now i remember why i hated mainland

In the year and a half, I've lived on the mainland, I've had three casino/clubs in my sim within spitting distance of my house.

I'm waiting for this third one to die now too. *shrugs* They never last on those small plots because they cost more money than they make.

~Jessy

LOL. OK. Thanks.

The problem is not just one alleged troll; it is a widespread mean-spiritedness. You state an opinion that disagrees with mine, therefore I sic the dogs on you and sharpen my long knives. Island vs. mainland is a case in point: Each has its advantages, each has its problems. It is useful to compare them and debate them. It is not useful to demonize each other.

The one exception, for me, is when it becomes obvious someone is posting in bad faith - either they are a troll, or worse, they are intellectually dishonest or outright lying to advance an agenda. I don't hesitate to unload on such because they are a detriment to the forums in particular and IMO subtract from the sum total of human knowledge in general. But I am not seeing any clear case of either in this thread. What I am seeing is some people just itching to break out their flamethrowers. It's an interesting subject to discuss, and lots of people learn a lot from tuning in, so can people maybe cool down a bit and discuss without foaming at the mouth?

[Wanders off looking for buckets of cold water to splash on combatants.]

Thanks, Har. /me sufficiently splashed. I suppose I didn't see the merits of starting up a new anti-mainland thread when such a post could have been tacked on to the many that already exist, and yes, I was likely incorrect in my assumption. So I do sincerely apologize to the OP and anyone else who is offended by my remarks.

/me returns to cat basket and will avoid remarking in these types of threads again unless something constructive comes to mind.

The wreck must've happened before the train reached Kishijoten, then... we have very cool neighbors, and we're not surrounded by casinos or huge ads or anything. I think the difference is that everybody in our 'neighborhood' is planning to be there long term, so we're all very careful about building something attractive that'll stand the test of time. True, there are a lot of areas on the mainland that are full of ads and the like... that just means the rest of us have to build even more attractive things on the mainland, to crowd out the ads.

Ya, had dat too. Two of em over time. None of 'em ever ever have done well. They last for a bit, then fail. Same with attempts to have stores in the region I'm in. Right now, one plot has a small (4096m) "mall" with no vendors rented out an a lucky chair filled with freebies. Totally out of place in a largely residential (counting the rental beach homes next-door) region.

They never last there, an dat makes me happy.

Mari

Okay...here's my beef. I hung around orientation island (the old one) for a LONG time as a noob...visited a few really cool places folks had told me about...but foolishly, never took the time for a walk-around on most of the mainland before I decided to become a Premium member.
In almost every picture of SL that's "out front" - there are NO depictions of the casinos, malls, spinning ad farms, discarded cr*p from sloppy builders, zombie camping chair clusters, and pron-pasted prim boards for adult websites. I rapidly discovered that, just like most RL realtors, SL shows you the "pretty" face first...and not the festering digital slums that make up the majority of the wart-infested mainland.
No argument...there are indeed some nice places on the mainland...but their effect is spoiled tremendously by the sheer amount of garbage drifting around.
Which is the sole reason I prefer to visit RP sims...for the most part, they're well-maintained by the admins and other players who are invested heavily in their atmosphere and appearance. And almost all of them offer "residences" for their regular players at pretty affordable rates.
The mainland is nothing more than a spastic collage of quality, mired in the sheer quantity of lameness and greed that's been drifting in-world lately.
But...if you're happy there... *shrugs* ...good on yer!

I'm not seeing a lot of Mainland versus Island squabbling. No one can deny that Islands are more attractive but the trade-off is more restrictions (which is why they are more attractive).

I think one of the biggest issues on the Mainland besides the fact that there are no zoning rules is the dividing of land. When brokers divide it up into 512 meter plots, the odds increase greatly that two things will happen: 1) Someone will build something ugly. 2) An ad farmer will divide the 512 into 16s and bring in the rotating signs. So a word of caution: if you land on a sim that looks pristine, but has tons of empty 512s for sale, know that you are taking a risk of having a neighbor whose build you don't love move in somewhere close to you.

The problem is with the tier structure it makes sense for the brokers to offer up 512s. They are the most popular land to buy and they move the fastest. I think this is one of the things that is just the nature of the beast with the current tier structure offering premium members that first 512 for no tier.

That's why the most attractive mainland sims are the ones with bigger plots and fewer owners. The thread below lists a lot of them. Whether you can find land available for sale on any of them is another story.

/327/14/176949/1.html

I own land on "mainland" in Trasimeno...no really ugly problems there, and I've been there for a couple of months. There was an "adult" club there when I first bought land, but no one from there ever caused a problem, and it's gone now anyway. There are still plots there for sale from what i see on my map, so check it out. Like I said, I haven't really seen any "blight" there, but maybe it just hasn't reached us yet. But if it does, I'll deal with it. I'm probably too unstructured to live under a covenant. But I have no problem with people who choose to own land on an island. Maybe I'll become more structured myself, and choose to do that someday. Until then, I'll keep my land as pretty as possible.

when i wanted to 'bump up' my tear and move into a bigger main land plot i went for the center. i purchased 10% of the sim it boarders a ad farm on one side so i made privacy walls and set them for sale and put up a 50 dollar classified ad for 'privacy walls' and my 'needed' walls are now a profit center

the land was ultra cheap, 8.5 per sq meter and cuz its in the dead center of the sim and on the top of a mountain most everyone elses builds are down below me out of sight...


anyway my point is, life is what YOU make of it, if you want to let what OTHER people do effect the way YOU think and feel that is your choice.

Hate The Mainland??!?!?!?!?!? perhaps it is yourself you really hate....

Don't Take Anything Personally: Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

Find PG land. Some of it is expensive, but well worth the money if you looking for residential. Moved from Mature land to PG and see mainland differently. About to buy 1/2 the sim and enjoy peace and quiet

I think I want to marry you. Do you like kitties? LOL

That's so similar to my own philosophy which is: people will make up their minds about you no matter what you do or say so you might as well be true to yourself and do as you wish (within the realm of reason, naturally).

On top of a mountain you say? Cool. I'll have to come check it out. Sounds nice.

Neighbors can be hard to deal with.

I love my mainland area... I've got great neighbors.

The trick to it is building a community, talk to neighbors, work with each other to co-ordinate buying and selling land to keep ad-farms and unknowns out of your neighborhood.

There's no law against nepotism when it comes to land sales in SecondLife.

Caveat: blatant self-promotion.

Consider renting mainland in sims that are fully-owned by an individual, with rules against casinos and other crap.

You'll end up not investing an upfront purchase fee, so if you decide to move on, you will not have lost anything.

Your rent will be less than LL's mainland tier.

Bottom line, you end up with no upfront cost, lower ongoing costs, in a sim that won't EVER have casinos, camp chairs, or ad farms in it, and the ability to change your mind any time you want, without loss of investment.

If you're curious what this might look like, check out Linji sim (currently 100% capacity), or Peronaut sim (currently filled, but two 2,048 sqm parcels about to open up).

L$195 per 512 sqm per week (117 prims per 512 sqm).

I'm still pretty new to SL, bought a small lot on the mainland to learn how to build. Having big fun with that. As I look at my future in SL, the limitation is going to be the cost. I could afford an island, but I can't justify it. I could buy a car for that monthly maintenance fee. So I'm just going to keep noodling away on my little patch of surreal estate.

As to what the mainland looks like, well, it looks like an abandoned Los Angeles. Lots of strip malls, billboards, and random architecture, occasionally broken up by residential neighborhoods. At least there's grass where the concrete and asphalt should be. The rich people get to live in prettier places. The rest live behind the manicurist's, or the check cashing place, or the Thai take-out. Want to live somewhere nicer? Well, that becomes pricey...

How does this differ from renting on a private island?

Damn, you nailed that one!

You're right -- in general, renting on a private island would be better, if you can find similar rental rates.

But, as there are more and more US$295/month private islands, and if US$195/month mainland sim tiers stay the same, in the long run, mainland rentals *should* be less expensive than island rentals.

Probably pays to shop around.

Get a copy of "The Four Agreements - Companion Book" by Miguel Ruiz. That's where the quote is from.

"Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama."

So, good advice on not only how to receive information, but how to communicate it also. I'm thinking it's a good book for those who make a career out of forum nitpicking and trolling.