First land - NOT

While flying around the new mainland sims i came across a few parcels for sale by a resident that are marked "qualifying as first land" but priced around 14.1 per meter.

So for any new people reading this, these parcels are NOT first land. First land is always 512 meter parcels, priced at 1 linden per meter. If you buy these plots you will lose your entitlement to buy proper Linden first land.

Discussion with the owner was umm "interesting". The upshot was that is really isnt first land at all, and that you dont pay tier on the first 512 you hold. So this land that qualifies as first land really isnt any different to land being sold by any other resident.

If you are a premium member and are looking out for First Land make sure that it is selling for no more than 512 lindens and that it is being sold by a linden or it wont be nearly such a good deal as you hope.

Thanks for that Torsten. If that land baron is still using the term First Land after your conversation I'd be tempted to Abuse Report him. One report won't do much good but if everyone who gets hoodwinked into giving up their option of 512$ for their first plot sends one the Lindens might get off their rear ends and do something to stop what is effectively fraud.

If the land is not being sold by governor linden then it isn't first land. period.

Who's doing this??

There are several, if not many, people using the name "First Land" to attract attention. Right now I'm standing on a nice First Land lot and they only want $L9600! I'd like to think people are too smart for this, but there are several of the lots in this section that have been sold.

What I did to get real first land was to pull up the Land Sales menu and look ONLY under First Land. When it finally started showing (around 2pm mountain time) only 1 or 2 were available at a time and if you didn't act quickly they were gone. After looking at a couple and realizing that I didn't have time to really get a feel for the lot, I just jumped at the first one I could. Don't get your expectation too high, you're not likely to get a great lot, but it's a start and the price is right.

PS: How's it going Rock

Perhaps this type of scam wouldn't occur quite so often if Linden Labs or whomever is in charge of First Land, actually released some every now and then. It's hard to distinguish the difference when you are a brand new player and the First Land that is talked about doesn't ever exist. I can see how they would fall for this type of scam. It's very unfortunate and wrong.

errr isn't there a tab in the land listings to only bring up just first land?

use that if you are looking for first land (i did once upon oo it seems long ago now when first land resolt for 3k .. and that was a lot..) if you dont see first land listed when you use the first land listing only its not first land.

Also a lot of people buy first land and immediately put it back up for sale not realizing or knowing how to change the name of the land and it still says first land on it (seen that often) so use that first land listing in the sorter and you will never ever be fooled by these "look alikes" ever

I have seen that often also. This was a new sim with mainly 1024 plots. The ones being I was talking about had a sign on the land with text hovering above that said "qualifies as First Land". As far as i am concerned it was an attempt to cash in on the shortage of genuine First Land.

They say First Land is limited and it goes quickly. My question is this, why is it so limited?
Why don't they offer more first land? I have yet to see an explanation offered from LL about this, that's why this is a geniune question. Thanks for any help, I had no idea whom else to ask.

And just how is a brand new premium member supposed to know that? I've been premium for a year now and I didn't know that the name did not change and I own my original first land to this day............and I don't know how to change it either. I would have never thought that it might still be listed as first land. If that is, in fact, what's happening, then it's just another lack on LL's part of even attempting to protect it's residents from fraud.

It's anarchy here folks.............every man (or woman) for him/herself!! Geeze.......what a shame.

Re: "I don't know how to change it either"

Double click the parcel name at the top of the screen to bring up the About Land dialog. Or right click the ground and select About Land from the pie menu. Then type your desired parcel name and description in the fields labeled Name and Description.

Brooke, the reason is that land is overpriced at the moment, making it profitable for scumbags to create multiple premium acccounts for 1 month to scam the first land program. LL has said that they are working on a new system to put a stop to the first land scamming, which is probably why the delay in releasing more first land. When they have a system in place to keep the program from being abused, there should be more first land available.

My point is..............why should that be an issue. How is the average user supposed to know to do that? Maybe there should be a big red text block on the premium upgrade or sign up page that states:

Beware, you are on your own with any transaction or deal you have in Second Life. Be sure to research all avenues (Blogs, FAQ's, Knowledge Base, Forums and any other venue of communications you might find) before doing any business in this virtual world. There are cheats, thieves and con artists that we cannot control.........it's your responsibilty to defend yourselves."

Wonder how many would continue with that warning? Yeah you do need to defend yourself from the internet........and most anyone knows that. But in a virtual world that is tauted as a place to "dream your dreams and make them come true" you would think there is some sort of safe guards to at least make the crooks work at their deception. LL has none of that..........it's "too much trouble" and they are "cutting edge technology" Well, cutting edge don't mean crap if you don't have security so your "cutting edge" residents can survive in your "cutting edge" world.

It's just plain stupidity.

The average user should be familiar with basic land principles, which are spelled out in numerous notecards, webpages and tutorials. Granted, some things are not intuitive, but if you don't take the time to know about the thing you invest your time and money into, you are asking for a world of hurt. See what happened to Garry.

This is the internet..............no doubt about it. And any internet user needs to excerise caution on any dealings used within the invironment of this vast open network. However, SL is a program within the that vast network..........just like my online banking that I use over this vast open internet. If you don't attempt to protect your users with some kind of safeguards you are negligent. White wash it all you want.............LL is failing in their responsibilities to even offer remedial protection. Once one gets here and learns the total lack of security of the users property (money, content, and personal information) then you can say........."Do the research first". But LL doesn't put that up front and new people coming on don't know that.

Notecards, blog posts, forum posts? How many of you actually think the average person pays more than just a passing notice of of notecards? Geeze, I recieved so many notecards when I came in. I read or skimmed a few........but most are just BS so no study on my part at all. Like how many really read the "privacy policy" in any online program? I mean read and take notes before you install? How about those EULA's you have an option to read and study (even required to check off that you really did)? Think about it....... LOL

It's a cop out to say..........oops, your problem, you should have known better. We gave you the notecard.

Security is non existant at LL. I know that.....you know that........but does the new premium member know that? Some might I'm very careful with security (as I think some of you are) but not everyone is as cynical as we are. We trust LL not to give us virus' and worms (and back that up with antivirus software), we trust LL not to let hackers in our machines (and back that up with firewalls) and we trust LL not to allow scammers and thieves take our belongings...........and back it up with what?

My point.............WITH WHAT? There's nothing but a few notecards.

scumbags? .... really???
thats a really awful word... i hate to hear what adjectives you reserve for real criminals.

I know it's not for me LOL...................but "douche bag"?

Now........ please define "real crimimals"

The average person will lose money on investments precisely because they don't take the time to read and do their homework. If you treat the business aspects of this game like a serious business, then it is incumbent upon you to do your due diligence and understand what you are getting into. If you treat it like a game, be prepared to get a nasty surprise when dealing with complex games such as this.

So...............simply buying "First Land" as advertised as a benefit of becoming premium is a business venture? And by buying land you are no longer just someone who is playing the game? And you loose a substantial amout of lindens by playing the game?

I'm not talking about investors........they are an entirely different breed here in SL. Just the simple dummy like me playing and trying to have fun. Buying land is part of it. Would you say the same thing about buying hair or shoes or dresses.........and someone scammed you? Would you think.........oh well, I should have been more careful? Or I should have known? I mean, it's my fault because some notecard giver gave me a notecard back in Orientation Isl..............and lagging place that is so confusing.

Apples and oranges............you are not listening (or reading) to me. It's the new player who's getting ripped off and your "excuses" just further the problem

Geeze what's so hard to understand? It's a game to most people here.........regardless of what some may say. You rip your base off and you are done as a game...............AND AS A BUSINESS. And if Linden Labs allows that to happen without attempting to curb it they will go down too.

Scamming First Land is wrong.......we all know that. But what can be done to stop it? Notecards? Shrugging your shoulders and saying "gee, that's too bad....learn from your experience"? But that is what I'm hearing here.............that won't keep Second Life alive for long. Get real............most are not research artists. Most don't want to spend that time to PLAY a game...............yeah businesses will, but the average player isn't here for business. That player is here for fun..........and cheat him/her and they won't have fun. No fun, no stay.

I am not going to mince any words - I have no sympathy for people who choose not to read or seek information. When it comes to land, you should know what you get into because it's not simple. When you get scammed, you get scammed - but if what occurred is really a misunderstanding because you refused to pull your head out of your rectum and didn't get up to speed on how things work, well I'm sorry your feelings are hurt but you chose to learn the hard way.

I only used scumbags because this is a PG forum. The word I would have preferred to use would make a New Jersey Teamster blush. People who rip-off the first land program of SL deserve a special place in hell, right next to the freebie resellers.

And, by the way, last time I checked, fraud was still considered a criminal activity....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud

Hi Peggy, I agree and sympathise with your anger over newbies getting ripped off. A disappointment early in their SL life and many won't stay.

New account holders have ample opportunity to read or hear about the present problems with scamming. Anyone reading LLs own info on the Premium Account pages should read and deduce that anything priced higher than 512L$ for 512sm is not First Land.

There is the information to hand but like RL you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink - I personally know a RL System Administrator who's been Premium for about three weeks now and didn't know about stipend!! I meet newbies who ask things that were made clear in Orientation.

The game/community debate is a lengthy one. Those who regard SL a game can and often do get by with that image but for many of us this is a community. You can sanitise a game. Remove all abilities for people to misbehave, filter or axe actions and generally reduce the application to just another box on the shelf. In a community you have to just like RL put up with the bad guys. In chat you can mute them, walk away, teleport but you can't remove them.

Scumbags, miscreants, capitalists, opportunists, call them what you will .. they're people .. in a community. Life's tough ... and property is not the only way people can get hurt here.