Whilst tier is too damn high for many of us, one area where people don’t seem to be able to get enough of homes is with Linden Homes. I’ve seen a few posts now in the forums complaining about the lack of choice and availability of Linden Homes.
Here’s one: Lindens advertising Linden Homes but there is none
“Why are Linden homes being advertised on my dashboard when there is none presently available at the moment. This is supposed to be an AVAILABLE benefit for premium users. I’d rather have a home then an airplane lol.” complains the OP, but that’s not the only thread I’ve seen about Linden Homes.
I think Tyche said recently that Linden Home occupancy had dropped slightly, but was still a very healthy 97%. However the last thing we need in Second Life is for Linden Lab to open a new land mass, so what can be done to help people find their Linden Homes?
Errrr…. I have no idea! Maybe introduce a new form of First Land and allow people to claim empty lots of abandoned mainland that sits yellow on the map? Ok it’s not a Linden home and it’s not got the prim boost of Linden Homes but surely it’s better to get that yellow off the map. Land prices in Second Life have fallen through the floor, with a few exceptions in some sims and areas, but your average plot, if someone is looking for a quick sale, then you sell for less than Linden Lab are selling abandoned land for.
First land was apparently gamed horrendously back in the day, it had finished just before I arrived in Second Life, the blurb hadn’t finished, I went looking for a first land plot, before finding out that it had ended. However now, with no real resale value in most mainland, maybe it’s time to give premiums who currently do not have a Linden Home, the opportunity just to grab a plot and get them into land ownership that way. First Land was aimed at new residents, you needed to have not donated tier or have owned land before to claim it, they could tweak that slightly and allow people to have a one time chance to pick up a First Land plot.
Linden H0mes have been popular, but expanding them right now wouldn’t be a great idea, using available existing resources seems a better route to take for me.
After almost a year, I finally took the plunge and traded my Linden home for a mainland pacel. What held me back so long was the discrepancy in the prim limitation. Many of us have a limit to our in-world funds and would prefer to support creators versus paying tier (hmmm, would I rather buy new shoes or pay my mortgage…).
I believe mainland sales would enjoy a huge boom, if Linden Lab would establish that the free tier for premium members could be 1) a linden home on 512m with 117 prims or 2) 1024m with 234 prims.
That would level the playing field and incentify folks to leave the Linden homes to the true new users that I believe they were truly meant for.
Yup, good point about the prim limits and a very good point about buying shoes or paying the mortgage! People’s funds are limited and removng the cost of buying a parcel, which first land and Linden Homes both did, proves popular.