Second Life: Buying Land in the Virtual World, for Beginners

With types of land running from the major sims that allow you to do virtually anything you want to sims that have some heavy restrictions on them, it is really easy to see how beginners within Second Life are confused about the types of land that are available. Trying to navigate the different types of land that are available can be really difficult but this should serve to help you get started successfully and without making a potentially costly mistake.

Your first step is to understand the different types of sims. There are a total of three available. The first is called a full sim, this is provided to Second Life users with a total of 15,000 prims available and is the most advanced that you can purchase. The second is a Homestead, which is designed to only hold 3759 prims and limits the number of avatars on the sim to 20 at any given time. The final choice is an Openspace; this is the smallest type of sim available and will only allow 750 prims and a maximum of 10 avatars on the sim at any given time.

There are different ways to actually buy land though. If you own an entire sim, you likely are purchasing it directly from Linden Labs, the company that offers Second Life. However, if you are purchasing only a small piece of land within a sim you might be purchasing from someone else who actually handles paying Linden Labs. In order to really understand why this is important you need to realize that Linden Labs typically charges a fee each month for their premium accounts. In order to own land that is purchased from Linden Labs directly you must have a premium account, in addition to paying the extra fees for the land usage itself.

However, if you purchase your land from another user that is paying Linden Labs themselves, you will not have to upgrade to the premium account. This can be a great way to save some money, without feeling like you are just running into a wall. However, regardless of what you want to do with your land, the best value for the money can always be found on a Full Sim. This allows you to get the most prim for your valuable money, and will ensure that you have the ability to run the greatest amount of scripts and other objects. Many people find that Openspace and Homestead sims do not fit their needs at all, regardless of the lower price and this is a mistake that many new buyers often fall into.