The About Land window

This article is part of the Extended Second Life Knowledge Base that includes advanced and specialized information. This information was originally provided by Linden Lab, but is not actively maintained nor guaranteed to be accurate. Linden Lab does not certify nor assume any responsibility for this information.

See the official Second Life Knowledge Base for the most current information.

Owning land lets you control what happens on that land. You can prevent others from visiting or building there, change the shape of the land, subdivide and sell it, and much more. The About Land window in the Second Life® Viewer lets you access most of your land's functions, and gives you more information about the land you own.

There are 3 ways to open the About Land window:

1. World > About Land.
2. Right-click on your land and select About Land.
3. Click the parcel name near the top-center of the screen.

There are several different tabs in the About Land window:

• General
• Covenant
• Objects
• Options
• Media
• Access

General Tab

This tab displays basic information about your land (name and description), as well as controls to deed and sell your land.

Name - The name shown for the parcel. This name will also appear in Search window results if you choose to list your land. (See Show Place in Search below.)

Description - Additional words to describe your parcel. The description will also appear in Search results, enabling your land to be found easier.

Owner - On your land, this is you. If you've deeded land to a group, the group is the owner. See "How do I deed land to a group?"

Group - The group associated with the land. Click Set to change the group. Setting land to a group without fully deeding it can help you control group members' ability to build there without allowing non-members to build.

Allow Deed to Group - Select this and the Deed button to deed the land to the currently selected group.

Owner Makes Contribution With Deed - Check this box to give the group a "contribution" from your land use fees, so the group can own the land. Confused? See "How does group-owned land work?" and "How do I change or remove group land contributions?"

Sell Land - Clicking this sets your land for sale at the price listed, to the person listed (or anyone if no name is chosen). Don't click this until you're ready to close the deal! After you click Sell Land, you'll need to confirm 4 steps:

1. Set a price - Enter what you think is a fair market price. Be sure to do research so you don't regret your choice.
2. Sell the land to - Click select one to choose whether your land can be bought by anyone, or click Specific user to bring up a Choose Resident window which will allow you to specify one person. Doing this restricts the land to only being bought by this individual.
3. Sell the objects with the land? - Click No, keep ownership of objects to do just that. Click Yes, sell objects with land to transfer all objects you own on the land to the buyer after purchase. This option only transfers objects with the same owner as the land, and won't transfer objects owned by someone else. Obviously, it won't transfer objects with no-transfer permissions either. Click Show Objects to see exactly what will be transferred.
4. When the above is has been taken care of and you've verified everything's how you want it, click Set Land For Sale.

Claimed - When this parcel was last acquired, which is usually the result of a sale or subdivision.

Area - The parcel's size in square meters.

Traffic - An abstract representation of the amount of time Residents have spent on your land in the past day. See "What is traffic (formerly known as dwell)?"

Buy Land - Click this button to buy the land for yourself.

Buy For Group - Click this button to purchase the land for a group after setting your tag to that group. Here's how:

1. Click Communicate button at the bottom of the Viewer window.
2. Click the Groups tab near the top.
3. Click the group for which you want to buy the land.
4. Click Activate and it'll turn bold. If you have group tags visible, you'll see the tag above your avatar's head.

The group will be the owner of the land, and must already have enough contributions to own the land.

Buy Pass - If your access to this land is restricted, you can click this button to buy an access pass, letting you enter the land for the amount of time for which the pass is good. This is fairly uncommon.

Abandon Land - This option revokes all ownership to the land, setting it back to the owner of the Region (on the mainland, that would be Linden Lab under the name "Governor Linden"). Don't abandon land if you want to keep it or give it to someone else! If you own and are on your Private Region, this button becomes Reclaim Land.

Covenant Tab

This tab contains information about the Region's covenant. Private Estate owners can create a covenant in order to establish a set of rules when selling or renting their estates to tenants.

Region - The name of the Region the parcel is located in.

Estate - The name of the estate the Region is in. More than one Region may be included in a single Estate.

Estate Owner - The owner of the Estate the Region is in.

In addition, Estate owners may decide whether or not purchased land in the Region may be resold or subdivided. For more information about how covenants work, see "Estate (Private Island) Covenants".

Objects Tab

This tab contains information about the objects that are on your land, and on land you own within the Region.

'Simulator primitive usage - The total number of prims (short for "primitive objects") currently on all parcels you own in this Region, as well as the total allowed on those parcels. An object can be a single prim or multiple prims linked together in a complex form, like a house. If you don't own the land, this is the total for that landowner. If a landowner has several parcels in a Region and you buy one of them, refer to Primitives p'arcel supports.

'Primitives p'arcel supports - The number of prims that can be placed on this single parcel of land. If you purchase this land, this is the amount of additional prim usage you'll gain.

Primitives on parcel - A breakdown of the total number of prims on this parcel:

• Owned by parcel owner shows the owner's prims, or prims deeded to the group on group-owned land.
• Set to group shows prims owned by group members that are Set to the same group the parcel is set to or owned by. (Group members may have prims set to a different group that isn't shown here)
• Owned by others includes prims owned by other people, and group-member prims that aren't set to the same group.
• Selected / sat upon shows the number of prims in objects that are currently selected or sat upon by an avatar. Selected and sat-upon objects (like chairs and vehicles) do not count against the parcel's maximum prim limit. This is usually a fluctuating count depending on parcel activity, such as if you're holding a meeting with multiple avatars sitting down, or building a tower and selecting objects.

For Owned by parcel owner, Set to group, and Owned by others, you can click Show next to each tally to view exactly which objects are included. You can click Return to irreversibly return all objects in one of these categories.

Warning: Warning: Don't do this if you're not sure what you're doing -- mass object returns are generally only done in scenarios such as moving to other land or starting over with a clean slate.

Autoreturn other Residents' objects - Objects owned by others that are on the parcel after this period of time are returned automatically. "0" means autoreturn is off. This is useful for keeping your parcel litter-free.

Warning: Warning: On group land, be extremely careful you don't set an autoreturn time on if objects aren't correctly set to group. Otherwise, those objects will be immediately sent back to their owners when the autoreturn time is reached, possibly destroying work-in-progress. There is no undo for returns.

Object Owners - Click Refresh List to show a list of object owners. You can click on a specific name and click Return objects and return their objects automatically, which is useful if someone griefed you.

Warning: Warning: Be extremely careful you don't return the wrong person's stuff.

Options Tab

This tab lets you determine what can and can't be done on your land.

Allow other Residents to

Edit Terrain - If checked, anyone can terraform your land. It's best to leave this unchecked, as you can always shape your own land.

Create Landmarks - Checking this lets others create a landmark, which serves as a bookmark to the land. Usually best left on -- if you want privacy, see Access controls below.

Fly - If checked, other Residents can fly on your land. If unchecked, they can fly into and over your land but they can't start to fly once they've touched the ground.

Create Objects - If checked, allows for objects to be created and edited on your land by others. The owner can always create objects on their land. You can specify whether all Residents can do this, or restrict it to the group set in the General tab.

Object Entry - If checked, allows objects from other Residents to enter your parcel. For example, a crate that gets pushed over. You can specify whether all Residents can do this, or restrict it to the group set in the General tab.

Run Scripts - If checked, allows scripted objects owned by others to run on your land. Leaving this unchecked can help prevent others from doing things like firing scripted weapons on your land. You can specify whether all Residents can do this, or restrict it to the group set in the General tab.

Land Options

Safe (no damage) - If checked, damage combat is disabled. If cleared, damage combat is enabled and a heart indicating health appears at the top of the Viewer window. Health is reduced by physical collisions such as falling from a great height or being shot by a gun. If you "die", you're teleported home. You can't die permanently in Second Life.

No Pushing - If checked, prevents scripts from pushing. Checking this option is useful for preventing disruptive behavior on your land.

Show in Search (L$30/week) - If checked, your land will appear in the Search window's All and Places tabs for L$30 a week. If you enable this, be sure to also select the category you want your land to be listed under (Shopping, Hangout, Educational, and so on).

Mature Content - Select this checkbox if your land contains mature content. See "What is the difference between PG and Mature land?"

Snapshot - Click on the thumbnail box to select an image from the textures in your inventory. This picture will show up in multiple places, such as in the Search window's All, Land Sales, and Places tabs.

Landing Point - Set a landing point where people will arrive if visiting your land. Click Set to place the landing point where you're standing. This is where people will be directed to if they teleport to your land, including from Search. For example, if you're building a space station, you can set the landing point high in the sky so people don't get lost on the ground looking for it.

Teleport Routing - Use this dropdown menu to select one of the following options:

• Blocked - Prevents Residents from teleporting to your parcel.
• Landing Point - Forces all Residents to land at your specified landing point.
• Anywhere - Allows Residents to teleport to anywhere in your parcel.

Each has its uses depending on your intent. For example, if you're building a game with secret areas and divided into multiple parcels, you can choose Blocked for some parcels so people don't accidentally spoil surprises, but choose Landing Point for the entrance parcel so everyone can see the instructions sign you've posted.

Media Tab

Please see "Media on a parcel" for information about this tab.

Access Tab

This tab allows you to limit access to your land.

Allow Public Access - If you uncheck this box, your parcel will be limited to you and whoever you add to the Allowed Residents list below. You can limit public access to Residents who've given Linden Lab payment info or who're age-verified.Allow Group Access - This box is only available if you aren't allowing public access. It restricts access to the group you set on the General tab.Sell Passes to - Check this to charge an admittance fee to your land and set the time period for which those passes are valid.Allowed Residents - This list of avatars always have access to your land.Banned Residents - This list of avatars never have access to your land.

Note: Note: If you set Object Entry to All Residents in the Options tab, objects owned by these avatars will be able to cross onto your parcel.

About Land Video Tutorial

This tutorial shows you how many of the About Land options affect your experience. It was filmed in an older version of Second Life, so some of it may be deprecated -- if there's an inconsistency, refer to the above text for the latest revision.