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First Land

cHex Losangeles
Registered User
Join date: 24 Nov 2006
Posts: 370
11-25-2006 17:08
The First Land policy seems to be that First Land is added "almost daily," at various times throughout the day, and that they try to make sure First Land is always available (even though it may sometimes run out).

However, my own experiences this week (and I am a newbie, so that's all I have to go on) in-world and browsing these forums is that it isn't available. Available daily? I've been on several days in a row looking. Introduced at various times? I've spent literally hours at a time--sometimes 8-hour stretches, searching for First Land every 5-10 minutes.

My question for you veterans is this: can you tell me about First Land availability so I know how to play over however long it takes before I get some land? Should I just log on every few days and see if there's any First Land yet, then select a nice parcel if I see one? (Implies the stated policy is correct, and we are experiencing a little blip in what normally happens.) Should I not really bother looking, maybe start shopping for some inexperience land through regular methods, but if I do see some available snatch it up regardless of location? (Implies my experiences this week are normal, and First Land, if it is ever available, sells out almost as quickly as it shows up.) Or is there some other helpful information you can give that will help me not feel silly later on for what I was thinking now?

Thanks,

cHex Losangeles
Kitty Barnett
Registered User
Join date: 10 May 2006
Posts: 5,586
11-25-2006 17:25
They're still struggling to fill the orders for all the private islands from before November 15th so I would think that first land is very much a low priority right now :(.

I'd guess that what they really mean is that existing abandoned parcels are getting cut up into 512m² slices and that those are offered up as first land again.

A new sim would have 128 first land parcels and I can't imagine there are quite that many people looking for first land on a constant basis.

(Edited to point out that once you either deed your tier to a group, or buy any other kind of land, you forfeit your chance at first land. So make sure you consider that and weigh whether it's worth waiting or not before you actually buy something else. Someone else might be able to indicate whether buying land on a private sim will affect first land mainland or not)
Betty Barracuda
Say what?
Join date: 3 Nov 2006
Posts: 33
11-25-2006 18:05
First land release seems to be pretty random but I have seen them. Saw some last night actually while browing land sales. Maybe 10 lots of so.

When I puchased my First Land a few weeks ago, I found it by entering 512sq/m and 512L$ in the search filters. I had read on the forums that this sometimes yielded more results than looking only under First Land in the Land Search. And it did! Ended up looking at about 8-10 lots and found one I liked. You can shop around a bit, so you don't have to settle for a plot surrounded by huge walls and no access! But don't think about it too too long though because they will be gone if you wait til the next day.

Good luck and don't give up! It's a good deal so it's worth being patient.
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Osprey Therian
I want capslocklock
Join date: 6 Jul 2004
Posts: 5,049
11-25-2006 18:36
I just looked and there's some right now.
Seola Sassoon
NCD owner
Join date: 13 Dec 2005
Posts: 1,036
11-25-2006 19:10
There is some being put up right now, but won't last long.

Land barons are already on it... new accounts created today, join up the group, buy the land, and give it to the group, leave the group... repeat.
Yumi Murakami
DoIt!AttachTheEarOfACat!
Join date: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 6,860
11-25-2006 20:29
From: Seola Sassoon

Land barons are already on it... new accounts created today, join up the group, buy the land, and give it to the group, leave the group... repeat.


Except you need to be Premium to buy first land, which means you must have used a credit card, and only 3(?) accounts can be created from the same card I think?
Winter Ventura
Eclectic Randomness
Join date: 18 Jul 2006
Posts: 2,579
11-25-2006 20:43
it's not hard to justify that though.. with cheap prepaid creditcards available at your local grocery store. Plunk down $20 for a credit card, spend 10 on the account, spend 10 on lindens, shunt all that money to the group at the same time you shunt the land... you get the land at SIGNIFICANTLY below market value, and $10 USD in lindens.. all for $20 USD.

And as far as I know, you can buy prepaid credit cards online (like calling cards).. since you don't need the physical card, just the numbers and balance.
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Seola Sassoon
NCD owner
Join date: 13 Dec 2005
Posts: 1,036
11-25-2006 20:58
From: Yumi Murakami
Except you need to be Premium to buy first land, which means you must have used a credit card, and only 3(?) accounts can be created from the same card I think?


There was a good post I can't find right now, but it short was something like this:

Get a junk credit card, or prepaid.

Plop on some cash, enough to pay for 512L first land and a month premium.

Get the 512, for 512, resell to the other premium people who want the free 512 land and not pay tier and didn't realize that first land pricing was only at the time, resell for 5k, cash out extra money from the card, deed the land to group, leave the group, cancel premium.

This nets about... roughly 16-17 bucks. Premium for one month is only 10, plus 300 a week stipends, not to mention the initial 250 for getting 'verified'. In one month you spend a total of 12 bucks and get back around $26USD. 14 bucks sounds piddly, but some of that land is up for sale that was just there tonight as first land for 6kL and some was already bought for that.

If you do this maybe 10 times a day... 140 bucks a day, or in short for about 30 minutes of work... $980USD a week, all for only an investment of about 84 bucks.

Open registration has only compounded the problem, because now there's no need to do anything for anything except have a card number, not even spend time registering hundreds of email accounts.
Dr Tardis
Registered User
Join date: 3 Nov 2005
Posts: 426
11-25-2006 21:19
Ahh. The good ol' Land Baron controversy.

I don't mind the LB's that buy an entire sim and then re-sell the plots, but taking advantage of FL is pretty low.
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Seola Sassoon
NCD owner
Join date: 13 Dec 2005
Posts: 1,036
11-25-2006 23:54
From: Dr Tardis
Ahh. The good ol' Land Baron controversy.

I don't mind the LB's that buy an entire sim and then re-sell the plots, but taking advantage of FL is pretty low.


I feel the same way.

Hey, you want to buy a sim and split it sure, but taking away land as soon as it opens to make a profit off a program that's meant to help new land owners... blah to them!
cHex Losangeles
Registered User
Join date: 24 Nov 2006
Posts: 370
11-26-2006 00:30
Thanks people. I got in this evening and was able to buy my little plot of heaven. A special thanks for the 512/512 search suggestion--the plot I selected was only found using this method.

The bulk of plots offered were "landlocked," meaning they were completely surrounded by other privately-owned land. I wanted something with public land next to it, and the piece I found was on the side of a hill and adjacent to a long strip of Linden Maintenance land uphill (the strip was a steep slope, so presumably it's considered unbuildable). (Actually, some of the other plots also were adjacent to Linden Maintenance land, but it looked to me like Linden could easily subdivide those areas and sell for building...in fact, those new First Land plots could have been Linden Maintenance land yesterday).

cHex
Annisetta Anadyr
Registered User
Join date: 16 Nov 2006
Posts: 20
11-26-2006 00:32
From: Dr Tardis
Ahh. The good ol' Land Baron controversy.

I don't mind the LB's that buy an entire sim and then re-sell the plots, but taking advantage of FL is pretty low.



I managed to grab a bit of first land, had to stay up till 2 in the morning to even get into the sim it was on, there were people running constantly into the edges of the sim trying to get in! Luckily there were enough parcels of land available.

Two days later there are a few houses with people working on them. Most of the space is taken up by for sale and rent signs. Looks like a junk yard already with some sale signs looking like skyscrapers and others shooting cones of light into the sky to get attention. Having said that, I have a house either side of me, one small for sale sign behind me and a bit of wasteland (so far) in front, so it's not too bad :)
Seola Sassoon
NCD owner
Join date: 13 Dec 2005
Posts: 1,036
11-26-2006 01:00
From: Annisetta Anadyr
I managed to grab a bit of first land, had to stay up till 2 in the morning to even get into the sim it was on, there were people running constantly into the edges of the sim trying to get in! Luckily there were enough parcels of land available.

Two days later there are a few houses with people working on them. Most of the space is taken up by for sale and rent signs. Looks like a junk yard already with some sale signs looking like skyscrapers and others shooting cones of light into the sky to get attention. Having said that, I have a house either side of me, one small for sale sign behind me and a bit of wasteland (so far) in front, so it's not too bad :)


That's nice to hear that at least a few parcels went to good use! :)

Glad you was able to snag up a few meters for yourself! :D

Too bad the area is semi wasteland with all that crappy advertising. A few days is about right once the land changes hands a few times. Usually seems to either buy up right away to the main company, or gets sold for 1L to several avs several times to messy up a paper trail.
cHex Losangeles
Registered User
Join date: 24 Nov 2006
Posts: 370
11-26-2006 01:02
Yeah, I noticed that the two main large blocks of First Land available today (in Yamma Yamma and Walcha Plain) were near or adjacent to large swathes of 512 m2 plots all marked "for sale" with identical signs...I wondered at the time if those were the last batch of First Land and had already been turned over to the moguls. Now I'm guessing they were bought by real-estate barons in the first place via throw-away accounts.

Couldn't anybody in SL do what the barons are doing--e.g. establish a few throw-away accounts, get their First Land, then sell the land cheap to themselves? And what happens if the barons do this indefinitely--buying up the bulk of First Land several times a week as it is available--won't that make a glut of such land plots on the market, driving prices down, and leaving the barons with tier fees for longer periods?

Anyway...this thread will be most helpful to others in my position if people would address the original question. When First Land is in short supply, what would YOU do? Just wait a few days and check again to see what is available? Be picky and wait a few weeks if need be until a nice plot turned up available? Just buy something if it's available, even if it has nothing special to distinguish it from the surrounding grid? Camp the Search window for hours or days and snatch up the first thing you see? I want to know, lol.

cHex
Maia (M) 161, 193, 116
Seola Sassoon
NCD owner
Join date: 13 Dec 2005
Posts: 1,036
11-26-2006 01:09
From: cHex Losangeles
Yeah, I noticed that the two main large blocks of First Land available today (in Yamma Yamma and Walcha Plain) were near or adjacent to large swathes of 512 m2 plots all marked "for sale" with identical signs...I wondered at the time if those were the last batch of First Land and had already been turned over to the moguls. Now I'm guessing they were bought by real-estate barons in the first place via throw-away accounts.


Wonder no more, it's as it looks.

From: someone
Couldn't anybody in SL do what the barons are doing--e.g. establish a few throw-away accounts, get their First Land, then sell the land cheap to themselves? And what happens if the barons do this indefinitely--buying up the bulk of First Land several times a week as it is available--won't that make a glut of such land plots on the market, driving prices down, and leaving the barons with tier fees for longer periods?


Absolutely, but alot of people don't want to bother for just a small parcel as it were. However, lots of people who buy land don't know about the first land program and just know they get thier 512m free with premium, so they set about looking for land, pay the big price and find out about 512 first land, but can never ever get it because they bought land anyways. If you take a look and try the search out, there are hundreds of 512 plots, with prices from 4k through 7k depending on location.

From: someone
Anyway...this thread will be most helpful to others in my position if people would address the original question. When First Land is in short supply, what would YOU do? Just wait a few days and check again to see what is available? Be picky and wait a few weeks if need be until a nice plot turned up available? Just buy something if it's available, even if it has nothing special to distinguish it from the surrounding grid? Camp the Search window for hours or days and snatch up the first thing you see? I want to know, lol.

cHex
Maia (M) 161, 193, 116


You just have to keep checking and tping. Like tonight when I decided to observe what was going on, I tped to the only first land available, which Guy Linden was there and announced he was opening land in Too... Too... Toobamagoo (hell I don't remember now).

I tped there and as he opened each parcel of land it was bought within seconds by several real people and MANY MANY more accounts created on 11/25 which deeded it to a group, left the group and left being online. I won't name groups, but needless to say when I did go shopping for my 512, I tried to avoid something like that, but alas, each single parcel within 4-5kL was from Land Barons.....