Anshe's Dreamland Beginners Program

Does anyone have any experience with this program. Seems like a good deal, but the Anshe representative didn't provide much info.

Has anyone done this, and if so, what did you think?

Giving negative feedback to the subject you are asking about would be considered a bannable violation of the SL rules.

You cannot get an honest, complete answer to your question here.

That seems bizarre. I thought the whole point of the forums was to allow users to share their experiences of the game.

I neither write the rules nor enforce them, just describe'em as best I know how.

Personally, and indirectly, I have no knowledge of the named firm. But I expect that any firm with 100+ customers has at least one that isn't thrilled. Alas, they cannot say that here. There are third party fan sites where one could answer freely; just not on LL owned forums.

I find the policy odd too, but it does keep flamewars down a tad.

I don't have any experience of this programme either. I can see that the rules are aimed at preventing competitors calumniating one another. And I suppose that makes sense.

On the other hand, I can read no-holds barred accounts of non-SL products all over these forums. It's seems that the PR guys for the service and product providers in SL have an easier time of it than their RL counterparts!

Seems to me that anyone as smart as Anshe Chung has a reason to purchase a sim at $1,675US with a tier of $295US and then to sell it at a loss both in land price and tier cost. (I realize that technically she still owns the land.)

I'm not looking for a discussion on ethics, just an opinion of people who are familiar with the program.

If no one is familiar with the program, then that in itself probably answers my question.

First Land is always your best bet. Contrary to popular belief, if you work at it, it IS possible to find. People fuss, but it's always been hard to get. It was no easier when I started. Not only is it a good deal, but it will give you some experience with whether or not it's worth it to have land at all. And how much you will need to make the kind of things you really want.

If there's a "loss leader" program, it's probably because most people don't stay at the smaller tiers and will be moving up, probably with a private island company they already know. I am really happy with my "rental" property and if we were going to a larger tier, we'd almost certainly stay with the same people.

(I'm not sure about the rules. I suspect there's a difference between saying the positive and negatives of a particular program and saying "SO and so is a big poopyhead."

Not speaking to the specific land trader, but traders in general: I think part of the misunderstanding is the use of the phrase "sell it at a loss" which isn't the same as "sell" as we understand it.

I tend to think of it this way: these properties are sublets of land that a land merchant rents from LL (tier) and sublets to other players. If you view the "sale" price like "points" or "commission". The sublet fee should at least cover the tier and the "points" are pure profit.

I don't buy or sell land; I don't know what the relevant numbers are. However, this is much like the tried-and-true "sell the razors below cost and make up for it in perpetual, continunal, captive blade sales". Someone more versed in the land market plase correct me.

I wouldn't read "lack of comment" as being "lack of familiarity" just "concern about running afoul of the rules" or "a tiny fraction of SL players use the forums". Good luck.

Unfortunately, the line is not even close to that clear and has quite a lot to do with how active the named player is in reporting any mention of their product or service.

Now what is it here that reminds me of printer manufacturers hmm?

In the light of a new day it came to me what she is doing. One smart gal!!!

So, are you going to enlighten us?

If the island was bought before mid november, the cost was 1275 adn 195 tier fees guaranteed till end of December 2007. So, they don't actually loose.

And also there are some islands (don't know how it occured) that had less prims capacity. I suppose their costs are different also. SO don't be surprised when they can afford to rent at cheap prices, lower than what we think their cost is.

No idea for the spesific program.

Only generally three reasons to own real estate:

1) Own your own home, ranch, business, or whatever you use as a primary function.

2) Obtain a passive income (like rental property), which is work, and best combined with number 3.

3) Invest for the future, and nice to have some income even at a loss.

She is doing the third with this program, plus she is developing clients. The cost of the land and tier she should reasonably recover within a couple of years. If land cost rise, which they should do over the long haul, she has a nifty profit. (The next question is whether SL is the next E-bay or AOL and only time will tell. Personally I believe it has a much greater chance of being an E-Bay)

"Give away the razor and sell the blades".

Not exactly new.

A brief recap for those of joining the program in progress:
On October 29, 2006, it was announced that the purchase cost and monthly tier for private islands would be raised by a whopping 50% from the previous $1250 upfront and $195 monthly tier to the new upfront cost of $1675 with $295 monthly tier.

Panic ensued.

Shortly after the announcement, it was revealed that a few "special" customers had been given advance notice prior to the rest of us. Cue the pitchforks and torches. Originally there were going to be 100 final sims available at the old price starting at 1 pm on Nov 1st and when they were gone, they were gone. Cue more uproar over the fact that there was no limit on the number of sims an individual could buy, thus somebody with extremely deep pockets could take almost all of them in one fell swoop. Eventually, LL relented to the rioting in the streets and allowed the final "buy" of island sims to extend from Nov 1 to Nov 15 and they promised they would fill all orders made during this time at the old price.

When the dust finally settled and the credit cards maxxed out, over 1000 islands were ordered.

LOL is this why some of the 'streets' are still just grass?

Yup

To understand what has been happening in the land market for the past 3 months, you have to understand what happened in the 2.5 weeks between Oct 29 and Nov 15.

Would you be kind enough to enlighten us?

I did

See my post at the top of the page. One can assume that Anshe ordered a butt-load of sims between Nov 1 and Nov 15 (like many people) with the intention of reselling them later at a profit. These will be sims purchased at the old price of $1250 with $195 a month tier.

Nope. Thats why parts of it keep closing. :/

I will say I've dealt with this specific land baron before on several ocasions and I don't trust or like their practices.

Bleh, what Yiffle Yaffle said

avoid Anshe Chung / Dreamland like the plague!

Buy land the proper way (ie. where the estate owners are Linden Labs) and have real control & freedom - believe me you do not want Anshe Chung as your landlords!!!

It's not worth it for the sake of saving a few dollars!!

There are many, many happy residents of Dreamland, as you can see just by taking a look at the properties Dreamland holds.

And there are a few people who weren't happy with it.

The very same thing could be said about Azure Islands, where I live. There are many, many happy residents, and a few people who weren't happy with it.

Responses in this thread are making Dreamland sound sinister, which it absolutely is not.

Chances are very good you would be quite happy there. If you feel you don't have enough information about Dreamland, just keep asking.

There is also at least one other setup similar to Azure Islands and Dreamland (I just can't remember the name of it/them now).

coco

I know exactly the incident Yiffy is referring to, and I can't say I blame her.

She's not exactly the most loved person, and if her Wikipedia article was in the state I'd seen it in before, I'd've linked to it.

Edit: Checking the history in the article actually surprises me. I'd always thought she went overboard over a smaller piece of land, but here she was wanting THAT much? No wonder the changes that went on then happened.