Any reason to own mainland over a private region?

[honerken]

Because I'm thiking baout getting me a sim that's over 60,000 sq meters, and I don't know whether a mainland or private region would be a better choice.

Sorry if this is on the wrong forum.

[Pussycat Catnap]

For a full sim?

Estate has more controls.

Mainland has neighboring sims.

 

I assume you'd be owning that estate and not renting it - in which case chances are Estate serves you better in every way but for the chance of random neighbors in next door sims. Those random neighbors of mainland can be a big plus or a big minus - and you have no control over which. It can change overnight too.

Most of the estate manager tools are missing on mainland. Governor Linden gets them - even if you own 100% of the sim and there's not a drop of protected land.

For anyone other than a full sim owner I tend to recommend mainland - but you're setting up to be the exception to my usualy recommendation.

 

[Qie Niangao]

A full Mainland sim costs US$ 195 /mo in tier.  A full Estate sim cost US$ 295 /mo in fees.

You will pay a hefty up-front purchase price to get a Mainland sim from a private owner (unless one suddenly comes available by auction from LL -- which is very rare).  Initial Estate sim setup fees should be lower (although I'm not sure about that any more, given the decline in Mainland prices).

If the plan is to let others use parts of the sim for a fee, then Estate sims make that easy by letting you "sell" parcels, granting the "buyer" lots of abilities that can only be approximated by Mainland rentals (using a separate land-owning group for each rental).

[nikita Jefferson]

The one big difference is lag,every time i go to the mainland the lag is terrible,iwould never buy mainland myself

[Qie Niangao]

If you own the whole sim, though, you can control sim-side lag on the Mainland, too.  The reason it's often so bad on Mainland sims with multiple owners is that Linden Lab is the Estate manager for the Mainland, and Lindens are inordinately enamoured of breedable animals, so they'll rarely do anything about even the laggiest menagerie.  Obviously, if one owned the whole sim, one could boot any critter-harboring tenants.

Viewer-side lag on Mainland is also sometimes a problem because there are so many different landowners building from different texture inventories.  That can be a problem on rental Estates, too, but they're often just the standard-issue tropical islands surrounded by void, so that reduces viewer lag: there are no neighboring sims, so there's nothing to render.  (Nothing to see, either, but that may not bother some folks, especially if they're on lower-end machines.)

[Finrod Ghennyn]

Personally, i would go for private region.

I've had experience on 'smaller' lots on mainland, and it's drama. You could compare it to an SL Ghetto. Continous lost 'avatars' swarming over your land. (That is if you dont want to spoil your sim with 'red crosslines'.)

I suppose you should consider what you will be using your sim for. If you want an enclosed area for a steady community go for private. If you're going to make a massive party/sales-thing going on .. go for mainland perhaps.

This is my personal experience with either anyways.

[Melita Magic]

Mainland: easier to get out of later (provided you can sell it, but I think full sims still sell. Pick a great location and watch what you pay when you are the buyer.)

can sell off bits and pieces of it

lower tier for a full region than for a full island estate region

terraform: plus or minus 4 meters from where it was set

Estate:

higher buy in than mainland sim, if you buy from LL, but cheaper on secondary market

$100 (dollars) higher tier per month than mainland

pay transfer fee later and sell at a loss on the secondary market

chase after tenants and try to keep them

be chased by angry tenants with pitchforks should you ever lose the land through non payment of tier 

plus side: more likely to attract merchant tenants

plus side: more controls, longer ban list

plus side: change terrain to anything any time you wish

plus side: can terraform higher, I think

Dunno maybe that will help you.

[Phil Deakins]

If you own the whole mainland sim, you are more-or-less in control of any lag, just as you are with a private sim, so there's not much difference there. The one lag addition with mainland is the seeing of neighboring sims, but I don't think that's a major lag problem.

All sims, private and mainland, share servers with other sims, and they are mixed. Sharing with "heavy" sims can be a problem but, since they are mixed, it can a problem for both mainland and private sims.

 

If I were considering buying a sim, my two main considerations would be cost and surroundings. Mainland wins hands down as far cost is concerned (the monthly tier), and the surroundings consideration would be whether or not I want to be surrounded by ocean. If I decided that ocean is must, then I'd go for a private sim, but if I wasn't bothered about ocean, I'd save US$100 a month and go for a mainland sim. So it would really be a case of whether or not being isolated in the ocean is worth US$100 a month to me. The ability to change the terrain would be a lesser consideration, depending on what I wanted to do with the sim.

[Irene Muni]

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Qie Niangao wrote:

A full Mainland sim costs US$ 195 /mo in tier.  A full Estate sim cost US$ 295 /mo in fees.

---

 

For me "that's the question" LOL You choose according to your real money: the difference is 100 US$/month

[Sea Warcliffe]

Theres the price difference already mentioned (1/3rd or 100 USD less per month), and the fact that you can scale your mainland up or down in increments instead of a whole sim, I think theres also an advatage for mainland shops in that you get explorers stopping by and checking things out, especially if you are by a road or water way.

[Melita Magic]

I'd absolutely love to be able to change terrain texture, and to have a longer ban list due to the type of place I run. After a while, names pile up if you've run for years.

I can juggle the ban list if necessary, but being able to have actual snow on the ground, instead of sculpty piles of it here and there, would be awesome.

I can't see paying $100 more a month for it at this point in RL, though.

[Phil Deakins]

Yes, the ability to completely change the land would be a huge plus but, for me, not worth the extra US$100 a month - not even when combined with a surrounding ocean view.

Owning a whole mainland sim alleviates almost all of the mainland problems, and the extras you get with a private sim, although very desirable, aren't worth US$100 a month to me. US$100 a month is significant money. For les than that, Virgin Media provides me with 50 meg broadband, the top range of TV channels, the TiVo system AND the V+ box (same as Sky+), mobile (cell) phone with calls and texts, and land line with calls. The extra private sim features don't hold a candle to that lot.

Yesterday, someone advertised (in the forum) almost a whole mainland sim for a mere 25,000L. If I were in the market for a sim, I'd have been up for that one.

[Qie Niangao]

That "surrounding ocean view" is, however, only a view.

Although I'm a Mainland creature myself, I've built my share of private islands, and there's not a heck of a lot one can do about being surrounded by the impenetrable void.  That's the huge advantage that USS got, hooking into Blake Sea, although they had a lot of OpenSpace sims among them even before that move.  Best of both worlds, though:  full Estate control of their sims, and the entire water surround of two continents to sail in.

Otherwise, by far the most common (and easiest) thing to do with a private island is to make it the standard-issue tropical beach, leaving just enough shallow margin to paddle a canoe between the shore and some hokey off-sim outcroppings.

[Yevad Doobie]

For me, the main reason to live on mainlands is the ability to travel vast distances (if/when the grid allows).  I commute to work in Snowlands from Heterocera Atoll, something I find much more fun than a sterile teleport (though the grid is rather sucky right now).

 

Another thing which I think has a bearing on things is whether you like to see unusual things.  Due to the lack of rules on mainlands, you tend to see all manner of strange and wonderful things.  Residents have a huge diversity of imaginations, bringing much colour to the world around.  Sure, sometimes we see things which we consider as plain ugly, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and one persons lump of coal is anothers diamond.

[Erwin Solo]

I've held an island homestead SIM in the past, and now have a full SIM worth of mainland scattered across several parcels.  On the balance, I'd say that if you are not sure, then rent/buy a SIM of island from one of the larger estate holders (not sure if I'm allowed to name names here).  "Renting" island land from a major estate holder is a lot like buying.  You get full region rights.  You can try your idea with little money down.  IM me if you need some names.