The difference between Mainland vs Private Estates?

[Benjamin Opel]

Am I correct in thinking is owned and operated by Linden Lab, whereas Private Estates are owned by an individual or businesses operating within SL, (like Anshe Chung).

So.. I am assuming that a mainland sim will be a very rare assurance that the sim gets taken offline for good, but what happens if a private estate sim gets cancelled, and the entire sim goes offline, what happens to the land then without thinking the obvious? Isn't it just a far safer option to just go mainland?

With a privately owned sim, do we have to purchase land tier? Or is that only on mainland?

 

[Sid]

All land is in the end LL land. The difference is on mainland LL is your landlord and on private land the landbaron is.
Trouble with something concerning the land: on mainland you have to deal with LL for customer service, on private land with the landbaron.

For mainland you need a premium account.
For private land you don't.

You have to pay tier on mainland directly to LL via your member account.
You have to pay tier to the landbaron (through tierboxes most of the time) for private land.

 

[Amity Slade]

Since I was ripped off by a private estate owner when I was new, I have kept my home on Mainland since. I had several bad experiences with private estate owners when I had a club. You really have no recourse in a dispute with a private estate owner- Linden Lab considers those to be in that category of disputes between residents in which it will not involve itself.

So you have to consider whether you trust the essentially anonymous private estate landlord, and what your worst-case scenario is if things go poorly. The trust issue is not just whether they will deal honestly, but whether they will deal competently, because the effects of their bad business decisions can trickle down to you. The worst-case scenario is typically that when you log in one day, you are no longer on the land, all your stuff has been returned to you, and any advance payments you made are lost.

If you could trust your landlord and/or cope with the risks of things going poorly, there are potentially all kinds of advantages of being on a private estate as opposed to Mainland. An enforced covenant in particular might be very valuable to you if you like the covenant.

 

[Summer Haas]

It is possible to get around being a premium member to buy land and paying cash to LL every month, but that means you need to purchase the land on behalf of a group you own and rent the tier from someone who is premium. This method can save you considerably if you are only wanting a small amount of land and have an SL income to cover the tier rental. You still maintain ownership of the land but you have to watch that the tier is covered on a regular basis as it could be removed at any time.

 

[NeoBokrug Elytis]

The difference is Mainland unintentionally looks like garbage, while The Wastelands intentionally looks like garbage.

 

[Beebo Brink]

One scam to watch out for is a Private Estate landlord "selling" you land on their sim. Don't fall for the marketing BS: you are a renter, not an owner. LL will only recognize the landlord as the owner, any rights you have are granted to you by the landlord and can be ignored at their whim.

 

[Sid]

Some landlords sell you the land for the first weeks tier. Nothing wrong with that. That is no scam at all.
They have to sell you the land, to give you land owners rights. That is how LL implemented the system.
In the end you own nothing, but you lease from the landlord. Most cowboys have left by now.

And how much your land is really worth (mainland and private land) is shown recently by Inworldz.

 

[Skate Foss]

Mainland is basically that, main land. With that you have more lag, slower response time if something goes wrong, and well....no control of your neighbors and surroundings. Private land is Private. And not always owned by a Land Baron. I own my sim, I'm no Land Baron. As a sim owner, I am a Concierge Resident, which means better service if anything technical needs looking after. On many Private sims, the landscape, the atmosphere is created by the sim owner. Sometimes its for RP, sometimes its just a beautiful place for SL Residents to have a home. As someone whos lived on the Mainland and Private sims, I must say, I avoid the mainland as much as I can.

 

[Sid]

Mainland journeys always make me sad.
SL looks so desolate there, everything is abandoned or up in the air.
For 80-90% just depressing.
Not that most private sims are much better. There building high walls around the house is very popular.
Most barons divide the plots with a ruler, put up the for sale stuff and that's about it.
The provided covenants are enforced sluggish or barely by lots of barons.

But beautiful places are mostly on private land.

 

[Blaise Glendevon]

Land covenants are the reason to never even consider Mainland. Get on a good estate with an active moderation team, and then don't even worry about your neighbors putting up an eyesore next to you.

 

[Knutz Scorpio]

Have to agree that in general mainland is ugly as hell, but the last time I tried estate living I was bored to hell. My more memorable SL moments is from driving and riding the mainland roads, railroads, and waterways and discovering the occasional diamond in the rough.

 

[Benjamin Opel]

Contacted a guy who was selling a great piece of land, but it was priced at a ridiculous amount of money - contacted him and he said there is no point in him selling the land as the 'second horizon' is just around the corner, what does he mean by this?

 

[Bea McMahon]

Contacted a guy who was selling a great piece of land, but it was priced at a ridiculous amount of money - contacted him and he said there is no point in him selling the land as the 'second horizon' is just around the corner, what does he mean by this?

Maybe he thinks Sansar is gonna replace SL?

 

[Free]

Maybe he thinks Sansar is gonna replace SL?

Makes more sense if he believed Sansar is going to crash and burn, forcing Linden Lab to come running back to SL and infuse it with MESH HORIZONS.

 

[Benjamin Opel]

He responded with the following..

<removed>: its like a new part of sl i think. if you ask <removed>, she will tell you how buying at shermville/bluhm is a bad idea. her main avatar is a real estate agent, and she knows people who work for LL. so, its a bit unfair, like insider trading. but she said second horisons is where to buy, no one wants to live here apparently

 

[Andi]

He responded with the following..

<removed>: its like a new part of sl i think. if you ask <removed>, she will tell you how buying at shermville/bluhm is a bad idea. her main avatar is a real estate agent, and she knows people who work for LL. so, its a bit unfair, like insider trading. but she said second horisons is where to buy, no one wants to live here apparently

I bet he's talking about the SSP that patch is working on, it's on the SL forum, it looks to be 1024 parcels for premium member housing.

 

[Benjamin Opel]

I bet he's talking about the SSP that patch is working on, it's on the SL forum, it looks to be 1024 parcels for premium member housing.

Yeah I heard about that on Daniel Voyager's blog - what does SSP mean?

 

[Free]

what does SSP mean?

 

[Sid]

A secret code only known by the FIC?

 

[Benjamin Opel]

Okay, so this dude turned into a bit of a weirdo... said that LL is wanting to purchase his account for $800.. lol.. oh man, when he started to chat sh&&, I just teleport elsewhere...