residential land.... whats the point?

I dont get what the point of having a home is in second life.... i mean.. its basically a place to do nothing... o boy sounds alot like my first life.... can i buy a metaversa game in game and build a virtual virtual home too?

BORING.

I understand the need to control prims and craziness but I dont see the need to spend RL money on a home environment such as an apartment.

Some people want a place where they can sit and chat privately with a few friends. Some people just want a place where they can work (clothes, prims, whatever) undisturbed. Some people just want a place where they can do things like change clothes in privacy or go afk and not worry about being orbited or something. And well some folks... have other needs for privacy. There are lots of reasons people choose to own or rent a little land and call it home.

Even if you view SL as pure entertainment, have you never spent $10 going to a movie? People are paying for whatever their version of fun is.

The question is Neurosis, Have you played any other online MMorpg?
I am guessing not. A house is a location for storage, safe exit and to rest and craft. Since there is no death here, safe exit is pointless. But the rest is still valid. It is also a sign of social status and willingness to contribute to the environment. You are saying, I want to say here and build this up.
That is the purpose of a house.

My house is for.

Having friends over to talk semi-private

Have my AV sit around when my attention isnt on SL but i want it open for IM

nice place to discuss business

no lag home location

experiment with prims and rez

basicly a base location, just like the town u go back to for things in WoW or something..

Why? Because "Hey baby, let's go to the Morris Sandbox, rez some pose balls, and make out." is a really lousy pick-up line.

In Real Life, don't you ever have friends come over to visit? Or do you always go to their place, or try to meet them in a public place like a shopping mall? A home in SL is a place to meet with your friends, in an environment that fits your personal style.

Think about your bedroom in RL, or your house or apartment if you're old enough to have moved out of your parent's home. What do you have in it? Just a bed and a dresser for your clothes? Is your room, or your home, just a place to crash, and you spend the rest of your time out of the house, wandering the malls and streets? Or do you decorate with posters, set up a nice stereo, and make it into a place you enjoy spending your spare time in? Sure, you can just log in to SL and 'hit the streets'. You can change clothes in an alley or behind a bush or in plain sight of everyone. But most people like to have a place of their own to retreat to when their friends are not on-line, or a place to entertain friends who want to visit. And they like decorating that space to suit their tastes, to make it 'their place', and not a featureless room at the YMCA, or a cardboard box under a bridge.

When you start being more than 'just friends' with someone, you'll learn to appreciate that it's nice to have a place you can call your own, where you can lock the doors, or zip up to your personal skybox bedroom, high above any casual passers-by, and can have a little privacy, or what passes for it, to be alone with your special someone. It's nearly impossible to make out comfortably in the middle of a busy mall. You're certainly not going to get far with someone if you suggest they stand in the corner of the sandbox with you and get intimate, in front of everyone else!

I have two homes in SL, in two different sims.

One is the place I share with my 'special someone'. We decorated and built it together, on land owned by some other dear friends, and it's a place we meet with our friends for conversation, or for intimate play. Our neighbors are mostly close friends, who share in the maintainence of the area in various ways. I also have a workshop there, in a skybox, where I practice my building skills. It's far more pleasant to work in a space of your own than to try to do serious work in a crowded public sandbox. The down side of that site is that it's on a mainland sim, and I don't own the land. So I have to occasionally put up with rude strangers who walk right into my home, or even into my bedroom, as if it was a public park! People who have yet to grasp the concept that other people actually own land in SL and consider the homes they build on it to be something more private than a Taco Bell restaurant.

My other home is my 'romantic vacation get-away place'. It's a small home on a private island, with access to a huge swimming pool right next door. I have a luxurious private skybox there, where I can entertain my intimate friends, or just have a relaxing private conversation, well away from any interruptions. The setting is beautiful and romantic, with stunning sunrises and sunsets, and beautiful views every direction you look. No malls, no casinos, no laggy camping chairs - just peaceful private bungalos in an idyllic setting. And that entire sim is one I have a LOT of control over, so if someone is causing me grief there, I can assure you, they won't be for very long at all.

Now, if you have no friends and no social life in your real life, none of this may make any sense to you. But if you do have an active social life in Real Life, the reasons for having a home of your own in SL are the same reasons that in Real Life, you would prefer to have your own home or apartment, instead of living with your parents, or in a motel room. Think about it that way, and maybe it will make more sense.

Homes serve lots of functions for many different people.

One room of my home was painted up all white with prims to do ad's for the clothing I uploaded to work on, take photographs, etc. (I could change it to black if the outfit was white.)

My bedroom, is my private space to do... crossword puzzles. (I'm not sharing that info )

My living room, has a TV where I can upload URL's and play movies, so that if my SL family, friends, dates, etc. want to watch a movie together, we can.

My backyard had a jacuzzi where we could hang out and just talk. Not everyone has to have their av's busy at all times and as opposed to standing in a large area where everyone can hear, we sit and chat. I have people over in RL just like that, where we sit in the pool and talk, or will sit on my couch with no other entertainments and talk.

I rented a motel/apartment once for a month, so I could have a "Home Base" to telly to, to log on/off in...went there a couple times, found it too small to do anything with it, so I didn't renew lease.

Looked around for a bigger place pre-fab, but did't see anything worth the rent so far.

Looked for land, but found that prim limits were small for the prices on a 512 plot.

Until I have something to sell, I don't need land or a house, and I'm not on enough to run a bar or casino/slingo/bingo/tringo/sexo thing.

I have more fun spending money on entertainment rather than personal space, which isn't neccessary in SL.

I would agree with that one the most although there were several valid points made in the other replies as well. I thank you for your opinions. I must also say WOW a lot of condescending remarks in there too. lol. cmon ppl. It was just a question.

With Love and Venom,
Neurosis Sin

I use my land to explore building and textures so I don't have to go to a sandbox.
Sometimes Sandboxes are nice, sometimes there problems with them but its sort of similar to living in Second Life in really, really ugly neighborhood with all sort of cramped and crowded construction too.

And a house is just wonderful when you love decorating a house. When I in RL even mention the words "re-decorating the livingroom" murderess eyes are turned on me ^^.

In SL I can do it so often as I want, in any way I want... and maintain RL peace . Visitors say my SL is looking as a real home... well, there you have it.

And I have of course my photo-studio in my house.

For the rest a lot of the reasons to have a house in SL are already mentioned.

Morwen.

I agree with both sides. You don't need a "house", nope, you don't need an avatar or bling jewelry or chichi hair either. You asked why people have houses. They told you. You complained that you don't need that stuff.

Whoopie do. You asked a question, you got an answer. It's not like there's some limit to the total "cool" in SL, and if someone applies their low-rent whitebread "cool" to a house you get less to apply to your hot avatar.

I don't have a house. I have land, it just doesn't include a "house". I think I have the coolest meteor crater in SL, though. And the coonspiracy has the coolest rundown coonass hillbilly swampland as well. And you're welcome to come and hang out and soak up all the "cool" you want...

LOL - like others here, I have friends over, spend time with my partner. reorganize my inventory, etc. But mostly, I just love decorating Seriously, it's a sickness - and that's true in RL too. Every day that I am on I do something different with my house. It's still not right just yet...

If you dont have a place to call your own then its NOT your world, you are just in someone elses. to make SL what YOU want it to be is the biggest strength of SL.
Pretty simple really.
oh yeah, I agree with Gillian....
you get to Decorate!!!

No point in trying to convince you. You've stumbled into a place that's not to your liking... so move along. Nothing to see here.

No, that's going too far. Because, after all, all the land in SL is Linden Labs. You rent it with a big transferrable deposit.

If you *own* land, your tax bill's going to be 5% a year on the value of the land, not 10% or more a month.

A home is a place to express oneself. And isn't that what we are all doing here, anyway? I love my home here. It is a place to be quiet or to be with friends. This is a world community and I want to be a part of it. Really, the cost is minimal considering the pleasure I gain from being with my friends here in SL in my "own home."