What Were the Lindens Thinking Of?!

If you look at the auction yesterday, you will see a transaction that ought to go down in the annals of SL history as one of the most idiotic -- from the perspective of the outside world or the SL community -- as a mere 240 square meters of Linden server space went for a whopping $151 US -- that would be enough to buy 10,000 acres or so! That's land that sold for an outrageous $157 LL per meter! Who has Ted Casanova's beeper number?!!

How could this happen? Of course there's a story here!

History:

When I first bought in Winnipeg when it first came out, I noticed a funny parcel of land marked out by the Lindens on the very top of a prime peninsula with a beautiful natural basin. Sometimes you can't tell when you see the owner is "Governor Linden" and "Maintenance" whether that land will then become "Governor Linden" and "Protected" or whether it will be set to auction. You can never assume when you see merely "Governor Linden" as an owner that it will stay as "protected" -- it usually is put to auction and new land buyers must be very aware of that. I was annoyed that the Lindens would carve a funny, little jagged piece out of the top of a peninsula like that, but I figured they were trying to have a nice area that would remain pristine, and not get a huge tower or lagging club or whatever put on to it -- by making the top protected. Seemed like a good idea.

Some time later, Sudane contacted my alt who owned property in Winnipeg and Morraine and asked if he would sell to her because she was a Friend of the Forest as was he, and shared the goal of saving pristine wilderness in the game. He did not want to sell because he had an interesting plot with his own plans but he assured her he would not crap up the water or put up ugly towers or anything like that. He added the FoF shouldn't buy from land barons after they buy at auction and then try to get neighbours to sell to them, but should just get a half sim or sim at auction in the first place -- she then explained that she was not acting on behalf of FoF but just in concert with their goals. She said she had no more money to spend at the moment because she had a considerable purchase staked out over 3 days of claims.

Later, I happened to see the auction board and to my horror, saw Winnipeg 001 on there. What?! I raced out there and saw that that funny little 240 sq meter parcel was already bid up to like $25. As I flew around, several land dealers also showed up to eye the property. With the story of Biff Pendragon fresh in my mind, and seeing many, many times in this game the power of people to make the lives of others around them miserable by buying up a piece of land and playing troll, I decided to bid on the land. One good thing about this prime little lake wilderness parcel of 240 sq m -- you never have to pay tier on it! You can grant it that! Geez, even people in RL Winnipeg will be jealous!

I thought to myself: what a great story! As the auction went up to $50, I thought, this hilarious! It was an SL Zen moment for me. I thought, I will sell all my other property, quit the rat race, and just put up a tent on this tiny but prime parcel! Why spend money on lots of land you have to pay tier on and worry about sweeping prims and arguments with neighbours and how to subdivide and what to put on the land and blah blah blah -- you can still have the SAME peak experience in SL by having blown a lot of US dollars on pixels, and at the lowest zoom level, still have the same experience you'd have if you bought a million-dollar palace on a fast sim with water views secured 3 ways from Sunday. And with Sudane's project -- there's the value of human endeavor applied to land for you!!! -- $100 spent on 240 little meters would buy a view as spectacular as $100 spent on pixels elsewhere on the server with day-one views that turn ugly on you by day three. That's the reality of the SL virtuality.

Yes, it was a Zen-like moment of the folly of SL, and I pictured it as a great story, and I vowed to spend $150 on this story LOL. It just seemed so hilarious! And I thought after it is over, I will just tell Sudane that I saved her parcel and would put nothing on it but a tent now and then or something -- after all, if she keeps her area pristine and free of junk, my parcels next to her on the other side are raised in value, too.

The bidding was fierce after $75, and that's when I became convinced that I wasn't dealing with Sudane or any Friend of the Forest of anything of the type, but some vicious land baron, who could nonchalantly put in $200 on the auction for a joke and then sit back on his yacht and sip his Campari. I became determined to beat them, but I set myself the $150 limit so of course the bid of $151 from the competing bidder won. Sometimes you try to game out an auction and figure if you see someone at $101 that they've locked it into $150 but I find sometimes putting in an odd number like $77 or $105 that you will beat somebody thinking in tens. When I saw even odd numbers were beat, I figured it was a wealthy individual who just locked in the automatic bidding system with a big $200 wager.

Imagine my horror when I saw that after the auction closed that it was Sudane herself!!! She wasn't online, even though she lives in the same city as me and is on the same time zone. I felt awful that she had been forced to bid wildly and high to keep her dream, and I admired her ferocity. I felt the same ferocity about protecting her dream, which, after all, was next to MY dream lol. I just didn't want to see somebody with an ugly tower or development come in there.

This particluar auction was a sterling exemplar of what hedge fund billionaire George Soros means when he talks about "reflexivity" in the market, that the market doesn't behave rationally or by logic, but by what people think it will do, and the aggregate of all those misperceptions in fact create the reality. So the reality is that both Sudane and I were accidently pitted against each other, even though both of us wanted to make sure that peninsula was kept pristine, because both of us had filled up on horror stories about griefers and bandits and trolls seizing control of land to make lives miserable for each other. Just that morning I had a friend tell me he had paid $160 for something like a 16 sq m square in the middle of some land he was trying to keep for his project, and faced a hold-out troll gloating over his misfortune willing to extort money from him.

So sophisticated land barons like Anshe can laugh at this, because Anshe would never bet like that on an auction, she's too experienced and savvy, and, like she often says, a business woman. Many people buy land for emotional reasons, however, and that's what makes Anshe's savvy business possible and for that matter, what enriches the Lindens.

Yes, you can laugh at the folly of human nature, but you can also ask the larger question:

WHY DO THE LINDENS DO THIS? Look at the screenshots. Why do they carve out a little speck like that when they know that it will pit owners against each other, and prevent any one person from taking over a bit of land that in the hands of one person at least has a 50-50 chance of being kept nice? Are they getting pleasure out of setting up what might be months of inter-player strife over control of a prime parcel like that? I know that entire sims are sold with no Linden land in them, and yet I see often wacky mark-ups of sims put at auction with strange zig-zags, patches of water, and peninsulas or islands carved up in funny ways. It's as if the Lindens are defying players to make sense of their subdivides, and inviting players to fight each other over the land -- all the while driving up auction prices.

If their original purpose was to try to keep that peninsula "pristine" they could have kept the land "Protected". If they thought a 240 auctioned parcel would never get used by a griefing tower or lagging club, they've underestimated the spite of certain SL players.

So I will offer Sudane $151 to buy that little square because for me, the Zen of SL and the eternal remorseful contemplation of human folly is worth that price -- one can live in this purgatory at least tier-free and admiring Sudane's pristine wilderness project. For ever after, you can tell friends and acquaintances how you bought $150 worth of pixels that tiny. You could begin the game with a free 512 square, and wind up in the poor house with a $150 240 sq meter square -- it is a cautionary tale -- future SL grandparents can bring their grandchildren and point to it as a lesson.

Sudane may also consider subdividing and selling me 110 sq meters -- I'll take the jagged edges off her hands for $75. Or we could form a land group and auction off the 8-10 meter parcels and rent them for...bird perches? Teleporter prims to sky boxes?

OR the Lindens could do the right thing now, admit their mistake, return Sudane her money, and make that protected land. That would solve everyone's problems.

In another thread someone said that if a newcomer comes into a town expecting to find evil, he will find it. But in this transaction, I was trying to do good, as was Sudane, and yet we ended up bidding that ridiculous parcel up beyond all reason, she's out $151, and while I would reimburse her in whole or in part for all or part of that fabulous little patch of heaven, she's welcome to blow me off and cling to her spec of paradise all she likes. It's worth it! I promise to remain a courteous and considerate neighbour.

No one forces you to bid. You said it yourself. No logic into it. It's what you "think" it is. The Lindens did not make you do that. Can't blame the Lindens for the Bid going up to US$ 151. I myself was wondering about this. Lindens can't be blamed.

I've bought land at ridiculous prices for emotional reasons too.. I think it's a right of passage in SL.

Well, read what I wrote more carefully. I know it's long, so let me boil it down for you.

I don't at all blame the Lindens for letting land on auctions be bid up as high as it will go. It helps add value and interest to the game, it adds to their profits, players have fun with it and make a profit, and it's just like a RL-auction -- don't get into an auction unless you want to bid hard for what you want.

But that's not at all my point. I question why the Lindens are marking up a 240 sqare meter parcel on top of a prime peninsula to auction separately. It is pernicious. It's really not a good business practice. It increases the shark-like atmosphere in the land business. It sets up wildly risky situations of griefing, where a person can legally stay within the TOS but build a hugely obnoxious spinning tower on a parcel like that and force someone to pay even $300 to get them to take it away. It's happened. The Lindens are encouraging such strife and anst among players with that kind of subdivide. It's not a mistake, because they could have made it protected land.

If they made a mistake, because their system is so automated but frankly, such lack of oversight is troubling.

So I am asking the Lindens to give Sudane back her money and make that land protected not because I think auctions are wrong, but because I think 240 sq meter mark-ups are wrong. The Lindens never mark up parcels that small (although I know of a player who got a prime 16 m piece of Linden road by accident no doubt lol).

They are capable of seeing a piece like that on an auction for 3 days -- but then, maybe they are so busy and so automated they don't see it. So this is a wake-up call for them. They ought not to auction parcels that small in the middle of prime wilderness that could cause grief and needless expense. I think I'm justified in that point.

10,000 acres? um.......do you realize that's more than the total size of sl right now? a sim is only 16 acres.

yeah some people bid up a piece of land more than it was worth. whoever finally bought it must have thought it was worth that to them. what were the Lindens thinking? prolly "yum this food is good" since the auction ended around dinner time for them. what do they care? high bids are nice for them and if the customer was happy they're happy.

i'ma guess the person who bought it was happy with it since they didn't bid it up higher and higher until they had to sell plasma to pay it. if you look at the auction they set a max bid earlier and let it bid itself to that amount. they said "how much am i willing to pay?" and they set their bid at that.

what were you thinking writing this massive diatribe about it?

Dyerbrook, your lengthy discourse is much appreciated. We surely do share the same goals.

Sudane

The habit of saying "acres" for land dies hard. Of course it should be "meters".

Once again, read the piece. I don't care that they auction land in a cut-throat atmosphere. I care that they mark up SUCH LAND for auction. 240 sq meters on top of a prime peninsula is an accident going somewhere to happen, pitting players against each other.

No, look again. That person did not set a max bid and walk away. They watched it until the last second and kept bidding, and I confirmed that by talking to them. Why would you assume it?

Why do I write such long "diatribes"? For the record. Nobody complains today that Lewis and Clark wrote long diaries about their travels up the river. You don't have to read it. It's for scholars and researchers to have available in the future when they study the history of this new land.

why? because the last 7 bids by Sudane have the same time on them 16:07:55 PST. seems to mean a maximum bid was set at that time and had not been reached by the end of the auction. notice how the next to last bid was at 18:55:20 PST but the final bid was at 16:07:55 PST which is almost 3 hours earlier? that's why i would assume it.

now, what i just noticed is that you Dyerbrook were one of the people bidding it up. also the person you're saying should get a refund is the other bidder. together you and Sudane bid it up from $16 to $151. you did. and now you're saying the winner paid too much and should get a refund? you're the other main competitor in the auction so what's up with that?

sounds like both of you wanted that sliver of land protected from grief builders, assumed the other person was a grief builder, and only found out after the auction that you both just wanted it protected.

i agree with dyerbrook. this is why i have taken to avoid selling land in 512 parcels openly (people can IM me to have parcels cut for them). the system anshe uses is open to abuse (edited) style. LL should be careful, but i'd rather they maintain their efforts to improve the medium and interface rather than over zealous diligence in the land parcelling.

i don't agree about the refund or that the price is unfair.

Dyerbrook I get your point and others seem to be missing it.

The point is not that any one made Sundane or Dyerbrook bid.

The point is not that someone bid up the land for ill intention purpose.

The point is - why are the Lindens carving up a 240 sqare meter parcel on top of a prime peninsula to auction separately.

The point is - this could, does, and will pit owners against each other.

Then the questions is - why do the Lindens do that? Not even my crystal ball knows that answer.

But. . . . your story. . . . marvelously written. Save it please and lets record it in the SL Archives.

Zuzi,

Could you read the story before firing off posts?

Yes, Sudane locked in bids, but she didn't do that at 0.0 hours and walk away for three days, several times she came in and set higher bids. So sure, maybe she set a higher one a second or third time when she saw it bid up, but she didn't plug in $200 at 0.0 hours and walk away. That's my point.

And yes, we bid against each other, not knowing it was each other because they disguise bidders' identities for some unknown reason, which helps build up pernicious competition in the game For example, if you saw someone's identity, you could come to an agreement with them. But of course the Lindens simply want to drive the price up as high as it will go.

You don't seem to get that I offered to buy that land from her at $151 if she feels she has wasted her money AND keep it clear of builds so it remains in her pristine wilderness project. And I'm suggesting that really, the Lindens should refund her money and turn what is now her land into Linden Protected Land in keeping with her project anyway because it should never have come to auction.

as opposed to pernicious collusion or intimidation if names were public? get real!

Can we add this to the file of reasons why AUCTIONS ARE EVIL? They are being used to create the false perception that land is a finite and scarce resource, when in fact it is a commodity. The supply is totally under the control of Linden Lab.

You know, you might have more experience on this and I would take your point on this.

I, too, thought the first time I saw the hidden auctions that it was to prevent pressure in the game. Mafias could circle you and beat you into submission, promising to negrate you collectively, block your land, ruin your reputation, etc. if you didn't get out of the auction.

In fact, I'm very careful about visiting land I'm interested in because I can't be sure that someone would then figure out I'm bidding.

Still, I err on the side of "publicity is the best weapon" and "sunlight is the best disinfectant" when it comes to information policies and economies. I think that the opportunities for collaboration are greater than the risks of mafia-like pressure.

I think the Lindens leave it this way for one simple reason: it drives prices higher.

i did.

i never said she did. i said she locked in a higher autobid at 16:07:55 PST on the final day of the auction which was her one and only bid and then walked away. meaning she wasn't pressured to bid higher and higher in the heat of the moment. looks like you were tho.

as far as i know the names used to be public but the public asked it to be changed. too many people were being coercive.

this whole things just sounds like a big case of buyers' remorse. you both found out too late that you each wanted the land protected. live and learn.

by the way Dyerbrook, are you also Prokofy Neva? you're both in alot of the same groups, you both say "TSO refugee" and have the secondthoughts.typepad.com blog in the "about" field of your profiels, and you both bid on this piece of land although never at the same time, and you're both a lil bit irrational about causes and issues that don't mean much.

Yes, it's no secret that Prokofy and Dyerbrook are the same people, Dyerbrook is the name from TSO, Prokofy has been my main sim in SL but I hope to hibernate him soon.

This is readily seen on my profiles by comparing the slogan, the web site address, etc. etc. as you have done -- it's not some big detective work there. And in another well-read post recently, I had Dyerbrook come on and give a *hugz* to Prokofy like all the girls were giving *hugz* to each other and then say he gave those *hugz* because he's an alt LOL.

It's sometimes useful to have a post with one kind of alt with a certain personality that doesn't bring in all the baggage of the other alt and his posting style. I think that's useful in discussions because there is a huge tendency here for the Forum Harpies to gang up on you in any post you make, legitimate or not, merely because they are holding grudges. Cristiano isn't YET in this thread, but now that he sees Prokofy is here (looks at watch) he shouldn't be long...

well, if it makes you feel any better i thought Dyerbrook was grossly overreacting about a non issue before i found out it was really Prokofy so please don't feel ganged up on.

I think this was a wonderful heartfelt tale. It truely shows what passion we all share for SL. But isn't it a shame, that we feel the need to protect our virtual space because of ignorant people (aka people who put up towers)

Y'know.. *I* would think, that if someone else was willing to big that high for such a small piece of land, that they would have a serious committment to it... why would a land baron bid so much for so little...?

a land baron wouldn't. Anshe Chung is laughing at them. /130/45/33500/1.html

everything else aside, some days it's good to know that 2 ppl care that much about trying to save anythingnice. do you want a small donation? now if more ppl would just get this excited about preserving more RL...

i can dream can't i?

l.

And the moral of the story is,

IM your neighbors.

yes it never hurts to ask. i've even imd land brokers and told them i was bidding on a parcel that i particularly wanted. occassionally they've wished me luck and not bid. yes more than one broker. i kid you not.

of course some have laughed at me as well.

Yeah, this sucks. Makes me worry all over again about this situation with a lil plot of Linden land behind my land.

Hope I don't get bent over a barrel by this type of thing too.

-Ghoti

i have paid more than that, for less. I can fully understand why someone would put their auction prices that high because god forbid someone rather nasty picks a plot up.. they could end up charging you 2x what they paid, in this case say near $300 us, and setting up giant sim-clogging laggy things all over the plot to 'help sell it' via basically blackmail/extortion.

I would happily pay the money to LL rather than get extorted by someone like that