What's Happening with SL Mainland
I haven't written a Sunday op ed piece in awhile, but as serendipity would have it, quite a few events lead me to this post.
This is the land below my shop. I don't visit often and there hasn't been a building down here for awhile. See all that bumpy ground in the distance? That is abandoned land.
Now if you live on a private parcel, this may be a new scene for you, but those of us living "free" so to speak on the mainland can't help but notice the abundance of abandoned land. This is NOT new news. Still, nothing seems to be happening to rein in the ever escalating empty landscape.
Several years ago -- before the land in maintenance stopped being readily sold -- I had a "fix it" idea. Why not give premium members 1024 instead of 512? That might get more premium members as well as dot the landscape with something besides bare land. But, I have a lot of "good ideas" that never make it to fruition; not a surprise that no one else thought of it. Or, if they did it was not voted into being.
My shop's land has been group owned since -- I had to look that up -- June 2009. That's a long history in one spot. I haven't always been here, others have had their turn. Still, I have posts with photos taken here dating back from that time. I don't want to SHOW them to you of course! Embarrassing.
For many years (four or more) the land on both sides was owned by very large groups. One seemed to be a role play group and the other rented out sections of the land with houses way up in the sky. Last year both of those groups gave the land back to Linden Lab. It has been VERY peaceful in my sim for a long time.
Sometime in the last month or so one of those large pieces of land sold, was subdivided and sold again. Now there are 512 lots for sale, one of them boarding the group land. Logic tells me that since it has been five years or more since that land has been available, it might be good to purchase -- for prims and future expansion. But it is beyond what I consider a good market price, so that may not happen.
It didn't take me long to find land even cheaper than that. I zipped over there and it isn't a bad lot at all. Flat and bordering a big but nice house. There was something else there that might have been gambling, but still up in the air it matters not.
When The Lab announced the free island deal a couple of years ago (you didn't need to pay the purchase price, only the monthly tier) it was pretty much the end of mainland. You didn't have to think too hard to see that coming. The coffers most likely get filled better this way, but it is a shame to see historically viable lands -- ones I grew up with and on -- set adrift.
There was a rumor going around that The Lab might institute a new rule on the Marketplace where anyone selling over six items must have an inworld shop. Now this sounded like a fairly credible rumor, but even if it did come from "a Linden", that doesn't mean it would happen. There have been plenty of ideas -- especially those having to do with the Marketplace -- that have come and gone with only a little fist waving and a sigh or two.
I honestly think there is SOME merit in that idea. It would, in theory, help populate the mainland again since the best value is to pay premium for a year and get a free tier 512. Cost about $2 a month out of pocket for the year. I am not sure how those, like me, with a shop on group land would qualify. Maybe you would need to be an officer of the group? My thinking really hasn't gotten that far. It is only a cognitive exercise after all, not a picture of the actual future.
There are plenty of things that need to be address in SL.
I just think that mainland shouldn't fall too far down on the list. It is a waste.
Outfit, see Thursday's post
Poses by: LAP (nla)
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