Second Life?

[Greg]

Can you build a high-rise apartment building and rent rooms to other folks?

[Sita]

Yes, Greg.
Some people do.
But the thing that really limits you is "prims"
You have only so many prims per bit of land, and a piece of furniture may have - say 12 prims. Or it might have 50 - those are the primitive elements that all objects in SL are made of. If your land has say 126 prims, on a small piece, you will use it up very fast
So there is a whole science of low prim building, which I enjoy a lot. And new technology recently is sculpted prims, which are very exciting and I have yet to explore - needs Blender but those appear to be displacaement maps on a base prim block - say a set of stairs on a large cube These appear as complex (clientside I think) 3D objects ingame and don't eat loads of prims.
A good friend did have lots of houses to rent out to people in SL, but it is very hard to make any real money out of property rentals, unless you spend a great deal of time and real money. Apartments are even harder because of those prim limits. Each apartment has to have enough prims for residents to set up their furniture - unless you rent it ready furnished. And most people don't want that.

[Greg]

That actually makes it more intriguing. It sounds like there might be a bit of engineering strategy involved here!

[shorty943]

Greg, I have been amazed at this software. And it's only getting better.
There are privately owned "sims", the one I use, covers 4 sim areas\grid places?

A sim of Porta Vaiatta, some blocks left, as little as US$5 per month upkeep.
As Sita says, freebies abound, land for housing as low as $1 for a 512 block, the smallest, with $5\month tythe for upkeep.


Miros, for less than $50, a house for ever? OK, simmed.

[Greg]

What is a "sim" in Second Life?

[Sita]

A SL Sim is an island, held on a server - which can I believe be your own machine running SL software. It has distinct boundaries, I often crash when crossing them; some have restricted access.
http://secondlife.com/community/land-islands.php
"Islands are priced at US$1,675 for 65,536 square meters (about 16 acres). Monthly land fees for maintenance are US$295." That's what it costs the Sim OWNER. They usually take tenants (shops or houses etc) and pass on the costs.

Remember SL is BIG - I saw figures recently that it was an area of land about the size of New York populated by about 750,000 RL people. (many have multiple avatars)

[Greg]

Would that be the size of New York City, or the State of New York?

So, the idea for an island is to "buy" an island and advertise to rent land to other folks to pay the bills. I get it.

Darn, now I really wish we had continued to pursue the idea of building a 3D interactive animation instead of going off chasing wild hares.

[Sita]

I don't know - let me find the original quote. To us illiterate Brits you see, NY is just - over there somewhere....

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...adise_heats_up

Ah New York City.

[Greg]

Got it! Being the area of New York City isn't quite as impressive as being the size of the whole state of New York, bein's't'how the city is just a little chunk of an island way down in the hangy-down part of the state; but it's still impressive!

There's a nifty map here where if you mouse over the link to Manhattan, you see see how big the island is compared to the rest of the state.

[Miros1]

NYC isn't just Manhattan, so I'd suspect the land area approximation includes Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island, Ellis Island, Liberty Island, assorted other little islands like the one where they dumped the 9/11 debris, as well as Manhattan.

[Greg]

Yeah. With no hard data, there's no way to know. Isn't it just like New Yorkers to assume that the rest of the world would attach some meaning to saying it's the size of New York City!

[Sita]

I think the point they were trying to make is that the size of it is VAST compared to the number of active players. Like a lot of MMOs.
According to that page, the population of NYC is a little over 8million... there are only about 750,000 SLers.
That should mean there is enough land for everyone but in fact it means there are a few people who own a LOT of land and many who own a little. Just like RL really. There used to be a scheme to give new SL players (paid accounts) a little piece of land (512metres) at a low price - the scheme ended just as I started to play. Typical timing

[shorty943]

Originally Posted by Greg

Yeah. With no hard data, there's no way to know. Isn't it just like New Yorkers to assume that the rest of the world would attach some meaning to saying it's the size of New York City!

There is a place like that here. It's called Sydney.

Sydneysiders, to the rest of Australia at least, seem to think the rest of Australia is only there to provide for them.

But, at least we don't have to live there. We can always come home to sleepy, clean, little old Adelaide.

I just remembered. My state capital Adelaide, has a sister city in Texas.
Can't remember which city off hand. Will check.


From what I can see, there are usually about 50,000 or more players online at any one time of day. More during the US evening time zones of course.
Then the week ends are up again, as every one has more time to spare.

As for what money anyone wants to spend?
You can play and explore and goof off as much as you like for free.
But, in the end that is all that is, a goof off.

But, if you want to base your self away from the madding crowds of Linden, SL Owners. And accept the genuine friendships that people offer?
Some pay the 9.95 per month to Linden Labs, so they can own land.Then pay for the land, buy or build a house, then there is the tier, think of it as "Council or County, Rates and taxes". And so on it goes. Or.
You have to find a privately owned sim, that will allow land ownership, with out needing a "Premium Account" of 9.95\mth. There is still the tier fees, of course. Which are usually a little lower.
But, You are secured in a better way, it is more akin to a gated secure community in that respect. Most, if not all, estate agents supply free basic housing for starters still.
The whole thing is a massive new form of social networking. Chatting with people today. A couple met in SL, got on well, eventually met in real life.
They have just finished a successful house hunt together, and there is a wedding in the near future. That can't be all bad.

I do truly like the real time contact this software allows. OK, the screen is a 3D graphic, quite a nice 3D graphic, there is a graphic representation of the person you see. Once again, there are Pro 3D artist who will make a photo-realistic avatar if you want to pay several hundreds of dollars.
But no one is forcing that down any ones throat. And at the other keyboard there is another or several other people. It is a genuine human being with a heart and mind and soul. Not some dopeily coded dumb thing.

You may be using text, some use voice. But there is a human being with real feelings and cares on the other end. It genuinely puts people in touch with one another in some cases in the best way. Example, the couple who met and are now marrying.


Greg, I just had another chuckle at myself, with your engineering strategy remark. Good luck mate.
I gave up on the 3D avatar editing gizmo. And all I was trying to do was get my damned sunglasses on straight.

Plan B? Loose them.

Away from the lunatic Linden Mainland, on the simmed island. I've met some really nice people. I presume it is the same in all the private sims.

I, am buying a little block, just off the beach, in Porta Vallarta. The agents are putting a cottage on it and landscaping it for free. There is that much in the way of "freebies" that furnishing etc, is costless. The head of Island Security is a friend, and he GAVE me a waverunner yesterday. Now if I can just stop before the hard bit. And that windsurfer on the beach is still dumping me in the ocean.
Oh, and you can fly ingame. I found out a couple of tricks, so I thought aerobatics. yeah.
While practicing, I decided to try a Frigate Bird like dive into the laggoon.
Bad move, laggoon shallow.
Bounced badly off the bottom, ricocheted off a dolphin, ended up in the top of somebodies palm tree.
So there is a lot of fun game play as well as the social side.
I'm in for the long haul, I like the whole thing. Sims 3, Sims 4, Sims 10.
Still will not be what SL is. Because the whole thing is coded.
SL is human beings.


What is it costing me in the long term? A hell of a lot? Bah, the price of a pack of cigarettes per month. A man should have enough sense to give the damned things up by now anyway, you'd think.
And I own my little tropical getaway, three steps from the beach.
The snapshot is view from the back right of the block, above the house site.
The purple box is the estate agents billboard. The house will sit behind where that is. On the flat. Sit on the verandah, watch the waves break on the shore. What a nice little chat room.
There is a hammock ear marked for between the two palms on the hill. Drop in some time.
Take the waverunner out, it's a two seater.

[Sita]

"Most, if not all, estate agents supply free basic housing for starters still." - really? I didn't see any when I was running around like a mad thing looking for a place.
Shorty when I am online bring your sunglasses and I will teach you how to get them on right. You should only need to do it once
and your place looks lovely. I like beaches )
I think you have been very lucky and met good people in SL. But you come across stories of folks who meet in SL and go on to get together and maybe marry in RL, quite a lot. Have also met people who have left their RL spouse/family for someone they met in SL (as well as in ATITD - another MMO I used to play). That's quite controversial at the moment in this country - they call it cyberadultery :P

[shorty943]

I may have got lucky. But I know, Kalisto Estates offer free houses and some landscaping.
There are a few private simmed marina's if you want to live on a house boat.
Berths for sale at land prices, in the Pirate Cove sim. Argh.

Greg, put some of that square rigger learning into safe practice.
I'll buy one as well, we can run up the rebel flag, and blast some of there dad blasted blamed yankee's.
I've been on one. The cannons are impressive.

I should have things settled by early next week on the island.
Once I do Sita, I'll send you a tp location bookmark. Drop in any time.
There may even be some one there, I'd like you to meet.

[Greg]

I'm not quite ready for Second Life; gotta take care of the first life first!

[shorty943]

Originally Posted by Greg

I'm not quite ready for Second Life; gotta take care of the first life first!

Yeah, know what you mean, I reckon these cows think they own most of my life.

Fixed that this morning. Dropped a 1 ton hay bale in the paddock for them.
Peace and quiet for a few days. Mmmmm, silence.

I think I'll go to Mexico for a sit on the beach. See you when I get back.

[Sita]

Silence? not munching? The cows at my auntie's used to much very loudly! Or - err... do we need to report you to the RSPCA for squashed cows?

[Miros1]

I suspect they still munch loudly; they just don't demand more hay for several days!

[shorty943]

That's the one, Rosie. Trust me.
The sound of a herd of cattle, contentedly munching hay is golden.

Oh boy, can't they wake you up, when the old Dame of the heard, shoves her head in the kitchen window and bellows at you.
My ears are still ringing, from Friday morning.

Nothing like a nice big 6 foot round hay bale, for some peace and quiet on this farm.


I still haven't found just the right little home for the block of land yet.
But, I do like where I put my hammock for two. On a small ledge of ground, below a pair of palm trees, looking over the beach, nice.

Nothing changes, Real life or VR.

Now I'm trying to track down the damned building sub-contractors.