In a depressive peak last fall, I sold off all my mainland holdings in Second Life. They were a bunch of disparate pieces of land sprinkled around the sim. It took many days of stressing before I even decided to bring my VR land to market. I was amazed how attached I had become to my odd little land plots. So much that I sent IM messages to everyone I knew, asking them if they wanted land. I had wanted people I knew to take the land rather than have a stranger ruin it. Because on mainland there is no zoning. A perfectly presentable sim could turn into a nightmare if one landholder decided to be awful. Unfortunately, no one I knew needed land.
So my land went to market. Underneath me, when I turned on the view option for landowners, my land turned yellow. The color which indicates to people in SL that the land is for sale. Not more than 3 minutes had passed when I saw my land turn red. It had been snapped up by a real estate speculator's robot. And so I left mainland.
Estate living is nice, it is orderly, private and exclusive. Although I have much of the latter, the privacy is not an option in SL. I always seem to have a million visit hits on my land stats. Who knows what everyone is doing on my land. But I still missed my own small piece of land on the mainland. The land that was truly only in my name.
I went back to that old place, to check if there were any plots for sale. But it was and is a popular sim, so all the land was unavailable. Something I have noticed recently is the influx of many intrepid Japanese settlers. The rambunctious and close quartered atmosphere of the mainland doesn't phase them. In fact, I think they rather enjoy it. They jump on any land available using it for living, play and business. These citizens have no problems with putting a beautiful store on part of their holdings while living in a small shack on the other part. They also share a great attention to living details. Their clothing, house and home items have just the right textures, their VR plants are vibrant and they value a kind of workmanship that isn't shared across the grid. It shows in the picture I took of my VR house shown above. They also have a pointy-headed humor about the grid. When I visit their stores, they invariably include items such as a "Spank HUD" (which allows you to spank another avi or to be spanked), a "Homeless No More" house (it allows an avatar to carry a miniature house over his/her head), and the "Friends Guest House" (really a broken down shack to discourage friends and family from squatting on your land). Anyway the Japanese SL sensibilities require another blog post altogether.<
From my old sim, I wandered the sims surrounding it, looking at the yellow spots that indicated land for sale. I traveled further north. The mainland prices still seem rather inflated, especially near the virtual water spaces. Mainland still holds some kind of atavistic value. Eventually every avatar goes back to recapture the young newbie days.
Then I stumbled on a sleepy sim just off a Linden lake. On that lake were very reasonable priced plots for sale. In fact the area reminded me of my family vacation spots from when I was small. And for that childhood memory, I purchased the land. So now I am once again a mainlander. The area in which I settled is full of Japanese settlers, Italian settlers (I don't see too many of those users around), Bondage roleplayers, and small shop owners. Since Linden Lab decided to crack down on gouging land sale tactics and billboards galore, the mainland has become a bit calmer. The zoning effort is well appreciated.
The first time I purchased land, I put as big a house as my first plot would allow. Which meant there was no room for landscaping. Now I'm the opposite. I get a small or medium sized house, then dedicate the rest to trees and plants. I've also relaxed on the no visitors impulse too. Since moving to estate land where ban lines are prohibited, I've grown used to the occasional visitor. And now, back in mainland, I don't mind if someone looks at my house. They can't break anything so banning the random stranger is ridiculous. Their cameras can pan into whatever they want anyway, so why ban? Since setting up house on my new mainland plot, I've had about 45 visitors. And they amuse themselves by turning on the light decorations for my trees. I find that rather sweet. Now I'm considering installing more interactive items for people to play decorate. What I do leave turned off is land control options. I don't need anyone changing the terrain on my plot. The citizen who lives across from me left those options on, and now his unfinished home looks wonky. The land has been raised to partially cover his building.
For awhile I was considering buying a homestead from an estate owner. But now I think I'm set with mainland and estate residences. My virtual life is very nice.
Labels: computers, mmorpgs, second life, technology, virtual reality
