The Grid, Sims/Regions
SL is a 3D virtual space (land, ocean), called ‘the Grid’.
It’s devided into square Regions, typically 65,336 sq.m.
A Region has a dedicated rl server class 4 or 5 (5= fastest).
Prims per region are fixed by Linden Lab ( LL ).
SL has 3 types of regions:
- Mainland________________________15000 prims, 4.37 prims per sq.m
- Private Islands ( private estates )__-__15000 prims, 4.37 prims per sq.m
- Homestead Private Islands 3750 prims, 1/4 server bandwith, max 20 avatars
- Openspace Private Islands_______ ___ 750 prims, 1/4 server bandwith, max 10 avatars
Parcels
A parcel is a smaller piece of a Region. They support the equivalent of prims.
All parcels are an equivalent of 16 sq.m.
The smallest parcel for living is 512 sq.m; this is very small.
Advise: Rent or Buy ?
On Private Islands parcels are always rented from private owners despite the ”Sale” signs.
On Mainland land can also be rented from private owners besides buying.
Of course rental is a business in SL, however costs for rent soon are higher than buying
your own propery + tier + netto costs for a premium account.Examples:
- L$4500 weekly rent = 16.67 US$ = US$ 866.84 annual.
- L$1500 weekly rent = _5.56 US$ = US$ 289.12 annual.
- L$500 weekly rent_ = _1.85 US$ = US$ _96.20 annual.For that you can easily buy 2 - 4x land + paying tier + netto costs premium member ship.
When renting, land can’t be setup for multi users ( group land ).
Renting is a single user constructions. The land lord can control it
A parcel roll back request to LL is not possible by a tenant.Entire regions can be rented at LL for projects: ( link )
Prices per day: Island Region: US$50.00 Maindland region: L$4000 ( US$ 14.80 ).
Mainland, inland
Mainland are regions connected forming a huge chunck of land ( continent ).
On all of the mainland, parcels are really owned by it’s purchasers with all full controls.
Inland, owners can build as they please. The area may look nice now, but the view can be ruined
quick by terrible buildings, clubs, shops, ads and “ad farms”. This is a huge risk on inland mainland !!
Parcels inland can be very cheap, however the risk of dissapointment later is very high.
Inland is messy. It’s okay for commerce and themes, but don’t buy land to live there !!
Like this as your neighbors ? Brrr
‘Waterlots/waterlands’ can also be found. They are virtual water only.
A house and objects, or a boat can be placed to be floated in/above water.
Waterlot/waterland
Mainland, Protected land
Mainland can have Protected parcels directy at usable Linden Ocean ( ocean owned by LL ).
Here an open-clean ocean view is assured. The ocean can be used for long distance play by the
owners of the zoning parcels and its group members.
If a protected parcel is really a beach, it’s very suitable for a tropical and/or romantic residence.
If someone places an object on Linden Oceans without using it, it will be auto returned after 5, 20
or 60, depending on the location. So, Beauty and an Open view is really garanteed.
Mainland, Premium & Elite land
Premium land is Protected ( at Linden Ocean ) with at least 75% land ( + waterwaves in my case ).
Elite land is premium land + neigbors are very friendly, well mannered, avoid mature content
( even when the Region is rated as mature ) and have agreed to build lovely and not block access.
The parcels are also thoroughly tested by me on Timing and FPS ( real speed ).
( even class 5 is no garantee for speed, so all my lands are tested on speed ).
Premium & Elite parcels
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Private Islands / private estates / private region ( PI )
Around mainland and behind Linden oceans vast blank spaces are not in service by LL.
Here Private Islands can be bought at LL’s Landstore for US$ 1675 ( US$ 1000 since May 2008 ).
Monthly tier is US$ 295.
An Island is 1 Region of 65,336 sq.m unconnected to mainland running on a dedicated server.
Openspace PI’s
These PI’s are meant for light use: to create oceans, parks and forests between normal PI’s.
Clubs, living, commerce, etc are not allowed, otherwise LL will convert it to a ‘Homestead’.
Limits:
- CPU bandwith ( speed ) is 1/4 of the normal PI’s.
- Max 10 avatars.
- Max 750 prims.
Price: US$ 250 and US$ 75 monthly tier.
At least 1 normal PI must be owned before an openspace region may be ordered.
Homestead PI’s
Openspaces used unintended (small clubs, light commerce, living, etc ) are converted by LL
per 5 Jan. 2009 to ‘Homestead’ regions. Purchase price: US$ 375, monthly tier:
1 Jan. 2009: US$ 95
1 July 2009: US$ 125
Limits:
- CPU bandwith ( speed ) is 1/4 of the normal PI’s.
- Max 20 avatars.
- Max 3750 prims.
At least 1 normal PI must be owned before a homestead region may be ordered.
Private Islands ( PI ) versus Mainland
An estate owner ( a private person ) has bought the PI from LL’s Land store.
Keep in mind that he/she always owns this entire region and always keeps all final controls.
You may see a “Sale” sign on parcels… On a PI it means a setup fee, not actual sale.
Some estate owners are honest about it.
For a parcel on a PI a weekly or monthly Tier/Fee/Rent is always paid to the owner of a PI, not
to Linden Lab. So by not owning a parcel on a PI, the estate owner keeps the controls.
If relations with an estate owner gets nasty… it can get very nasty. They can always reclaim
a parcel with the push of a button pushing you out. Mainland parcels cannot be reclaimed.
Linden Lab does not support Tenants. A tenants’ first contact is always the owner.
So a PI has risks. More than ones they suffered from bankruptcy or the owner had moods.
At any time they can reclaim parcels for any reason. I have seen PI’s where everyone had been
kicked out and land redeveloped without refunding and any response from the estate owner.
Frauds have been committed in SL.
In the end the residents lost all they had. I’ve seen this more than ones.
Philip Rosedale ( founder of Linden Lab ) has more than often claimed in interviews that land
and content is truly owned by it’s true owners and it’s looked after by Linden Lab.
So mainland purchasers and estate owners are serviced by LL, not tenants.
See also Torley Linden’s Video tutorial: ( link )
Speed:
PI’s are slower, because they have been running on class 3 and 4 servers.
All class 3 have been upgraded to 4 since Nov/Dec. 2007.
Estate owners can upgrade to class 5 at a cost of US$ 200 to LL.
Objects appear faster and many visits in the region has clearly less impact on peformance.
Besides class 5 for speed, Time Dilation and SimFPS must also be healthy !
Objects will then appear without delay on a class 5 server and going around shows no lag.
Multi using a parcel ( group land ) on a PI cannot be setup by the tenant/renter.
On Mainland it’s easy by creating a group and setup group land. A partner or friend is allowed
to play with aspects of the land depending on the setup of authorisations by the owner.
Tier/Rent/Fee
Tier/Rent varies per PI. It depends on the owner; they can ask what they want.
Mainland tier is fixed by a table by LL.
Highest tier on a PI is US$ 295 for 65,336 sq.m. On mainland it’s US$ 195.
Usable oceans:
Around a PI no Linden ocean is around for long distance play.
Simply because it isn’t profitable for estate owners to buy more sims without exploitation.
Restrictions:
Covenants are present on a PI. The contents depends on the estate owner.
Covenants restrict building, reselling, rental, terraforming and behaviour.
PI’s are however perfectly fit for a theme or commerce.
