Half Sim

Written 27 February, 2007

Half Sim

My brother Mordecai Scaggs had enough. Irritated by the lag produced by his neighbor’s sex and gambling enterprises, he packed all of his belongings, including his magnificent chain, into his inventory and sold his land. He is currently in a holding pattern, living on a friend’s sim while he looks for a place in which he can follow his heart without being bothered by unruly neighbors.

I admire his resolve.

Mordecai is looking into buying one or two of the new “light” sims, which (I’m not able to be online now, so my facts may not be exact) cost about $US 400 and have a tier fee of $US 100 monthly. The land area is the same as a regular sim, 255 x 255 meters, or 65025 square meters. That’s 127 512 square meter parcels, or more than 15 4096 square meter plots. The drawback is a severely reduced number of prims; you get something like 1600; with a regular sim, you get (I believe) nearly 15,000 prims.

The reason the sims are “light” is that four are run on a single simulator. The low prim load makes this possible. Regular sims are one to the simulator.

But Mordecai and also I talked about going halves on our own island (simulator). We would evenly split the $1600 payment and the $295/monthly tier.

Yeah, I know $800 is a lot of money, and $150 is a significant amount for monthly “taxes,” but since I started Second Life I’ve dropped Netflix and Audible.com and cut my DSL bill by $15. That’s a third of the tier right there. And I’ve been making at least that much by terraforming and landscaping.

I pay tier fees, by the way, on the original 4096 Pele property ($24), the 2048 East Beach parcel ($12), the 5120 Pele Gardens ($30) and the 3072 property I acquired from Dodgeguy ($18), for a total of $US 85 per month. These monies all go to Dreamland.

I also pay a $15 tier to Linden Lab for a 1536 plot on the Mainland. My 512 First Land is tier-free, so long as I maintain my paid membership. (Currently, the First Land is rented and generating $L225 a week).

So it would seem the only real barrier to sharing lord-and-master status on my own sim is the $800 I would need to pony up to buy in.

Of course, I have land I could sell to raise money. Let’s do the math.

I recently turned down an offer of $L 10,000 for my First land.

That’s about $US 37.50

The 1536 on the mainland would sell readily at about $L 18,000.

That’s about $US 70.00.

We’re 1/8 of the way there.

Dodgeguy’s property should sell for about $L 20,000.

That’s $US 75.00.

Our total is now $US 182.50.

The Pele Gardens should bring $L 35,000.

That’s $US 132.00.

Our total is now $US 314.50.

The East Beach Area should bring about $L 25,000, or $US 94.00.

The total is now $US 408.50, enough to buy a light sim.

What would I do with a light sim?

Well, there would be just enough prims to recreate Pele and East Beach and live in the Exuberance house.

If that’s what I decided to do.

We’re left with Pele’s parcel, which, at 4096 square meters, would ordinarily bring about $L 40,000 in Dreamland. That’s about $US 150.00, bringing our total to $US 558.50 almost within spitting distance of the money I would need to buy my own sim, and certainly enough to go halvsies with Mordecai. (And, during any interim period, I would be saving $US 100.00 a month in tier fees).

And of course, it IS Pele, lovingly crafted and beautiful. So perhaps I could get far more for it.

Consequently, I’m pricing the 4096 Pele parcel to sell for $122,000, with objects included (Xubi house excepted, as it was designed exclusively for me). If Pele sells, I’ll be knocking on Mordecai’s door.