This morning the Lab announced that the previously-announced Hobbit Holes — I mean, Linden Homes — are now available for inspection on the new continent of Nascera (not “NASCAR”).
So I blipped over to look around.
There I am (elf guy in green mohawk for visibility) standing next to the same model Home as in the prior posting(s), with viewing of parcel boundaries turned on. Note that the parcel boundaries are drawn very closely around the house; the bit that I’m standing on is the Linden-owned protected land that separates the lots. So if you have a Linden Home, you don’t own any yard (or “garden”, for those of you in the United Kingdom). Except, in the case of this house, on the roof. :)
The covenant for the (oh alright) Linden Homes is inneresting. Here it is in lengthy detail:
Welcome to Linden Home for Premium Account holders. Linden Home is a residential community, located on the Continent Nascera, owned and managed by Linden Lab, currently in a limited beta. For more information, see our blog: https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/land/blog/2009/12/04/home-is-where-you-hang-your-avatars-hat
The purpose of Linden Home is to provide an opportunity for Premium Account Residents of the Second Life virtual world to quickly own a home and belong to a community. Linden Home is available to Premium account holders with 512m2 of available tier. Premium accounts are provided 512m2 available tier at no cost.
As a Premium Account holder, you are eligible for Live Chat and Ticket support from our Support Portal. If you need support for your Linden Home, go to the Support Portal and submit a ticket. Select the Land and Regions Issues ticket type. Under the resulting Region Request dropdown, select Linden Home.
Linden Home is governed by this Covenant, Linden Home Terms and Conditions, Terms of Service (TOS), and Community Standards (CS).
Rules
Linden Home Restrictions:Linden Home has unique restrictions in addition to those outlined in the Linden Home Terms and Conditions. By accepting a Linden Home, you agree to additional restrictions as follows:
* Linden Home is for residential use only.
* Business use of any kind is prohibited, including parcel rental, rental boxes, classified ads or other forms of advertising, and event listings.
* Land cannot be terraformed, sold, deeded to group, joined, or divided.
* Land cannot contain sky boxes, temp-rezzers, or individual prims beyond the allocated size of the Second Life Viewer build tools – 10x10x10m (no megaprims).
* Linden Homes may not be removed, modified, exchanged, set or deeded to group, or transferred.
* Linden Homes should be kept presentable and in-theme.
* Linden Homes should not be used as sandboxes.
* Linden Homes do not include traffic tracking.
* Ownership is limited to one Linden Home per Premium Account.Linden Home Benefits:
* Use your Premium account’s 512m2 tier-free allocation towards Linden Home.
* Ready-to-move-in themed home on 512m2 parcel.
* Select your own Linden Home theme.
** Decorate your home with furnishings.
* Invite your friends to your home.
* Meet your neighbors and make friends.
* Linden Homes are allocated 117 prims.
* Set Home to here at your Linden Home location.
* Set land and objects to group.Linden Home Etiquette:
Living in a community includes courtesy towards your neighbors. Here are some guidelines for etiquette in Linden Home Regions:
* Use local chat say, rather than shout.
* Adhere to the Maturity Rating for the Linden Home Region you are located in.
* Respect your neighbors’ privacy.
* Review general Second Life Etiquette suggestions and incorporate them into your Linden Home experience.Help References
The Second Life Knowledge Base (KB) includes many helpful articles for beginning landowners and Residents new to the Second Life virtual world. The following resources will help you get started with your Linden Home experience:* Linden Home
* Linden Home FAQ
* Second Life Quickstart Guide
* Knowledge Base
* Video Tutorials
* Invite friends to join you in Second Life using SLurl
* Shopping
* Grid Status updates
* Blogs
* Second Life knowledge Q&A
* Abuse ReportWe hope you enjoy your new Linden Home!
Interesting. I have no profound comments on it at the moment, but there it is. (Speculation on the two Mysteriously Empty Lines in the “benefits” section is most welcome.)
One thing the original posting said that interested me was “most will not share a border with other Residents”. I was thinking in terms of a checkerboard pattern, where doing that requires like double the area. But clearly these parcels aren’t a checkerboard pattern. So looking at the neighbors, again with “show parcel boundaries” turned on:
(may or may not be clearer larger).
While we aren’t sharing any borders in the picture here, the lots are separated by very thin strips of protected land. So it’s nice that your neighbor’s tree can’t stick through your wall (without crossing Linden land), but you’re still going to look out your window and see mostly the neighbor’s house.
I’ve looked only at the fantasy-themed area so far (I got distracted, what a surprise!), but I’m sure other people are out there also nosing around, and will have published lotsa good information before I even get to hitting “Publish” on this… :)
Update: For instance, Ari Blackthorne’s pictorial catalog of pretty much all of the houses in all of the styles! (I think I like the hobbit ones the best…)
Filed under: business, pictures, Second Life | Tagged: hobbit holes, Nascera, secondlife |
Dale Innis's Weblog 
Amazing. An actual Hobbit Hole in Lord of the Rings Online has fewer restrictions – with actual yards – *and* is prettier.
As has been said earlier, whats the point of restricting these to people with premium accounts? What about the homeless newborns who might have a use for a modest place to call home?
Is that really the best you can do, Lindens?
I would speculate that the idea is to convince some homeless newborns that they should try out a Premium account, and see what this “Linden Homes” stuff is all about. We’ll see how that goes!
Dale, you should have followed up visiting Elderglen(or Fern) with at least looking at the Japanese-themed Linden Home sim Kagero. It’s got beautiful traditional Japanese houses and trees galore.
As for the “homeless newborns”, there’s still the option of mainland or private island rentals if they decide not to go Premium.
P.S. – Oh, btw did you also see this house?: http://twitpic.com/tn7jo/full
Yeah, I do intend to wander to the other Home sections eventually. But I’m easily distracted :) and this weblog isn’t intended to be Thorough Journalism; is just me talking.
I did *not* see that house with a portal device for a door! Whatever is going on there? There is an area of “out of service” portals near the infohub, with a note from Magellan Linden apologizing for breaking them; perhaps related. :)
I took a picture of all (99% if not *all*) of the home styles in the four themes.
“Picture tour” is here:
http://sociallymundane.com/2009/12/linden-homes-tour-image-heavy-post.html
Ooh, ty! I have updated the post proper to point to that. Nice survey!
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