new to SL- trying to build an experiment room. need help!

[flobeanz]

Hello, community of second life :)

I just joined recently because I am trying to conduct an economics experiment for my research on here. To do this, I will need to build my own laboratory. Can you guys give me tips/recommendations for how to go about acquiring land to do this?

I will need to use this land for about 4-6 months, and I need to be able to have full control over it's capabilities, since I plan to write my own scripts. A very important detail is that I will need to be able to teleport to this land easily as well.

The laboratory will probably consist of just one room, so the land that I will be needing shouldn't need to be that big.

Some questions I would like answered:

1) In my situation, would it be best to rent or buy land?

2) How big of a land mass will I probably need, if I just want one medium-sized room?

3) Best marketplaces to buy/rent land from? Best landlords?

4) Best way to figure out the market price for such land?

5) What's the difference between purchasing on the main land vs. private islands? Pros and cons?

Thank you so much, everyone!

[Rolig Loon]

1.  Rent.  There's little point in buying land and turning it around in 4-6 months.

2.  How big is a "medium-sized room"?  (How long is a piece of string?)  Answer that and you know how much land you need, at least for the space itself.  The better question is how much stuff are you planning to put IN the room?  You get to rez one prim for every 4.37 sq m of land area, so 117 prims per 512 sq m, for example.

3.  You're on your own.  Rent land on a sim that meets your needs, read the covenant (if you're on a private sim), and trust that you have a decent landlord.  Most are.

4.  Look at what it's being offered for.  The price is on the parcel or the rental box.

5.  If you're renting, there's not much difference.  A private sim will be governed by a local covenant, so you can predict what sort of neighbors you'll have.

Two suggestions:

1.  Use the Knowledge Base.  It will answer most of these questions in more detail and will address questions that you haven't though of.  See http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Renting-land-from-other-Residents/ta-p/1420695, for example.

2.  If you're planning to do a 4-6 month project, spend a month or two beforehand learning some SL basics so that you don't spin your wheels.  Learning to move, handle your camera, communicate, handle inventory, find things, and do some fundamental building are prerequisites. 

 

[Richie Kanto]

Some questions I would like answered:

1) In my situation, would it be best to rent or buy land?  Rent (which really is the same as owning - see #4 below). Most rentals now come with better pricing than buying directly from Linden Labs, unless you're buying a very large amount of land. This is because LL offers discounts for bulk and land businesses use this lower pricing to pass savings down to people wanting smaller parcels.

2) How big of a land mass will I probably need, if I just want one medium-sized room? I agree with the previous answer... how long is a piece of string? You'd need to be a lot more specific on what you're planning to use it for... what type of experiments. Is the number of prims you need a factor? Are you using mega prims? Do you need a certain amount of "space"?

3) Best marketplaces to buy/rent land from? Best landlords? Everyone will have a different opinion on this one. I think I'm the best landlord on the grid... I'm sure every other person selling or renting land will also think they're best. Contact me in world and I can work one on one with you and let you know what I can provide.

4) Best way to figure out the market price for such land? Buying the land isn't its true cost. Most land is given away for just about nothing now. The REAL cost of the land is the tier payments (weekly or monthly cost to "maintain"). Read the LL TOS (terms of service) agreement and you'll see in there LL (Linden Labs) states NO ONE owns any land at all here... even the very largest of land "barons" on private SIMs do NOT own it... it is all just leases of server resources (this was changed some years ago, the term "buying land" and "owning land" are hold-overs from the days before this TOS change). Your cost is really just a price paid periodically (usually weekly or monthly) to use LL's servers to "host" your "land".

5) What's the difference between purchasing on the main land vs. private islands? Pros and cons? Can't list them all here... I think the main ones to your stated needs are (pro) that private land will give you more control, especially if you choose to buy and own the entire SIM from LL, but, (con) this is very expensive for your needs (cost $1,000 up front  -unless you take over someone else's ownership and that's not a quick/easy process; and $295 per month). A good compromise between the two is likely going to be to lease a "parcel" on a private SIM and secure with it "land manager rights" (giving you extra contol you might need like the ability to see script resources, ect).

I hope this help... but if you need further information or assistance feel free to message me in world. Welcome to Second Life.... I hope your project goes well!

[Knutz Scorpio]

It will probably help to build your lab in a sandbox first before going out looking for a parcel of land.  You're probably going to find that due to the scale of the typical avatar and its camera placement a room that may seem medium size in RL may be unusable in SL.  You'll probably find that you have to keep desks and tables a fair distance away from walls to avoid loosing your camera in the wall when walk behind them, for example.  You will not be able leave it setup in the sandbox, but you can link it all together, name it something more meaningful then "object", and take it into your inventory.