searching for the elusive "perfect tenant"

I have been reading the forums for a week now in regards to starting a community minded sim but I still have dozens of questions and am guilty of making at least that many mistakes or more, already. I hope someone out there can help me with some of them.

One of my questions(and this is the biggest one) is this....how do you find people outside of the classifieds to rent or buy into the dream you have of a community? I am not disparaging the classifieds, those are great but I want to find people who like to cooperate together to build something island wide(or sim-wide ). There is a thread in here that was started by Aminom Marvin /327/cd/172618/1.html that was really interesting. One of the posters there had already started his own community and is having great success with it. I would love to pull that type on a sim that we could all create together. I llive there myself and would like to have a group of people that deal well with each other, but how do you find this?! Is it luck or careful 'screening'? How do you as an estate owner know who to rent to?

Anyone who has tips, suggestions, or even a 'go here to this thread and all your questions are answered" url please let me know!

Joie

invite your friends and social network.

What do you mean by Perfect tenant. That's a broad statement. Maybe, in this thread, or another one, tell us what you are looking to accomplish. Maybe then people may have some answers. Personally, I may be interested as a buyer if you are starting a community as I am looking to expand my home, and it isn't possible where I am right now.

You’re right, that is a pretty broad statement in my title.

I’m trying to find a way to find people to build a community( that’s the new buzzword it seems ), and short of putting it in the classifieds and then just getting random people who want to own land to build that next casino or sublet it out, I don’t know what to do. I have tried word of mouth for the last month with friends, but everyone seems to be settled in with other spots for the duration and I don't want to undercut others just to get someone to rent on my land. That's rude and it loses money in the long run. lol

I just want a group of people who have the potential for building friendships and workingwith each other towards a common goal on the island. Like throwing a sim-wide party, hosting a scavenger hunt, etc, if that makes more sense.

Basically, I have to live there. I want to at least like a bit the people I live near.

Well what else would you base this community on? Some common interests or occupations? Social or moral values? community ,in the true sense of the word has some sort of linking ideal or objectivenity A community, in the true sense of the word has some sort of linking ideal or objective.

I hope I answered this a tiny bit in the previous post. I don’t want to narrow things down to the common interests that you would build a group on, as I am not trying to do that, but rather a gathering of people who just want to have fun and not be total strangers to each other.

Well, Joie, maybe it's a bit much to ask from people to buy into your personal dream? I don't know.

If you want people to join forces in the interest of a common goal, then you need to lay it out for them. After all, different people are bound to have somewhat different interests ... it's the common ground which builds a community.

I don't think that you'll easily find the perfect tenant ... why not settle for some you can live with? After all, if you don't like them, you can always let the rental agreement expire.

While I don't tend to post on the forums(if ever), I have been around Second Life since late December of 2003 and have, since, seen community/group projects being built from the ground up.

One of the most difficult tasks in starting a project, as per community involvement, is as you have described - finding the right group of people to work with. My involvement in project management and Development project coordinating has left me to determine that setting up a screening process is one of the best ways to allow completely random individuals into a group. Even a screening process is insufficient, however. If you decide
to let members outside of your own social network into your project, you will want to get to know those people. While screening these people will give you information on the individual, it is very easy to deceive others here inside of Second Life.

You want to be able to have full control over land, especially if that land happens to be part of the mainland. The best way to do this is described within the forums; setting up group land. Group land will not only allow you to have a slight bonus added on top of
your tier, it will also create a deterrent for people joining into the project for the sole purpose of getting land and reselling it when they leave(which could be days or months after the project has started).

I do not wish to re-iterate what has already been said, so I'll move onto finding the "perfect tenant."

First: Try starting with friends within your own social network. These tend to be the people that you trust the most. While you have stated that most of your contacts are already settled into "other spots",I'm sure that if any of them show any amount of interest in your projects, they will be sure to join you. In my personal experience, if I show interest in a project that was made by a friend, then they will more than likely show interest in a project that I'm working on. Once I've started on something, I usually have a friend or two that wants to join or help me in some way.

Second: Play! Show interest in starting a project and start formulating ideas on how to start; lay it out in prims. If you do this in a public area, people will ask questions. If you can 'sell' them your ideas, they will more than likely want to join you. There are numerous
individuals in Second Life looking for something to do. The fact that they ask you questions, especially about something you are doing, tells you that they are interested. Get to know these people, these are your future business partners. Since it appears that your role in the project is maintaining land tier, this opens up a wealth of creativity.

Third: Eventually, you'll have a couple like-minded individuals by your side, already communicating and formulating ideas of their own. These few individuals can get more active residents involved, via their own social network. Once you've obtained land, there's sure to be a random passerby that my be interested in the project.

I would recommend keeping your project team rather exclusive. Don't add too many people into a project. If There's anyone lacking skills, don't get rid of them - help them out. Unless you have multiple sims to work on, you don't want to go overboard on project members. too many developers make for too much to control, even with community controls set in place. I would say that 20 people is the highest you would want to go before
things go crazy.

You know, you're right. I was at a bit of a loss when Brenda asked me what were the goals of the community. I don't have a set 'goal', beyond what I have said. I have to rethink that.

Thanks for the insight, Cinyth. I wish I had asked about this months ago instead of just playing around. Better late than never. I wonder if there is a way to change the title of this thread to "Wanted: Focus group(and tenants!) for sim, Ideas helpful."