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 close to 1500 regions of residential land and navigable waterways, a network of roads, and community areas, with more being created all the time. 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.

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
  • Camping Trailers
  • Victorians
  • Log Homes
  • Stilt Homes
  • Chalets
  • Fantasy
  • Newbrooke
  • Sakura
  • Ranch
  • 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. Ranch theme homes are on 2048 sq m parcels.
• If your Linden Home is on a 512 sq m parcel, rather than a larger 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 haven'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 reminiscent of houses that were popular in the United States in the mid-20th Century and are still found in many rural and suburban communities. They 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. Each of the four main styles shown here is also available in an Open Plan version that has few interior dividing walls, so you can add your own walls to shape your living space. 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.

Continental / Canterbury

Winchester / Westminster

Adams / Ansel

Alderley / Adelaide

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.

Evening Star

Barnacle

Wallower

Windlass

Dock Holiday

Jolly Roger

Knot Shore

Shore Thing

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 or their open plan equivalents:

The Shelley / The Somerley

The Doyle / The Derby

The Hardy / The Hamilton

The Verne / The Victoria

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.

Log Homes

The log homes are your opportunity to enjoy comfortable country living. Nestled in forested hills and valleys, these upscale log homes bring you close to nature and still let you enjoy the clean, modern lines of a house that you can live in year-round. Four styles each offer high ceilings and both upstairs and downstairs rooms. Other amenities include balconies, large windows, and a porch.

The Lincoln

The Overlook

The Grand View

The Mountaineer

Outside the home, you will find some breathtaking scenery, with forested hills and plenty of lakes and ponds for boating and swimming. There are community areas for large gatherings, and park areas where you may picnic or lie on the grass and watch the clouds.

Dirt roads, lined with stone or split rail fences and flowering shrubbery, make it easy to travel by car, bicycle, or horseback, and hiking trails give you access to the back country. Bellisseria’s rail system connects you to the rest of the continent as well.

Stilt Homes

The stilt homes offer upscale living along the coasts of Bellisseria. Homes are raised on stilts, well above sea level, in the style of many shoreline homes in the Southeastern USA. Some homes are placed along or very near to the beach. Others are over water, attached to wooden piers. Others still are freestanding over water, only accessible by boat. Enjoy the luxury of home on a full-sized 1024 sq m parcel and access to nearby shared public recreation areas.

You may choose any one of the four following one- or two-story styles from your house controller, regardless of where your stilt home parcel lies. Each has a large deck, where you can enjoy an evening meal or watch the waves. (Note: some land-based parcels may still have a small amount of water within the parcel lines, while some water/pier-based parcels may have a small amount of land in them.)

Havana - Land

Havana - Pier

Havana - Water

Tortuga - Land

Tortuga - Pier

Tortuga - Water

Santiago - Land

Santiago - Pier

Santiago - Water

Lauderdale - Land

Lauderdale - Pier

Lauderdale - Water

As you walk around neighborhoods in the stilt home regions, you will see palm trees and other tropical vegetation, and be greeted by sounds of exotic birds and the sound of the nearby surf. This truly is a beach-lover’s environment. Wander a bit and find beach bars and other places to meet friends and relax. And, of course, places where you can launch a boat and explore the coast. If your home is over the water, either freestanding or off the pier, you will be able to moor a boat permanently on your own parcel.

Chalets

Chalet theme homes are modeled after stylized European alpine wood-timbered houses (fachwerkhaus), of a type that you might expect to find in mountains of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, or northern Italy. These are not rustic buildings, but contemporary homes ready for 21st century living. There are four basic models, named Reizend, Edelweiss, Matterhorn, and Alpenrose. Each is also available in an open-plan version that looks the same as one of the basic models but has fewer interior walls, so that you can add your own walls to create a customized floor plan. The open plan versions are named Ravensburg, Eikelen, Moritzburg, and Albus.

Reizend/Ravensburg

Edelweiss/Eikelen

Matterhorn/Moritzburg

Alpenrose/Albus

The chalet homes are set on 1024 sq m parcels in regions with craggy hills and mountain streams, among tall hardwood and coniferous trees. Imagine yourself living in a small village, somewhere far removed from the busy life of the city. Sounds of small birds and gurgling streams are around you, and if you close your eyes you can sense the mountain breeze and the smell of alpine flowers.

Winding streets with brick sidewalks are interrupted here and there by small town squares where you can sit to enjoy conversation or bring lunch to share with a friend. Or you can just sit and contemplate some amazing bronze statuary.

And for a special outing, visit one of several windmills in the chalet regions to watch how wheat and other grains are stone-ground to produce artisan flour. (No, we don’t have any for sale.)

Fantasy Homes

The Fantasy theme is designed to appeal to residents with a flair for the magical and mystic side of Second Life. Homes are situated on an isolated subcontinent, accessible only by teleportation or through the misty seaway from the coast at Rigamarole. There, you can wander among fanciful giant mushrooms and glowing crystals or take a silent ride on a huge moth. Streets and regional parks are full of bioluminescent trees that come alive after dark with a fairy-like glow, as do the streets, the rocks, and even the roof of your home. You can imagine yourself in a world populated by faeries, wizards, and mythical creatures, a place where anything is possible.

There are six basic models, named Amberbrooke, Fairybrooke, Mistbrooke, Fairybrooke, Rosebrooke, and Stonebrooke. Each is available in an open-plan version that looks the same as one of the basic models but has fewer interior walls, so that you can add your own walls to create a customized floor plan. The open plan versions are named Angelspell, Fairyspell, Moonspell, Pixiespell, Ragespell, and Steepspell.

Amberbrooke/Angelspell

Mistbrooke/Moonspell

Rosebrooke/Ragespell

Stonebrooke/Steepspell

Fairybrooke/Fairyspell

Pixiebrooke/Pixiespell

The Fantasy homes are set on 1024 sq m parcels in a watery part of Bellisseria, overgrown by fanciful trees, giant mushrooms, and glowing flowers. You can travel the regions in this part of the world on a series of shallow intertwining canals, or on paved roads and narrow pathways.

It is never fully daylight here, nor does it ever get truly dark after the pale sun goes down. (Be sure to set your viewer’s daylight to see the region default to get the full effect.) You can imagine faeries and small fanciful creatures rustling in the underbrush. You can even hear them if you stand still and listen carefully.

When you fly over this part of Bellisseria, you can see that this truly is a different corner of the world. Here will you not only find fanciful homes along the waterways but also in the treetops. It’s a land where your imagination can play tricks. Is that a gryphon rustling in the underbrush?

At night, the world begins to glow with an ethereal shimmer. Leaves, rocks, roads, mushrooms, and even the water display faint faerie colors to guide your way. You may want to remember where you see giant crystals -- handy landmarks -- to keep from getting lost in the mystic lands.

As always in Bellisseria, there are plenty of open areas to gather with friends or just enjoy quiet time. There are small parks in many neighborhoods, and occasional larger areas where you can wander on horseback (or moth, or dragon, maybe).

Newbrooke Homes

The Newbrooke neighborhoods recall one of the most popular themes in the original Linden Homes regions, the Meadowbrook homes. There are eight house models, each designed with sleek, modern lines and plenty of windows. These are homes for today's suburban lifestyle. As a homeowner, you can customize the exterior of any home by choosing wood, stucco, or metal siding and you can select among preset colors to tint the siding, trim, and brickwork.

Four of the models (Aldridge, Bradbury, Coniston, and Heaton) are designed to fit on 32 m x 32 m (1024 sq m) parcels. You may choose any of the other four (Denver, Ender, Faraday, and Gatewood) for either a 1024 sq m parcel or a smaller 32 m x 16 m (512 sq m) parcel.

Aldridge

Bradbury

Coniston

Denver

Ender

Faraday

Gatewood

Heaton

You and your Newbrooke neighbors will enjoy the tree-lined streets in this part of Bellisseria. These are places to take a stroll in the evening, walk the dog, or take the family exploring by bicycle. Thanks to the rolling landscape, each part of your region feels intimate and unique. Vegetation and architectural details add to the charm.

While you’re out walking, plan on visiting a nearby public park. Let the dog run. Toss a ball with friends or relax in a picnic area and enjoy conversation around a fire pit while you watch the sun go down. Lie back and listen to the sound of birds and the whispering of wind in the trees.

Like so much of Bellisseria, the Newbrooke regions are home to many lakes and ponds where you may enjoy boating or just splashing among the reeds on the shoreline. These water areas also add to the local feel of the neighborhoods between them.

These homes and neighborhoods are more than a new incarnation of the Meadowbrook regions from years ago, but they draw on principles that made those earlier homes popular. Their design balances the clean, modern lines of contemporary housing with soft sculptural landscaping to make this a truly comfortable place to live.

Sakura Homes

The word “sakura” means “cherry blossom” in Japanese – an appropriate name for this part of Bellisseria, where there are cherry trees everywhere you look. When you live or visit here, you are stepping into neighborhoods inspired by Japanese communities, a mix of modern architecture that respects classical design concepts. Homes are set on land that is gently rolling – although occasionally surprisingly high – and full of small parks and canals.

Homes have traditional tile roofs and stucco exterior walls with wood trim. There are eight basic models: Shion, Ajisai, Renge, Kaneshon, Kosumosu, Tenjikubotan, Botan, and Himawari. The first four of those models are designed for 32m x 32m (1024 sq m) parcels; the other four may be rezzed on either 1024 sq m or 16m x 32m (512 sq m) parcels. In addition, each of the eight basic models is also available in an “open plan” version that has fewer interior walls, so you can customize the interior space easily. The open plan versions are named Sumire, Asagao, Rabenda, Kuchinashi, Kinmokusei, Tsubaki, Benibara, and Haibisukasu. Altogether, then, you may choose among 16 homes.

Ajisai/Asago

Botan/Benibara

Himawari/Haibisukasu

Kaneshon/Kuchinashi

Kosumosu/Kinmokusei

Rabenda/Renge

Shion/Sumire

Tenjikubotan/Tsubaki

When you are in the Sakura regions, you will be struck by their graceful blend of shared community spaces and private home areas. Houses are placed along tree-lined streets, often separated from each other by wood or masonry screens and walls. Many are adjacent to public areas or waterways lined with bamboo and ornamental trees.

If you choose one of the smaller house models, you’ll find that there is plenty of room to create a peaceful garden, especially if you place it on a 1024 sq m parcel. Enjoy the quiet sounds of birds and flowing water nearby, and hear the breeze rustle leaves in the trees. No matter which style you prefer, you will be able to design a quiet, contemplative space to live in and entertain friends. The Shion and Sumire homes even have an atrium in which you can create a meditation garden inside the home.

You will enjoy exploring public spaces, perhaps getting some exercise on long walks up forested hillsides or along the banks of the larger streams and lakes. Not only are the open areas filled with flowering shrubs and trees, they also hold small nooks where you may find statuary or lighting that invite you to sit and relax.

You can also get around by car, of course. The road system makes it possible to get anywhere, even to the awe-inspiring ring road around Mount Soji, the tallest peak in all of Second Life. If you would rather travel by rail, there are rail lines and occasional stations throughout the Sakura regions as well. Here’s one near the foot of Mount Soji:

The real jewel in Sakura is the community region, Shobu, which is a walled region built around a building large enough to host many dances, musical events, weddings, or meetings. Beyond the building, explore dozens of small gardens where you can read a book or sit with a friend, watch koi in the ponds, listen to wind chimes in the trees, or stand on a footbridge and watch the sunset.

Ranch Homes

The ranch theme is your invitation to step into life on the grasslands of central North America. This is farm country, a land of rolling prairie and big sky. It’s a place where you can imagine raising wheat or corn or soybeans and having a few cattle, a horse or two, and a flock of chickens. You might have a barn stocked with hay bales and a tractor and harvest machinery. Or, perhaps, you could have the large garden for vegetables and flowers that you always wanted.

Ranch homes are designed for Premium Plus members. They each are on 32 m x 64 m (2048 sq m) parcels. These are wood frame homes with wide porches and shingle roofs and wide eaves. All are designed as open plan homes, so there is at least one large room that you can divide with add-on walls to create your own floor plan. Some styles are small – meant for simple country living – and some are larger two-story homes that are suited for people who need room to spread out.

Stable View

Knotty Pine

Grizzly Point

Silver Spurs

Spring View

Buffalo Pastures

Creek Stone

There are some large barnyard elms, oaks and birch here, but this is not forest country. You’ll be surrounded by grass and low shrubbery. You’ll learn to recognize landmarks like silos and grain bins. As you drive along gravel roads, you’ll measure distance by counting telephone poles and sections of barbed wire or split rail fence. (Watch for pigeons on some of those electrical wires.) And look at the sky. This is open sky country, where you can see for miles and watch sunrises that fill the horizon.

The landscape varies in ranch country. Some of it is fairly level. Other places have low, rolling hills with occasional rock knobs and small lakes or farm ponds. Others are quite rocky. These regions are places to look for prairie dogs and deer. If you don’t already own a horse, this is the time to get one. Or, of course, you could get yourself a motorcycle so you can explore the winding back roads. And do listen for the birds and for the sound of wind in the trees. Ranch country is alive with sounds that you will not experience in the cities or along the shore.

You are never out of sight from your neighbors but because these homes are on 2048 sq m parcels the neighbors are farther away than in most parts of Bellisseria. You not only have more land to enjoy but you also have more L.I. to work with. If you like photography, you will also have more ways to frame images for creative shots.

As in other theme regions in Bellisseria, you will be able to find areas of public land where you can hike, swim, or meet with friends for a social event.

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 or stilt home parcel. The house controller for a stilt home over water may be in the water in front of your house. 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 My Colors button is not present in all themes. It is used to create a palette of custom colors for the interior walls in your home. This will be discussed in detail below in the section on the Redecorate menu.

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 lets you change the color of some surfaces on the outside of your 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

Linden Homes Covenant

Revised 22 August 2023, the text of the Linden Homes Covenant is as follows:

---

Welcome to Linden Homes for Premium account holders. Linden Homes is a residential community, located on the Bellisseria continent, owned and managed by Linden Lab.

The purpose of Linden Homes 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 Homes are available to Premium account holders with 1024m2 of available tier. Premium accounts are provided 1024m2 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:

   1. Go to https://support.secondlife.com/ and submit a ticket.
   2. Select the "Land and Region" ticket type.
   3. Under the resulting dropdown, select "Linden Homes".

Linden Homes is governed by this Covenant, Linden Home Terms and Conditions, Terms of Service (TOS), and Community Standards (CS): http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php

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:

 *Land cannot be terraformed, sold, subleased or rented, deeded to group, joined, or divided. Land can only be set to group.
 *Land cannot contain temp-rezzers, or individual prims beyond the allocated size of the Second Life Viewer build tools. (64,64,64).
 *Skyboxes, platforms or other floating objects are only allowed above 2000m to keep the skies clear of physical/visual obstructions and casting ground shadows.
 *Your Linden Home may not be removed, modified, exchanged, set or deeded to group, or transferred. 
 *Residents must use one of the houses provided. Modification of the house itself beyond what is built into the controls is not possible. Additional buildings or structures are allowed as long as they are in theme and meet the height restrictions.
 *Privacy walls or fences should match the theme and extend no more than 4m above ground level. All other structures should not extend higher than 15m above ground level or sea level, whichever is higher.
 *Linden Homes should be kept presentable and in-theme to their unique areas.
 *Linden Homes can not be used as sandboxes.
 *Linden Homes do not include traffic tracking.
 *Linden Homes can not be shown in search.
 *Ownership is limited to one Linden Home per Premium Account.
 *Changes cannot be made to roads, paths, plants, trees, rocks and other landscaping. Trees or other objects that overhang into parcels are meant to do so. They cannot be moved or removed.
 *Objects that extend outside of your parcel can be returned without warning or notice. 
 *Objects that severely degrade region performance and/or that use a disproportionate amount of system resources (e.g. excessive script usage, physical collisions) can be returned without warning or notice. 
 *Residents may decorate the interior of their house to their liking. The exterior should always remain in theme out of consideration for your neighbors.
 *Linden Home regions are Moderate rated regions. Please see the http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Adult_Content_FAQ regarding adult content and behavior. 
 *Using prims or objects on parcels meant as advertisements on the world map is not allowed.
 *Lights or particles on your parcel should not extend into your neighbors parcels or houses.
 *Off region decorations extending from your parcel are not allowed.
 *Public space outside your parcel lines is just that… public space. Do not extend objects outside of your parcel in a way that will block, wall off, or claim public areas for yourself to the exclusion of other residents.
 *Activities and items that could be construed by Linden Lab as commercial and for profit are not permitted in the residential homes and houseboats in Bellisseria. This includes using parcels for storing delivery servers, dropboxes or working vendors. Tipping/Donations are allowed at functions held in Community Regions only.
 *Non-commercial roleplay business conversions of homes in Bellisseria are allowed as long as they match the theme in which they reside and do not alter the residential community atmosphere.
 *Activities and/or displaying items that could be construed by Linden Lab as political campaigning is not permitted in Bellisseria.
 *Terrain in the Stilt Home theme is not intended to be flat throughout the parcel. Requests to flatten, smooth, or add/remove water on the parcel will not be considered. 
 *Small islands under Stilt homes are allowed within reason. Any resident owned mesh or prim land or other objects on Stilt water parcels must be completely within the borders of the parcel and not extend into waterways blocking or obscuring them in any fashion. This also applies to any vehicles parked or moored on the parcel as well as phantom objects such as rocks or surf. Prim or mesh pads immediately under your Stilt home on land are allowed. However, filling or paving over all or most of your parcel with a simple block of rock, concrete, dirt, grass, sand etc is not allowed and is considered out of theme. 
 *Privacy screens, fences, or other parcel perimeter barriers are not allowed on the water in the Stilt Home theme.
 *Excessively overt or system resource-intensive interactive systems consisting of in-world scripted objects that communicate with one another to procreate (e.g. breedables) or grow  (e.g. farming) to produce other products or consumables are only allowed under the following conditions:
   -They are limited to two (2) active units with food/water rezzed out at any given time. (Premium Plus Ranch Homes are allowed four (4) active units)
   -Hovertext is OFF or is not visible from outside the parcel.
   -They are within the theme if visible outside the home. 
   -They do not involve the constant re-rezzing of temp objects.

(i.e.) Linden Homes parcels cannot be used for large scale production of pets or consumable products.

 *Additions to Newbrooke houses must be in the Newbrooke style (flat roof shipping container homes) and blend in seamlessly with the neighborhood theme.  Garage and room additions are permitted while maintaining architectural consistency with the theme (eg. roof line, colors, trim, etc).
 *Newbrooke homes should not be modified architecturally with exterior add-ons, such as roof altering additions or changes that are out of theme.  Items such as roof top gardens, decks, porch and overhang extensions are permitted. 

Seasonal & Holiday Content

 *Seasonal and holiday decorations are permitted as long as they are tastefully applied.
 *Natural seasonal elements are permitted if they are applied subtly, such as a light dusting of snow or a scatter of leaves. 
 *Outdoor holiday decorations should be congruent with the holiday season (no Christmas decorations in May or Halloween decor in April for example). 
 *Remember to keep all seasonal and holiday decorations within the borders of your parcel and ensure that no content extends over the parcel lines.
 *Decoration should not be placed out any earlier than 30 days in advance of any holiday or season represented and must be removed within 15 days of the holiday or season passing.

Scripted Agents

 *Scripted Agents (aka ‘bots’) are not allowed in Linden Homes regions, either as a ‘home’ or canvasing the estate for the purpose of collecting data.

Security

 *Linden Homes do not have the ability to set your parcel access to group access only (which creates ban lines for everyone else). You can still eject and manually ban people by name in the parcel access settings in About Land options.
 *Security devices are only allowed if they comply with the following restrictions:
    -Minimum of 15 seconds warning time (no shorter)
    -Eject from parcel only (not teleport them home)
    -Effective range cannot include the airspace between 400m and 2000m (to allow for people to fly overhead but not in the airspace where skyboxes are allowed)
    -Does not automatically add avatars to the parcel ban list or security system blacklist (not banning or blacklisting indiscriminately)

If you are uncertain, there is a free security system provided in the Linden Homes Content Pack. It does not have the ability to be set in a manner that does not comply with these restrictions. Click on the house controller outside of your parcel (the one used for changing house models) to get the most current content pack sent to you.

Linden Home Benefits

 *Use your Premium account's 1024m2 included land tier allocation towards your Linden Home.
 *Ready-to-move-in themed home on a 512m2 or 1024m2 parcel.
 *Select your own Linden Home theme.
 *Decorate your home with furnishings.
 *Invite your friends to your home.
 *Meet your neighbors and make friends.
 *1024m2 parcel Linden Homes are allocated 351 Land Impact.
 *Set Home to here at your Linden Home location. (World menu > Set Home to Here.)
 *Set land 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're located in. 
 *Respect your neighbors' privacy.
 *Review general Second Life etiquette suggestions and incorporate them into your Linden Home experience: http://bit.ly/sletiquette

Help

The Second Life Knowledge Base (KB) includes many helpful articles for beginning landowners and Residents new to the Second Life virtual world. Check it out:

    » https://community.secondlife.com/knowledgebase/

Linden Lab reserves the right to enforce this covenant at will to maintain the integrity of the Linden Homes neighborhoods and communities.

This covenant is subject to change. We hope you enjoy your new Linden Home!