No Land For New Members? Deleting SL now...

They get the impression that First Land is included from this:

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Second Life's "First Land" program allows Residents to purchase their first parcel of land below the current market value. Parcels are 512 square meters and sell for L$1 per meter to those who have never owned land. Please note: First Land plots are subject to availability. A snapshot of the available land can be viewed by:

1. Go into SL and click on the Search button
   
2. Select the Land Sales tab
   
3. Select "First Land" from the pull-down menu and hit "Search"
   
4. When you find a plot you like, teleport to it and buy it on the spot"
   

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Yes, it does say "subject to availability." However the general understanding of that term, when it is used elsewhere in life, is that availability will be the expected condition, rather than the exception.

If it is to be the exception, then, "On the rare occasions when we put out First Land," or something to that effect, would be the desired wordage.

Certainly, beating up on new people for daring to expect First Land after reading the above is ridiculous, and a way to turn people off to SL and everyone in it. (Not that we suffer any kind of shortage from those ways anyhow.)

Of course they expected it. Because they can read English.

I like Woopsy's idea of removing the rule that you can't buy any other land before you buy First Land.

I also like someone else's idea of making it impossible to transfer or sell First Land for 90 days, or even 45.

I asked about this in Linden Answers, just before it was closed, so I asked again on the blog, mentioning that they had done exactly that in Bloomfield.

Robin (and I wish I had the quote here) said that they were considering this possibility, but were considering the possible down sides of the plan. I'm not holding my breath about it, though.

I also like the idea of re-writing the language about First Land at least a little, to more accurately reflect the fact that it is available only sporadically, and in small amounts, and in the other ways Jopsy suggests.

Any or all of these suggestions would be a lot better than being smug to new players for actually expecting First Land to be available in any sort of reasonable manner.

coco

There is no such rule preventing you from buying other land before you buy First Land. You just can't buy first land once you do. Why? Because First Land is exactly that. It's not meant for everyone. Some people know that they want 2048 sq. m. now and skip the first land entirely--they don't need it.

Aww... I reserve the right to be snarky at someone if they say something roughly equivalent to:


"I bought a new car... but I discovered a fatal flaw: its radio isn't tuned to my favorite station. This sucks, it's a total show stopper, I've been scammed. I'm gonna go push that damned car off a cliff. Which is tragically disappointing, because I REALLY wanted to drive that car."





Of course, I should be yelling and screaming because when I went premium they didn't offer "First Land", that came shortly afterwards, boy did I get ripped off, I had to pay L$2 per sqm instead of ... what does first land sell for per sqm now?

Until the land crunch it WAS the expected condition. And now that people are using bots to grab it, it's never going to become the expected condition again unless those bots are quashed.

That's why I think LL needs to attack the bots directly (such as limiting the number of First Land acquisitions per IP address) rather than pulling a Microsoft and making First Land less desirable for EVERYONE in the hope that the bot operators will find it even less desirable than most.

I agree that more clarity is in order. In this vein, I think it's worth pointing out that we are conflating three different issues:

1. The availability of First Land
2. Whether First Land should be free
3. Whether one needs First Land in order to make and sell goods.

Aero just looked up the wrong plan. Should have payed the US$1,675 membership fee and the US$295 per month premium and they would have given him 65,536 m2 for free!

Well, land prices have now crashed to around the historical levels. It's probably not significantly profitable to run a first land bot any more, since you're only going to get around 3500 for your land. Expect to see first land starting to be realistically available soon.

I agree with you about attacking the bots directly. I think, though, making it impossible to turn the land for 45 days would help.

But even before the land crunch, First Land has been very hard to find - both from not enough of it being offered, and also, I think, from people buying it up on alts. (No need for a bot to do that.)

coco

Well, I think the analogy would be, "Your new car will come with a radio, depending on availability," but - there is never a radio! And if you're not real quick, you won't get one where there is!

It would be better to say something like, "and if you're lucky, you might be able to find a radio for it later!"

Hopefully this will all become a moot point as First Land starts appearing more often.

$1 per square meter.

coco

(bolding mine)

Ah, but it doesn't come with a radio.

I think a more accurate analogy would be:

"Your dealorship may have car radios in stock, some of which can be purchased and installed in your new car at a discount rate... providing you haven't already had a car radio installed by someone else."

True.

coco

I bought mine last July and I had several days to go around and drum up friends to upgrade to premium and buy into the Coonspiracy. As late as September I was able to help people find a *choice* of First Land parcels.

Seems Areo is simply upset to not find a VR World that is designed for his convenience. It is kind of like ther real world, use what you get is the only option. If I had my way SL would not only give me free land but pay my tuition in college.