Linden Labs has put so much effort in the last 8 months or so into attempting to make the new user experience easier. As someone who came back in Second Life in the last year, I can appreciate that. However, I think that a little effort could be made into further integrating those new users further along the path of Second Life participation - in particular, the transition from Linden Home owner to land owner.
After several months of Linden Home ownership I finally gave in, abandoned a Linden Home for the last time, and went in search of land to buy. I had several reasons for doing so, but the biggest came down to one word: LAG. Since I write a fashion blog, I want to capture images almost every day, and my time to do so is in the evening (east coast USA). Most of those images I capture in a photo studio, so part of my "owned" home or land needs to accommodate one. Every Meadowbrook home that I tried had extensive lag in the evenings. Many of the Tahoe homes did as well. For various reasons I had already ruled out Elderglen (too small and I wasn't into the hobbit-fantasy styling) and Shareta Osumai (every single home in this line that I tried had a malfunctioning control panel).
So off I go, attempting to find out what I need to know to own land, and what kind of land to buy. I think about what I really want to accomplish with a land purchase: put a house on the ground for furniture/home decor sets (and occasionally change out that house to try out new ones), and a simple skybox in the air for a photo studio. I determine that I want about 1024m of land - 512m will be too small, and with too low of a prim allowance.
Based on what I read around the web, it appears that mainland will be cheaper in the long run. First I look on XStreetSL/Second Life Marketplace, and then I dig around on the Second Life web site, finding the land auctions. This seems promising. I watch for a few days, then start visiting land.
(to be continued)
Showing posts with label commentary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label commentary. Show all posts
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Horatia Abonwood, Linden Homes vagabond
When I fist became a premium member of Second Life, I had no idea that I'd go through so many different Linden Homes in a short time. Here I am, several months later, and I've literally stopped counting how many homes I've tried.
Why have I moved on? Curiosity, for one. But more often...design limitations on specific models, the lack of availability of popular models at certain times (leaving me with the choice of staying homeless for a while or "settling"), and numerous instances of something people keep doing that is likely to drive their virtual neighbors crazy (or simply, drive them away).
The whole experience leaves me with many questions that I'd like to ask the Lindens. Here are a few of them.
1) Regarding the Meadowbrook Quad home design...am I missing something here? Who would want to share an atrium space with two strangers? Especially considering how many people are doing what I describe in item 2...
2) Flashing Ban Lines. Seriously, why hasn't this been explicitly prohibited in the Linden Homes covenant? With as close as Linden Homes are to their neighbors, especially in Meadowbrook, one is faced with the choice of either 1) moving, 2) permanently shutting your curtains, or 3) enduring annoying flashing coming through the window. Yes, I've been able to make them go away, temporarily, by changing a setting in the menu, only to see them again the next time I teleport to my home. And filing an abuse report of this is just a joke...I tried multiple times regarding the neighbor at my favorite home.
3) Bear with me here, this one's long.
One of my biggest questions is regarding the "favoritism" given Meadowbrook homes.
The two story Meadowbrook homes offer much more usable space than other designs (yes, not all Meadowbrook homes are two stories, but a majority of them are). Now, not everyone wants as much usable space as others do, because (for one thing) it can be a challenge to fill two stories using just 117 prims. However, more space tends to equal higher value in the offline world. And the Meadowbrook designs are the only Linden Homes at this time that have this amount of space.
The Tahoe homes are all a-frame styles with high pitched roofs. They can easily accommodate a loft; this doesn't quite equal the space in two story Meadowbrook homes but it does provide more usable space. But if you want that loft, you've got to put it in yourself, and it counts against your prim allowance. The minimum amount of prims I've been able to use is four - two custom prims to use as long floorboards (because for some reason one can't stretch the entire way), one to serve as a landing, and a straight one prim staircase from a vendor on XStreetSL. And my design was more of a closed-in second floor, because with a loft I'd want railings (taking more of the prim count).
The feature favoritism doesn't stop there. Meadowbrook homes have track lighting in the first floor living space. That track lighting (3 lights and a base) would be a minimum of four prims if one was adding it or building it custom. No other line of Linden Homes has this lighting included.
Meadowbrook homes have more options for the windows as well. Meadowbrook homeowners can change between open windows, closed miniblinds or gauzy closed curtains that still let in light. Tahoe homes can only chose between open windows and closed shutters - so if you want filtered light, you've got to use your own prim count to put up curtains. I don't think the other two design sets even have window options (I had one of the Japanese homes briefly before I realized I couldn't even have open windows, but haven't been back since).
From what I've seen, Meadowbrook homes tend to have more attention to landscaping and exterior space, as well. Many have second floor decks - and my current home's deck includes sculpted bushes and a pool (since it's unusable, I will likely use the option (which again, is only for Meadowbrook homes) of turning the pool into a green space where I can plant one prim flowers. Yes, the Tahoe homes often have nice front porches, but that's not as private as a second floor deck.
So I have to wonder, why couldn't other styles of neighborhoods have been designed with the features that were designed into the Meadowbrook homes? Why do homeowners in other neighborhoods have to use their own prim allowance to put in features that are included in Meadowbrook models?
Why have I moved on? Curiosity, for one. But more often...design limitations on specific models, the lack of availability of popular models at certain times (leaving me with the choice of staying homeless for a while or "settling"), and numerous instances of something people keep doing that is likely to drive their virtual neighbors crazy (or simply, drive them away).
The whole experience leaves me with many questions that I'd like to ask the Lindens. Here are a few of them.
1) Regarding the Meadowbrook Quad home design...am I missing something here? Who would want to share an atrium space with two strangers? Especially considering how many people are doing what I describe in item 2...
2) Flashing Ban Lines. Seriously, why hasn't this been explicitly prohibited in the Linden Homes covenant? With as close as Linden Homes are to their neighbors, especially in Meadowbrook, one is faced with the choice of either 1) moving, 2) permanently shutting your curtains, or 3) enduring annoying flashing coming through the window. Yes, I've been able to make them go away, temporarily, by changing a setting in the menu, only to see them again the next time I teleport to my home. And filing an abuse report of this is just a joke...I tried multiple times regarding the neighbor at my favorite home.
3) Bear with me here, this one's long.
One of my biggest questions is regarding the "favoritism" given Meadowbrook homes.
The two story Meadowbrook homes offer much more usable space than other designs (yes, not all Meadowbrook homes are two stories, but a majority of them are). Now, not everyone wants as much usable space as others do, because (for one thing) it can be a challenge to fill two stories using just 117 prims. However, more space tends to equal higher value in the offline world. And the Meadowbrook designs are the only Linden Homes at this time that have this amount of space.
The Tahoe homes are all a-frame styles with high pitched roofs. They can easily accommodate a loft; this doesn't quite equal the space in two story Meadowbrook homes but it does provide more usable space. But if you want that loft, you've got to put it in yourself, and it counts against your prim allowance. The minimum amount of prims I've been able to use is four - two custom prims to use as long floorboards (because for some reason one can't stretch the entire way), one to serve as a landing, and a straight one prim staircase from a vendor on XStreetSL. And my design was more of a closed-in second floor, because with a loft I'd want railings (taking more of the prim count).
The feature favoritism doesn't stop there. Meadowbrook homes have track lighting in the first floor living space. That track lighting (3 lights and a base) would be a minimum of four prims if one was adding it or building it custom. No other line of Linden Homes has this lighting included.
Meadowbrook homes have more options for the windows as well. Meadowbrook homeowners can change between open windows, closed miniblinds or gauzy closed curtains that still let in light. Tahoe homes can only chose between open windows and closed shutters - so if you want filtered light, you've got to use your own prim count to put up curtains. I don't think the other two design sets even have window options (I had one of the Japanese homes briefly before I realized I couldn't even have open windows, but haven't been back since).
From what I've seen, Meadowbrook homes tend to have more attention to landscaping and exterior space, as well. Many have second floor decks - and my current home's deck includes sculpted bushes and a pool (since it's unusable, I will likely use the option (which again, is only for Meadowbrook homes) of turning the pool into a green space where I can plant one prim flowers. Yes, the Tahoe homes often have nice front porches, but that's not as private as a second floor deck.
So I have to wonder, why couldn't other styles of neighborhoods have been designed with the features that were designed into the Meadowbrook homes? Why do homeowners in other neighborhoods have to use their own prim allowance to put in features that are included in Meadowbrook models?
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