Solution? If only.

After two great years in Second Life, I find myself today feeling very down and seriously considering just walking away from the lot of it.

A few weeks ago when the 'great island rush' was on, I seriously considered it. I have always had the dream of an island, I have been paying the $195 tier for over 6 months anyway.

The orginally declared cut off date arrived. I had not been able to raise enough cash to purchase one right then, and a lot of land in the sim where my main shop is went up for sale that morning. So I decided to go for it. Tupi is a beautiful sim, the shop would be a pig to move and having owned 90% of a sim in the past (Fujin) and not having any issues there, I thought - yeah, go for it. Of course, had I known that later that same day the deadline would be extended, well, I would have waited, I could have got the money in another day or so

But I didn't know. I thought I was doing the best thingI could in the circumstances.

I guess I was blessed in Fujin. It is a very protected sim and the neighbors there were wonderful. Here in Tupi I am stressed and unhappy

I wanted so much to build some pretty little 'villages' here, somewhere that would not only show case our prefabs, but more importantly (for me) make somewhere pleasent and interesting for people to explore.

Well, I now feel like I am wasting my time trying to make a mainland sim look good

Neighboring sims are awash with loud, revolving adverts - does anyone really use these to find shops, btw? - I continually have odd things flying through the shop, the latest is a black cross that moves too fast to 'catch' and identify the source. Some neighbors appear to have abandoned their lands, leaving odd prims and upside down vehicles. Oh, and what about the prim which crosses on to my land but is centred on someone elses? I have asked them nicely to remove it, no reply of course.

I was so happy landscaping away, now I just feel like it is no longer worth the effort. With continual grief from 'unverifieds', issues like copybot and the fornightly update/week of isses which follows, well, I just feel thoroughly fed up with it all.

And you know what really stinks? I will never get my island. Not ever. Even if I earnt enough here to cover the tier I would feel bitter knowing I was paying a whopping 50% more than friends who already have islands.

I honestly thought I could make a mainland sim look nice for other residents. Well, i was wrong. If you don't have an island you are totally f*cked.

My question? What is the point now? I will never get an island, Tupi will always be surrounded by people who think that garish banners and abandoned bits of houses are a good thing for the community. My apologies for ranting, I know it will make no difference.
I live on the mainland, I don't count anyway.

Wow, that's some strong words from a long time resi, Elgyfu.

I'm sorry to hear how you feel and I totally understand. Good luck whether you choose to stay or move on.

If it's any consolation, they're probably panicing that their costs could go up at any moment. LL have very pointedly avoided ever suggesting that the existing island price will last forever.

I'm sorry to hear about yoru stress. The "flying cross" sounds like a bug I reported earlier this week. A person's spotlight halfway through the neighboring sim was flying through mine (and 4 others). I don't blame the owner here (I did IM her and am awaiting a response), I blame LL on this last update. They obviously broke something(s) and need to fix them.

Knowing this might not relieve the stress, but I thought you might like to know.

As for the trash...I think we Residents need to get a colition together to petition and force LL to actually police the lands for such junk. We're paying for it, we should make the rules.

And I agree, the ad signs are jsut stupid in a virtual world. I personaly avoid any and all buisnesses in SL who have any such ads not on the sight of thier buisness (ie those dumb 16m plots)

~Jessy

Hey, Elgyfu, I'm sorry to hear you've had such a bad time with this. The island situation does suck, for a lot of people-- but it sounds to me like you did make the best decision you could at the time, under those circumstances.

Not everybody on the mainland is interested in big revolving ads-- my group recently bought land in Kishijoten, right next door to Fujin, and we've planted a forest. It's a lovely and relaxing place. Come have a look sometime, you can't miss it.

If it helps any, I don't think time spent beautifying the mainland is ever wasted. Every bit of beauty that's added is one more piece that won't be occupied by an ad; it might not seem like a lot on its own, but little by little, it adds up. The more people who see a beautiful mainland build and enjoy it, the more who are inspired to build something nice of their own.

Take a break if you need to-- this is a stressful enough time of year as it is! Good luck to you, whatever you decide to do.

Elgyfu?

If it's any consolation, your flying cross thing is likely a malfunctioning temp-on-rez rezzer. I spent an hour yesterday trying to track down a high-speed object moving through one of my resident's parcels - below ground level! We still haven't 'caught' it, but we did manage to screen shot and ID it. The darned thing is a fish that I recognized as being one that a temp-on-res rezzer on the other side of the sim should be making! I placed that rezzer, and it shouldn't move fast, or go any more than 3 meters from the rezzer. I'm still trying to locate it precisely, to see if a script reset will fix it.

The other problems you report are one of the biggest reasons I am never likely to go Premium or own Mainland property. As long as the Lindens continue their "hands off" policy on most of the trouble there, it's less desirable than anything I care to imagine. No matter how hard you work, no matter how well you build, the vandal hoardes remain camped on the edges of your lands... *sigh*

Hi Elgyfu, also sorry to hear of your misery. Do you have auto-return on? It should remove anything that enters your space. I accidently pushed a fireplace through my wall and across the boundary and pow, it disappeared lol to find it returned to inventory.

Wow, sounds like some thoughts I had recently. My account is also nearing its second birthday, and I've been feeling rather disillusioned with SL lately, especially with the number of people who had to have a Linden Blog posting describing how to explore SL, combined with the massive number of islands which are access-restricted.

As for beautifying the mainland, all I can say is try not to give up on it. I spent a year and a half building a lush forest on the mainland, and while it never received much in the way of appreciative visitors or praise, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Now, I'm moving to an island, despite the cost increases, and while I'm looking forward to having better creative control of the land (my builds have been more artwork to me than anything else), I still feel bad about moving. What's going to happen to my old sims? Will I ever be able to come back? Am I selling out for moving?

In the end, I contend that the mainland isn't for everyone, and owning an island isn't for everyone. I've seen a lot of builds on islands that look like they belong on the mainland, and vice versa. I haven't really seen your project, but hopefully it'll all work out.

And if nothing else, be patient. Keep your eyes open for neighbouring plots that go up for sale or revert to Linden control. Try to make friends with your friendly neighbours, it'll help you stay positive if you have someone nearby to discuss these things with. And, watch for large parcels to go up for sale at reasonable prices, it does happen occasionally. Also, talk to a group like the Arbor Project, they may be able to land a hand with things like getting rid of advertising parcels and the like.

Sadly, that only works if the root prim in the linkset is on your property. It is possible to grief others by linking a large object and moving the bulk over property lines while leaving the root on your side, auto-return or other methods will not work, either the other person has to co-operate or LL has to get involved.

Thank you all for posting - and for shaking me out of my doldrums. (ooh, think that is the first time I have ever used that word!)

I don't have an island - true. But I do have lots of beautiful land and am very lucky to have that. And you guys are quite right, instead of bemoaning things I can not change (and which are affecting people with very small amounts of land a lot worse than they are me), well, I am going to just do the best I can to make what I have as nice as I can.

Thank you all - you have reminded me what it is that makes Second Life such a wonderful place - the people *big hugs*

*dashes off to continue planting trees and pushing cottages about*

*sings*

We are the world... we are the children....

Hi, Elgyfu.

I recntly got discouraged and sold my big plot of mainland. My poor little sim had become so laggy it was impossible-- but if I could find good neighbors I might try it again. Maybe I will see what comes available near you. *smile*

Elgyfu I feel your pain as my journey has been somewhat like yours. I guess I am just stupid but I thought if I created places that were nice and peaceful that others in the same mainland sim would somehow get the idea and follow along. Boy was I wrong!

My natural environments in every sim were soon surrounded by revolving sex, shop and club signs in the sky. After toughing it out for years I said "screw it". If SL residents value ugliness more than beauty them let them have it. If people like living in junkyards then let them live in their piles of trash.

I sold all of my land, reduced my tier to 512, and, along with my partner, found a wonderful 1032 plot in Griffin that doesn't have a single shop or club in it!!!! Whether by accident or design the residents in Griffin have created a wooded sim with nothing but cottages and a few castles.

Don't give up hope. You don't have to buy an island to be happy.

Hi Whimsy, there's a 512 plot near my home in Jamma jamma going for 6000$ I believe.
A little south of that, there's a plot of Lhorentso's that he might consider selling. It has a small forest on it at the moment and I've met three of his immediate neighbours - all nice folk