Second Life Land: Why Buy Mainland? by Lizard Howl

As I have discussed in other articles, the two main categories of land in Second Life are Mainland and Estate Land. If you are an Estate Owner then you have purchased at least one full island region from Linden Labs. At the time of this article, a full island region costs $1000 USD retail plus a monthly maintenance fee (tier payment) of $295 USD per month. This gives you 65536 square meters of virtual land to enjoy, plus 15,000 building units called prims. There are thousands of Estate Owners in Second Life, but the investment required is significant.

If you want to own your own Second Life land without having to invest thousands of dollars up front plus thousands more each year, Mainland is your answer. When you purchase Mainland you own the land directly just as you would when you purchase an Estate. The difference is that instead of being forced to buy land 65536m at a time, you can buy just as much land as you want or need. Instead of having to pay a minimum of $295 USD to Linden Labs each month, your maintenance fee will vary according to how much land you own. The tier fee for Mainland will cost you anything from zero dollars for 512m up to $195 per month for a full region. That’s right, you can actually own Second Life land without paying monthly tier fees!

If you want to “own” your land and pay tier directly to Linden Labs, or not pay tier at all, then you need to buy Mainland. A good piece of quality Mainland can be found for 10L/m any day of the month. There is no Covenant in Mainland so you can do what you want with your land! With your Second Life Premium Account you are not charged tier for your first 512m of land. Your tier level for 4096m of Mainland is $25 USD per month, and includes another 512m. So you can own 4608m of Second Life land for a low tier payment of $25 USD per month, instead of $295 USD per month for an entire Estate. The 4608m will include 1054 prims which is way more that you will need unless you get a super big house or rent out some of your extra space. Assuming that you find a piece that you like for 10L/m, your 4608m parcel will cost you 46,080L. Using an exchange rate of 270 Lindens per 1 USD that’s roughly $170 USD. So for $170 USD plus $25 per month you can own your own chunk of Second Life Mainland and live like a king.

I hope you enjoyed this article on the advantages of buying the Second Life land known as Mainland. See you in world!

IM Lizard Howl for all your Second Life land needs!