Premium Member Homes

[Veruca Beck]

Hi, if this is the correct place to post feedback for LL, this is just my suggestion. The Linden Homes are cute, but they are all just thrown down on the grass. It would be more appealing and attractive with streets and a coheisive plan. I know it's SL and everything, but it's just a field of houses with no way to connect with neighbors organically. 
Thanks for the opportunity to offer this feedback.

[Alwin Alcott]

you are totally right...but ... the LL homes are meant to taste owning land in sl, get the feeling of decorating and furnishing.

Of course you can use it as long as you wish but it's a business... they hope you move on to the mainland/estates for larger land in time,

 

There's not much chance a LL employee will read your post, they very rarely use the forums for this.

[SAULGOODiE]

You are quite correct, Veruca, as is Alwin, Linden Homes Communies are the least-common-denominator approach of providing homes to residents in virtual worlds. Without an infastructure or roads to worry about, these sims and communities can be built and maintained quickly and efficiently. There are quite a few things that you miss out on when living in a Linden Home Community, but in most cases they are not things we would not want Linden in charge of anyway ;-D 

All Premium Homes have privacy protection with banlines, so that instantly makes the fluidity of Linden Home Continents virtually nonexistant. All parcels in Linden Home Communities are residential; there is no way to open a shop, a club or even a park. This kind of creative-suppression does not encourage ANYONE to attempt to "Grow" or encourage community in these places. Lastly, and certainly not the least of anyones worries, would be the prim allowance. Roll all this together and Linden Homes are really only good for practicing interior decoration and a safe place to get dressed. 

If you are interested in better communities there are plenty on private sims that have wonderful designs, layouts and infastructure, all with way more freedom than you could get from a Linden Home. 

[Qie Niangao]

There are plenty of opportunities on Mainland, too, either rentals or purchased. The premium account previously used for a Linden Home can support 512 sq.m. of purchased Mainland without additional tier fees, in place of that Linden Home. In the past that was pretty limiting, but with Mesh, one can get a lot of content in a land impact of 117. (I mention that in particular because the Linden Homes don't count toward that 117, but a purchased home would.)

(Special cases exist. For example, 560sq.m. parcels fit in the 512 allotment when deeded to group, and there are double-primmed parcels, too.)

(Quick edit: I meant to mention that rentals are generally easier, if the objective is to get the kind of "infrastructure" of roads and stuff, whether the rental is Mainland or Estate. The thing about purchasing Mainland is just that it uses the same Premium membership as the OP must be using instead for one of the starter Linden Homes.)

[Nyll Bergbahn]

SAULGOODiE, I'm somewhat bemused by your comments on Linden Homes.

Linden Homes have the same privacy land controls as any other land in Second Life. You can allow public access, group access or named residents, so saying all Premium Homes have privacy protection with banlines is simply nonsense.

Yes, all Premium Home sims are residential, that is why they are called Linden Homes not Linden Homes, Clubs and Shops. Having endured serious lag issues from some residents, one who chose to open a club in his home beside me and another who started a horse breeding business on the other side, I am thankful for Linden Lab's covenant which forbids business use. Abuse Reports had them gone very quickly. Same for a shop that opened nearby. It's been quiet and peaceful for a long time now. Do you seriously believe residents want busy clubs etc beside their homes creating lag?

As regards parks, there is easy access to sizeable parkland areas between the themes, around the edges of the continents as well as tree and paths dotted throughout the houses. I have a small park right between me and the sea, a lovely location. Why would anyone feel the need to open any more parks. Linden lab did create community hubs but I was only in one once and I've no idea if anyone uses them. Why would they? My friends, who live all over SL, and I, all socialise in our favourite clubs as we've always done since I joined late 2006. I've owned mainland for a shop as well as rented shop space and rented various homes in private regions. Of the latter, I can only think of one where the landlord created a community hub and tried to get residents involved, with little success. After a while he decided to sell his island and kicked us all out and that isn't the first landlord I've experienced who has done that. I've happily lived in my Linden Home since they were released in February 2010, six pleasant years. To say these homes are only good for practicing interior decoration and a safe place to get dressed is an insult, both to me and to others living there.

What really puzzles me, given your stance here, is that your club and other meeting places are all isolated away from any communities. Why not place your club within a home community instead of 900 metres in the sky over a somewhat desolated mainland landscape?

Anyway, here are some photos of parkland and other attractive features on Nascera, where I live.

[SAULGOODiE]

Okay, let me try to explain myself I suppose....

"All premium homes have privacy protection and Banlines" should have read as having the OPTION to have banlines. I can skip ahed and say that your assessment of my locations is incorrect as my cottage is in the suburbs north of Bay City, so lets not jump to conclusions and judge me for that type of stuff....... The community my public cottage is located in is a "Suburban Themed" area where they recommend you remove banlines for neighbors to enjoy. This, i believe, is distinctly different than a neighborhood where everyone can put banlines on their own accord. There is nothing wrong with Banlines and having privacy, but the reason I CHOSE to have my Cottage in Shermerville is because of the open community and lack of banlines/private areas.... I have also used SL for several years and I do not believe I have known you the whole time nor have I told you of my history here, so you are drawing concusions off one-sided research. I also have a private home in a community that is not "900m in the air over a somewhat desonate mainland landscape", but its not PUBLIC so I dont go around listing it everywhere.

Nowhere did I ever claim that "Resisdents want busy clubs etc. beside their homes creating lag". Where did this come from? I was only trying to stress the point that creative spectrum building is not supported in these regions. Assuming makes an ass of u and me..... like I have mentioned before, the community of Shermerville sims is a great example of recommended infastructure where residents can work together to build the community they want. You are ASKED kindly to not use banlines and to build within suburban guidelines, but nothing is forced. Great place to live if you don't want a club next to you. 

If you read my post carefully, you could have read this...."All parcels in Linden Home Communities are residential; there is no way to open a shop, a club or even a park." So what part of your explanation proved that someone can OPEN a shop, club or PARK.  Its about the option to build creatively, not about what you personally NEED or has been built by LL already. Why would anyone feel the need to open more parks? I don't know, to be creative??? People use SL to build things?? Can someone build a SL restaurant but if real food isnt served, theres no purpose right? That is how I am reading this argument...

I know they are called Linden Homes because they are houses.......I am not as stupid as I look, I myself had a linden home for nearly a year and explored the area, found the center hubs, waterwalkways and parkets. But my actual point was NOONE can create these areas themselves on LL home land. That was the issue I was addressing, NOT A LACK OF PARKS. 

I apologize because I did not mean to insult you about your position in your community, I have simply found it all underwhelming as a premium benifit. I am happy you have found a great community of residents away from flakey landlords and other SL woes. Also apologies for all the bolding and accents in this post, but I feel like some serious conclusions were jumped too on my last post. If LL homes work for you then great, my post was merely pointing out things I thought would be helpful to know for newbies jumping onto the premium boat. The Original Poster started this thread as a critique of the Connectability of Neighbors in LL home communities, perhaps your time could better be spent giving this resident better advice than I did about EXACTLY how they can connect and interact with their neighbors in LL communities, as mine was merely an assessment and alternative suggestion. Thanks. 

[Nyll Bergbahn]

Thanks, and of course I accept your apology.

Banlines are found all over SL and not as many as you may think are active in Linden Home areas. You do know you can turn off seeing banlines with one click in the viewer. I never see them.

I didn't refer to where you live but I'm glad you like Bay City. Unfortunately, its empty streets devoid of people apart from a few wandering souls and those gathered in the clubs there render it somewhat unappealing to me. When built, it was a more vibrant place. There seems to be a rather large number of parcels for sale there but the silly prices asked would not entice me.

As regards your little dig about responding to the OP's comments, you do realise she posted six months ago, don't you?

EDIT: Online communities clearly don't work in the same way as RL communities for obvious reasons and SL is no different. It is a very misused word. You can call small groups of houses and other buildings in a sim, with a few rules on conformity, a community if you wish but it isn't a true community. SL residents in any area may live in different time zones, be online at different times, have different tastes in music, entertainment etc. You can be anywhere in SL in a few seconds so you don't need to live in what you term a community. SL residents in the same sim will shop in different shops and go to clubs in disparate parts of SL, such as yours, which is not in a 'community'. As I said, apart from being in clubs, green dots in Bay City and surrounding sims are few and far between. How is that a true community? Are there shops in the sim you live in that you can walk to. Is there a club you can walk to? Is there a park you can walk to? Do you meet neighbours enroute wandering around the roads? Is there anything you can get to without teleporting?

You're too young in SL (unless you're reincarnated) to remember First Land, where residents abused the system devised by Linden Lab so blatantly, it had to be discontinued in February 2007. If Linden Lab provided land amidst Linden Home communities to allow residents indulge their building passions for shops, clubs and parks, the same abuses would soon appear and I can't see Linden Lab sparing scarce resources to looking after those areas. There is plenty of mainland or rented land for residents to indulge themselves in that fashion.