Coffee Pancake

I suspect the information I have been able to gather from scripted logging and inspecting land ownership and occupancy trends is just the tip of the iceberg. You will notice on Horizons almost every region has some parcels with an acquired date matching the horizons launch date & often sporting the default themed sci-fi homes. No retail customer would pay years and years of tier fees and never bother to rez a single prim, many are not for rent or being used as prim-bank land either.

Maybe it's easier to dispute money paid to a tipjar .. there is no reasons for this practice, which implies there is a reason.

Replace "investing" with "speculating" Simply hurling money at something is not investment, especially in the case of land where that "investment" requires a fixed recurring fee to keep it alive. The break even point constantly increases over time and the value can only be recovered on sale, if you can find a buyer. To keep this simple the numbers have been rounded out a lot. Say you buy a 1024 parcel on horizons. Get out of bed price to purchase the plot is 100,000 L$. It costs you 10,000 L$ per year to hold that parcel (price of annual premium, less value of years stipend at L$300 a week) . If you hold it for a year, to break even you need to sell that parcel for 110,000 L$, assuming you don't spend any of the stipend. But it's not that simple. Land buy in prices are artificially held high by a rash of other speculators playing the same game, at any point about half the land on horizons is held by speculators and not placed for sale in order to create artificial scarcity, many of these parcels have been owned by the same speculators since the land was launched and they payed significantly less than 100,000 L$ to get started. They can under cut you and still make a profit. Some of these speculators are operating with tier from vintage accounts granting up to 4096 sqm of free teir, they do not have monthly upkeep costs. You can't buy a vintage account as LL do not permit accounts to be transferred. But it's worse. I've scripts tracking parcels changing hands on the Horizons region I have some land on for the last few years. Land is not moving from speculators to regular customers, it's almost exclusively being quietly shuffled between land holding groups, much of this happens on parcels that are never set for public sale. (originally the intent was to watch for neighboring parcels coming up for sale so I could expand, however the resulting data has been an eye opener) In short it's ebay beanie babies (and collectables in general). Some sell for extremely high values and are bought by the seller in a wash sale with a second account, this creates the appearance of value and profits. Existing speculators are able to say (and show evidence of) of prized collectables holding a high yet entirely fictitious value in order to lure a mark into believing the apparent value and buying in only to find there are no future customers for the purchased item. Wash sales are the norm. In SL this can be further be masked by apparent and fictitious rental incomes. A land owner rents a parcel, has an alt as a tenant and moves the same money in a circle. Apparent occupancy is common, well decorated pretty homes that no one ever uses. I have been repeatedly offered low ball sums for parcels I own (and actively occupy) on horizons, or special slightly discounted 'buy it now quick" offers by land speculators and their alts. Mainland in general is plagued by these practices with single landowners often operating multiple land groups. Land auctions from LL are the only way to procure land without being a mark, however, existing speculators play this market too often buying land at over inflated prices in order to maintain their monopoly and hold inflated land values. LL do not care what happens so long as someone is left holding the land and paying their tier fees. This behavior is endemic and why I wish @Linden Lab @Patch Linden would update the rules to prohibit the rental of mainland parcels. Legitimate land rental operations are a rare minority. You will notice there is no land speculation for private islands which from a tier perspective (not affected by legacy charter accounts) are only slightly more expensive to maintain. Land on private islands is often sold for 0 L$ simply to temporarily transfer technical owner abilities, it's not uncommon for region owners wishing to sell a region to do so well below the costs of buying a brand new region direct from LL. tl;dr Land values in SL are a lie, the market is stitched up. PS .. It's not uncommon for existing land "investors" to fake final retail sales and then place obnoxious builds in order to try and force nearby actual land users to sell out and move for a low ball price (by having an apparently unconnected alt message with a low ball offer). Skyscrapers, HUGE full bright builds full of cars, pyramids, "art projects" and script lag are common weapons of choice.

and we can't know the details in advance because it's yet another blatant ToS violation

FREE LAND FOREVER ?????????? PROFIT You're all just stupid for not understanding the magnificence of this SCHEME.

never ever too late, ever, as in literally ever.

Private regions cost hundreds of USD a month to keep alive. If you can't say how you're going to consistently raise those fees, I'm calling this a scam.

The map is wrong. I was able to enter and TP to red regions after the all clear was given.

The distinction between M and A is not just the commercial activity or public secs clauses. Adult land is not just about the sex.

I love my Kupra .. I bought it for me, no one else has to care ^^

That's what I mean though .. that store works fine for us

There was a time when we evangelized SL to everyone who would listen, that included friends and family members (some of mine are still around). At the time there was nothing like SL and optimism for the platforms future was riding high. These days it's different, we have all found our niche and that's about as far as we go in SL. The platform is going nowhere, and if someone asks for what they should get into for a specific type of experience, there are dozens of alternatives.

The IRS are very happy to see NFTs as cash and tax them as such. Handy how all the transactions are on a public blockchain for them to look at.

Seems regions are coming back up and the map is just lagging behind now, i'm seeing holes fill in. Disaster over !

You might have to file a support ticket to get your account copied over .. although it might take a little while, they are likely quite busy today.

If only there was some kind of beta or test grid they could restart on Mondays, a beta test grid perhaps, it would need a name of course .. I vote for something sanskrit.

I think it looks pretty.

There are and always have been plenty of land speculators in SL, they bring nothing of value, lock up huge swathes of property and force prices every upwards as they try to improve their ROI. This behavior hurts SL. It's notable that none of the land investment virtual worlds have active populations. Partly why Belli has been so successful, it separates the act of owning of land from those wishing to profit from land Adding minecraft style voxels to SL would be a great, don't let the primitive chunky style distract you from the amazing things that can be done with them. https://www.wired.com/story/best-minecraft-builds/

I honestly think it's time we let this die. Sure, it's not a traditional video game with things to do, monsters to kill and resources to compete over. But loudly declaring "SL IS NOT" is broadly unhelpful, no one has ever had their interest peaked or gotten excited to hear what something isn't. It begs the question "WHAT IS SL" that's invariably followed by confusing vague nonsense that leaves no one any the wiser. It's no wonder LL famously have no idea what this mess is or why any of us continue to use it, and that confusion taints everything it touches. If people want to see SL as a social video game, sure thing, good for them, someone tell LL and we can get on with moving the platform forward with a defined purpose in mind.

Yes, you very much are. Amazon is a juggernaut that's devastating real world and online retail in ways Walmart could only ever dream.

I think the "SL is for grown-ups" angle is a mistake, it's patronizing, demeaning and absolutely the last thing we want to be associated with. "Video games are for children and SL isn't a video game" is a really great way to alienate an entire generation of users we actually need if we plan to keep the lights on in an ever more crowded marketplace. SL and VW in general are not for "serious work". They have never been for "serious work" and they never will be. Nobody is doing serious work in VR or VW. We've leant the hard way that's a wet dream who's only appeal is to management types chasing a sweet (non existent) B2B pay check. This marketing lead approach dooms everything it touches and needs to be stamped out, it's poisonous corporate koolaid. Sure, let Meta waste years trying this VR/VW nonsense, but let's not miss the opportunity to point out how idiotic is it and define this platform as the place where we're having none of it. If LL management thought SL was a video game (even though it isn't) we and SL as a platform would be a whole lot better off, at least then there would be clear direction and easily understood business model that could drive many of the changes we want to see. A more responsive world with better interactivity? YES PLEASE.

The value is in the marketing not whatever is constructed in the virtual world. Big company opens new thing in meta's whatever this is !! Then it will get abandoned and left to rot, same as they did with SL.

why the ever loving sdjkhf ilfuhsduifhsdj would anyone opt in to that ?!!

At least don't tie the name change to premium, that stings.