Socially|Mundane

One of the most frustrating things about buying a region - especially private estates (islands) was the long two-week wait. Even if it already existed and you are purchasing from another. It's nerve-wracking for fork $buttload to someone you don't know, put in a ticket, hope they put in a ticket and then chew fingernails for two weeks.

Well, the first wonderful thing Linden Lab did was to act as escrow by implementing a policy that the buyer must have the money (as agreed upon, price-wise) in their account. Though I am personally unclear as to when the money will be transferred to the seller: either immediately or on delivery.

As for new islands, it is hinted, and now confirmed delivery is practically instantaneous:

From the Second Life b log:
reacher Says: May 7th, 2008 at 9:16 AM
"holy landslide Batman, it works! i’m standing on the island i ordered 5 minutes ago. woot!"

I do suspect land transfers will still take up to two weeks and I don't know if any of that process is automated or not. This means purchasing a new island (actually more likely one that is being recycled) will be much faster and more convenient than having one transferred.

The next step? I'd like to see a feature implemented where current region owners can put their regions up for auction (full transfer) on their own and the buyer can buy it and it's just as instantaneous. I haven't looked at the new land store yet, so this may already be the case.

But, if not, it should be.

The new Land Store (beta) is open for business

Tags: SeconfLife, Virual Land, Linden Lab