Peronaut: new mainland rental sim

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Peronaut, a mixed residential / commercial mainland rental sim without casinos, clubs, camping, or eyesores. Beautiful park, nice walking paths, and ocean views.

Read the Peronaut Sim Covenant.

17 parcels claimed
0 parcels reserved
6 parcels remaining

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Parcels in Peronaut Sim AVAILABLE

After my very positive experiences with the Linji Haven mainland rental sim, I've decided to try another mainland rental sim -- the Peronaut Sim, with improvements (I think) from lessons learned.

Again, it's an unthemed sim, with a generally sensible covenant that tries to keep it as pleasant as possible. The sim itself is beautiful, with both nice flat areas and rolling hills, as well as access to water.

Parcels are now available for rent. The Peronaut Covenant is very similar to that of Linji Sim. Some differences include:

• setting aside dedicated land for roads and paths, as well as a single large central park, rather than small protected parcels
• this park is shaping up REALLY nicely, with a pond at top, waterfall segments, and a wandering stream to the ocean
• pre-defined sizes and shapes of the available parcels, which are now all either 2,048 or 3,072 sq m
  
• "squaring off" the parcels, so that they are more usable, than the 32 x 64 m (2,048 sq m) parcels frequently found in Linji
  
• the covenant is changed to be a bit stricter about build heights, because that was occasionally an issue in Linji

Rental parcels are again going to be made available in a first-come, first-served basis. Like before, if you are interested, contact Sierra Mills (or Ged Larsen), or post a comment here, with your SL name and which parcel you are interested in. We can "reserve" the parcel for you for 3 days or so, after which we'll again make it available to other people.

Peronaut Public Park:

Parcels claimed:

• E1 / B2: Ged Larsen
• D3: Johanna Hyacinth
• D1: Lizbeth Saenz and Adriana Gustafson
  
• C3: Nefertiti Nefarious
• A4: Stuart Simonds
• B3: Gabriel Watanabe
  
• E2: Bodhisatva Paperclip
• E4: Cameron Yip
• C1: Kitten Sautereau
• B1: Sierra Mills
• E3: Axienne DeVaux
• C4: Lucien Franciosa / Caliae Jewell
• E5: Shizuka Hayashida
• A2: Mic Mills
• E1b: Tigress Jewell
• A1: Beauty Rosca
  
  

Parcels reserved (held for 3 days):

• (no current reservations)
  

Peronaut Sim

Please follow this link to the CURRENT updated and consolidated covenant for the Peronaut mainland rental sim.

The below information is being kept for archival purposes only.

--== Peronaut ==--

This is the charter of the Peronaut Sim (last updated 2007-April-21). Whether you are interested in joining this community or not, questions, comments, and suggestions are very welcome.

The goal of the Peronaut Sim is to provide:

• an unthemed mixed-residential and low-impact commercial oasis on the Mainland
• a community of like-minded individuals who believe that the Mainland can still be a beautiful, wonderful, minimal lag place to enjoy Second Life
• the lowest price possible

To insure that the Sim can maintain it's zoning guidelines, it is a rental only community. Estate Managers to contact for more information or problems: Ged Larsen and Sierra Mills


ZONING GUIDELINES

Residential and low-impact commericial

Guidelines:

• be considerate
• low-impact commercial welcomed
• small events encouraged
• no Casinos, no Clubs, no Camping, and no Crap (ad farms, lag hogs, incredibly ugly builds)

Lag control

• try to use efficiently-written scripts, without loads of listeners and scans
• try to use the minimum-sized texture that gives you good results

Spelling it all out

Really, if you're just being considerate of others, you don't need to read these details. If you are trying to use this list to find loopholes of what you can get away with, this community is probably not for you.

And, if you and ALL your neighbors are OK with it, bending the guidelines is fine too. Just see "Conflict Resolution".

• restrict build heights to twice the distance from the nearest neighbor's parcel boundary
• a 2:1 build height tool will be provided to you to help you determine whether you are within bounds
  
• IF you and your neighbor agree, you are free to violate this rule
• however, agreement should be obtained BEFORE building higher / closer than allowed
  
  
• try not to obstruct your neighbor's views
• no major eyesores
• no excessive particle effects
• no flashing / rotating / neon signs
• no banlines (banning specific avatars is fine)
• no walls or fences that completely close off your land
• skyboxes shouldn't be visible from ground level builds
• no non-consensual combat
• events should not be so large and frequent as to cause problems for other residents

COMMUNITY

Goal: it would be wonderful if instead of a bunch of separate carved out parcels, we had a community. Of course, this can never be something dictated, but I'd welcome ideas to help promote this.

To promote this:

• a central 4,928 sq m public park to provide a focus and meeting place for the community
• footpaths, small roads, and stopping areas (5,504 sq m) set aside, to encourage foot-exploration of the sim
  
• shared resources (e.g., pre-fab buildings, landscaping objects, resident creations, etc.)
• Barnesworth Anubis pre-fab buildings and landscaping
• "Living Creek" streams and waterfalls landscaping
• suggestions welcome for additional community purchases (copyable items)
  

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

• I want to remain as absolutely hands-off as possible, hoping that the simple rule of being considerate towards others will minimize conflict. And, I hope that people will be as open-minded and accepting as possible of other people's tastes. But, conflicts happen.
  
• if 3 members of the community have a grievance against another member, and a Peronaut Estate Manager agrees, then the grievance must be addressed.

RENTING

In addition to weekly rent, there may be an initial L$1 per sq m non-refundable joining fee, which will be used for community purchases and other expenses. This fee is waived for the founding members of the Sim.

Weekly rent will be closely tied to the Linden Lab Mainland Tier Schedule, recalculated in L$ per week at the current L$ sell exchange rate, correcting for the 3.5% LL exchange fee.

If the current L$ sell rate is L$267 per US$1 + 3.5% LL exchange fee:

• 2,048 sq m: US$15/month =~ L$4,145/month =~ L$951/week
• 3,072 sq m: US$20/month =~ L$5,527/month =~ L$1,268/week
• 4,096 sq m: US$25/month =~ L$6,908/month =~ L$1,586/week

• prim allotment: 234 prims per 1,024 sq m
• extra prim allotment may be rentable, based on availability. The rate will be based on the 4,096 sq m parcel rental rate; i.e., US$3.125/month for an extra 117 prims
  
  
• rent to be paid weekly, in advance
  
• there will be no grace period for late rent
• if there are people on the waitlist when the rent expires, it is possible that the parcel will be re-assigned to a new tenant
  
  
• full refunds of remaining rent, with no penalty, if one week advance notice is given
• otherwise, a maximum penalty of 1 week's rent will be assessed, and the remainder refunded
  
  
• no plans to increase rent
• the only reason I will raise rent would be if LL's mainland tier prices increase. If this were to happen, I would increase rental rates proportionally, and offer current tenants the option to cancel their leases with full refunds without penalty
  
  
• no support for sub-leasing
• you will be able to add others to the Peronaut Group, but they will be regular group "Members" without the "Resident" abilities that tenants will have (see below)
  
• however, on a case-by-case basis, estate managers can grant "Resident" abilities to multiple people who are sharing a parcel
  

GROUP ROLE ABILITIES FOR RESIDENTS

The group role abilities listed below are my attempt to give maximal flexibility to Peronaut Sim residents, while trying to keep inadvertent disasters to a minimum. They may be adjusted, as necessary.

Group Roles

• Owner (Ged Larsen) / Estate Manager
• Estate manager has all abilities EXCEPT:
  - assign members to any roll
  - assign and remove abilities in roles
  - deed land and buy land for group (?)
  - abandon land to governor lindon
  - set land for sale info
  - pay group liabilities and receive group dividends
  
• Resident
• this is the baseline role that ALL renters will get
  
• Regular Member
• residents can invite people to join the group, who can then set objects to the Peronaut group, avoiding auto-return
  
• they will NOT, however, have access to most other Resident abilities
  

Group abilities, complete list

Membership

• Invite People to this Group (ALL)
• non-owners can only invite people to the plain "member" status
  
• Eject Members from this Group (ALL)
• non-owners can only eject people who have plain "member" status
• Toggle 'Open Enrollment' and change 'Signup Fee' (OWNER)
  

Roles

• Create New Roles (OWNER)
• Delete Roles (OWNER)
• Change Role names, titles, and descriptions (OWNER)
• Assign Members to Assigner's Roles (OWNER)
• Assign Members to Any Role (OWNER)
• Remove Members from Roles (OWNER)
• Assign and Remove Abilities in Roles (OWNER)

Group Identity

• Change Charter, Insignia, 'Publish on the Web', and which members are publicly visible in Group Information (OWNER)

Parcel Management

• Deed land and buy land for group (OWNER)
• Abandon land to Governor Linden (OWNER)
• Set land for sale info (OWNER)
• Subdivide and join parcels (OWNER)

Parcel Identity

• Toggle 'Show in Find Places' and set category (ALL)
  
• Change parcel name, description, and 'Publish on the Web' settings (ALL)
• Set landing point and set teleport routing (ALL)

Parcel Settings

• Change music & media settings (ALL)
• Toggle 'Edit Terrain' (OWNER)
• Toggle various About Land > Options settings (ALL? or ON REQUEST?)

Parcel Powers

• Always allow 'Edit Terrain' (ALL? or ON REQUEST?)
• Always allow 'Fly' (ALL)
  
• Always allow 'Create Objects' (ALL)
  
• Always allow 'Create Landmark' (ALL)
  
• Allow 'Set Home to Here' on group land (ALL, regular members)

Parcel Access

• Manage parcel Access lists (OWNER; no general banlines allowed)
• Manage parcel Ban lists (ALL)
• Change parcel 'Sell passes...' settings (ALL)
• Eject and freeze Residents on parcels (ALL)

Parcel Content

• Return objects owned by group (OWNER)
  
• Return objects set to group (OWNER)
• Return non-group objects (ALL)
• Landscaping using Linden plants (ALL)

Object Management

• Deed objects to group (OWNER)
  
• Manipulate (move, copy, modify) group-owned objects (OWNER)
  
• Set group-owned objects for sale (OWNER)
  

Accounting

• Pay group liabilities and receive group dividends (OWNER)
  

Notices

• Send Notices (ALL)
  
• Receive Notices and view past Notices (ALL, and regular members)

Proposals

• Create Proposals (ALL)
• Vote on Proposals (ALL, and regular members)

Putting my money where my mouth is: I have a Sim

Main page and more information
about the Linji Haven community sim.

I've spoken, written, rambled, and even ranted in multiple venues about how it should be possible to create a community that would not have the eyesore and lag issues that frequently (but not always) plague the mainland.

And moreover, that this vision should be possible at a price better than individuals acquiring land on their own (because the L$ per sqm tier price improves dramatically, as the amount of owned land increases).

Well, enough ranting. Enough waiting for someone else to do it. I'm a fool, and a dreamer, but it was time to try putting my money where my mouth was. Last night, I bid and won an entire mainland Sim in LL auction. It came down to being outbid in the last 15 seconds, and then throwing in one last bid, and winning.

My goal, my dream, is still as previously described: to gather together like-minded individuals in a residential and low-impact commercial Sim, with the simple covenant of trying to be considerate. Raymond Figtree, on the forums, suggested an interesting covenent, which I've extended just a little bit: the C with no CCCCC Covenant: - be Considerate, with no Casinos, Clubs, Camping, (huge) Commercial, or other Crap. Simple enough.

I've written before, both here and in the forums, about how a Private Island would be far more flexible for this sort of goal. But, my other goal, to keep it CHEAP, with rent equal to mainland tier alone for 2,048 and/or 4,096 sq m plots, meant that with a private island, I'd require at least 75% occupancy, merely to cover the monthly fees. There's no way I could assure myself that that would be possible. But with a mainland Sim, I could survive at break-even with only 50% occupancy (overlooking the large initial expense though...), but with these drawbacks:

• loss of terraforming freedom and unlimited water access
  
• loss of ability to "sell" parcels to individuals (although selling on an Island is just glorified renting)
• relying on "groups" to deal with land permissions and parcels
  
• loss of the Estate tools (including monitoring highest lag-offensive scripts and physics)
• no control on the visual clutter of what might be placed in adjacent mainland sims
  

There's a lot of thought I still need to put to this. Maybe a few months from now, this experiment will confirm that I'm a dreamer and a fool. Or, maybe this will become a sanctuary, an oasis, and a retreat that will bring enjoyment and creativity to a small corner of SL. And maybe even serve as a model, of what CAN be done, if people work together.

We shall see.

See http://slged.blogspot.com/2007/03/linji-haven.html for more information.

=====

Some pictures, from a giddy and proud land owner:

LandScanner v1.0

LandScanner v1.0 is an avatar-attached multi-purpose tool performing functions ranging from prim-counting and parcel analysis, to sim-wide land-ownership and terrain evaluation. It is highly configurable and able to provide information across multiple parcels in multiple Sims with minimal user intervention.

LandScanner v1.0 available now at SL Exchange and SL Boutique, and will be available very soon in-world.



Features:

• for each parcel, LandScanner reports:
• parcel name, description, and size
  
• parcel owner (avatar name and key) and group (key)
• parcel prim counts
• total prims by category (owner, group, other, selected, temp on rez)
• if you own the land parcel, lists number of prims used by avatar name
• parcel flags (i.e., fly, scripts, landmarks, terraform, damage, create objects, access group, ban list, land pass list, spatialized sound, push restriction)
  
  
• for each Sim, LandScanner reports:
• all avatars (names and keys) and groups (keys) that own land in that sim
• maximal and minimal terrain elevations
• approximate percentage of sim terraformable to water
  
• calculate the average "slopiness" of the terrain in the sim, a degree of how un-flat the Sim is
  
• region flags (i.e., damage, fixed sun, block terraform, sandbox, collisions, physics, fly, telehub, push restriction)
• entire lists of sims can be cut and pasted from the Linden Lab "Auctions" page, for convenient teleportation to and analysis of upcoming sims
  
  
• completely flexible configuration, via a notecard, to specify:
  
• as many parcels, in as many different sims, as desired
• whether whole-sim terrain analysis should be performed
• whether whole-sim land ownership analysis should be performed
• whether parcel flags and region flags should be displayed
  
  
• output to owner chat, allowing copy / paste from the chat history
  

How to use the LandScanner:

• wear the LandScanner as an attachment
• right-click the LandScanner and choose Edit
• navigate to the Contents Tab
• double-click the notecard "scan program" to open it
• edit the contents of the notecard "scan program" as desired
• see the Notecard Configuration section and sample notecards below
• save the notecard
• close the notecard window and edit window
• touch the attached LandScanner to start!
  

Notecard configuration:

• sample notecards, from very simple to complex, are included below
• LandScanner starts at the top of the notecard, and works its way down
• blank lines are ignored
• all characters after a '/' character in a line are ignored (helpful for comments)
  
  
• SIM~simname, or simname (#,#)... (the format of the LL Auction page)
• if not currently in the sim "simname", will offer teleport to that sim
• once arrived, will execute any whole-sim analysis desired
  
  
• PARCEL~x,y~comment
• will analyze the parcel at the coordinates in the current sim
• "comment" is an optional comment that will be in the report
• the report will note if the prim allotment is exceeded
• if comment ends with "|###", "###" will be taken as a maximal prim count (rather than the LL-assigned max prim count, based on parcel area)
  
  
• TERRAIN~TRUE/FALSE (default FALSE)
  
• all subsequent Sims in the notecard program have terrain analysis done if TRUE, or not, if FALSE
  
  
• OWNER~TRUE/FALSE (default FALSE)
  
• all subsequent Sims in the notecard program have land owner cataloging done if TRUE, or not, if FALSE
  
  
• FLAG~TRUE/FALSE (default FALSE)
  
• all subsequent Sims and Parcels in the notecard program will have Sim and Parcel flags reported if TRUE, or not, if FALSE
  
  
• SCAN~## (default 8 meters)
  
• sets the scan distance in whole-sim analysis to "##" meters
• ## = 4 meters will be a completely accurate but slow scan (all 4,096 4x4 meter possible parcels will be analyzed)
• ## = 8 meters will be 4x faster
  
  
• DELAY~## (default 7.5 seconds)
  
• set the waiting time allowed to return an avatar name from a UUID key to ## seconds
• set higher for more accuracy or laggy sims

Sample Notecards:

• Goal: check prim counts in 2 parcels located at <40,50> and <70,90> within the sim "ThisLand". If you own the land and are renting parcels out, this will report prim-usage by avatar, for each parcel.
  

  SIM~ThisLand
  PARCEL~40,50
  PARCEL~70,90
  



• Same as above, but with optional comment and 234 as specified prim limit. Useful if you've allowed a "double-prim allowance" on your parcel.
  

  SIM~ThisLand
  PARCEL~40,50~comment about a plot|234
  PARCEL~70,90~another comment|234
  



• Same as above, but then teleport to the sim AnotherLand, and check another parcel. Great if you are renting out parcels in multiple sims.
  

  SIM~ThisLand
  PARCEL~40,50~comment about a plot|234
  PARCEL~70,90~another comment|234
  
  SIM~AnotherLand
  PARCEL~20,60
  



• Same as above, but also include parcel flags for the parcels in AnotherLand, and after checking the parcels, check a high-resolution sim-wide owner analysis of the sim GooberVille. Finding all owners of land in GooberVille may facilitate forming a Sim Landowners Group, or identifying people who might wish to buy or sell land within the Sim.
  

  SIM~ThisLand
  PARCEL~40,50~comment about a plot|234
  PARCEL~70,90~another comment|234
  
  SIM~AnotherLand
  FLAG~TRUE
  PARCEL~20,60
  
  OWNER~TRUE
  SCAN~4
  SIM~GooberVille
  



• Same as above, but finally, do a lower resolution terrain analysis (without flags or owner lists) of a set of Sims cut and pasted from the Linden Labs Auction page. A very quick way to get a sense of which new Sims may have waterfront potential.
  

  SIM~ThisLand
  PARCEL~40,50~comment about a plot|234
  PARCEL~70,90~another comment|234
  
  SIM~AnotherLand
  FLAG~TRUE
  PARCEL~20,60
  
  OWNER~TRUE
  SCAN~4
  SIM~GooberVille
  
  OWNER~FALSE
  FLAG~FALSE
  TERRAIN~TRUE
  SCAN~16
  Mills Haven (128,128) Mature 65504m   2h 23m   US$2,751.00
  Ottewell (128,128) Mature 65536m  2h 24m  US$2,751.00
  Malvern (128,128) Mature 65536m  2h 24m  US$2,732.00
  Peacock Park (128,128) PG 60656m  2h 25m  US$2,539.00
  Laurier (128,128) Mature 65536m  2h 37m  US$2,731.00
  Granville (128,128) PG 60544m  2h 37m  US$2,501.00
  Maplegrove (128,128) Mature 60144m  2h 41m  US$2,632.00
  Granada (128,128) PG 62944m  2h 41m  US$2,601.00
  



• As you can see, notecard scanning programs can be as simple or as complex as you want

Tips:

• recommend being in "fly" mode, at an altitude at least 50 meters above ground
  
• "no-script" zones do not apply, when high enough over the ground
  
  
• however, Sims with defined "telehubs" may force you to no-script ground levels, so you might have to manually fly back up
• if your scanner program seems to stop, make sure you are not in no-script territory
  
  
• inter-sim teleport is not possible via the LSL scripting language without any user intervention, so you will have to click the "Teleport" button when moving between sims
  
  
• how "fine" the sim-wide scan depends on how accurate you want the results to be
• the minimum size of a parcel is 4 x 4 meters (frequently used for those 16 sq m ad spam lots), so if you want to be sure to detect these, you will want a "SCAN" fineness of 4 meters
• will catalog EVERY owner of land in the sim
  
• scanning every 8 meters will be 4x faster, and will catch every parcel greater than or equal to 8 x 8 meters
• will catalog almost every owner of land in the sim
  
• scanning every 16 meters will be 16x faster than the 4 meter scan
• good for a quick terrain analysis
  
  
• the "DELAY" time will determine how accurate assignment of owner to an avatar vs. a group will be
• there is no LSL function at present to determine for sure whether a UUID key belongs to a group
• there is no way to retrieve the group name via a UUID key
• instead, LSL forces you to try to find an avatar name linked with a UUID key, and if no response is returned, we assume it was a UUID to a group
• the "DELAY" time is how many seconds the script will wait for an avatar name to be returned, before giving up and assuming that the UUID is for a group
• set the "DELAY" time higher for more accuracy, or in laggy sims
  
  
• LSL allows checking of current ground height and terrain slope, but not what the original pre-terraforming levels are
• therefore, estimates of percent of sim able to be converted to water may be inaccurate
• for example, imagine an entire sim with an original elevation throughout of 4.1 meters which is then maximally terraformed downwards to an elevation of 0.1 meters; when the LandScanner runs, it will erroneously report that the entire land mass is within terraforming distance of water, although in actuality, none of it will be
  
  
• LSL does NOT support checking to see whether a parcel is for sale, for what price, or allowing automated buying
• the "Landbots" that you may have heard of use custom-written clients to access SL
  
  
• if Linden Labs updates LSL to allow for any of the above issues to be dealt with, LandScanner will be updated and distributed to all purchasers
  

Island plans shelved for now

Ah well, there doesn't seem to be enough interest in sharing a private island for me to be able to relatively safely proceed with those plans. No worries -- perhaps some day in the future.

While browsing around though, I did find a really cool looking freeware (Mac) tool, Backhoe. It allows for easy editing of the 13-channel .RAW topography description of private islands. It looks very cool, so maybe I'll play around with it, for use in the future ;)

If the private island project ever did have enough interest, it'd be fun to easily custom-create the terrain, so that everybody involved could have exactly the sort of terrain they'd like. Fun! Doesn't it look cool?


(from Zarf Vantongerloo's Backhoe webpage)

Island dreams, continued

I'm still dreaming of acquiring an Island, as a shared place to live. The idea is to gather together a group of like-minded individuals in a residential / low-impact commercial environment with no theme, but the general consensus that we would try to all get along, not engaging in activities that impinged on the enjoyment of one another (no major lag-inducers, clubs, casinos, malls, camp chair farms, giant rotating for sale signs, etc).

If enough people could be gathered, I would be willing to pay the upfront costs of acquiring an island, and residents would pay only the equivalent mainland tier prices for 2,048 sq m ($15/month) or 4,096 sq m ($25/month) plots of land.

---

Here's what the "default islands" look like, from Linden Lab's "Land: Island's" information page. However, the cool thing is that you can custom design every aspect of the island, as well, submitting an appropriately designed terrain file. Still, the default islands are a good place to start:

1) a nice coastline and interesting terrain, but I wonder whether the interior parcels might get a little dull (although they'd have the advantage of altitude)

2) maximizes land available, but is rather dull


3) very promising! the edge parcels having ocean, but the interior ones get a nice lake, as well as what looks like a good amount of terrain variety


4) also nice, with the bays and interesting terrain, but people with parcels on the western edge might not want quite so much water

My personal tastes run towards having access to water, gentle rolling green hills, and perhaps, if possible, a steep drop-off someplace for a bit of a dramatic look.

Although terraforming would be available, it'd be nice if the island started with a general terrain format that would be acceptable enough that terraforming changes would be more "tweaks" and less "drastic," because drastic changes might impact on neighbor's build plans.

Land -- wouldn't it be nice...

Land in Second Life -- it's an interesting situation. Perhaps the best option is to purchase a private island, shared amongst friends. Why?

Well, thanks to a very generous person, I've recently tasted land ownership for the first time. Although I am VERY fond of my 512 sq m plot, the 117 prims allotted are just not enough to comfortably furnish a place to live. Still, I'd like to show off what a few friends and I have done with the place. Here's a pic:



But, now, not surprisingly, I want more space. I've notecarded my 3 adjacent neighbors asking if they might be interested in selling, but no responses thus far. And in the long run, the people in the sim trying to get extortion money with their 16 sq m plots with giant, rotating eyesores will still be there.

I've looked into land for sale elsewhere on the mainland, and even educated myself a bit on how LL land auctions work, for entire Sims as well as parcels. All of which makes me wonder whether the best option is to get together with other like-minded individuals, and going all-out and purchasing a private island.

Rentals I would definitely consider for the short-term, but in the long-term, it doesn't really make financial sense. Owning for long enough should provide savings.


Mainland small parcels

• at historical high prices now, generally over L$13 per square meter
• historically, just half a year ago, land could be obtained for L$6 / sq m
  
• a "quality" parcel (protected water-front), might run to L$20-30 per square meter; this gets REALLY expensive
  
• at risk of plummeting in value, if the rumors of LL's stepping up sim releases are true
• no matter what the neighborhood looks like currently, you might always end up with "land griefers" putting up their ugly signs, or starting up a giant camp-chair driven casino

Mainland entire sim auction purchase

• because a quality parcel can run up to L$30 per square meter, I wondered whether a better way to obtain a "quality" parcel might be to purchase an ENTIRE sim at auction, keep the nice parcel for my own use, and then sell off the rest, hoping to not take on too much of a loss (i.e., selling off parcels for L$, and then converting to USD)
  
• the goal would NOT be to become a baby land baron, but merely to acquire the small parcel for a net cost that would be less than trying to purchase it separately
• here's how the math sort of worked out:
  
• mainland sims are now being auctioned at ~$3,000+ USD
• tier for an entire 65,536 sq m sim for a month $195 USD
• exchange fees to recoup L$ to USD transfer 3.5%
• current exchange rate ~L$270 per USD
• $3,195 USD = L$ 862,650; increase that by 3.5% = L$ 892,842
• divide by 65,536 sq m in a Sim, means you'd need to sell the whole thing off at an average of L$ 13.6 per sq m, just to break even
  
• this REALLY makes me respect the Land Barons, who must be working at really slim profit margins (granted, their $195 USD of tier is split amongst many Sims, not just one)
• with this tight a margin, I could imagine not being able to sell all of the rest of the Sim, and getting stuck with additional months of tier fees
• sounded rather risky
• and even if it succeeded, I might end up living next to a giant lag-inducing casino, under a neon sky of rotating porn advertising
  

Private Island

• when mainland sims are auctioning for $3,000+ USD, it starts to make the startup cost of a private island at ~$1,700 sound almost reasonable
• also, unlike the current mainland sim auction prices, I'd be really surprised if LL dropped prices of Private Islands, given that they've just recently increased them; this makes it perhaps a bit more stable of an "investment", as its value should not drop precipitously
  
• add that the complete control you have over what types of neighbors will be allowed, and the advantage of increased terraforming flexibility, and it sounds like a better guarantee of long-term pleasant surroundings
  
• however, monthly island fees are $295 USD/month, compared to $195 USD/month for a mainland sim's worth of tier
• and, as an island owner, you are left with the bill, no matter what. You can't really "sell" off parts of the island; in the end, the island owner is stuck with the monthly bill.
• but it's still an enticing thought. How might this work?
  

I think the way it could work would be if a group of people with similar overall land desires grouped together and shared an island. Because LL will only recognize one island owner, there has to be somebody willing to take the risk of island ownership.

What I would envision, ideally, would not be a themed community, like the wonderful sims of of Caledon, but more like a Mainland sim where gross inconsideration and eyesores were disallowed. A pseudo-mainland sim, free of ugly signs, laggy casinos, griefers...

So, suppose I was willing to foot the $1,700 bill for a private island, retaining sole ownership of it (seeing as LL only recognizes one island owner)?

And suppose I knew enough people in SL, who felt the same way about just wanting a nice place to live, to rent from me? At a rent enough to offset the monthly $295/month island fee, as well as to slowly offset the $1,700 initial investment?

Mainland tiers: are $15/month for 2,048 sq m; or $25/month for 4,096 sq m. I think many people who want a "nice" place to live are looking at this amount of space.

So, suppose the rent was simply EQUAL to what people would pay in mainland tier:

• if there were 32 people renting 2,048 sq m plots at $15/month --> $480 USD/month
• if there were 16 people renting 4,096 sq m plots at $25/month --> $400 USD/month

I kind of doubt a private island could be kept at FULL occupancy, and it'd probably be nice to have a nice central plot of public area, so rent income would be less than that. Plus, rent would probably be paid in L$, so there would be the 3.5% fee to convert to USD (which is how LL accepts Island monthly fees).

Anyone renting under what I envision would have all the benefits of Mainland ownership, and more. They would be able to terraform beyond the +/- 4 meters height change. They would not have to pay the purchase price of currently overpriced mainland.

They would live, without the fear of their neighborhood becoming a horrific laggy eyesore. BUT, they would lose freedom -- need to agree to some basic level of covenant.

Covenant would likely be something like:

• mixed residential / low impact commercial
  
• play nice
  
• no horrible rotating signs
• no maxing out sim capacity with avatars or laggy scripts; i.e.,
  
• no camp chair farms
• no very busy clubs / casinos
• no terraforming / building heights that would ruin a neighbor's experience
• probably some sort of "distance to border" / "height" ratio

With such a vague covenant, this really would depend on people "playing nice" and not trying to abuse the system. As such, it would probably work best with a group of friends, and friends-of-friends, as opposed to bringing together complete strangers.

Anyone else interested?

First Land, and good people

Yesterday, without any warning, Linden Labs announced the end of the First Land program. It was a bit disappointing, because I had actually upgraded to a Premium account just 7 or 8 days prior, in the hopes of someday acquiring a little parcel to call my own. I was going to write what I think of Linden Labs, but...

... instead, I'll just publicly thank some people, who will remain nameless. But you know who you are!

Thank you to the decent human being who had a parcel of First Land of her own that she no longer needed, and felt badly about what Linden Labs had done. She wanted to find someone to sell it to, at the far-below-market value of L$1 per square meter. Totally understandably, she didn't want to "give" it away to someone who would immediately resell it for a 10-fold profit. That's not what First Land was meant for.

Thanks to a friend who knew of my disappointment about First Land, for remembering me, and for connecting us.

It's silly, but it was such an exciting moment when I went to that parcel, and clicked Buy for L$512 and... I was a landowner! Sure it's not much, but it's a place to call home (and was immediately set as my new home location, LOL).

Really, it reaffirms my belief that there really are good, decent people out there, who choose to do something nice for essentially a random stranger, rather than to make a profit. Thanks again. I only wish that all the other Premium members who just wanted a little place to call their own, could also have been as fortunate as I.

Time to try my hand at writing a "scene rezzer", to make the most of this little plot :)