Visiting the Free Homes

I took a peak at what I believe are the free homes for premium members. I have to qualify this because like everything else in Second Life it is poorly documented and word of mouth. I received a landmark through a group I belong to and went there to look. But there were no signs to confirm I was in the right place. Nonetheless, I will go with the assumption that I was in the right place.

Molly Linden has created a set of new homes and laid them out on a piece of land. I have to give her credit for good taste in both the home design and he layout. The homes are quite nice and the layout, despite being somewhat dense, does not feel dense. There are enough models laid out with enough variety that it doesn't have that ticky tacky feel of suburban sprawl. So far, it is promising.

I counted the prims in one of the house and came up with around 80. This could be a problem because it leaves the resident with only 37 prims for furnishing. However, I don't know if they plan to hold to the 117 prim rule. So I can't say for sure if this will be a problem.

Most of the homes have huge picture windows which makes them feel bigger and more airy. This is good, but since you can see into everyone's home, there won't be much privacy. This will either hurt the pose ball trade, or force residents to put up curtains which will take up prims. But, I am willing to see how it all works out. My initial impression is quite positive.

I do see two potential problems, though. The first is whether or not residents will be able to modify the builds. Since Second Life tends to inspire one's creativity, residents may be unhappy if they can't make changes to customize their homes. On the other hand, few residents have the good taste that Molly has and if allowed to make changes they are likely to junk up the neighborhood.

The second problem is how neighborhoods are constructed. A hodgepodge of people is worse than a hodgepodge of houses. If neighbors are not selected based on some sort of compatibility it is easy to see how the situation could deteriorate rapidly. Having had neighbors who rival the Saturday Night Live Church lady for moral superiority on one hand, and other neighbors who plumb the depths of depravity on the other, I know what it is like to like in a hodgepodge neighborhood.

But, I don't want to identify problems that have not yet occurred. The houses look nice and the neighborhood looks nice. Hopefully, things will continue along in this positive direction.