moment.

And, forcing, no. Tricking or coercing by playing in ignorance, perhaps.

Well you can't make an offer of what price of land is and say you aren't buying because that makes that offer void. That just makes your offer theoretical and market values aren't determined by theoretical values but by actual values.

Where exactly is the trickery? All the person did was make a cube that advertised he is buying land.

What's the point of that? That whatever is offered is fair becasue it's stopped being a throy and has become reality? Or are you just neutralising my argument so you can continue to suggest we have a hyprocrite in the thread?The card gives a false sense of urgency by placing an arbitrary limit on the time the offer is extended. If you're going to require it outright say something inapporpriate before you consider it trickery or coersion, I'm not going to bother arguing the point as it becomes a symantic argument and those leap into the pointlessness zone with astonishing speed.

That, and the cubes are/were on Linden land, NOT land owned by the scammer. Their objects do not belong there.

-Ghoti

If the land is mature I'll buy it for 4/m2. If it's PG, I won't buy it at all. I am curious to see if this offer of under 2/m2 actually exists though, and if you will do what you said or are simply injecting propganda into the thread. If it's a mature first land, please contact me in-world and I will buy it.

A follow-up:

To date, I have received no in-world response to my proposition from this resident. I suspect that such an offer of under 2/m2 never took place, or that if it did the offer was made on a PG first land parcel.

Hmm, owing to careless calculation I notice I have a mature plot at 3.9, so if you can find it, Shaun, it's all yours

I will pass. I was only fleshing out the seriousness of this supposed "offer" and/or if the plot was PG or M. My offer does remain good on the parcel in question though.

You know, when I got a 1st time home-buyer's loan, I had to sign a paper that said I had to live here for a minimum of 5 years and could not resell during that time.

Sooo... That got me thinking...

What if 1st land could not be resold for the first 30 days of a player being in SL? Let's be honest: At the end of 30 days, a player should have enough knowledge to understand the basic value system of SL, and protect himself from explotation.

If after that time, he chooses to sell for 'double his money', then let him. He was given every chance to avoid it by that time.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Love this idea.

Ideas which require coding are not welcomed.

Foolish Frost, I think you have something there. Great idea, indeed!

I like this idea also.

Sorry shaun, haven't been to forums past few days and yes its a pg land which means your offer doesn't stand and I guess the 2/ms is the best offer which would suggest that the 2/ms this "scammer" was offering was fair, at least for me. Sorry don't know the difference between mature and pg land, at least the land value differences.

As for the ideas about first land, I think its horrible. What you have here is a bunch of "pros" deciding whats best for noobs when that may not be for the best. It seems I'm the only noob in this thread yet I was one of the only ones saying that what that guy did wasn't a scam. Do not withhold opportunities from noobs under the name of protection.

P.S And of all things you get the idea from a horrible real life transaction. Can't sell your house for 5 years. That's horrible, what happens if you get a better opportunity/job in another city, you can't move cause you can't resell your house. Must wait 5 years and by then the opportunity/job is probably lost.

What if they play with building for a few days and decide they really want 1024. Now they need to get rid of that 512 so that they can get a 1024. Do you make them wait? Do they get their $512 back?

I think there is a dynamic there with the current first land system that's all part of the discovery for new users. Let them have their experience. If you try to guarantee happiness you will only get boredom.

Buster

It's standard for a first-time home owner's morgage. They give me good breaks on interest rates that I normally would not have gotten with my level of credit and income, and we promise not to just go out and rent the house. It's to prevent abuse, and I walked into it with both eyes open...

Considering that I just bought my first land direct at 15000 for 1024 about 3 months ago, I can say that I agree with what you say, and also don't.

I chose the land in the sim I bought, found a person, and dicussed terms. They agreed to payments to own over a period of about 2 months, with a large down payment.

Now, could I have just bought some first land and went from there? Aye, but I decided to get land in a high quality sim and with a view to kill for. Friends of mine will recognise the place I put the Technomancer's tower when I first arrived.

If the first land IS being gamed as badly as is being said, this would slow it down. No one FORCES anyone to buy first land, and they could always skip it and go on to buy some real land at market prices like I did.

Then again, allowing people to make their own mistakes is a good way to make them learn how to watch their back in SL. There are no right ways to do it, just ways that cause differant problems and solutions...

Hi,

Between me and the Fat Slags group's offer yes, their offer is definately good in a PG first land sim as I am unable to make one at all. I found this operation going on in a mature first land sim where the land is much more valuable and it is indeed a rip-off. I stated this in my origional post calling for opinions, and also offered my opinions based upon it. I don't know if anyone else would be willing to beat 2/m2 in a PG first land sim, but I definately can't. It really is apples and oranges.

Excellent points. I see both sides of this clearly. I guess it is a very hard question that there are no easy answers to.

Someone tried to rip me off with my first land...but I was smart enough to get a fair market price out of the whole deal...seeing as my first land was set right next to a telehub

Turned out about a 10x profit

-Data Bean-

So pg land is bad to own?

I think everyone is looking at the wrong solution to this problem. The solutions people are seeking are to limit peoples ability to buy/sell land or punish people who get to good of a deal on land.

How about this as a novel idea. When you purchase your firstland a popup appears that says, "You have purchased your first land on Second Life. This land may be very valuable, far beyond the amount you paid for it. Be aware of the value of your land before you sell it." and then a link to a place with info on buying/selling land?

This way the purchaser is aware that the price he/she got the first land for is unusual and more investigation might be required before determining a sell price.

Depends on what you want to do with it. My house and business headquarters are both in a PG sim.