Unpleasant Local Environment

I thought any land owning needed premium membership, 512 sm still requiring no tier or have I misinterpreted you Daisy?

Neighbors and clouds and annoying crap cease to be an issue if you just build at 500m. Also generally lag-free at that height.

So basically buying from a land baron on a private island is the only way to be sure what goes up around you? The biggest thing that balks me about that is the fact that they can just take that back or change the rules on you any time... can't they?

I reached stage 7 of Ordinal's brilliant summary. It was an interesting process... at one point I owned nearly a third of my sim, but it was STILL a mess, and my land was oddly shaped and spread around. The thing that forced me off the mainland were all the fricking banlines my neighbors had up around their 512sq.m. lots they never ever ever used. I'm now hemorrhaging money, but I no longer have to bump into anyone's ban lines, and if the scenery is ugly, I've only myself to blame.

To the original poster, you can sell your lot for a profit (I think average price is around $3,900L for 512? Varies by location.) and find yourself a new home in a 'mature, flat, green' sim. You might lose a couple hundred L in the process, but it sounds like you'll be better off in the long run if the fog/clouds are a real problem for you.

I've also noticed that the effect that fog/clouds have on your experience has a lot to do with your graphics card. I ALWAYS have to disable both on two of my computers, but I almost never do on my new notebook; fog/clouds seem a lot less invasive on the newer graphics card.

Sure, but then again, you never really own the land anyway.

Which is why there's usually no down payment. And if there is, run away.

Usually, though, people won't do that--it's bad business.

That's an idea... actually, there is some crap evan at that elevation, but not as much. And it does solve the fog problem.

Interesting. Many of the prices I see on Land Search are lower than $3,900L for 512, but I have a feeling the prices are not all posted in the same way. For example, some might just be deposits. Anyway, you make a good point. BTW, I've been on SL less than a week, but I already appreciate the psycological value of having my own home, even tho the neighborhood is ugly. For the fist few days in SL, I would squat at some nice low-traffic spot to dress and manage my inventory. Now that I have my own place, I feel a little more grounded in SL. I'm sure living in a nice neighborhood strengthens that feeling.


Re the card, I just bought an nVidia 7600 AGP. It's not the top of the line, but it's not exactly entry-level either.

That's one reason I wasited six months before tiering up to premium and buying first land, so I'd know what I wanted to look for *quickly*.

Of course back then land swoopers were limited to people buying land *from* newbies.

Many sims on the mainland have organized into themed groups and welcome new people. The ones I'm familiar with (being a geezer) are the oldest: Luskwood (Lusk & Perry - furry theme), Taber (Tudor village), Slate (lake community), Indigo (Sci-Fi / Fantasy), Boardman and Brown (the 'burbs)... feel free to IM me if you'd like an intro to the people who run these areas.

Regards,

-Flip

First land plots are not intended for permanent residence. They are only good for gettting your feet wet, and then moving on to bigger and nicer places.

Considering how far up the hill I am from the coast I hope I don't get my feet wet!

A recap and update of my nextdoor neighbour:
1st one offered plot to me for 3500$ within 5 minutes of buying.
Second bought with the hour and immediately put up for sale at 6000$.
When I got home last night, a shop vendor had a display on it. Nice products which interested me actually (since searched out main shop and will probably revisit)
Late evening, a fourth owner is a vendor with a different display.

Four purchases of the same plot within 24 hours whilst another plot two across from them with an eye-sore for sale sign is still for sale after 24 hours.
I've met another neighbour but one I met last night has since removed her rather attractive lighthouse.
I'm sticking around just to see what happens!

I experienced the same evolution as most everyone else. After several months I jumped on a new first land plot in Hallasan. The following day I returned to place a prefab home/office where I could work on my projects in relative peace away from sandbox beggars.

After about twenty minutes, I was orbited by someone who was hostile that I didn't want to sell my 512 plot to him immediately. Ok... sitting while working now.

Within a week, all the available plots were purchased and the busy residents were building away. Cool! Met a few of the neighbors and had a nice place to work... all was right with the sim.

Didn't last long. Things I noticed after the 3 week marker...

- Spinning for sale signs started to pop up
- pr0n textured cubes spinning above certain homes
- The "pile of lumber prims" was good.. but I can top it... A mish-mash of untextured prims that somewhat resemble a shack.. then on the flat roof... about 20 of those free-copy pinetrees... at about 30 meters up.
- Multiple unfinished lighhouses with only the tops visible and a super fast rotating light. I hate lighthouses now. >
- My personal favorite... a group of "gangsta" residents must have purchased adjoining parcels or purchased them and grouped them together... closer to the ocean. They placed a very nice mansion and pool on it. No big deal, right? Well, you know how most prefabs come with a set of large foundation prims? They didn't sink the foundation prims to fit the landscape.. they set the foundation prims to sit on top of the land, thus blocking the entire view.
- Another neighbor on an adjoining region enjoyed rezzing multiple automobiles with annoying repetitive sound fx, which were nearly impossible to mute.

By the second month I had tried to make the best of it and even purchased a larger plot to place my first shop. The constant eye sores and lag were unbearable. I then consolidated my land and moved to a different region away from first land regions.

As others have mentioned on the thread.. It is a good learning experience and follows a natural state of evolution. People leave or move up, land is resold into larger plots. I just wasn't going to wait around for that to happen when there are better options available.

All sims 'evolve' so to speak.

What's interesting, is that many people understand *how* and use it to their advantage - though clearly, not everyone does.


I wrote up a private document on what I'd observed with private sim properties once - I'll try to distill it in a sort of order much as Ordinal has done, here.

1) People suspect a new sim is opening, and want to be a part. Big dreams all around - in everyone's minds, this NEW sim will be *near perfect!*

2) Everyone gets together - sim features are developed, monies collected, excitement builds. Waiting with expectation for the new land...

3) The sim comes! It's all anyone can do, to keep the crowds out just so the basic infrastructure can be developed. A mad few days, then, it opens!

4) Everyone rushes in - new tenants, new friends, new visitors, new people in SL. The sim becomes an epicenter of creative activity, fun, and meeting new people. Especially at telehubs.

5) Within 2 weeks, things settle down some. Usually a microcommunity forms - an intersection of a number of existing social groups and cliques, but unique to the area. Lot of good times; people get on with their lives and the sim becomes part of the fabric of their lives. It's like First Land without the gunk.

6) Within 8 weeks, times are changing. A lot of people live 'on the edge' - they never settle down, not in one area, not even in one metaverse. They move around, they move up, sometimes they leave SL - it really varies. These 'short timers' move on, hungry longtimers take most or all of the remaining land in the sim.

7) A curious thing happens - when longtimers buy up most of a sim, they *reduce* avatar traffic to that sim. "Community is everything" is not just an expression - eventually, one or two of the long timers will get bored often due to the isolation, pick up stakes, and investigate a new experience. Usually in Caledon they enter one of our newer sims. That exodus makes room for another dozen small lots in the prior sim - and boom, the sim is revitalised. Rinse and repeat!

Just as in first life, sims are places, and develop both a character and history that simply cannot be ignored - you can feel it. A strange entanglement between iconographic places, people, ideas and events - this is the difference between 'pretty' sims, and great ones.

No-one with any sense is going to change the rules in such a way as you would feel unfairly treated - bad for business. What is important is that the rules are there, and they prevent your neighbour suddenly splittling their land into tiny parcels for spinning ads.

Land bought from anyone other than the Lindens does not require premium membership. I have a 24x30 m plot (i.e. > 512 sq m) for which I paid - I don't remember - about $L4000 I think, and I pay $L660 per week. This is for a very nice plot with protected land on two sides and a distant view of the sea.

Land bought anywhere not under control of the Lindens does not require premium membership. I have a 24x30 m plot (i.e. > 512 sq m) for which I paid - I don't remember - about $L4000 I think, and I pay $L660 per week. This is for a very nice plot with protected land on two sides and a distant view of the sea.

You're renting the land. You can only buy land by winning auctions or obtaining it using the About Land tool on a for-sale plot- or by ordering an island from the Land Store. All of those things require a membership.

Renting IS a valid option for many non-premium members.

I'm not renting the land because I can sell it.

The fact that I pay weekly tier is nothing because you ALWAYS have to do that, no matter who you buy from.

But there is also true renting where you pay no upfront fee and can't sell the land on, and this is also often good value.

This is now greatly complicated by the fact that non-premium members *can* use the 'land buy' function on private island terrain to assign their name to a parcel.

Which can still be instantly revoked, by the sim "owner's" use of the parcel reclaim feature.

It's all messy legacy stuff, from an age when the current usage of the tools today had not yet been considered. I personally don't like the word 'buy' myself; I feel it's largely deceptive.

For that matter, I don't feel like I "own" much when it comes to 195 USD/month sims - I may be generally in control, but the service agreement states that it can all be taken away, even my avatar - with little recourse.

To do business on the grid requires trust, good faith and a healthy acceptance of risk management - or you'll simply do nothing at all.

Ah, I remember hearing that estate owners could sell land but didn't understand the mechanics of it. That IS confusing from a new user perspective.

Also, since the forums seem to be working again, Desmond, I wanted to note how much I enjoyed what you said earlier about the life cycle of a mainland sim. It's true, each one has a unique history, and when I look back on my mainland experience that way (I was in that sim since day one!) I feel happy to have lived through so many landmark events in the first chapters of my old home sim's story.