Ok, what are "Planned Communities"?

I recently have been reading the controversy over purchased island real estate that is resold, and the problems the Lindens spotted with the first owner still retaining ultimate control.

I"ve been burned, I've had my land taken and my build destroyed once. I don't want TWO groups/people being able to do it to me again.

Nonetheless, I've been shopping recently.

First, what are "Planned Communities"? Are they just groupings of of these private sims where the original purchaser has some retained control?

How can I tell while shopping for a nice plot, whether or not someone else would have to ability to get my sim destroyed or repossessed?

Ingot Hedges

How were you burned and had your land taken? Was this some difficulty with the latest Linden patch?

There are different kinds of planned communities.

There is not a single plot of land anywhere in SL that is not immune from your worry that
"someone else would have to ability to get my sim destroyed or repossessed?" Any landlowner runs the risk if they don't pay their bills, or merely just have some problem with their credit card or their Internet connection, that Linden Labs will seize their land. That happens to you, too, if you buy the land in the right-click fashion to take possession of it yourself. If you don't pay the tier or maintenance fee on it, the land will be taken.

There are different kinds of planned communities:

1. Linden-zoned communities of Brown, Boardman and I think maybe one or two others. These mainly became defunct because the Lindens couldn't keep policing them. Players are fixing them up now and Lindens are doing some rebuilding. Boardman is very hard to get into. I have some rentals in Brown and there are some spaces left. It's PG -- not for everybody, though I think it's SL's best kept secret.

2. Private islands purchased by business people like Anshe Chung or Nexus Nash, like A'ksha Dunes or Azuma. These are the much-disputed parcels that you can take access to, but not full possession of. You pay tier to Anshe or GIGAS or whatever corporation owns it. Your tier level is more differentiated than with LL because you can pay a $20 tier whereas LL makes you go up to the next level of $40 if you go over the total of 4608 the $25 level.

3. Other enforced zoned communities on the mainland, like Slate, which are hard to get into because they are really just groups of friends or like-minded individuals who decided to make projects and closed communities together. Because these are sims run by groups of people contributing tier, they can enforce the rules they'd like on that sim.

4. Voluntary zoned communities. These are areas, usually rental or rent-to-buy, but sometimes buy (where you take sole possession), where you can rent under a set of terms that are looser than in the planned and enforced zoned communities, so that you have some more freedom, but not as much seclusion and protection from ugly builds as on the mainland grid. (This is mainly because while your landlord might be able to control what happens on the sim he owns, he can't control what is happening on the sims next to his -- whereas on the private island, there is just water and mist surrounding the landowner's parcel).

It's my belief that voluntary zoned communities, i.e. where the landlord establishes a set of terms where people can come and go without a lot of cost (they can refund for $50-$100), is a good option. It enables people to get access to nice views and areas where efforts are being made to preserve the view and the cohesion of the community. You can move around to different sims and find what's right for you within the network. The price is the same or even less than what you'd pay Lindens in tier, and you pay no purchase price.

By renting week to week, you don't have to worry about cashing out or selling your parcel -- in the planned communities, the terms usually involve allowing you to sell your parcel, but being responsible for that yourself (and we've just seen how hard it is even for the owner to advertise) -- the landlord will cash you out usually at a loss from your original purchase.

You can also try several of these things over several weeks and see what works for you, and use the time to save money to shop for land you buy for your very own. Often on older sims you can find good bargains, good neighbours, and not be bothered by griefers just because they can't be everywhere at once.

Prokofy:

Sorry to be vague, but I'm still a bit bitter about it. Add to that the fact that I'm trying to return, and I don't want to make EVERYTHING about my past experience, and I end up describing it sometime, and not others.

A year ago, the Linden's redid the land system. I was away for a month due to outside RL matters. My account was paid in full (on automatic withdrawal), and my in-game relationships were good. I was in no trouble, I was a good citizen in good graces.

Still, when they redid the land system, they took my land with no warning to me, destroyed my build, and when I talked to them about it, offerred me no recompense.

So, I've been burned. I could not rejoin if I made my entire game experience about this incident, but by the same token, I will never forget it, I put a lot of effort into my build, and I was badly depressed by its destruction.

So, I will talk about it if asked, but I'm vague otherwise.



I understand this. My goal is to MINIMIZE the possibilities.

I understand that the Linden's will always have the ability to do to me again what they did to me before. I just don't want anyone ELSE to have that ability. My hope is that what they did to me was a one time thing, and that they won't repeat it.

The thought of someone ELSE having the abiltity to destroy my work, even if I'm a good customer, paid in full, and only happen to be gone a few weeks due to RL events, is over the edge to me. I want to minimize the risk, and given my history, I can't see how anyone can fault me.

So, I'm looking for land that only has the Linden's in charge of it beyond me. Others with authority over my holdings only increase my risk if something goes wrong.

I mean no disrespect, but I built a home once. I wish to take a path that means the least risk to my online home, even given the wrong person gets hit by a bus at the wrong time.





Ok, that was very helpful, thank you. I'm glad not only to read it but to get it into the record in these boards for folks as confused as I've been.

It sounds like I just need to be careful, and talk to my agent. If it's some enforced community, or if it's a sub-lease of a specifically contracted piece of land, it might not be for me. (Just because, like I said, I've been burned and want ot minimize the possibility of it happening again).

Thank you very much for your efforts, and for you excellent explanations! Hope to meet you online!

Ingot