Tips for a first time mainlander?

[Arwyn Quandry]

After much 16 years in SL and much internal debate, I'm finally making the move to grab a little 512 slice of mainland. My plan is to create a little public garden spot where I can experiment with landscaping. That said, mainland is frankly intimidating and a place I've spent relatively little time on. I'd appreciate any tips people have for buying, creating, and staying sane with a mainland parcel! 

[Clem Marques]

In your case, these are a few things worth considering:

1) Maturity rating

Since you're just planning on experimenting with landscaping, an adult Mainland parcel would be a waste of money. They are more expensive on average, and in my opinion it only makes sense to own one if you plan on using it to build a public adult venue or store, which doesn't seem to be the case here.

That leaves us with 2 options: General and Moderate land. Moderate land has a TOS that is less strict, so if you eventually decide to use it as a home or something else instead of a garden, it would be easy to convert it to that with few restrictions. The demand for Moderate land is also higher than the demand for General land, so if you decide you no longer need the parcel somewhere down the line, it'd be easier to resell it and get some of your money back.

My recommendation would be: Stick to Moderate

2) Sky vs Ground

If you're willing to build on a sky platform, that will save you some money. In that case, your surroundings would not matter. This means you could get away with buying a piece of abandoned land for 1 L$/m2 by filing a support ticket and asking for it. Or less if you find a good deal in the land sales (below 1 L$/m2). There's lots of abandoned land available all over the grid, especially in landlocked areas.

That being said, since you are buying a parcel to use a as a public garden, I think it would likely make more sense to  buy a parcel that can be used on the ground level. Preferably a place that is accessible, so people can see it more easily and come visit your park. Plus, you would be able to mess with terraforming, which is a very fun part of landscaping in SL. In that case, I'd recommend buying a roadside parcel. That way you can safely build your park there, knowing that your view will be safe/protected in at least 1 side. Those are usually a bit more expensive than random landlocked parcels, but only marginally so (2.5 - 3 L$/m2) And it pays off, in my opinion. Looks better. You can find one by looking at parcels for sale in the map, or by checking out the SL auctions.

My recommendation would be: Get a roadside (protected) parcel to build on the ground. Or abandoned land to build in the sky.

3) Neighbors

Sometimes the way neighbors use their parcels can impact the performance of your land, and your access to it. Land that is in the same region as an Infohub often ends up being completely inaccessible when there are region restarts, because several avatars are sent there while their regions are offline and it gets really full and laggy. So I highly recommend avoiding those. Two other potential nuisances are stores and clubs. Stores can draw a lot of avatars to the region if it's a popular creator, or one that participates in those weekend sales often. Clubs in general tend to get in the way if they have events often, especially if it's a popular one.

All of the situations I mentioned above are examples of region resources being hogged. Does it mean that every single store and every single club will be a nuisance? No. But I'd rather be safe and sorry... just avoid regions that have an excessive amount of "green dots" on the map all at once. That makes things slower, and could potentially make your land inaccessible if the region gets full frequently. (Happened to me before when living in a Kama City region... I had to move out)

Also take a look at the neighbors that are directly next to your parcel. If their buildings are eyesores to you, you are probably better off looking for land elsewhere.

My recommendation would be: Avoid regions that have stores, clubs, or an Infohub in them (too many green dots = trouble)

If you have any other questions about Mainland, feel free to ask. I'll help if I can. I love this topic more than I probably should

Wishing you good luck with this new project.

Edited July 1 by Clem Marques

[Arwyn Quandry]

Thank you! Sounds like I'm heading in the right direction - my plan was to find a roadside Moderate parcel in a grassy region! 

Is there a way to tell whether a club on a sim is likely to be a problem or not? I know some are dead and don't actually get traffic, while others might look dead and then fill up when an event happens. Semi related, should I be concerned about neighbor's breedables and their lag impact? 

[Clem Marques]

8 minutes ago, Arwyn Quandry said:

Is there a way to tell whether a club on a sim is likely to be a problem or not? I know some are dead and don't actually get traffic, while others might look dead and then fill up when an event happens.

Check the amount of traffic that the club's parcel has. It could be an indication of how much time was spent there, or how many avatars visited it. If it's very high, it means that the club likely filled up at some point the previous day - red flag. Busiest days for a club tend to be Fridays and the weekend, so I recommend checking after those to get an accurate sense of whether or not the place gets packed.

8 minutes ago, Arwyn Quandry said:

should I be concerned about neighbor's breedables and their lag impact?

Breedables often use lots of scripts that are running constantly. They take a toll on the region. If the neighbor only has a few it shouldn't be too much of a hassle. But if the neighbor has a ton of them, I wouldn't recommend living there. Could potentially make it laggier for you and your visitors.

Edited July 1 by Clem Marques

[Ingrid Ingersoll]

Hilltops and hillsides are kind of cool because you don't have anyone in your sight-line. 

Don't forget you can make a request for abandoned land! 

 

[Persephone Emerald]

1. Never get General rated land.

2. Use an alt in a shared land group to get the Group land bonus. Make sure your alt has full rights over your items & your land group as a co-owner.

3. Take a good, long look at the neighborhood before buying. Avoid places where someone is raising breedables, vendors, dungeons or sex clubs. 

4. Get a parcel next to Linden water or a Linden road.

5. After getting your land, keep alert for abandoned land in the same region that you can buy for cheap from LL through a support ticket.

6. Be friendly with your neighbors. Send them all a short IM introducing yourself as a new neighbor & let them know they should contact you if they have any problems or concerns with your stuff.

7. Play with terriforming *before* adding any buildings or other structures.

8. Put the coordinates for your house in its description or a notecard. Lock your house so you don't accidentally delete it. You will at some point anyway. That's why you should save the coordinates you want it at.

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

4 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

4. Get a parcel next to Linden water or a Linden road.

AND NEVER EVER REZ THINGS TO PLACE OVER OR IN THEM (WITH ROOT CHEATS), EVEN IF THEY'RE PHANTOM!

Edited July 2 by SarahKB7 Koskinen