My Free Home

I mentioned, a couple posts back, that Second Life was offering free homes to premium account holders. I took advantage of the offer, even though I already own some land, so I could experience the new communities and see how they develop. It took me a couple days to look at the options before I decided on one of the models in Elderglen.

To their credit, they have done a great job creating some lovely houses with fewer than 100 prims and laying them out on 512 square meter lots in a way that does not look like a trailer park. And they have created a variety of home options so that choosing is not an easy task. With the First Land program of several years back, you were allowed only 117 prims for the house and furnishing. With the new program, the house does not appear to count and you have 117 prims for your furnishings. So, at first glance it all looks good. Linden Labs clearly has some artistic as well as technical talent.

Where their shortcomings lie are in their business and social skills. I have ranted enough about their business skills so I will focus on their social skills here. The first thing you notice as you look around the new neighborhoods are the ever present ban lines. Ban Lines, for those who don't already know are the red lines that pop up when you attempt to enter a piece of land for which you do not have access. It makes a stroll through the neighborhood very difficult and quite unpleasant as you have to continually navigate your way around restricted areas. Last night, as I was looking at the various models, I inadvertently stumbled into somebody's private property and was immediately ejected. This does not make for a friendly neighborhood.

There does not appear to be any criteria for acceptance into a neighborhood. I suspect, overtime, that plonking people down in close proximity without any concern for their social organization, commonality of interests, or shared values is going to create problems. And, I suspect, that the impact on Linden Labs of the Free Homes program will be an exponential increase in Abuse Reports. But, all we can do is wait and see.