Slow Down On Adding To Bellisseria And Give Us The Gaeta Continents Instead
Beylana Resident
Belli is great. It is beautiful and the houses are fantastic. It's been well built and everything about what it is, is on point. But, the thing that makes it not an attractive option to many users is it is just one vast neighborhood for premium members. The lack of communal places (I know there is a few like the fair grounds, but they are very few and far between) and the repetitive nature of the sims with nothing but houses is not an attractive option to a lot of people who have premium (like myself).
At this point we have more houses than people interested in them and there are plans for a LOT more sims and subsequently houses to be added to Belli over time. I do not think adding MORE housing to Belli will increase premium memberships.
Where the real opportunity lies is in land sales on Mainland in my opinion. If we could get Gaeta I finished and connected to mainland, then get Gaeta II, III, IV, done as well with nice roads and waterways there will be a ton more interest in that I feel like, than in living in the vast repetitive suburbia that is Belli.
If we aren't going to maintain things like Bay City (which I personally feel is one of the best mainland cities in SL) then I feel like we should be given more space, more land, more roads, to make fun communal spaces and activities for everyone. If you look at mainland, especially by the roads, we as the users have made so many amazingly fun places that are for everyone to use, and THAT is what I feel like will bring in new users and new premium accounts. More unique and up to date places to come together as a community and have fun!
I know the point and purpose of Belli was to entice people in to getting premium memberships and bring in new users with how gorgeous it has been built. But I feel like we are at the overkill point of that project, and what will REALLY drive more premium memberships and more new users is more content made for everyone's enjoyment rather than a dwelling space. Give us the Gaeta continents and let us make them fun using all the new tools for creation at our disposal. Make the roads and waterways with vehicles in mind as well, and I can almost guarantee there will be increases in premium accounts and new users.
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SarahKB7 Koskinen
I too would also like to see the Gaeta continents completed.
Gaeta I was the second Gaeta continent to be built, but only partially. Its entire eastern side was never completed in 2008 and is still missing today.
Gaeta II, III and IV continents were also planned, they were never built due to the late 2000's worldwide economic recession. But their locations were marked out and remain "hidden" within the current online World Map, which when clicked reveal their provisional region names too!
Gaeta V was the first Gaeta continent to be built. While looking completed, Gaeta V has some problems with it's coastline which need fixing too. It has six narrow "pinchpoints" around its coastline which can easily be fixed by moving some redundant offshore sea regions inshore to fill in the gaps. I wrote a Feature Request for this idea, which has recieved Tracked status already: https://feedback.secondlife.com/ldpw/p/fix-gaeta-v-continent-coastline-by-moving-6-spare-offshore-water-regions-inshore .
Gaeta I, II, III and IV could be completed by recycling regions reused from the original Nascera (Old Linden Homes) continents too. I also wrote another Feedback Request for this idea: https://feedback.secondlife.com/ldpw/p/recycle-old-linden-homes-continent-regions-for-reuse-elsewhere .
Below, I've attached maps I drew in 2021 of all five Gaeta continents. While they contain no extra detail of interior terrains (hills, mountains, rivers, lakes and forests all ignored), I did ensure that these "missing" continents all had navigable coastlines, which at the time I drew them, was my sole interest. You will have to use your imaginations to see how they would have looked inland!
Broken Voxel
Hello there Linden Labs, yes, I'm kind of looking at you. :) this quote from Beylana's original post:
"Where the real opportunity lies is in land sales on Mainland in my opinion. If we could get Gaeta I finished and connected to mainland, then get Gaeta II, III, IV, done as well with nice roads and waterways there will be a ton more interest in that I feel like, than in living in the vast repetitive suburbia that is Belli. "
Could use some deep consideration. As an avid 'explorer / driver / pilot / sailor dancer' ok dancing doesn't count! I Believe, not feel, but believe we need more infrastructure and places like mainland A.K.A. I finna build a gas station here or a bowling alley. ad nauseum... You will get more interest. One sim Jonny's that only go from their home to a sim of their choice do not bring any new discoveries or new interest to Second Life. let's remember when Second life was about creating things and exploring, more emphasis on the exploring part.
Nostalgia aside, a vast amount of income and interest is to be had with more opportunity like mainland. Oh wait, this is a new era, one sim Jonny likes his dance sim and still pays his tier. We get it. BUT there is also GREAT interest in manufacturing of vehicles and events that encourage vehicle use and exploring. This may be negligible, however, it had causes much of many to be gluefoot in SL and keep coming back day after day, whether it be group drive / fly / sail events or just exploring.
These are just my thoughts as an avid user of this most unique, user created platform, and the only one of its kind in the entire world. Let's make this bigger in interest and USE, not so much one sim Jonny and the premium home in an identical neighbourhood that you can get lost once you round the block. I am not throwing shade, just want to see more exploring, as new 'things' equals MORE revenue, if that is the bottom line.
Broken Voxel, out.
Pazako Karu
I've always wondered why we have continents dedicated to premium housing, rather than a few region clusters making a neighborhood. Having a few regions break between for publicly purchasable land would greatly increase the value of the land, since guaranteed residency is somewhat nearby. For the most part, in the Linden Homes, roads are decorative at best. They're not often traversed and the idea of traversing them sounds like griefing to me.