Fantassaria Survey?

[Persephone Emerald]

Has Linden Lab surveyed Premium members to find out why they don't like the Fantassaria Homes or regions? I've heard a few ideas on the forum, but since this is the least popular home style in Bellesseria, it seems to me LL needs accurate feedback on them.

Is it that people think the houses are too big? Too boring? Do they want more unusual styles? More textures? More colors? Open floor plans?

Is the region too weird looking? Not weird enough looking? Too boring? Too overwhelming? Do the regions need more monsters and fantastic creatures?

Do the regions need more public spaces? Wider waterways? More private boat rezzing? Better access to the rest of the SL world?

Are the monster sounds too disturbing? Should there be more bird song? Should there be cat sounds? (witches seem to like cats, right?)

What do you like or dislike about these regions?

Personally, I think more external house textures would be a fairly easy fix - some ivy, moss or rose vine covered & some gingerbread house textures.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Persephone Emerald

[Stephanie Misfit]

26 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Has Linden Lab surveyed Premium members to find out why they don't like the Fantassaria Homes or regions? I've heard a few ideas on the forum, but since this is the least popular home style in Bellesseria, it seems to me LL needs accurate feedback on them.

Is it that people think the houses are too big? Too boring? Do they want more unusual styles? More textures? More colors? Open floor plans?

Is the region too weird looking? Not weird enough looking? Too boring? Too overwhelming? Do the regions need more monsters and fantastic creatures?

Do the regions need more public spaces? Wider waterways? More private more boat rezzing? Better access to the rest of the SL world?

Are the monster sounds too disturbing? Should there be more bird song? Should there be cat sounds? (witches seem to like cats, right?)

What do you like or dislike about these regions?

Personally, I think more external house textures would be a fairly easy fix - some ivy, moss or rose vine covered & some gingerbread house textures.

There was a lot of hype for these regions before they were released, so something went wrong. Personally, I did not like the interior of the houses, the layout, the colour choices. And it is also a lot harder to furnish fantasy homes than it is the other styles of homes. I found that it was easy to get items to decorate the exterior, but when it came to finding furnishings for the interior of the homes, it was quite difficult. If you choose any other style of Linden home you are absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to decorating. The regions themselves are stunning and I can't think of much I would change there.

[Claireschen Hesten]

As a theme in general "Fantasy" has never appealed to me. The landscaping is pleasant enough I could live with it. The Belli fantasy homes I think are the wrong size, it's not what comes to mind when I think fantasy. The interior layouts of the rooms are either too big, too small or don't lend themselves to being furnished in a typical manner. There might be a window just where you don't want a window to be or space that's hard to do anything with and that's if you have furniture that doesn't look too out of place in the house. 

[AzureWaves]

I never wanted a fantasy house at all, none of my furniture would look right in it. Someone on the forum said it reminded them of churches, and now I can't unsee it. There was maybe a vocal minority who wanted fantasy homes, the rest of us just wants a standard house with clean walls.

[Kaleb Nightingale]

I think the exterior of the houses are fine. The internal furnishing points made here, are valid. It can be difficult to marry the interior furnishings to the overall design of the fantasy regions.

For me, I would live there if the coloured crystals and the big mushrooms were removed. The rest looks pretty good.

[Kylie Jaxxon]

They never interested me from the get-go...not into that type of thing at all

[Hymn Celestia]

The regions all are, without exception, gorgeous in my opinion; the Fantasy regions especially so for their whimsy and imagination, a real departure from the Traditional and Earthly themes.  I love wandering through the Fantasy regions; I just don’t feel “at home” there.  But I attribute that more to the bullseye-success of the Trads and Vics in making me feel “at home” than a failure of Fantasy in any way.  
My first Belli house was a Victorian and it set the mood really for where I feel “at home” in Bellisseria.  

I think it’s all about the Willow trees.  

[Nika Talaj]

I really LOVE Fantasseria's landscape, and I think the wandering small waterways suit the theme very well.   I recently wrote about the homes:

On 1/31/2023 at 10:06 AM, Nika Talaj said:

For me, too, the problem is the homes themselves.  They, and actually the Eyrie build as well, strike me as being at odds with the landscape.  The landscape is delicate and very whimsical; the builds are - well, frankly, they look to me like very solid cement structures with a stucco finish.  The stark white back wall of Eyrie looks to me like a fort from the back.  If I had to say which other theme they most resemble, I'd go with Chalets, which give me the same sort of large, stolid home feel.

I have seen some successful Fantasseria builds.  I have LMs to a couple of wonderful builds where the owner extended the landscaping into the home, making the interior into an extension of their fantasy garden.  I had a neighbor who made a Viking hall -- it is telling that big, rough Viking furniture really suited the house!  I liked a very "High Elven" house, and Aevale's "Witch" decor.  I think, in order to do a really nice Fantasseria build, you have to pick a Fantasy genre and ruthlessly adapt the house to your concept.

I know there's no hope of LL changing the concept of the homes, but really I'd prefer to have only one or two of the current heavily elven homes, and have other choices that are more simpatico with the landscape, e.g.:

• A ruin
• A 2-floor round tower with a single rectangular open room on the 1st floor
• A cave/hobbit home (not a circular build; I think people would shy away from completely curved walls.
• A pond with an island, or peninsula, that has only a small hut on it

[Thea Amethyst]

My partner has a Fantasy home and it is wonderful.  I helped him decorate it, and it is a perfect man cave type space with rich red walls, dark oak floors, a big elk head above the massive fireplace, and candlelight chandeliers for lighting.  It has a big round dining table that reminded us of the Knights of the Round Table.  Furthermore it has water on 3 sides (back and sides with winding path in front) like a moat, and we have a boat rezzer which rezzes a little motor boat on the edge of the land we can maneuver easily into the water that we can ride through a few canals out to the edge of the continent.  This is no different than all of the other non-water themes that don't allow you to dock a boat in water on your land.  I am looking forward to there being more water around the continent to make it easier to travel all of Bellisseria some day.  I can also tell you there are no vacant linden homes in our particular region at the time I checked it 5 minutes ago.  I wasn't a fan of the colors for the exterior so I got a paint shell and made it stone all the way around.  I usually get a paint shell for the other themes I have homes in too because I like to make the place stand out a bit.  I also added a castle spire and an owl out front that flies around and greets visitors.  There is lots of climbing ivy on the exterior walls too.  I have cammed around a few places nearby and have seen a more feminine take on the this theme including a witch's coven type feel and a fairy princess style.

I don't understand all the animosity of the Fantasy region here on this forum.  If you like a challenge and are good at decorating, I can't believe you can't do something brilliant with it.  If it is not your thing, move on and don't get one.  I see plenty of green dots on the Fantasseria continent, as many as in several other themes.   I don't begrudge any of you your opinions and always come here to check out your wonderful decorating ideas and updates.  I am sure there are plenty of people who don't come to this forum who love their Fantasy homes but aren't here to provide an alternative viewpoint.  I am curious, with all of the complaints lately about the Fantasy region, what would you have Linden Labs do about it?  Should they offer totally new types of structures, change the landscaping, cut it back, or eliminate it altogether?  My partner and I would be awfully sad if they totally changed the look and feel of the place because we really love all the winding paths and bridges (so fun to travel by horses), the crystals, the willows/landscaping, and the canals.  You can travel through the whole continent by boat if you want to.

Here are some pics of our Fantasy home and how we chose to decorate it.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Thea Atheria
Fixed several typos.

[Persephone Emerald]

21 minutes ago, Thea Atheria said:

My partner has a Fantasy home and it is wonderful.  I helped him decorate it, and it is a perfect man cave type space with rich red walls, dark oak floors, a big elk head above the massive fireplace, and candlelight chandeliers for lighting.  It has a big round dining table that reminded us of the Knights of the Round Table.  Furthermore it has water on 3 sides (back and sides with winding path in front) like a moat, and we have a boat rezzer which rezzes a little motor boat on the edge of the land we can maneuver easily into the water that we can ride through a few canals out to the edge of the continent.  This is no different than all of the other non-water themes that don't allow you to dock a boat in water on your land.  I am looking forward to there being more water around the continent to make it easier to travel all of Bellisseria some day.  I can also tell you there are no vacant linden homes in our particular region at the time I checked it 5 minutes ago.  I wasn't a fan of the colors for the exterior so I got a paint shell and made it stone all the way around.  I usually get a paint shell for the other themes I have homes in too because I like to make the place stand out a bit.  I also added a castle spire and an owl out front that flies around and greets visitors.  There is lots of climbing ivy on the exterior walls too.  I have cammed around a few places nearby and have seen a more feminine take on the this theme including a witch's coven type feel and a fairy princess style.

I don't understand all the animosity of the Fantasy region here on this forum.  If you like a challenge and are good at decorating, I can't believe you can't do something brilliant with it.  If it is not your thing, move on and don't get one.  I see plenty of green dots on the Fantasseria continent, as many as in several other themes.   I don't begrudge any of you your opinions and always come here to check out your wonderful decorating ideas and updates.  I am sure there are plenty of people who don't come to this forum who love their Fantasy homes but aren't here to provide an alternative viewpoint.  I am curious, with all of the complaints lately about the Fantasy region, what would you have Linden Labs do about it?  Should they offer totally new types of structures, change the landscaping, cut it back, or eliminate it altogether?  My partner and I would be awfully sad if they totally changed the look and feel of the place because we really love all the winding paths and bridges (so fun to travel by horses), the crystals, the willows/landscaping, and the canals.  You can travel through the whole continent by boat if you want to.

Here are some pics of our Fantasy home and how we chose to decorate it.

Thanks for the great pictures. I think your use of shells shows how more texture choices - inside and outside - could help people personalize their houses with a relatively simple change to the house options. I'd love to see different styles too, but I think that would require more work from the Moles.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Persephone Emerald

[Istelathis]

I enjoyed my Fantassian home while I owned it, and went pretty wild with the decorations.  For my own theme, I decided to just bring a bit of the wilderness inside of the home.

Those curtains above drove me crazy though, I think eventually I changed them with mesh ones that looked much better.  I think I also had a tall plant put in the corner, so the wallpaper flowed a bit nicer.

Unfortunately though, they did not have any in 512 parcels and I wanted to have a home on the mainland and Bellisseria, so after decorating it I moved on to the modern homes.  If they were to bring some 512 homes there, I would consider moving back though.  I adore the outside environment, and the entire theme at night is absolutely amazing to me.  

Edited February 20, 2023 by Istelathis

[diamond Marchant]

In the absence of data, I have no evidence on why the Fantasy Homes appear to be less appealing. So I will offer thoughts based on my experience only.

1. I have never seen Linden Lab ask for input on Bellisseria themes. Residents chime in after the theme is built.

2. The fantasy homes feel (to me)  like a personal favorite of someone within Linden Lab.

3. They obviously built too many.

4. As we know from the website-who-must-not-be-named, the themes that are most appealing are those with rezzable water on parcel. It seems ridiculous that waterways crisscross the subcontinent yet there is no rezzable water on parcel, hence no permanent boats in the water. Combined with fact that the entire subcontinent is a cul-de-sac, having only one entrance (with obstacles), those interested in boating (both dock candy owners and serious sailors) will go elsewhere.

The lesson I learned is that great landscaping is nice but not sufficient to make up for other deficiencies (mentioned in prior posts).

The community center is very nice but, as we know, you do not have to live there to use it.

It saddens me that all those beautiful coastal waterway edge sims appear to have little use. Few are even occupied.That resource could have used elsewhere to benefit many.

[Chloe Bunny]

I love the regions and I think that when the coasts are available that will be a draw for some - if they shrank the mushrooms and crystals or removed them I think I would appreciate the landscape more as the seasons system and the plants are really great. But it can feel overpowering with giant stuff overhead. The houses are too large for my personal taste - a 512 home would be lush, (or at least a smaller scale home on a 1024), as would some kind of burrow den in the home options like this one : https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/CC-Burrow-Den/14269653

[Always Incognito]

8 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

 

What do you like or dislike about these regions?

I definitely do not like the houses. They are not fitting in the environment. A bit depressing with a concrete feeling and HUGE. Mission church feeling. I love the landscaping tho a bit too much blue maybee?

[Marianne Little]

I feel the regions are so wasted. All those empty homes and regions that could have been used for a more popular theme.

We always hear that SL has so much empty space.

I think the theme is too narrow. It goes straight at those who love a purple elven land. And it is wonderfully made and people compliment it. But I think for the majority, it works like a place to go and admire once in a while, not a place to live in.

Too special a enviroment, and all houses look the same. I read a lot of posts before about hobbit homes, tree houses, cottages and small towers. But when did LL listen? One of the Lindens in power, love this purple elvish style and decided that everyone else would love it too.

It is ironic that I am talking about that the houses are too big. Because in other styles, I want big houses. But I think that for almost all other themes, they are easy to shop for, and a fantasy style does not have so many things I think are good. Some fantasy furniture and decor use a high Li, and are out of the question for a LHome. I can not set a fireplace and a couch in the living room and consider it done. I need stuff. And stuff I like. The huge interiors with tiny arched windows are not giving me a good feeling. In a smaller house, tiny arched windows would feel bigger. Small windows in general is making me dislike the interior.

I would find it easier to find a Fantasy home to live in, if the landscape were a more suited for a variety of fantasy homes. And a variety of homes made.

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by Marianne Little

[Love Zhaoying]

12 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

What do you like or dislike about these regions?

With all the focus on the normal Belli homes, I wasn't even aware of this.

[Marianne Little]

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

With all the focus on the normal Belli homes, I wasn't even aware of this.

After Bonniebots made a page about LHomes, it is easy to see the numbers.

It is not only Fantasy that's unpopular. Chalets comes next. 53% available (Unoccupied).

Strange to say, Sakura has 49% available, only 51% is taken. I thought Sakura was one popular theme. But LL made fewer of that style, so it is just a little over 800 unoccupied houses.

Maybe we are creatures of habit, and want to live in homes that reminds us of RL.

Fantasy, Chalets and Sakura are too different?

[Love Zhaoying]

11 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

With all the focus on the normal Belli homes, I wasn't even aware of this.

After Bonniebots made a page about LHomes, it is easy to see the numbers.

It is not only Fantasy that's unpopular. Chalets comes next. 53% available (Unoccupied).

Strange to say, Sakura has 49% available, only 51% is taken. I thought Sakura was one popular theme. But LL made fewer of that style, so it is just a little over 800 unoccupied houses.

Maybe we are creatures of habit, and want to live in homes that reminds us of RL.

Fantasy, Chalets and Sakura are too different?

I meant, I did not know the Fantasy homes even existed (not that the numbers were low).  Perhaps LL has not been "advertising" them enough, with all the focus on Belli?

[Hedy Heartsong]

I personally LOVE everything about the Fantassaria with the one exception being the size of the houses.  I like cozy and can't seem to achieve it even in the smallest model unless I make a hide to block off rooms. I don't really like doing that either so I stick to some of the other themes I also love.  There are a few great options for me.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Hedy Heartsong

[Flower Caerndow]

I think the lack of popularity of the fantasy theme shows the lack of imagination for many of the people who have Linden Homes.  You do need to be able to create something besides real life decor for a house, ideas like Nika mentioned above.  I was disappointed when I first saw the size of the houses because there was not much space outside for gardens, so I decided to make the inside of the house into a garden and cover the outside with vines and crystals, so it blended into the landscape.  Sometimes we need to abandon pre-conceived ideas and go with what the landscaping and houses tell us to do!  I love the theme and it has inspired me to be more imaginative with my SL decorating.

[Matthieu Quander]

2 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I meant, I did not know the Fantasy homes even existed (not that the numbers were low).  Perhaps LL has not been "advertising" them enough, with all the focus on Belli?

Don't let the often referenced name "Fantassaria" fool you, the Fantasy Homes are part of Bellisseria.  They simply occupy a an area that is more isolated.  If you have not looked for a Linden Home in the past year or never scroll down to see the entire list, I suppose you might have missed them.  Other than placement on the theme selection widget, they have had every bit as much prioritization as any other theme.  

I have to wonder if being permanently stuck at the bottom of the list is contributing to the less popular themes not being selected more often.  Perhaps people simply don't notice the easily missed "View all houses" button.  That said, all of my least favorite themes are the ones at the bottom of the list, so it's probably not that.

I do agree that it appears that the theme's appeal was likely overestimated.  There will likely be some increase in demand if the residents of the Elderglen regions are ever forced to relocate to Bellisseria, but how many of them will opt for a different theme or a mainland parcel?  

As for me personally, the Fantasy Home theme is a genre that holds no appeal to me at all.  That's not a commentary on the work done to create it nor on those whose SL is spent in that area of interest.  As always, I'm glad that there is something for everyone in SL, even if much of it doesn't interest me.  

 

[Love Zhaoying]

5 minutes ago, Matthieu Quander said:

Don't let the often referenced name "Fantassaria" fool you, the Fantasy Homes are part of Bellisseria. 

Then I'll be more specific: What I really meant was, "the cookie-cutter traditional and/or Asian-themed" Bellisseria homes which people post on here about every.single.day.

This Fantasy theme is much much much more..interesting.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Love Zhaoying
Edited to be "more nice about it"

[Hymn Celestia]

12 hours ago, Thea Atheria said:

Here are some pics of our Fantasy home and how we chose to decorate it.

Looks fantastic

I wouldn't have the Lab change a thing about the Fantasy regions.  I'm just glad there's a good Vic for me to inhabit and feel at home in.  But the decor in your place is terrific, no question about it! 

[Tamara Adored]

I love a fantasy theme. I own castles, ruins, hobbit homes & plenty of matching furniture so that isn’t the issue for me. The homes felt like the chalets with a bit of curvy stuff thrown in. They feel too big, not at all ‘magical’ & just don’t seem to fit the environment created around them. This is one time when I feel smaller homes would be better. The amount of land around them for landscaping is too small. I put out a few fantasy trees & it felt crowded. Even with the largest trad home I’m still left with heaps of land to play with. I know they are never going to make everyone happy but the current homes just feel so unimaginative compared to the Mole landscaping. I know fantasy is niche but a bit more imagination in house design may have enticed more people to try it. 
 

[benchthis]

1 hour ago, Hedy Heartsong said:

I personally LOVE everything about the Fantassaria with the one exception being the size of the houses.  I like cozy and can't seem to achieve it even in the smallest model unless I make a hide to block off rooms. I don't really like doing that either so I stick to some of the other themes I also love.  There are a few great options for me.

This might be a good time to introduce 1024 camper parcels with a variation of fantasy themed campers only available in the fantasy area. I would randomly place them throughout fantasy home theme and not cluster them together too unless the clusters are similiar to the cute camper spot millbank has setup during halloween (maybe for those clusters make parcel size 512.) Larger ones would be scattered around the enchanted lands.