Linden Lab Official:New Linden Homes 2019

A Linden Home is your introduction to home ownership as a Premium member of Second Life. Many Residents live in their Linden Home for years. Others use it as a private space to decorate and entertain in for a shorter time while they explore long term options, becoming familiar with all that Second Life has to offer.

Linden Homes were first introduced in 2010 and have been available in four large themed communities. The second generation of Linden Homes -- the New Linden Homes -- are becoming available, starting in the Spring of 2019. They occupy a large continent named Bellisseria with 384 Regions of land and navigable waterways, a network of roads, and community areas. Your new home may be in the mountains or along the shore or in a rolling landscape of low hills and river valleys.

Unlike the first generation of Linden Homes, which offered themed areas on separate Regions, the New Linden Homes blend themes across the entire continent. Depending on the theme you choose to live in, your home’s parcel may be either 1024 or 512 sqm. Your house might overlook houseboats along the ocean or might be inland in a traditional suburban neighborhood. Wherever you live, you will be within range of recreational and shopping areas and will be able to travel around the continent by car or boat if you wish.

Areas of the continent shown in gray are reserved for future development.

This guide describes your options and opportunities in the New Linden Homes.

A brief overview

Your premium membership fee entitles you to an automatic waiver of the monthly land fees for up to 1024 sqm of land anywhere on the mainland. You are free to use that waiver to pay the land fees for parcels that you own or you may use them for a Linden Home. What’s the difference?

If you decide to live on your own parcel:

• You need to buy the parcel first. You may choose any parcel that is available, either for sale by Linden Lab or by another Resident. Your land fee waiver covers the monthly fees, but not the initial purchase price of the land.
• You may put anything you wish on the land, provided that its Land Impact falls within the land capacity for the parcel.
• If you decide to put a home on the parcel, you may build one yourself or may buy a prefab model from a builder. The home’s Land Impact counts as part of the parcel’s total capacity.
• You may use the land for any purpose, and you may deed the land to a group or may sell the land when you no longer want it.

If you decide to have a New Linden Home:

• There is no initial purchase price for the home. It remains the property of Linden Lab, but you have exclusive use of it as long as you wish. * Your land fees are paid automatically each month at no extra cost to you.
• Choose your theme and request a prefab home:
  • Traditional
  • Houseboat
  • Others to be introduced in a future release
• You will be assigned a parcel in a neighborhood in the theme you have chosen. You may not request a specific parcel. However, up to five times per day you may abandon the one you were assigned and request a new one.
• Homes in some themes are on 512 sq m parcels, but most are on 1024 sq m parcels.
• If your Linden Home is on a 512 sq m parcel, rather than a 1024 sq m one, you may apply the remaining half of your monthly Premium land fee waiver on land that you own elsewhere on the mainland. You may not have two Linden Homes, however.
• Within each theme, there are at least four different home models. You select a model by using the House Controller at the edge of your parcel. You may make a different selection any time you wish. You may also customize your home by using the control panel just inside the front door.
• Your home’s Land Impact does not count against the parcel’s land capacity, so you may rez more objects in your Linden Home than you could on a parcel that you own elsewhere.
• You may set your Linden Home’s parcel to a group that you own and you may use that group’s roles to give members of the group abilities, such as rezzing objects and changing the parcel’s media stream.
• You may not:
  • Remove or replace the Linden Home completely, except with the house control panel. However, you may customize it by adding tasteful extensions, as long as they are compatible with the theme and style of the house.
  • Deed the land to a group or sell it to another Resident. If you no longer want the home, you may abandon it to Linden Lab.
  • Use the home or parcel for an in-world shop or other business, except in areas where commercial activity is specifically allowed.

We will give more details as you read through the rest of this guide, but that’s a high-level summary of the basic options that you have as a Premium member.

Requesting a Linden Home

You can get a Linden Home when you sign up for a premium account, upgrade your basic account to premium, or if you already have a premium account and have not claimed your Linden Home yet.

Prerequisites

If you have a premium account and you have at least 512 sqm of available tier, then you qualify for a Linden Home. For example, if you have a new premium account — you've just joined Second Life as a premium account or upgraded from a basic account — and haven't changed your land usage, then you have exactly 1024 sqm of available tier.

What is tier?

Tier is a land ownership bracket. The tier that your Second Life account is in determines how much you pay per month in land fees -- similar to a condominium fee or property tax in real life -- and how much more land you may own without increasing your monthly fee. For example, as shown in the table below, a Resident who owns more than 512 sqm of land but less than 1024 sqm (the Resident is therefore in the 1024 sq m tier) pays $7 per month in land fees. If that Resident owned even 1 sq m more land but less than 2048 sq m, the land fees would be $13 per month.

When we speak of “available tier,” we mean the amount of additional land that you can own without stepping into the next higher tier. So, when you join as a Premium member, you have 1024 sqm of available tier because your Premium membership automatically pays the $7 land fee for occupying up to that much land, whether you use it or not.

Note: You don't have to use your premium account’s 1024 sqm land tier for a Linden Home. You can use it instead towards other mainland purchases or you can contribute it to group tier allocations. Also, if you abandon your Linden Home, you can use your 1024 sqm tier to pay for land fees on other mainland parcels.

Checking if you have enough land tier available

If you don't have any land already in Second Life, then you will always have enough land tier, because each premium account comes with 1024 sqm of land tier. There are two ways to check if you have enough available tier:

• Inworld: From the Viewer menus, choose World > My land holdings... your available land tier is listed in Available for land purchases.
• Website: If you already own land, then you can also check if you have enough land tier on the Second Life website:
  1. Go to “Your Account”.
  2. On the left side of the page, click on “Account Summary”.
  3. Find the section called “Land Holdings”.
  4. Available square meters for purchase at your current tier is listed under “Available for purchase”.

Signing up

The Linden Home registration process offers options for theme, home type, and home name. Once you submit your registration, you are immediately assigned the next available parcel within your selected theme. You cannot request a specific Region or parcel location.

New premium accounts

1. Go to join.secondlife.com.
2. Complete your registration.
3. Upgrade to premium as prompted.
4. Go to Linden Home registration and login with your Second Life account and password.

Existing basic accounts

1. Go to Premium Membership registration and login with your Second Life account.
2. Follow the account upgrade process.
3. Once your account is upgraded to Premium Membership, the page will redirect to Linden Home registration.

Existing premium accounts

1. Go to Linden Home registration and login with your Second Life account and password.
2. View the six themed communities and home options within each theme.
3. Name your home.
4. Click Next.
5. Read the Terms and Conditions (the Covenant) and check the box agreeing to them.
6. Click Accept.
7. Review your Linden Home information on the confirmation page.
8. Click Go to your Home or use the SLurl provided.

Note: Confirmation is sent to the email address you provided to register your Second Life account.

Troubleshooting

If you havent't received your email confirmation, be sure to check your email application's spam folder.

It's also possible that there has been an error in the email process, and your Linden Home is ready and waiting for you. If your Linden Home is ready, a landmark is sent to you inworld. If there appears to be such a problem, head to the Support Portal and submit a case. Identify whether the email did not go through and your home is actually available, or whether there was a problem with the registration process overall.

Finding your Linden Home

Your welcome email will provide the location of your Linden Home. If you lost or did not receive your welcome email, then there are two ways to locate your Linden Home:

On the Second Life website:

1. Login using your Second Life username and password.
2. Go to your Account Dashboard.
3. On the left, click Land Manager.
4. Click My Mainland.
5. Look for the name of the Linden Home that you chose when you registered. Click the link in the Location column to teleport there.

Inworld:

1. Login to Second Life with the Second Life Viewer.
2. Choose World > My land holdings...
3. Select the parcel that matches your chosen Linden Home name.
4. Click Teleport. You will be teleported to your Linden Home.

Abandoning or changing your Linden Home

To change your choice of Linden Home type, you must abandon your current Linden Home and then register for a new one.

To abandon your Linden Home:

1. Take all of the objects that you have rezzed on the parcel, so that they return to your inventory.
2. Choose World > About Land and click the General tab.
3. Click Abandon Land. After you confirm your choice, the land is removed from your account. Now if you wish, you can register for another Linden Home.

Warning: Please use this reasonably: if you abandon and choose a new Linden Home five times in 24 hours, you are temporarily blocked from choosing another. You will need to wait 24 hours before registering again.

Themes

Traditional Homes

Traditional suburban homes are arranged along tree-lined streets on 1024 sq m parcels. The homes are one and two-story buildings with shingle roofs, and in most models, a porch or patio area. A typical home has a two or more large rooms on the main floor and may have one or two upstairs. As described in a later section of this guide, you may use the House Controller on your parcel to choose among the styles pictured here, and you may use the house controller to change colors and details both inside and on the outside of the house.

A traditional home is set back from the sidewalk and may have a hedge, a wall, or a low fence to set it apart from its neighbors. You may add to the planting or other landscaping elements on the parcel .

Traditional homes are all within a convenient distance from communal park areas where you can join your friends for picnics, sports, or family activities. Some communal areas offer a dining or dance area, or a pool where you can relax.

Houseboats

With a houseboat home, you can enjoy life in coves and inlets around the perimeter of the continent or the large nearby island, or along rivers or around the large bay in the center of the continent. You cannot travel on a houseboat, but each houseboat parcel has room for you to moor your own sailboat or other watercraft. All water areas around the New Linden Homes continent are navigable and public.

The houseboat models have large rooms with a high ceiling and skylighting, plus a deck area outside for you to relax or entertain on.

Most houseboats are on 16 m x 64 m water parcels. Some are on square 32 m x 32 m parcels. Therefore, all have an area of 1024 sq m. All are accessible by open water. You may also walk easily from one place to another, along wooden docks that divide the parcels, or along sandbars and spits from the mainland.

Houseboats are all within convenient reach of community areas and cultural venues (lighthouses, beaches, and community buildings where you may gather with friends).

Campers

Experience the country life while you sit back and relax in your own Linden Homes camping trailer.

Spacious trailers -- 8 different models in all -- are all set on 512 sqm (16m X 32m) parcels in beautiful wooded regions. Depending on the model you choose, your home can be a sleek, aerodynamically designed trailer, or one that looks more like a Roma caravan, or one of several other designs. Take a look:

To encourage you to get out and enjoy the area, camping trailer homes are in a rolling landscape with roaring streams and waterfalls nearby. There are plenty of hiking trails and places to sit around a campfire or have a picnic lunch.

For large-scale socializing, visit the Campwich Lodge, which offers large areas for dancing or games, plus an expansive overlook of the nearby lake. Rez your pleasure boat or jet skis, or explore as a mermaid.

Visit camping trailer regions by teleport or your own favorite ground or air transportation or, a brand new option with this Linden Homes theme, by rail.

Victorian Homes

Be prepared for late 19th century living when you choose a spacious Victorian-themed home. All homes in this theme are on 32 x 32m parcels and sited in the sort of small community that would have been new 150 years ago -- complete with cobblestone streets and wrought iron street lamps. By using your House Controller, you may select any of four models:

The Shelley

The Doyle

The Hardy

The Verne

As in the other themed areas of Linden Homes, you have plenty of places to explore, enjoy the scenery, and gather with friends. Regions with Victorian homes have parks with fountains and reflecting pools as well as quiet neighborhood gathering spots. Enjoy a stroll on gaslit cobblestone streets at night. Rub a giant bronze frog statue for good luck. Rez a small boat and spend the afternoon on one of many lakes with a special friend.

Tour the Victorian regions by rail. The extensive railway system offers a scenic way to travel in this corner of Bellisseria and connect to other parts of the continent.

House controllers

Each Linden Homes parcel is equipped with a House Controller like the one shown here. It is just outside the parcel boundary, often near a street or sidewalk or on the dock next to a houseboat parcel. Yours may look like a mailbox or some other marker appropriate to the neighborhood.

A House Controller is your tool for selecting the specific model of home you want to erect on the parcel. To use it, simply left-click on it. The House Controller will only respond if you are the current owner of the parcel. It will not respond to guests, friends, or strangers.

When you rez a new home, we advise you to wait for 30 seconds before using any of the house controls. This will allow time for the home to download important information about its decor and access permissions.

Choose a home from one of the available models by clicking one of the numbered buttons. Your new home will appear near the center of the parcel, replacing whichever home was there before. You cannot rotate the home (except for Camping Trailers) or move it to another spot on the parcel. Linden Homes are always rezzed with the front door facing the House Controller.

You may replace the model on your parcel at any time. Homes within a theme all fit in the same parcel area, so they will not interfere with vegetation, fencing, or other objects that Linden Lab has placed on land next to your parcel. However, because each model has a different floor plan, you will usually need to move furniture or other items that you have placed in a previous home so that it is arranged well in your new home.

If you select the notecard option, you will receive an instructional notecard. It will explain the features of your house in greater detail than they are covered in this guide.

If you select the Content Creation Pack option, you will receive a folder of items that you may use to landscape your parcel and decorate your home. These are discussed more fully in another section of this guide.

House control panels

As you enter a Linden Home, you will find a Control Panel just inside the front door. The control panel is your tool for customizing the appearance of your home and for controlling access. The layout of menu buttons for a Control Panel varies slightly from one theme to another, but all Linden Homes have the same basic set of functions described here.

Click on the Control Panel to see the main menu of your options:

When you make most changes with the Control Panel, you will receive confirmation in chat. You will see a notice within a few seconds to tell you that the new information has been recorded in the system.

The Door button offers you a choice between allowing your doors to Stay Open when you click on them, or to AutoClose within ten seconds after they are opened.

The Windows button on the main menu toggles the window covering (blinds) up or down. Using this button in the Control Panel toggles all windows in the house at once, so that they are all either up or down at the same time. If you (or a person you have granted access to) want to raise or lower a single window covering, you can do that by simply left-clicking on the window covering (Note: Some house models also offer the option to open and close individual windows. Where that option is available, it is not managed in the Control Panel. To open a window, you just left-click on it).

The Access button, which is only visible to you as the parcel owner, will let you give additional people permission to use the Control Panel menus. Using its Add Name menu option, you create a whitelist and add anyone you choose. The person does not need to belong to a special group. You may remove the person’s access permission at any time by clicking this same Access button and using the Remove Name option. If you have created a whitelist, you may check to see who is on it by using the View List option.

The Access menus allow you to control who has permission to use some features in your home. There are three access levels:

• ONLY ME is the highest level. If you click that menu button, nobody else may use the Control Panel, operate the window blinds, or open doors.
• LIST is the middle level. If you have created a whitelist, selecting LIST gives people on the list permission to operate window and door functions, and most functions in the Control Panel (but not the Access functions).
• ANYONE is the lowest level. If you click that button, anybody may open doors or operate the blinds. Only you and people on the whitelist may use the Control Panel.

Please note that the Access menu does not control permission to rez objects in your home, or change its music stream. Manage those permissions by creating a group for your home, as discussed later in this guide.

The Redecorate button offers options which are different in each home theme, although some features are found in all themes.

• The Outside button offers different color schemes for painting the siding on the home.
• The Wall button lets you change the color of the walls inside your home.
• The Floor button lets you choose among options for flooring inside the home, so you may opt for carpeting or different types of wood flooring.
• Submenu buttons on some themed homes include options for changing the color of the Roof, Trim, Deck, or other parts of the home that are special for that theme.

Most menus in your Control Panel also contain two other buttons. The Done button closes the Control Panel menus and saves your most recent changes in the system’s memory. The Back button opens the previous dialog menu.

Custom interior wall colors

Starting with the Victorian Homes, introduced in late 2019, the Control Panel includes a new option for decor, the ability to create up to nine custom colors to apply to interior walls in your home.

Clicking on the My Colors button in either the Main menu or the Redecorate > Walls menu opens a submenu that lets you decide whether to create a New Color or apply one that you have created before:

You may then use either a Color Picker (graphic interface) or may type in RGB values for a color that you may have designed elsewhere.

The Color Picker is similar to the interface that you will find in your SL viewer’s Edit > Texture > Color panel:

If you choose the Type <RGB> option instead, it opens a text box where you may enter numerical values for the Red, Green, and Blue components of a color

Once you have created a color using either method, you may apply it to the walls in any room in the house. You may also apply any of nine preset colors if you wish.

Content creation packs

As a homeowner, you may want to personalize your parcel by adding vegetation, pathways, rocks, or other decorative items. Please remember to stay within the theme of your neighborhood. For more specific details, refer to the covenant in World > About Land when you are standing in your parcel.

As an aid, your Linden Home comes with a free Content Creation Pack. In it, you will find items that you may use to spruce up your home/parcel -- items such as decor items, textures, wall/fence kits and lighting may be included. Unlike the house itself, which does not add to the Land Impact on your parcel, these extra objects and anything else that you rez will add Land impact, so be careful to stay within your limit. Refer to World > About Land > Objects to verify your available L.I.

You may receive the Content Creation Pack by clicking on the appropriate menu option in your House Controller.

Privacy

Total privacy in an open community like Linden Homes is not possible, but there are ways that you can manage access to your home and its features. As noted above, for example, you can use your home’s Control Panel to control who may enter your home and use its redecorate functions. You may also use the Options tab in World > About Land to determine who is allowed to rez objects on your parcel and whether people outside the parcel can see and hear what you are doing.

You may not use selections in the Access tab of About Land to set ban lines around your parcel, but you may use the Linden Homes Security System (found in the Content Creation Pack) to eject unwanted visitors from your parcel. You may not use other security systems that have a shorter warning time or a greater detection range than the Linden Homes Security System.

The security system is designed to be wall-mounted. When activated, it scans your parcel as much as 400m above and below the control unit, provides a warning to unauthorized visitors, and then ejects them from the parcel. It does not detect people in neighboring parcels. You may adjust the system’s range and the amount of warning time (minimum 15 seconds), and may tell the system to ignore members of your group or specific people that you have added to its whitelist. The system will not function if it is placed at an altitude between 100m and 2000m above sea level, but can be used in your Linden Home or in a skybox above 2000m. Instructions for setting up the system and operating it are provided on a notecard with the unit, and in shortened form, by clicking on the system’s help (?) button.

Sharing your Home

As noted earlier in this guide, you may use the home’s Control Panel to create a list of people who will have permission to operate the doors and to redecorate the home. In addition, you may want to give a partner or a friend permission to rez objects on your parcel or to control the music stream or other features. To do that, they will need to belong to a group that manages those options.

Creating a group for the Linden Home

In Second Life, we use groups to identify people who share a common interest. You may create one to include all people who are welcome in your home and who may be allowed to share some privileges that you have as the owner.

1. Choose Communicate > Groups or right-click on your avatar and choose My Groups.
2. Click the + button, then choose New Group...
3. Enter the name of the group. The name must be at least four characters, and fewer than 36 characters long. Every group name must be unique in Second Life; you won't be allowed to create a group that has the same name as an existing group.
4. Optionally, create a group insignia (image) by clicking on the image thumbnail and then choosing a texture from your inventory.
5. Optionally, write a brief description of the group.
6. To make the group open (anyone can join without an invitation), select Anyone can join. If you don't select this, then only those invited will be able to join.
7. If you want the group to have a cost to join, select Cost to join and choose a number of L$.
8. Select the group's maturity rating.
9. Click Create Group and confirm your choice when prompted.

Refer to the Knowledge Base article on Creating, Managing, Moderating, and Disbanding Groups for more detailed information.

Note: A group will be disbanded within 48 hours unless it has at least two members. Therefore, invite someone else to join as soon as you have created the group. We do not suggest making anyone else a co-owner of the group, because you can never remove an owner. Instead, invite members to the Everyone role or to some other role with abilities other than those of an owner.

To invite someone to the group

1. Right-click their avatar and choose Invite to Group. The GROUPS window opens, displaying all the groups to which you have permission to invite people.
2. Select the desired group.
3. Click OK.

The person immediately sees a group invitation.

To set your Linden Home to the group

1. Stand in your parcel.
2. Select World > About Land > General.
3. Click Set and select your group. Do not select the Deed option.
4. Select the Options tab, and then click on specific permissions that you want group members to have (some options, such as terraforming, are grayed out on a Linden Homes parcel). Also, decide whether to restrict people outside the parcel from seeing or hearing what goes on inside it.

Refer to the Knowledge Base article on Managing Your Parcel for more details.

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 in.
• Respect your neighbors' privacy.
• Review general Second Life etiquette suggestions and incorporate them into your Linden Home experience.

Getting help

As a premium account holder, you're eligible for live chat and case support from the Support Portal. If you need support for your Linden Home:

1. Go to the Support Portal and choose Submit a Support Case.
2. Select Land and Region from the first dropdown menu.
3. Select Linden Home Issues from the second dropdown menu.
4. Fill out the required fields; make sure to include as much relevant information as possible when describing your issue.
5. Click Submit to submit your support case.

Requesting terraforming of adjoining land

If there is an issue with the terraforming of your parcel or nearby land that you suspect is an error:

1. Go to the Support Portal.
2. Click Contact Support.
3. Click Submit a Support Case form.
4. From the dropdown menus, choose:
   1. Land and Region
   2. Linden Home Issues - Terrain or Content
5. Fill in the rest of the required fields.
6. Click Submit to submit your support case.

Bellisseria Fairgrounds

The Bellisseria Fairgrounds is open to all Premium Residents of Second Life to use for their events. Private events that require the Fairgrounds to be restricted to a certain list or group of people are not a good use for the space; however, if you are happy to welcome anyone to your events then the Bellisseria Fairgrounds is a great place to choose to plan your next party, get together, shindig or whatever!

Any Premium member can reserve the Bellisseria Fairgrounds for their event, though preference will be given to members of Bellisseria Resident groups. While any public event is welcome at the Fairgrounds, we encourage the planning of events that contribute to and support the Bellisseria community spirit.

Use this form to reserve the Bellisseria Fairground to host an event: http://bit.ly/BellisseriaFairgroundsCalendar