Private Region

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Revision as of 02:28, 18 February 2009 by Zai Lynch (talk | contribs) (added ''sell island'')
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The following may contain info which is out-of-date; for the latest Linden-provided documentation, please see our Knowledge Base.

Description

Private islands are islands that are privately owned and operated, separate from the mainland.

Purpose

While users purchase private islands for many different purposes, some of the more common reasons that a user would want to purchase a private island are:

  • Special Projects - Many users wish to create special builds, or hold special events, which require a vast amount of available space. By purchasing a private island, the user then has at their disposal 65,536 square meters (about 16 acres) of virtual land to use at their discretion.
  • Commerce - Many private islands are purchased with the intention of being "split" into smaller parcels of land, much like those available for purchase on the mainland. Once a private island has been split into individual parcels, those parcels are then used to establish businesses, sell to other avatars as a place to build their homes or businesses, etc.
  • Business Use - There are several private islands in Second Life which are owned by real life businesses, and are used for a wide variety of purposes, such as holding virtual meetings amongst their employees, having press conferences, or even advertising their products.
  • Educational Use - As Second Life continues to grow, more and more educational institutions are creating "virtual campuses" in Second Life to be used for distance learning, new student orientation, virtual events, etc.
  • Political Use - It is becoming more and more common to see private islands being purchased for political use; some countries, even have embassies in Second Life on their own private islands. Politicians from all over the globe are seen more and more often entering Second Life to campaign for their election, and purchase private islands to serve as their campaign headquarters, an additional point of contact for their constituents, to hold events and fundraisers, etc.
  • Group Use - As users can form groups in Second Life, some groups purchase entire private islands and share the initial and monthly cost evenly amongst all members, so as to share the same space while having the comfort that all of their neighbors are members of their particular group, whether for residential or commercial purposes.


Obtaining a Private Island

While private islands can be purchased directly from existing owners, the more cost-effective method is to purchase them directly from Linden Lab. The process of doing so is outlined below:

Verify Your Method of Payment

In order to purchase a private island, you must have a current, valid method of payment on file. You do not need to be a Premium member to order a private island.

Agree to Island Pricing

Before making your purchase, you should verify the current pricing for private islands, both up front and monthly. This can be done here. As of March 2008, the current cost for a full-prim private island is $1,000 USD initially, and is accompanied by a monthly land maintenance fee of $295 USD per island.

Make Your Purchase from the Land Store

Once you have agreed to the pricing, you should visit the Land Store here. You will be required to login to access the land store, and once you have, you can click on an empty area on the map and choose "add to cart" to proceed with your purchase.

Await Delivery

Delivery of your private island can take up to 48 hours, and you can contact the Linden Concierge for updates on it's status and/or estimated date of delivery. Once you have completed your purchase, you will qualify for concierge-level support, and will be provided their contact information.

Customizing a Private Island

Once you have obtained your private island, you will have 65,536 square meters (about 16 acres) of land with a total of 15,000 prims available, which is just a large, flat surface. You will most certainly want to customize this land to suit your particular needs.

Setting the Terrain Textures

Using the Region/Estate menu of your Second Life viewer (World > Region/Estate), you can access the "Terrain" tab, which will allow you to set textures for the different height levels of your island. There are four levels of texturing available, from the water seen by lowering land, all the way up to mountains.

Terraforming the Land

To make your private island more realistic, and more desirable to prospective buyers if you plan to sell parcels on it, you will certainly want to add some waterways, hills, valleys, etc. This can be done by right-clicking any area of the ground and choosing "Edit Land" in the pie menu that appears, then using the tools in the edit window that opens to make your adjustments. While this can become a daunting task with so much land to cover, a well-terraformed island creates a very immersive environment, for both its inhabitants and visitors alike. Should you prefer not to terraform the island yourself, there are many Second Life users who provide this service for a fee. Searching "terraforming" in the classifieds will surely bring you a list of people more than willing to complete this step for you.

Creating Property Lines

Unless you plan to use your entire island for one building, you will want to establish property lines. These lines "split" the land into smaller pieces, named "parcels", that can then be used a variety of ways. Each individual parcel can have its own settings, such as music that plays when entering it, the amount of prims available to build on it, individual access and ban lists, etc. Splitting (subdividing) land can be done by right-clicking on the land, and choosing "Edit Land" from the pie menu, which will open the edit window. Using your mouse to click and drag, you will be able to select an area to split, and then click the "subdivide" button. If you plan to sell individual parcels of land on your island to other users, the typical practice is to split the island into parcels divisible by 1024m, typically starting with 3072m and ranging to 8192m.

Setting Island Options

By entering the "Region/Estate" menu of your second life viewer (World > Region/Estate), you can set a wealth of options for your island. It is important to note that any settings chosen in this area will override any settings chosen for individual parcels on the land. For most of the settings available, there is a blue button with a white question mark to the right of the setting; clicking this will provide you with a description of what the setting affects. For a detailed list of all of the available settings, you can login to the Second Life Support Center here, and search for "region settings", then select the document titled "The Region/Estate Window" from the list of results.

Moving an Island

To move your Private Region in order to attach it to another, both you and the other Private Region owner must submit a support ticket confirming that you wish for your Estates to be attached, and which sides (i.e. "I want my Private Region attached to the west side of Torley's Island."). Note that your Private Region cannot be rotated, so what is currently north will always be north.

There is a $150 charge to move a Private Region. This fee is charged per Private Region, for any movement.

Landmarks will continue to function after a move, but home locations may need to be reset. The map may take several hours to update with the new Private Region location.

Please keep in mind that joined Private Regions will require the same settings with respect to visibility and access. If you or the other Private Region's owners want to make a change to the settings, it will affect both Private Region.

To make the request, Region owners may visit the support center at support.secondlife.com, select "Submit a Ticket" from the left menu. You will see a form. Select "Land and Region Issues" for the Ticket Type, and two drop down menus will appear directly below this one, where you should select "Region Request" and then "Move - I accept the $150 move fee". Complete the form and submit it. Both region owners must do this.

Sell the Island

You can sell Private Regions. Read more about it in the Private Region Transfer FAQ