What do you wish you had known before purchasing Mainland?

[India Nadeau]

Hi all!

I would like to know: What do you wish you had known before purchasing Mainland?

I have been a resident of SL since 2008, and have never dipped my toes into the wonder that is Mainland living. I had a premium account for awhile back when Linden homes were pretty new, but I didn't know anything about Mainland then--I've always just rented from a land rental business. I have barely even explored Mainland continent at all. Recently, I was motivated to spend more time in SL again, and I find myself extremely entertained with exploring the patchwork quilt that is the Mainland. I've been looking at the auction page and also finding abandoned land inworld or in search and just following the roads to see where they lead. I'm thinking about going premium to buy a parcel and the forums have been a wealth of information! 

But, it got me wondering about the experiences of others and if there are any lessons or tips residents had wished they had known before buying their land?

Looking forward to hearing from you! 😁

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

I can't think of anything in particular that I wish I had known, because I luckily was taught about land by some knowledgable people from the very start. However, one major tip comes to mind, and that's to *thoroughly* inspect around the parcel before you buy it. Don't take the seller's word about anything, especially if a description says "protected" or "unblockable". People throw these words around so randomly that they basically have no meaning anymore. 

Check these claims out for yourself. That lovely sunset water view may be over water parcels that are owned by residents, not LL, and that view is therefore subject to change to a bright pink spinning cube or something else just as heinous at any time. The "protected" land next door may simply be abandoned land that is subject to be sold or auctioned, and oops, there goes that view as well. When you look at the parcel in person, check who owns the land all around you. (Bonus tip: If the land has been owned by someone since 2007, you are likely not going to see it change anytime soon.)

In other words, know what you are really buying.  

[xViXeNx71]

Also, if you find land that you would like to buy, it's a good idea to check the region for things that may cause alot of lag and/or traffic. Like a breedable farm, a club or busy store.

[Marianne Little]

If you do not care about sailing or driving straight out of the parcel, try to get one on the edge of a region - a void sim that you can not teleport in to. Then you have free ocean view that way all the time. LL does not make more mainland regions, and residents can't move into void regions.

I have a corner with water that I can't use, and that's ok for me. If I will sail, I have bookmarked a place to rez my boat.

Neighbors come and go, so if somebody moves in and makes a really ugly build next to you, you can derender their stuff or move up in the sky.

[India Nadeau]

Thank you for your responses so far! I enjoy reading them. 😀

@Sylvia TamalynI have seen the label 'protected' in some listings, and I kind of wondered at the true definition. In SL I would think that term can't really be applied since literally anything can happen to the surrounding area at any time, right? It might not happen tomorrow, but whether Governor Linden owns it or not it's never a guarantee. It's more like a 'Let's hope for the best...' type situation. 🤣

 

[Emma Krokus]

All great advice!

Couple of things from me...

Be aware that most sims only allow terraforming between -4 and +4 m. I do find this rather more restrictive than I'd expected... although on a small parcel you won't need much height change.

Also water is at 20m height, so if you want a pond with SL, rather than prim water, make sure the land and the terraforming limit allows you to dig that deep.

I did live on rock textured land for a bit and it really grated on me after a while - and it's not changeable.

Derender is your friend when it comes to ugly neighbouring builds - they really don't need to bother you too much.

Hope you find a great parcel and will have lots of fun making it "your own".

Edited January 25, 2022 by Emma Krokus

[India Nadeau]

@Emma KrokusI had no idea about the terraforming limits so thank you for mentioning that! 👍  If I do go ahead with living on the mainland, I will keep that in mind. 

I am also not a fan of the rock texture I've seen. I definitely prefer grass or beach!

[Qie Niangao]

"Protected" may not be iron-clad, but if a Linden-owned parcel says it's "protected" then it's very unlikely to ever be sold. Probably sometime in the history of SL it could have happened, but it's not a thing I'd ever consider a risk. I however would not put such faith in a seller's claim of a parcel being, say, "3 sides protected" without confirming each adjacent parcel's owner and description.

Note that not all continents have the same terrain textures. (There's also talk of possible updates to existing Mainland terrain textures, although I'm not holding my breath.) The current basic textures are usually available, some in the Library, some in content packs that include textures and other stuff to help blend in with local terrain and Mole/Linden builds. Also, a particular square meter of terrain may look different from day to day, which is an intentional bit of variety that happens on Estates, too, but it can be particularly noticeable on slopes and beaches of the Atoll continent because those textures are so, uh… "special".

Mainland has "exceptions" where, for example, terraforming limits and/or water levels vary from standard, parcels may not be subdivided, or Land Impact limits may be doubled by Object Bonus factor. Of course Estates have all these exceptions and more, but folks may not expect them of Mainland (or maybe they do, in which case ignore all that).

[Marianne Little]

On 1/24/2022 at 11:23 PM, India Nadeau said:

Thank you for your responses so far! I enjoy reading them. 😀

@Sylvia TamalynI have seen the label 'protected' in some listings, and I kind of wondered at the true definition. In SL I would think that term can't really be applied since literally anything can happen to the surrounding area at any time, right? It might not happen tomorrow, but whether Governor Linden owns it or not it's never a guarantee. It's more like a 'Let's hope for the best...' type situation. 🤣

 

Roads and open water that say "Protected" will stay that way, unless LL decides on some really unusual things.

Check that the land you will buy is going all the way to the road or water, so it is not a strip of land in between.

Here on the map example you can see the roads. They will stay that way. It is 2 bridges there over that narrow canal. You can't sail sailboats there, they are too tall. It is worse that someone appear to have blocked the canal, so you can't sail from north to south. Blocking protected land or water can you report to LL, but they may react slow. If it is important for you to sail, you need to zoom out and study the map, and fly the route you want to sail.

But it is expensive to have direct access to water and roads. You decide what's worth it to you. You can always buy a plot in the middle of nowhere, and have a nice skybox up in the air.

 

[Rabid Cheetah]

Nothing lasts forever.

[Sayumi Tsunenaga]

Just a few random thoughts from my own experience:

• If land next to the land you want to buy is labelled Protected, check that it is owned by some Linden group such as Linden Department of Public Works - occasionally a private group will label land or water channels as Protected, but they can just as easily sell it tomorrow and it can become anything!
• Be aware of the difference between General and Moderate lands and the rules for what you can do on them - I once bought some General land without realizing that you are not allowed to have ANY adult furniture or items on it at all.  For that reason, General land is often cheaper than Moderate, though some sellers still seem to manage to sell General parcels to unsuspecting buyers at outrageous prices.
• Tour around the whole region before buying to see if there are, for example as happened to me years ago, people who like to display 20 large scripted vehicles on permanent display which sucks up a lot of region resources, or other issues you may not want to have nearby.
• Don't buy land on Tuesdays and Wednesdays if possible (ie, when most Mainland regions are being restarted) - especially in Zindra.  I once bought what seemed an ideal parcel late Tuesday, and by Wednesday the AFK centre on the same region had been repopulated after reset and 30 avatars were there pretty much permanently.  Sometimes that gets so bad that you can't even get into your home sim.  Be VERY careful of that in Zindra, but I avoided one parcel in Sansara also because someone had about 20 permanent bots on their land in the region.  (Fortunately I managed to sell the Zindra land a few months later for what I had paid for it, probably to someone else who didn't know the traps!)

[Hymn Celestia]

On 1/24/2022 at 10:00 PM, India Nadeau said:

@Emma KrokusI had no idea about the terraforming limits so thank you for mentioning that! 👍  If I do go ahead with living on the mainland, I will keep that in mind. 

I am also not a fan of the rock texture I've seen. I definitely prefer grass or beach!

I would suggest looking around at populated areas to see how they conquered the terraforming limitations both up and down.  This speaks to both the idea of terraforming limitations but also to the idea of "knowing what you actually want to do with your land."  Because there is great inspiration out there!

And knowing that there are land formations you can purchase from good landscapers in SL, and that there are fantastic water systems too as part of those land formations with which you can create your own water features (rivers, lakes, bays, streams, swimming ponds), then your terraforming limitations are not as dire as they might have been, say, 10 years ago.  

For examples, I was looking along Route 5 in Goodelli and Linda and Cisthene and found some extraordinary builds where people (artificially and yet oh so naturally) made the landscape obey their own visions.

[Sayumi Tsunenaga]

On 1/26/2022 at 4:04 PM, Marianne Little said:

If it is important for you to sail, you need to zoom out and study the map, and fly the route you want to sail.

This is very good advice. I looked at a parcel on real Protected Water, but in fact it was not connected through to the main seas and oceans of SL, it was an isolated piece of water.  This is rare, but it does happen.  So part of checking the whole area would be to see where the Protected Water connects.  

@India NadeauLooking back at your original post, there are three more things that come to mind...  like you, it was many years before I took the plunge of becoming Premium and buying my own land (I wish I had understood the benefits much earlier, by the time you get your L$300 per week stipend, Premium membership is actually fairly reasonably priced for what it is) but now I am so glad I did.  So anyway, three more things, depending on what land you want...

• If you are not concerned to have land on water's edge, you can find huge swathes of abandoned land which Premium members can ask to buy, and the price is almost always L$1 per sq m.  (I have never been asked to pay more or less than this, the only issue being that if the land you request is in a prime location, or if it has also been requested by another member, it will be sent to auction instead, which is a whole other story).  Over the last 12 months especially I have bought numerous amounts of abandoned land, and re-sold at a fair price for my troubles.  A lot of abandoned land is the grey rocky bleak variety, but there are also some lovely locations around, depending on what you like.  (If you just want a place for a skybox, it barely matters what is below).  To ask to buy abandoned land, you go into the Support area and create a ticket, and within a few days one of the Lindens will most likely have set the land for sale to you at L$1 per sq m.  But it can be exciting to tour around the mainland looking for what abandoned land is available - and learn the layout of the mainland at the same time.
• Be aware of the land bonus which applies if you buy your land for a group you control, rather than as your individual avatar.  I rushed out and bought a 1024 sq m parcel very quickly, as a single Premium member is entitled to 1024 sq m, but if you buy it for your group the land can be up to 1120 sq m (actually 1126.4 sq m, but since land comes in multiples of 16 sq m, 1120 is what you end up with).  So for L$100 to create a group, with an alt as the other member (the alt does not have to be Premium) you can have the extra land and extra prims that go with it.  If you want bigger land, but want to avoid paying extra tier fees, you can make your alt or alts Premium too, and each can contribute 1024  >  1120 sq m to the group, so you could own 2240 or 3360 sq m or whatever multiple you like - the alts also get the L$300 per week stipend, which you can even bank and eventually use Tilia to sell back as USD$ to Paypal to go towards next year's membership fees, if you want to.   Or splurge without having to buy lindens 😀  Oh, you can also go the other way and buy two 560 sq m parcels, and have a little hideaway in the snowlands and one on a green field, for example!
• Almost all of the Mainland is connected now, through Bellisseria being created between Sansara and Satori, but if you want to sail be aware that you can't really sail from one end to the other.  There are unpassable sections where the coast has never really been completed.  You can sail between most of Sansara and Heterocera on the one hand, but that does not connect through to the remainder.  You can sail from Jeogeot to southern Sansara and then through Bellisseria to southern Satori, but going further north is not really possible afaik.  Then, you can sail from northern Satori and the (imho) overrated Blake Sea through Nautilus and numerous island regions to Corsica and Gaeta V.  Gaeta I, the Sharp continent and Zindra are all completely cut off.  But all of this only matters if water craft are very important to you, and even then, if you don't want to spend big for water land there are numerous sailing clubs and launch sites...  look for LCC (Leeward Cruising Club) or GTFO (Get the Freight Out) logos on the map, you can usually launch at any of those.

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

Set your draw distance and LOD at whatever you use most often.  Then look up and around, to see what sorts of stuff you'll see in the sky from a ground build.  If you are planning on something in the sky, not enclosed, then fly up, spinning as you go, to see what the skies around you look like at the various heights that you might place a sky pad/home at.  Note that often there will be a great reduction in lag once you get above 1000-2000 meters high, so folks often place skyboxes up there.  If you plan on doing so, you might care what things look like at that height.

Edited February 2, 2022 by LittleMe Jewell

[Eowyn Southmoor]

On 1/26/2022 at 6:04 PM, Marianne Little said:

 

Here on the map example you can see the roads. They will stay that way. It is 2 bridges there over that narrow canal. You can't sail sailboats there, they are too tall. It is worse that someone appear to have blocked the canal, so you can't sail from north to south. Blocking protected land or water can you report to LL, but they may react slow. If it is important for you to sail, you need to zoom out and study the map, and fly the route you want to sail.

 

Actually, in the case of that part of Sansara, the "blocking" of the waterway was done deliberately by LL. That area is the Sutherland Dam - where two different water heights meet, the default 20m level, and the high 80m level. There is no way in SL to make different water heights meet naturally, so wherever this occurs (which is quite a bit in Sansara), LL make dams or fake waterfalls to hide the joining point.

[India Nadeau]

On 1/26/2022 at 2:04 AM, Marianne Little said:

 

But it is expensive to have direct access to water and roads. You decide what's worth it to you. You can always buy a plot in the middle of nowhere, and have a nice skybox up in the air.

 

 

Thank you for the info about sailing. I never have, but it would be fun! Definitely something to think about in future.

Expensive indeed! Sometimes I nearly fall over when I see how many digit places are in the prices! Being on the water is nice but some of those numbers make my Linden balance quiver in fear. 🤣

I kind of like the idea of being along the roadside though...there's a feeling of being more connected. I can understand how they could be a little more expensive too.

[India Nadeau]

On 1/28/2022 at 10:33 PM, Sayumi Tsunenaga said:

Just a few random thoughts from my own experience:

• If land next to the land you want to buy is labelled Protected, check that it is owned by some Linden group such as Linden Department of Public Works - occasionally a private group will label land or water channels as Protected, but they can just as easily sell it tomorrow and it can become anything!
• Be aware of the difference between General and Moderate lands and the rules for what you can do on them - I once bought some General land without realizing that you are not allowed to have ANY adult furniture or items on it at all.  For that reason, General land is often cheaper than Moderate, though some sellers still seem to manage to sell General parcels to unsuspecting buyers at outrageous prices.
• Tour around the whole region before buying to see if there are, for example as happened to me years ago, people who like to display 20 large scripted vehicles on permanent display which sucks up a lot of region resources, or other issues you may not want to have nearby.
• Don't buy land on Tuesdays and Wednesdays if possible (ie, when most Mainland regions are being restarted) - especially in Zindra.  I once bought what seemed an ideal parcel late Tuesday, and by Wednesday the AFK centre on the same region had been repopulated after reset and 30 avatars were there pretty much permanently.  Sometimes that gets so bad that you can't even get into your home sim.  Be VERY careful of that in Zindra, but I avoided one parcel in Sansara also because someone had about 20 permanent bots on their land in the region.  (Fortunately I managed to sell the Zindra land a few months later for what I had paid for it, probably to someone else who didn't know the traps!)

 

@Sayumi Tsunenaga Thank you for all these points. Especially about when not buy on an auction, land bots, and checking out the whole region for things like numerous scripted items and such. It definitely sounds like you've had some experiences! 

[India Nadeau]

On 1/29/2022 at 2:10 PM, Virtue Demina said:

I would suggest looking around at populated areas to see how they conquered the terraforming limitations both up and down.  This speaks to both the idea of terraforming limitations but also to the idea of "knowing what you actually want to do with your land."  Because there is great inspiration out there!

And knowing that there are land formations you can purchase from good landscapers in SL, and that there are fantastic water systems too as part of those land formations with which you can create your own water features (rivers, lakes, bays, streams, swimming ponds), then your terraforming limitations are not as dire as they might have been, say, 10 years ago.  

For examples, I was looking along Route 5 in Goodelli and Linda and Cisthene and found some extraordinary builds where people (artificially and yet oh so naturally) made the landscape obey their own visions.

 

@Virtue DeminaThere are so many inspiring and creatively landscaped parcels out there that I've seen as well. I sometimes take notes on objects I find and who the creators are. I'm not the best at landscaping, as I've mainly concentrated on interiors. Also, when I buy trees and grass, I feel like they're never quite right and I eat more prims than I intended. 🤣  But practice makes perfect!

Would you mind sharing any of your favorite landscape decor creators?

The photos you posted showed some amazingly well done places. Thanks for including them!

[Rabid Cheetah]

My best advice would be to frequently look at your life, Second Life, various costs and expenses of both, and the level of enjoyment you get from Second Life compared to its cost versus the cost of other forms of entertainment, and adjust accordingly.  This could lead you to buy a parcel on every continent, a region's-worth of land spread out over many regions, the majority of the land in one specific region, or even having nine accounts so that you can have a variety of Linden Homes.  (Yes, I've done each of these scenarios, and have the lack of real-world funds to prove it.)  It could also lead you to reevaluate this game as a whole, decide it's not worth the money or aggravation, sell all your land, bring all your accounts down to basic, and go play City Skylines.  (And yes, that's what I'm up to these days.)

[SarahThe Wanderer]

13 hours ago, Rabid Cheetah said:

My best advice would be to frequently look at your life, Second Life, various costs and expenses of both, and the level of enjoyment you get from Second Life compared to its cost versus the cost of other forms of entertainment, and adjust accordingly.  This could lead you to buy a parcel on every continent, a region's-worth of land spread out over many regions, the majority of the land in one specific region, or even having nine accounts so that you can have a variety of Linden Homes.  (Yes, I've done each of these scenarios, and have the lack of real-world funds to prove it.)  It could also lead you to reevaluate this game as a whole, decide it's not worth the money or aggravation, sell all your land, bring all your accounts down to basic, and go play City Skylines.  (And yes, that's what I'm up to these days.)

Yes, I’m thinking about the same thing actually, i’m at a full region tier, and i wanna sell/ abandon at least half of my lands or all of it; if i’m strong enough to do that, I don’t have the excitement i used to have 2 years ago, it’s getting boring, and i keep thinking it’s not really worth it to hold on to it and pay for it monthly when i’m barely there, then i think what if after a few months or a year i get my excitement back and regret this decision? Ugh it’s a dilemma!

I’m also playing ff14 more than SL these days. 
* I don’t know why the font is big and in black, can’t edit it, first time posting from my phone. 

Edited February 7, 2022 by SarahThe Wanderer

[Nick0678]

1 hour ago, SarahThe Wanderer said:

what if after a few months or a year i get my excitement back and regret this decision?

When you get your excitement back just rent a parcel and play with it until you get bored again. Costs much less than paying for something that makes you feel bored..

[Rabid Cheetah]

11 hours ago, SarahThe Wanderer said:

Yes, I’m thinking about the same thing actually, i’m at a full region tier, and i wanna sell/ abandon at least half of my lands or all of it; if i’m strong enough to do that, I don’t have the excitement i used to have 2 years ago, it’s getting boring, and i keep thinking it’s not really worth it to hold on to it and pay for it monthly when i’m barely there, then i think what if after a few months or a year i get my excitement back and regret this decision? Ugh it’s a dilemma!

I’m also playing ff14 more than SL these days. 
* I don’t know why the font is big and in black, can’t edit it, first time posting from my phone. 

YEAH FONTS GET SCREWY SOMETIMES

[Rabid Cheetah]

11 hours ago, SarahThe Wanderer said:

Yes, I’m thinking about the same thing actually, i’m at a full region tier, and i wanna sell/ abandon at least half of my lands or all of it; if i’m strong enough to do that, I don’t have the excitement i used to have 2 years ago, it’s getting boring, and i keep thinking it’s not really worth it to hold on to it and pay for it monthly when i’m barely there, then i think what if after a few months or a year i get my excitement back and regret this decision? Ugh it’s a dilemma!

I’m also playing ff14 more than SL these days. 
* I don’t know why the font is big and in black, can’t edit it, first time posting from my phone. 

 

What really pushed me over the edge was not really logging in much to the game any more but spending all my SL time on the forums, being low on RL cash, and then an incident with a Linden employee.  At the same time, I was spending more time playing games that don't have monthly subscription fees.

Plus what @Nick0678 mentioned, the game will still be here if you choose to return.  I've had to tier down in the past, only to find even better parcels in the same regions once I've been able to afford SL again.  So don't be afraid to let that land go.

That said, there need to be some serious changes to the way the lab interacts with its customers before I'll be one of those customers again.

[India Nadeau]

So I did it! 😄 I finally went premium yesterday, and I created a group and donated my tier to it. So now I'm in land search mode and looking for a 2048m size because I'm a total prim eater and I do like to create things from time to time. I may have found a good spot already, but I'm just seeing what else might be out there. I'm keeping everyone's advice in mind, so thank you to everyone who has responded to me here! 🙂

@SarahThe Wanderer and @Rabid CheetahI too have had times where I’m just not into SL and I need to do something else. Second Life burnout. It runs in cycles it seems. But the nice thing about SL is, we can come back and find fun in it all over again.  So I agree, don't be nervous to let land go and take a break!