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Renting Land in Second Life a Con?

Renting virtual land in Second Life can often cause headaches. Renting vendor space in a mall... now that's different. Some vendor spaces are more expensive than others, some offer a higher prim limit than others, but you can usually find a good deal. Now, renting actual land on the other hand... Perhaps I should set this rant in some sort of context.

I was on a mission to rent land and set up an in-world store. I set off on my little journey full of hope, loaded up the in-game search and teleported to a couple of rental sites. Then I read the landowner's small print. Here's an example:

Let's call this rental land part of Small Hart Estates (name changed to protect the greedy). It's pretty empty. Tumble weeds blow about the empty lots and the only sound is distant birdsong. Here's the reason why: To rent a 1024 sq. metre piece of land here will cost you a one time fee of L$22400 and then a further L$5600 (or $20) a month in rent. Whoah! Slow down there! That's double what I would pay for the land if I bought it outright (the current going price for 1024 land is about L$12000 - and I actually saw some today selling for L$10286); and yes, that means I would also have to pay monthly for a premium account and Linden Lab tier fees. But let's work this out. That would cost me L$12000 for the land and $14.95 a month in account and tier fees. Compare that to Small Hart Estate's generous offer of L$22400 up front and $20 a month fees. Now am I losing my mind or is that a bad deal?

But Small Hart Estates are not alone. It seems that rental prices are overblown across the Grid. The better land barons will only charge you L$1 to lay claim to your chosen piece of land (quite a difference from L$22400!) but the monthly tier fees still don't add up when you compare them to Linden Lab fees for land the same size.

Plus there's all the rules and regulations. No laggy scripts, no huge builds, don't build close to your neighbour's land, don't use ban lines. The list goes on. I know nobody wants to live next to an ugly club filled with laggy camping chairs, but do you also want to feel like you're in school again? I know I don't, it was bad enough the first time.

If you decide to buy land of your very own and forgo the rental rip-offs, I'd suggest searching the secondlife.com forums. Real land is still out there, you just have to work a little harder to find it.

Learn more about this author, Briana Bernard.
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