Garden Isles Estate

FAQ’s

Do I have to be a Premium account holder with Linden Lab to own land on the Estate?

*No. Anyone can buy a parcel of land at Garden Isles Estate. The purchase price for all islands constitutes your first week of tier and will give you ownership privileges immediately.

Do I need to pay any money to Linden lab for buying this Island?

*No. You only need to pay tier to Circle Widdershins, via your inworld tier payment system (see below).

Can I sell my land to someone else when I am finished?

*Yes, all parcels in Garden Isles can be on-sold by the owner. If your parcel is not sold and tier is overdue, your belongings will be returned and your island reclaimed by Circle Widdershins. If you do decide to abandon your island please inform Circle Widdershins or Elphie Broome. If you have paid tier in advance this will be refunded to you if you let us know on the day you leave, or earlier.

Do I need to pay VAT tax to own an Island on the Estate?

*No. There are no costs for living on this estate apart from the purchase price of the first week’s tier and the subsequent weekly tier.

What is a covenant?

*Please see the Covenant page on this site.

What is a Homestead Sim?

*A Homestead sim is an upgrade from the old ‘Opensim” or Light use sim. A Homestead sim supports a quarter of the prims of a standard sim and can support a maximum of 20 Avatars on the sim at any one time.

What is a parcel prim quota?

*Each parcel has a given percentage of the prim limit of the sim.  An entire standard sim has a prim limit of 15000 prims. A parcel of 4096 m/sq on a standard sim has a prim allowance of 937 for example. An entire Homestead sim has a prim limit of 3750, therefore a quarter Homestead sim parcel has a prim limit of 937. Parcels can be combined to give you a greater prim limit and the parcels do not have to be adjacent to acheive this, though they do need to be on the same sim.

What is a prim?

*Prims are the building blocks of Second Life.  Prims are used to make attachments for your avatar, such as hair and clothes. These attachments do not count towards a parcel’s prim usage. Other prims are ‘rezzed’ (created) on your property and form houses, furniture, toys, cars, boats, landscaping and pets. These prims do count towards your  parcel’s prim usage. Life in Second Life becomes a juggle between the prims you HAVE to have and how much land you want to have in order to support your prim habit, lol. The size of your parcel will determine the amount of prims you can use.

What are bonus prims and extra prims?

Bonus, or extra prims, is an additional amount of prims available to the residents of a sim. The overall amount of prims on the entire sim doesn’t change but there may be some public space where the prims are not being used and these ‘extra’ prims get given to the residents. Standard sim parcels at Garden Isles Estate have a 10% prim bonus.

What is tier and why do I need to pay it?

*Tier is a land use fee. Tier is paid and calculated weekly at Garden Isles. All land in Second Life is a virtual translation of server space owned by Linden Lab. Estate owners like me buy a sim or more from Linden Lab plus pay monthly tier to Linden Lab. We sublease virtual land to other residents who then do not need to have a premium account (or pay Linden Lab themselves) for the fun of owning space to build and play!

How do I pay the first week of tier / buy the parcel?

*The purchase price of the parcel is also payment of your first week of tier. Go to the About Land menu and you will be given the option to ‘Buy Land’. You will need sufficient Lindens in your balance, and you will need to sign off that you have read the covenant for this to go ahead. There are two ways you can get to the About Land menu:

1. Go to the ‘World’ tab on the top menu bar > About Land

2. Right click on the land itself and choose the About Land option from the ‘pie chart’ that appears.

How do I pay tier?

*Tier is payable via a Hippo Tier payment system on your land which I will place for you during the first week of your residency on the island. You simply right click on the boulder and follow the menu options (myself or Ephie Broome can help you with this). After you have paid for your first week (or up to 8 weeks) tier you’ll be able to see floating text above the boulder which tells you the date at which tier is next due. You can pay tier before it is due. The Hippo system will remind you via inworld IM when tier is coming due.

How do I see the different options available on my land once I have purchased it?

All of your options will be in the ‘About Land’ menu. There are 2 ways to access this.

1. Go to the ‘World’ tab on the top menu bar > About Land

2. Right click on the land itself and choose the About Land option from the ‘pie chart’ that appears.

Can I change the name of my Island?

*Yes, you can change the name of your parcel to reflect your personality. The name of the Estate and the name of the Region will stay the same but your island can be called anything you wish (please keep it PG to respect the other residents). After purchasing, simply right click on your land and go to ‘About Land’. The top bar of space is the current name of your island and you can type in a name and description of your choosing.  You can also change the identifying picture (Options tab). This is *your* land now.

Can I ban people from my Island?

*Individuals can be banned from all of my estates at your request, given a valid enough reason. Please drop me a notecard inworld with the avatar names you wish banned and the reasons for your request. I ask that you do not limit the people that can visit your island simply because this limits other sim residents from being able to fly or sail around the sim. Judicious use of Security Orbs to protect your privacy is fine.

What are Ban Lines and why can’t I use them on the Estate?

*Ban lines are created when you check the option in your land permissions about who can visit your island. This option can allow you to name only those people you wish to have access to your island. However this creates ‘red tape’ ban lines on the boundaries of your parcel which you cannot see and which the Landlord and estate manager cannot see. It does however impact negatively  on your neighbours as the ban lines extend from the ground to a very high level in the sky. If you have problems with a neighbour please drop me a notecard inworld and I will relocate you free of charge to another island or another sim (vacancies permitting).

Can I change the terraforming of my island?

*The current limit on terraforming the islands is 4 metres -/+ and I ask that you leave the footprint of the island as is to preserve the waterways. If you have a special request for greater terraforming please contact me inworld and we can discuss it.

How can I allow other people to build on my parcel?

*Under the Options tab in About Land there are check boxes for permissions you can set on your parcel. One of these is ‘Create Object’. You can allow all residents to create or just members of one group. For the group option the parcel needs to be deeded to that group or bought by that group. It is a good idea to establish a group if you are setting up home for more than one person. You can do this by going to your communication button (bottom bar menu) > Contacts > Groups Tab > Create ….. then follow the prompts

How do I deed my parcel to a group?

*In the General Tab of About Land set the group you wish the island to be deeded to. Check the boxes for ‘Allow Deed to Group’ and ‘Owner makes contribution with Deed’ and hit the Deed button. When your parcel is deeded to a group  scripted items (such as a radio or security system) will also need to be deeded to the group.

Is Voice enabled on the Estate?

*Yes voice is enabled on the estate. You can disable voice on your island if you wish by selecting ‘Disable Spatial Audio on the Parcel’ in the Media Tab of About land

Can I play my own music on my Island?

*Yes, you can go to the Media Tab of About Land and choose a music url. Alternatively you can buy a radio which will tune your parcel to a frequency you choose via the radio options.

How do I terraform my island?

*Terraforming is permitted within covenant guidelines (please see the Covenant page for the guidelines).

To terraform your island right click on your land and choose edit terrain from the pie chart that appears. This will give you a terraforming window offering you different tools such as Selecting, Raising, Lowering, Smoothing etc. Select the area of land you wish to alter (left click and drag). When the area is selected (it will show yellow lines around the selected area) choose your action and hit apply. (Hint: after raising or lowering it is a good idea to go over the same area with the Smoothing tool to get rid of any unevenness.)

Alternatively: when you have the Edit Terrain window open, choose an action (raise, lower etc) and you will create those actions wherever you left click or left click & drag on your land. This can be used for more fine tuning than using select.