Risk Alert: Linden Lab opens Realty Division

linden lab's pilot project for introducing newbies to SL in zoned+themed communities.

Heh, looks interesting. The real question will be in it's staying power.

Secondlife competing with content creators?

I don't usually express myself in a vulgar way, but: WTF?

A free plot and a free house, thats some real competition. But seriously, how long would you want to live here? I think it is a great promo to get people interested in owning land, but if it were me, I would enjoy it for awhile and set my sites on moving to another region where I had some creative options. But, in my view, overall its a win-win.

But, those houses were made by Resis.

So, Resis owns that SIM and gets all the money for people who move there?

Why not give us zoning capabilities and let us do this?

bahahah. this is all par for the course.

This is just business as usual for LindenLab.

I think the idea is to get basic to go premium.

There is nothing stopping you from offering free land to people. Buy a region and give it away, sounds like a pretty solid business plan to me.

Im sorry, I just dont get the objection here. The offer is going to those that would not have been able to buy land in the first place because they were basic accounts. Now, there will be a good chance they may want greener pastures after enjoying their "starter" home and buy your land and content.

Yeah, I completely agree Loki.

I mean, those GOM guys, what was there problem? There was nothing stopping them from running their own currency exchange.

I believe you have to get a premium account to get a house, btw.

The houses are there to tempt you to switch from basic to premium, is what I think Loki is saying..

Looks like a great idea to me...

think First Land, but with resident-made houses.

OMFGFICBBWQTFLOLKTHXORLY

It's a great concept and I think residents have wanted to do this for a very long time but could not because LL would not give us zoning powers.

screw zoning powers, I just want llEjectPrims

But, I agree, this is complete bullshit.

Residents have tried to do this but couldn't because :

a) they didn't have access to LL type advertising (can I send an email to all new users? uh, no)
b) lack of llEjectPrims
c) No zoning functionality.

LL is basically competing with content developers, but worse, they're keeping key technology out of the hands of developers so they can not effectively compete with this.

Wow, that was gratuitous even for you, champ.

Their problem was akin to what Lordfly said regarding lack of LL support for player enforced zoning. As these forums well document, for the last month or so of GOM operation, they were having to hand process all transactions because their RPC mechanism to and from SL had become unreliable where it had been operating without error for the year prior and they were unsuccessful at getting LL to look into the issue. So, much as LL failing to support player enforced zoning prevented that market from ever opening, LL's failure to support GOM's connection to the grid was the proximate cause of GOM's closure.

welcome to my ignore list.

Malachi misses the sarcasm, news at 11.

I have no idea how "zoned" this area will be - anybody know? All I know is that it was zoned "mature," and people could sell their land only after living there three months (to avoid immediate land-flipping), last I heard.

I don't know if that is still the case, as I don't have the materials given to the residents who move in there.

But yes, it was resident-made houses, as a result of a call for these houses (I made a house for it). And yes, it is to get basic members to up their accounts to Premium. My guess is that most will move on from there, but this gives them an immediate and easy way to set up housekeeping. But we'll see - after all, we don't see a whole lot of people anxious to move out of Boardman!

Or, when they have lived there long enough to sell their lots, we may see larger lots come into being there - I need to know the zoning requirements to know if that will be possible or not.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Lindens did this with Boardman (and, Brown, maybe?) and it was a huge hit. Such a hit that it's almost impossible for anyone to live there now, who doesn't know the person they are buying the house from, or has a jillion dollars to pay the price those lots are going for.

My guess is that LOTS of basic members will go for this, and the Lindens will get lots more premium accounts out of it.

coco

Boardman was a total flop until Ingrid took over. It was hard to sell land in Boardman for $3L per m2 back then.

Tract housing for the homeless. Gives someone a place to sleep, to build skills and a social network and to search for a job and a better home.

The Linden organization, like the central RL government, provides resources that the private sector has no incentive to provide, with the apparent intent to make life more livable for those with next to nothing.

Looks smart to me. I don't think the FEMA ... er Linden ... trailer communities are a threat to the commercial developers of homes or the architects of the world, but they reward basic and beginner subscribers and make them comfy until they want MORE, for which they'll need to change dollars for Lindens.

Frank

i sold land in boardman for 2.5 L$/m2 about 13 months ago.

Y'all do realize, dontcha, that what they were going for is exactly that - a fifties-style, tract house subdivision? I mean, that was the IDEA.

coco

P.S. What do you mean, Schwanson, "till Ingrid took over." I thought this was a Linden sim, run by the Lindens. Did they allow her to help with it, or did she buy a bunch of lots, or what?

I don't see how it's zoned at all.

What's to keep someone from selling a tiny square of their land (16m2) to someone who likes big ugly signs? (after 3 months). Nothing as far as I can tell.

The only difference between this and any other newbie land is that it's cheaper by 1L per m2. Oh and it comes with a free house, but we have free houses in inventory anyway.

It's *possible* that you'll get a bunch of nice neighbors who choose on their own to keep the neighborhood pretty. But if that were likely, it would have happened on all the other newbie lands too.

Listen, I sell land, and I am fully for anything Linden Labs does to provide a better land experience for people even if I lose profits. Why are people so adament about protecting business? People should Become flexable, ecspecially in the land market. People can be put out of the land sale and rental business by more resident competitors at any time. If Linden Labs wants to do something that helps them bring in more income and gives people a more enjoyable experience in the process, then more power to them. Don't blindly protect some random person's business just because he was there before Linden Labs was. Linden Labs created the world for heaven's sake. It is their baby, and we are all dependant on their success for our success.

If you get run out of one business, then pick up another. Linden Labs is not the only one that runs others out of business. Resident competitors run each other out of business all the time. It is how capitalism works. Losing a business is not the end of the world, it just means you are going to have to use your head and find a new niche. It means you might be better off diversifying and not relying on one basket to get all your eggs. Carry on with your lives people.