Considering leaving SL: solutions for staying. what about yours?

[Tenly]

Ive been with SL a long time. my original avatar has been here since 2004.

The. thing is...things are not living up to my dreams anymore. I wanted a home near water. so I left my linden home and tried for WEEKS to purchase land near water. however, beat out every time by someone with LOTS of money.

so I tried looking at renting and was surprised to find how expensive and ridiculous that has become...with most places Id want to call home over-priced and owned by a select few.

Truth tell I can have almost everything I want in another hypergrid. Except my glorious hair and clothes and those folks who make my mesh templates.

BUT...I really want a few things and Im starting to tip the other way. Because linden is starting to feel just a little too much like life in America. Where a very few have everything and the rest of us can't afford anything...or what we are offered is just the left overs.

To stay -- here is what Id like to see.

--Ability to right click and rent a linden home that is located where I want it and not currently owned by another SL user. For example I found one unclaimed today NEAR WATER. If I could have stood on the porch and right clicked to make it my linden home Id have halfway to heaven.

-- Id like to see some new homes in the linden homes list. Lake houses, ranch style homes, country style...oh I could go on. The current designs are tired looking and not at all what Id like to live in. Half of what is there is too small and the other half is too big.

This is my fantasy life and Im not seeing the fantasy.

-- smaller neighborhoods with better details in the land...say some hillsides, forests and parks and NEAR WATER. Every single time I try out a linden home I am SMACK in the middle of clone-ville.

-- ability to texturize our homes with something attractive. Maybe I want to use weathered textures for example! or some other tile or hardwoods for the floors! and I am asking for these things because your other SL land owners are making it nearly impossible for people like me to find and rent something that is not surrounded by slime ball adult sites or really ugly castles.

Ideally just want a little meadow, some hill-sides to climb, some water to relax and view from my windows while I work on my projects. 2048 and about 500 prims. and yes damnit Im willing to pay 15 bucks a month instead of 9 to have that!

Right now for 15 bucks a month I can have 15000 prims and land about the size of a SL homestead elsewhere.

Id JUMP but Im so vain. I need my HAIR and my gorgeous clothes. But more and more mesh creators are showing up elsewhere too...so...wake up SL. Please wake up!

You had the right idea with linden homes...but you just sorta dont take it far enough. Dont even get me started on the lack of available prims to work with.

The meadow homes are old fashioned and ugly. the t-ps are so small you cant scan inside. no one wants the japanese or the hogwarts ones. hogwarts are too small to scan inside and the japanese ones lack the elegance and beauty that I know is possible in a home of this style. though I do like some of the trees.

Personally, Id like a one level home. The stairs just take up space and are ugly and awkward. Im modern...Id rather TP up if I have to have two floors.

Come on SL...dont just spend all your money on developing for the ocular headsets. Make what you've got worth staying for. Even with a headset..boring is boring and ugly is ugly.

Inspire me.

[Dresden Ceriano]

You're putting too much emphasis on Linden Homes.  Linden Homes were not conceived in order to fulfill your every wish.  They're meant as starter homes which get you hooked on having a place and from which you move to buy or rent yourself something more to your liking.

I would think that, in order to get the type of space which you seem to want (without having to leave SL), you should look into dropping your premium membership and renting from a private estate.  Of course, you'll have to spend more in SL than you might elsewhere, but that is the cost which you must pay in order to keep your hair and clothes as up to date as that which you seem to want.  Other grids will forever be behind the curve where those things and concurrency are concerned.

...Dres

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Linden homes are never going to be the place you envision for the reason Dres stated.  If they allowed people to choose their home you'd never get one on the waterfront because when someone moved out of one then they'd tell someone they know and they'd be ready to click to get it as soon as their friend hit the abandon button.  You can abandon your home and get another one up to five times a day,  so with persistence you may be able to get something you like better.

To get what you really want you though are going to have to move to a private estate with a covenant. From the description of what you really want though "... a little meadow, some hill-sides to climb, some water to relax and view from my windows while I work on my projects." you are going to need more than a 2048 lot.

Your assertion that landowners are to blame because you don't want to spend a bit of money to get what you what is absurd.    There are very nice smaller lots available on private estates for the price of a dinner at McDonalds, hardly what I'd call LOTS of money.  Most people that have homes in SL on private estates are not 'rich' but regular working people who prioritize their entertainment money so they can have a home in SL. Or they are willing to brown bag a lunch to work, or skip a night out once in a while to have the money for SL.

There is a reason that you can get 15,000 prims for $15 a month on other grids.  It's because they are mostly empty of people and have little content compared to SL.

 

[irihapeti]

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Tenly wrote:

--Ability to right click and rent a linden home that is located where I want it and not currently owned by another SL user. For example I found one unclaimed today NEAR WATER. If I could have stood on the porch and right clicked to make it my linden home Id have halfway to heaven.

---

i just pick up on why you can't do this

if you could then all of the parcels by water and park edges would have been snaffled by oldbies (using bot accounts) within seconds of the continents being opened to public. Leaving the interior parcels for actual real new residents who being new are botless

 

[Ohjiro Watanabe]

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs.Tenly
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you've had quite enough

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned
A sun that is the source of all our power

The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the 'milky way'

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide

We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point
We go 'round every two hundred million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, the speed of light, you know
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is

So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth

[Theresa Tennyson]

Theresa Tennyson wonders exactly when the slogan for Second Life became, "Someone else's world, my imagination so someone else give me what I want NOW NOW NOW or I'll flounce. Seriously."

[Aethelwine]

I assume when looking for mainland you are using world map and clicking all the dollar signs to see what is available? It took me a while to realise you could do that and it is much more effective than relying on auctions.

Another option is to look for land estates like Seductive Allure manage. They rent full sim sky platforms with a preloaded horizons rezzer which can change your home and outlook from a tropical beach paradise to a mountain valley at a few touches of a control panel. They have similar deals at ground level that are reasonably priced because the airspace above is rented.

[Pussycat Catnap]

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Aethelwine wrote:

I assume when looking for mainland you are using world map and clicking all the dollar signs to see what is available? It took me a while to realise you could do that and it is much more effective than relying on auctions.

 

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I got the distinct impression from the OP that she was relying on auctions.

That's the worst way to try to get land (and I've done it many times, but it takes knowing how to suss out where the land barons have their current attention) - because those land barons are usually in there fighting to see which of them can make the other one lose the most money.

You will usually either lose, or end up being the sucker between them that is holding the bag full of somebody else's dead cats...

On the tip on looking to estates. The same thing can work on mainland. Click the signage for any land barons - and it should lead you to whatever resources they have. Some will list more lots that are not shown as for sale on the map.

[Tenly]

oh good idea Aethelwine. I never thought of that. And you are right I was looking mostly in auctions. also in the store. Used to be easier to find a nice home to rent but seems not so many these days.

[Tenly]

SL is not someone elses world. SL is a fantasy land made to order and to each his/her own fantasy. and gee whiz your comment was really so helpful in making me see how warm n fuzzy SL can be!

--||-

[Tenly]

IDK where the kudos button went but Id give you 5 if I could. this tip will prove helpful but in addition led me to another solution which I am checking on now. I had not realized you could right click on abandoned land and ask Linden to put it up for sale. it will maybe end in auction and I might lose again but at least I can search for what I am interested in and maybe get it. wish me luck and thank you!

[Pussycat Catnap]

The true test to stay or go is in the value of the friendships you can build and comunities you can participate in here or somewhere else.

 

[Celestiall Nightfire]

:heart:  :heart:

This went through my mind too!  ; )

[walterwhiteSr]

The value you receive from SL in land, communities, or whatever you flavor of fun might be, means entertainment.   Thus you might budget $50 bucks a month to go to movies or have a beer with buddies, etc..  SL should have a budget too, if you want to get by on the cheap, no land costs, free clothing, free AVI, you can.  Its your choice, if your SL fantasy is hot looking AVI and clothing, and awesome living place to feel good when you invite friends over, that has a price tag. The real world has a cost,  meaning the SL grid is all servers, someone paying to rent them and keep SL going, they are not government  subsidised,  no redistribution or so called "fairness" it s plain numbers..   Technology costs.......

[Phil Deakins]

---

Tenly wrote:

This is my fantasy life and Im not seeing the fantasy.

---

You seem to be doing ok with people's replies here, and it's clear that your original post was not just a rant, but I do want to make one point - not a criticism - just a point.

If you're not seeing your fantasy, it's because you are not creating your fantasy. SL never created people's fantasies. People, including you in the past, created their own. SL has always been an environment in which people can create their fantasies, and never an environment where fantasies were provided for people.

Good luck with creating yours

[Tenly]

No, my post was not intended as a rant. Im not a whiner either. Im a person who understands that growth means change and if you dont talk about what you would like to see changed, nothing will change.

Ive put my thoughts in the forum and to Linden directly.

Ive explored a few other worlds as I do from time to time. 

the pro for the other worlds in some instances is cost. I can for example get a full region for 15 bucks elsewhere. However, all the glamour and glitz and wide range of people and creativity I have grown to love in SL is not matched there. Not yet.

I dont want a full region. Well not yet anyway. But I what I would like is the best bargain between both worlds.

Sl can cater to those with money to toss away and those whose budgets are a bit tighter. They key to their future success depends on them catering to a balance of both, not to just one or the other. I understand that is a delicate balance. But they can hardly be expected to give it any attention if no one talks about what they would like to see here.

Im a bargain hunter as well as a person with a background in marketing and design. And even though Ive switched careers, Im always going to be considering where the best bang for my buck is and tossing out ideas that I think will improve SL. SL is at its core a product. It has to evolve in one way or another to keep and to attract new users.

I got some great tips by posting my angst. Things I wouldnt have known I could do if I had not posted. To those of you who were helpful, thank you. You are exactly what makes SL such a great place to be.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

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Tenly wrote:

No, my post was not intended as a rant. Im not a whiner either. Im a person who understands that growth means change and if you dont talk about what you would like to see changed, nothing will change.

If you want your SL experiance to change, you hve to make the changes.

 

Ive put my thoughts in the forum and to Linden directly.

LL wont read this, nor will they reply, sadly.

 

Ive explored a few other worlds as I do from time to time. 

As have I, most were vacant for the most part and didn't have half the features SL does.

 

the pro for the other worlds in some instances is cost. I can for example get a full region for 15 bucks elsewhere. However, all the glamour and glitz and wide range of people and creativity I have grown to love in SL is not matched there. Not yet.

It's cheap beacuse it's empty.

 

I dont want a full region. Well not yet anyway. But I what I would like is the best bargain between both worlds.

I rent a good sized parcel. Have my home and store on the land. I bought a modifiable house and changed the textures to suit my desires.

 

Sl can cater to those with money to toss away and those whose budgets are a bit tighter. They key to their future success depends on them catering to a balance of both, not to just one or the other. I understand that is a delicate balance. But they can hardly be expected to give it any attention if no one talks about what they would like to see here.

Just like RL, you have to "live" within your means.

 

Im a bargain hunter as well as a person with a background in marketing and design. And even though Ive switched careers, Im always going to be considering where the best bang for my buck is and tossing out ideas that I think will improve SL. SL is at its core a product. It has to evolve in one way or another to keep and to attract new users.

 

I got some great tips by posting my angst. Things I wouldnt have known I could do if I had not posted. To those of you who were helpful, thank you. You are exactly what makes SL such a great place to be.

---

There are many ways to make SL what you dream of. You just have to find them.

[Tenly]

Just wanted to update to say that thanks to someone who read my message, in the way Id hoped, I DID find what I wanted in SL. Im renting a bit of lovely land that already had water and mountains and by adding just a few trees and flowers and a very simple home (which I am experimenting with)...well its LOVE all over again. 

Its more prims than a premium acct. the only downside being that now I dont have a premium acct which means no support from linden. but so far so good.

So -- Im glad I posted what one person called a "whine". Because I was actually hoping to find a solution. I had looked for months and months to find just such a sweet little bit of land. I looked in auctions and inworld rentals--I googled! all to no avail.  It could be my search terms were incompetent but it might also be that folks with land to rent dont really advertise all that well.

anyway.... really really enjoying the place I have now. Great land lady and polite neighbors. no cloned houses and no crazy in your face sex ads beaming in my face via mega-sized blinking posters (yes, I really experienced that once). No offense against the x-rate folks...I just dont want to look out my private home window and any advertisement. not in RL or SL. to everything its own place. :-)

love n hugs, hope you all are enjoying life and the forthcoming holiday season,

Tenly

[CheriColette]

I like a happy ending