Using the Sim-wide Teleporters

All major locations at New Desperation Isle are accessible via our teleporter system. (In fact, some locations are only accessible by teleporter.) New visitors are sometimes confused by the teleporters, so here are some quick usage tips:

1. Touch the teleporter base.
Just touch (left-click) a teleporter base to bring up a menu.

2. Select your destination.
The menu displays a numbered list of all possible destinations. You might have to scroll down in the menu to see all of the destinations. Click the number associated to your desired destination to rez a teleport beam.

3. Touch or sit on the teleport beam.
We have modified our teleporters so that you can just touch (left-click) the blue beam to travel to your destination. Alternatively, you can right-click the beam and pick Transport on the pie menu to do the same thing.


Other teleporters
Some places, such as the Mall and the Castle, have their own simplified teleporter systems. Just touch the labeled buttons to move to your chosen location. The Treehouse and the Goliath Tree have simple systems where you right-click the teleporter, and then pick a teleport option from the pie menu.

Update on the New Desperation Isle Mall

Thanks to those of you who toured and voted on the mall prototype designs this weekend. Voting for the survey is now closed, and here are the results:

• Model 1: The Square 47.4% (9 votes)
• Model 2: The Big Circle 31.6% (6 votes)
• Model 3: The Little Circle 21.1% (4 votes)

The Square is the second-most compact prototype mall I built in the past couple of weeks, and I believe it is small enough to actually fit on the island where the current mall resides. This slightly changes my plans a bit.

1. Beginning on Monday, the 17th, I will be return vendor items from the current mall so I can tear down the mall and replace it with the new one. You are free to pick up your things before-hand if you like. (It ill make my life easier if you do.)
   
2. I will decorate the mall a bit, and place any teleporters or signs so that you know where things are going to be and aren't surprised by new additions upon later trips to the mall. I'm also decorating a sort of welcome area in the castle. This is where many of the signs currently at my welcome area will go, so they're not blocking the view of stalls in the mall.
   
3. Once the mall is in place I will personally invite my long-time tenants to take their pick of spots
4. Next I will send out a group notice to the rest of my vendors.
5. If there are any spots left, I will contact vendors currently on my waiting list.
6. After you claim your stall I will apply any rent that you had remaining on your old rent box to your new box, and give you a free week of rent on top of that. (I have not been charging any rent the past 2 weeks and I know exactly how much rent every tenant had remaining on their boxes.)
7. Once the mall's sufficiently populated, I will send out an announcement to the New Desperation Isle updates group (separate from the renters group) and do some advertising in several places to get the word out about the new mall.
   

Here's picture of the winning model people voted on, for those who missed the open house. The others were round, resembling arenas. Folks felt the big one was too big and the little one didn't offer enough visibility.

We should be back in business by this weekend. Thank you.

Changes at the New Desperation Isle Mall

About 1/2 of my current mall tenants responded to the survey, and the results are clear: I messed up the New Desperation Isle mall. More than half of my tenants who used to be at the original mall on old Desperation Isle said their sales were better there- in fact some folks mentioned that the old mall used to be one of their most profitable locations, while the current mall barely justifies rent. Commonly cited issues were the alpha textures (which contribute to slow rezzing), the "sign spam" at the teleport point, the ease with which visitors are able to escape the mall before it even rezzes, and the fact that some of the changes made after the mall opened blocked visibility to some vendors. So let me just get this out of the way: I'm sorry. Seriously. You deserve better.

The general feeling among people who responded is that a new, better-planned mall will improve sales. I really hate to rebuild, because I know what a hassle it is for my tenants to have to set up their stalls again- but the current mall just isn't serving my tenants or my guests. We need a new one.

Questions and Answers

What will be different about the new mall?
The new structure is much larger and has a completely open, arena-style layout. Every vendor in the entire mall will be visible and easily accessible from the landing point. There are walkways that lead from the landing point to four balconies that line the building where customers will find island teleporters (basically, visitors will have to walk past your products to get to the island). Each balcony will have a teleporter that takes guests to anywhere on the island. There will also be quick-access teleporters to allow visitors to jump between the main floor and the upper level. To reduce lag and to preserve the skyline of the isle, the mall will be moved up to 300m. All building textures are also opaque, and view of the outside is limited to the starry sky and what you can see off the balconies. Some of the signs that currently greet visitors at the existing mall will be spread around the teleport point, but out of the way and at a lower elevation so they do not block the visitor's view of any of our vendors.

Another difference worth noting is that I'd like for this mall to be sorted into sections. For example, one area for latex and fetishwear, one for casual clothes and footwear, one for BDSM furniture, etc. I am aware that several of you have product lines that span multiple categories. You may choose where you fit among the others, in that case. I will have signs up pointing out the desired areas. If people dislike this idea I'll give it up- but I'd like to at least give it a shot.

Is there a policy on renting several stalls?
Glad you asked! ;) While we first set up I would ask that folks not reserve more than two stalls at a time. If, after everyone's been notified, there are still spaces left, you may rent more.

Will the size or shape of the stalls be any different?
There are going to be a few differences. For one thing there will no longer be any crappy "corner stalls." All stalls have open, visible wall space now, and all are a full 10 meters wide. I am installing scripted dividers that vendors can show or hide at their discretion. If you don't see a divider, just go into 'show invisible' mode and click it. It will ask whether you want to show or hide the divider. Only members of the renter group can toggle divider visibility. I believe that dividers make things look cramped, but they're there if you need the extra wall space. Also, if you want to show or hide a divider that separates you from a neighbor, please ask your neighbor first.

Will there be downtime during the transition?
Not really. The existing mall will remain operational until the new one is in place, although I won't be charging you during the transition. I will be picking up existing rent boxes shortly and recording how many days each tenant had on their rent. You will still be able to make sales the whole time. (Note: Due to prim limitations, please pick up your items from the old mall before setting up at the new one.)

When will we be able to move in?
Within a day or two I will be personally contacting long-time renters (people who rented with me back on the old island) to let them claim their spots. Once the old timers have had at least 24 hours to move in I will send out a notice to the group, and individually contact current renters who are no longer in the group.

Will we be compensated for this hassle?
Yes. If you responded to my survey you already got a free week of rent added to your box. If you stay with us and move to the new mall I will give you an additional free week when I apply the built-up rent from your old box to your new one. You do have to pay for at least one week's rent, just because that's how the boxes work.

What do I need to do?
First, wait for me to notify you, whether by group notice or individual contact. Once I say that the mall is ready, you can go to the new mall and pay a rent box to claim your spot. Please pick up your things from the old mall before setting up the new one.

I'm no longer in your rent group. What do I do?
To get added to the rent group you can IM Wildefire Walcott, Clara Hirvi, or Vivienne Schell and request access to Mistress Wildefire's Sub-space so you can place things at the mall. We're an international team, so at least one of us is almost always on.

Survey Results
Here are the results of the survey I sent out, based on responses from 27 people.

1. Are you satisfied with your current sales at the New Desperation Isle mall?
   Yes 29.6% 8
   No 70.4% 19


2. If you used to have a stall at the old mall on the original Desperation Isle, how do your sales at the new mall compare?
   My sales at the new mall are better than at the old one. 3.7% 1
   My sales at the new mall are about the same. 14.8% 4
   My sales at the new mall are worse than at the old one. 51.9% 14
   I don't remember. 7.4% 2
   I am new and did not have a stall at the old mall. 22.2% 6


3. How do your sales at the current mall compare with your sales at other malls with similar traffic and price? (Our current traffic is between 14,000-19,000, and we charge around L$10 per prim.)
   I generally get better sales at this mall compared to my other comparable locations. 7.4% 2
   My sales are around the same. 14.8% 4
   My sales at New Desperation Isle are worse than at my other similar locations. 63.0% 17
   I don't know. 14.8% 4
   New Desperation Isle is my only location. 0.0% 0


4. How do you feel about the layout of the current mall?
   The current mall design is fine, I wouldn't change a thing. 14.8% 4
   The current design is okay, but could be better. 37.0% 10
   I don't like the current layout. 40.7% 11
   I don't know how I feel about it. 7.4% 2


5. Do you think a mall redesign would improve your sales at New Desperation Isle?
   Yes 81.5% 22
   No 18.5% 5


6. If we decided to rebuild the mall from the ground up in order to improve the layout and overall visibility, would you come back to us to try it out?
   Yes 96.3% 26
   No 3.7% 1


7. If we rebuild the mall and are ready for vendors to set up again, should we give first pick to the people who already have good locations?
   Yes, the people who already have good locations deserve to have the same chance at the newly-built mall. 40.7% 11
   No, everyone should have the same chance at getting a good spot. 48.1% 13
   I don't have an opinion. 11.1% 3

Thanks for your business and your patience. I'm going to get it right this time.

New Desperation Isle Video Tour

I produced the following video with some help from my friends and pets. It serves as a brief tour of the isle, showcasing some of the many roleplaying possibilities there. The music is "Midnight in a Perfect World," by DJ Shadow.


My thanks to Redfire, Whinter, Bethany, Vivienne, Ramonna, and Clara for their participation in the filming. You can learn more about New Desperation Isle at the official opening announcement.

Dealing with Chat Spam Griefers

Over the past few days I've received reports from tenants and visitors that an object has been spamming them with the following annoying text:

[11:44] III||IIl|||||||||||||: HELLO MY NAME IS BLACKPAT HALLARD AND I'M 16 YEARS OLD, NICE TO MEET YOU HELLO MY NAME IS BLACKPAT HALLARD AND I'M 16 YEARS OLD, NICE TO MEET YOU HELLO MY NAME IS BLACKPAT HALLARD AND I'M 16 YEARS OLD, NICE TO MEET YOU HELLO MY NAME IS BLACKPAT HALLARD AND I'M 16 YEARS OLD, NICE TO MEET

Normally you can just mute and report objects that spam you, but this one has been specially designed to make finding and reporting it very difficult. In order for Linden Lab to track down the offender and stop the spam, I need your help in reporting the problem when it happens.

What to do if you get spammed
Please contact me (Wildefire Walcott) or one of my estate managers (Vivienne Schell or Clara Hirvi) as soon as you're spammed. Tell us exactly where you were when you got the spam, and copy/paste the message (including the object name) into the IM you send. We will try to contact Linden Lab support to track down the spammer.

New Desperation Isle is open to the public!

New Desperation Isle is an adults-only kink and fetish playground in the virtual world of Second Life. If you have Second Life installed, you can teleport there now. If you're new to Second Life, visit What is Second Life? to learn about it and sign up for a free account.

This post covers the following topics:

• Recent history
• Getting to the island
• Improving your experience
• Improving your performance
• Exploring the island

Recent history
The adult playground and kink mall New Desperation Isle is officially open. Old Desperation Isle was shut down on October 18, but most of the attractions there have made their way to the new island in one form or another. My slaves and I built the new island with our guests in mind, and with a goal of delivering a more focused and immersive experience for you to enjoy. Note that the old island has been renamed to Desperation East, and become one of the rental islands in the Desperation Isle Estates. To see if any land is available for rent, go to Search > Places and look for "desperation." All our rental properties are listed there.

Getting to the island
If you have Second Life open now, you can teleport directly there by clicking this link. You can also find us by going to Edit > Search and looking for New Desperation Isle on the Places tab. I also have a link to the island in the Picks tab of my in-world profile. While you can get there by simply flying West from the old Desperation Isle, I strongly recommend you update your landmarks and profile picks because the old island will be going away soon.

Improving your experience
(Note: If you've got an older, slower, computer, skip this section and move on to the next section about improving performance.) New Desperation Isle is a lot more scenic and visually dynamic than the old island, and if you've got a fast, recent computer and a good broadband connection, here are some suggestions for getting the best total experience during your visit.

• Edit > Preferences > Graphics > Draw Distance. I recommend between 192 and 256 meters. Any higher doesn't add too much, but affects performance.
• Edit > Preferences > Graphics Detail > Lighting Detail. Set to Nearby local lights for the best effect.
• Edit > Preferences > Graphics Detail > Terrain Detail. Set to High.
• Edit > Preferences > Adv. Graphics > Nighttime Brightness. If things seem too dark, increase this value until they look better. I strongly recommend doing this instead of using World > Force Sun, because the island was designed for a nighttime experience.
  

Improving your performance
The sim performance at New Desperation Isle is near-perfect. In other words, the island is not bogged down on the server side and all scripts and download services are running at full capacity. However, if your computer is old or you don't have a very good broadband connection or graphics card, you might have to make some compromises in order do get around easily on the new island. If updating your computer, graphics card, or RAM are not options for you, here are my recommendations:

• Play in full-screen mode. Generally you can get more frames per second (FPS) by running Second Life in full-screen mode, instead of "windowed mode." You can switch between full-screen and windowed modes at any time by pressing ALT+ENTER. To see what your current FPS is, enable View > Statistics Bar. Your client-side FPS is the number at the top of the statistics bar. This is different from Sim FPS, which is a measure of how fast the server is operating. If you find that your FPS actually drops when you enter full-screen mode, it might be because your computer's screen resolution is very high. If you set your computer to a normal resolution like 1024x768, full-screen mode will likely be faster for you than Windowed mode.
• Edit > Preferences > Network > Maximum Bandwidth. Set this slider to match your broadband connection's speed. The default is 500 kpbs but most cable modem connections are much faster than that. This slider has a maximum of 1500 kbps. It probably will not help you to increase the slider to a speed greater than your broadband connection.
• Edit > Preferences > Network > Disk Cache Size (MB). If you have the hard disk space, increase this slider to expand your cache, which will cut down on the time you have to spend re-downloading assets at places you frequently visit. The maximum value is 1000 MB, which is around 1 GB.
• Edit > Preferences > Graphics > Draw Distance. Lowering this value will increase FPS by limiting how many distant objects your computer has to display. 96 meters is an acceptable distance, in my opinion, and I wouldn't recommend any less than 64 meters.
• Edit > Preferences > Graphics Detail > Lighting Detail. You can get a minor boost by switching this to Sun and Moon only. If you select this, I recommend that you drastically increase your nighttime brightness or force daylight so you're able to see where you're going, as New Desperation Isle makes heavy use of local lighting for visibility and atmosphere.
• Edit > Preferences > Graphics > Terrain Detail. Setting this to Low will give you a 1-2 FPS boost. The ground won't look as nice.
• Edit > Preferences > Adv. Graphics > Filtering. Uncheck Anisotropic Filtering if it's checked. You probably won't miss it.
• Edit > Preferences > Adv. Graphics > Graphics Card Memory. Select the highest number that isn't grayed out. If your graphics card has less than 128MB of memory, you're not going to have the best experience.
• Edit > Preferences > Adv. Graphics > Max. Particle Count. New Desperation Isle uses many particle effects to enhance the atmosphere in several parts of the island. Lowering this number to something like 1024 or even less will improve performance in these areas.

Exploring the island
There are many places to discover on the isle. Here's a short guide to the major locations:

• The Mall. When you first teleport into New Desperation Isle, you land on the top level of our kink and fetish mall. Please support our vendors- they pay our bills!
• The Castle. Seven rooms for seven sins, each area in this castle is outfitted to cater to different kinks and fantasies. See if you can find the hidden dungeon! There have been rumors of dark rites being performed in the ancient ruins behind the castle... are they just stories?
  
• The Treehouse. This scenic location features a bar and slave parking downstairs, as well as a forniphilia lounge and a comfy private area on the second level. Use the teleporter inside the big tree to get upstairs.
• The Medical Center. Our experienced medical technicians specialize in gender reassignment (or enhancement) and a variety of brainwashing and fertility services.
• The Goliath Tree. Just West of the Medical Center looms the immense Goliath tree. Ride the teleporters to the top level for a 360-degree view of the entire Desperation Isle Estates.
• The Atrium. This is Wildefire Walcott's personal gathering place and office, surrounded by trees. Visitors are welcome; it's perhaps the only "safe" place on the isle.
• The Barn. At great expense, the Walcott Family contracted to have the most popular building from old Desperation Isle moved to its new, more private location, enshrouded in a ring of trees. Everything you remember is still there, although some stables have been added for keeping your pets where they belong. (The pony wash is now located on the South side of the barn.) Visitors will also find an inviting bonfire outside the barn.
• The Love Nest. One of the Walcott slaves contstructed this heart-shaped building as an expression of her devotion to her Mistresses. Find a comfy hammock, warm (scripted) bearskin rug, and a roomy jacuzzi on the top level. This structure has the best view of the giant waterfall and the tragic shipwreck of the Blessed Hellride.
  
• The Pirate Ship. (Coming soon.) This giant unmanned vessel floated into harbor one gloomy Fall morning; no trace of its owners was ever found. It seems too beautiful to dismantle, so we're looking for a use for it.
• The Cave. Like old Desperation Isle, the island sits upon a vast network of caves. Explore our 9,600-square meter cave and unlock its mysteries. Note: There is a secret entrance to the cave tucked away somewhere aboveground, but it can also be accessed from the island teleporters.
  

New Desperation Isle Mall Rules and Info

Thank you for expressing an interest in setting up shop at the New Desperation Isle Mall. The isle is a dark BDSM roleplaying area whose guests are mostly D/s practitioners and fetishists from Germany, France, Scandinavia, and the USA. New Desperation Isle is a mature, privately-owned sim. As of this writing we get between 12-16K of real traffic at our current home (no campers, no bots)- depending on the day of the week.

*** MALL RENTAL RATES ***
There are different rates depending on the number of prims you wish to use in your stall. Rent is due weekly and should be paid to the rental box in your stall. The rental box will remind you when pay is due (or late). (Note, the default rate is for 20 prims, if you wish to use more or less, please contact me and I will make adjustments/refunds as needed.) Please see the New Desperation Isle FAQ at the blog for other options: http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/
* 1 to 10 prims: L$100/week
* 11 to 15 prims: L$150/week
* 16 to 20 prims: L$200/week
* 21 to 25 prims: L$250/week
* 26 to 30 prims: L$285/week (5% discount)
* 31 to 35 prims: L$333/week (5% discount)
* 36 to 40 prims: L$360/week (10% discount)
* 41 to 45 prims: L$405/week (10% discount)
* 46 to 50 prims: L$425/week (15% discount)
* Over 50 prims: Let's talk. =)

*** REFERRAL BONUS ***
If a new Second Life merchant sets up at the Mall under your recommendation, I will reimburse you for a week's worth of rent! Just have your friends tell me you referred them. (This is important!)

*** HOW TO SET UP SHOP ***
1. Pay the rental box in the stall you would like to rent to claim your spot.
2. Contact Wildefire Walcott via IM and ask to be added to her group for the mall. (I am online every day between 10pm-12:30am PST, but can respond to offline IMs during most days.) I will invite you to the group, "Mistress Wildefire's Sub-space" as an "Associate."
3. Once you're in the group, remember to always activate the group tag before placing your items. If you don't do this your items will be auto-returned within 10 minutes.

*** NOTES ***
- The land is set to 10-minute autoreturn. Be sure to wear the group tag when putting things out for sale.
- Stalls are available on a first-come-first-served basis. Follow the steps listed earlier to claim your spot.
- If you have a business partner who needs group access as well, just tell me.
- Please check the Desperation Isle Estates blog for up-to-date information (check the Mall Renter Resources links on the right side of the page): http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/

*** DETAILS AND RULES ***
- What you sell on New Desperation Isle is up to you. So long as what you're selling doesn't violate the Second Life terms of service and you're not reselling freebies, you should be okay. Items that sell very well at the isle: All types of womens' clothes, latex and fetish wear, scripted BDSM furniture and collars/cuffs/binders, add-ons for popular collars and cuffs.
- Please avoid hovertext when possible, as it can creep between walls and mess up neighboring displays. If you MUST use it, please place the items with hovertext so that they don't cause problems in neighboring stalls.
- Please keep your items inside the stall, specifically I don't want anything obstructing the island view or blocking the aisles.
- You MAY add a sign to the top of your stall if you like.
- You MAY add 'wallpaper' to your stall to give your area a customized look. Note that doing so will count against your prim allotment.
- Please pay the rental box in the stall; do not pay me directly.
- No 'holo' or 'temp-on-rez' vendors are allowed.
- You may not place networked SERVERS on the isle, however networked VENDORS are certainly allowed.
- Please do not use textures greater than 512x512.
- No rotating, shouting, flashing, or blinking objects.
- No casino items, including hippie pay or any other item where you pay money and do not receive an object.
- I repeat: No reselling freebies!

Please contact me with any questions, concerns, bribes, etc.
-Wildefire Walcott

Knowing When to Deed Your Land

A land group is a Second Life mechanism that gives landowners the ability to grant certain abilities to guests who visit their land, and to prevent unwanted visitors from accessing or disturbing the property. Using a combination of settings in World > About Land and the Roles tab of the Group Info dialog, a land owner can grant a wide number of abilities to group members while restricting the general public from doing the same things. There is one somewhat confusing detail about land groups that not very many people understand: It is possible to "set your land to a group," but simply doing this does not necessarily grant group members all of the abilities that you might intend for them to have. In order to give your group members access to the full range of abilities listed in their respective group roles, you need to deed the land to your group.

Normally, only the person who actually owns the land (i.e. pays the monthly tier to Linden Lab) can deed one's land to a group. There are some private islands that grant tenants the ability to transfer ownership (and thus deed), but that is not possible on the Desperation Isle estates; only I, Wildefire Walcott, or one of my estate managers can do that for you. Simply contact me if, after reading this article, you have decided you want to deed your land. You will have to invite me to your land group as an Officer. I'll deed the land when I'm able, and then quit the group.

I have covered how to create a land group and invite members in another article. This article focuses solely on the difference between setting your land to a group and actually deeding the land.

Setting your land to a group

To set your land to a group, just stand on the land, go to World > About Land, and then click the Set button. Pick your group from the group list and then click Select. Doing this alone only serves some basic purposes. It allows group members to create objects on the land (if group-only building is enabled), and prevents objects with the group tag set from being sent back to inventory if autoreturn is enabled. It's also necessary if you want to limit land access only to members of your group, but please remember that Access lists are not allowed on Desperation Isle (refer to section 6.4 of the covenant).

Unless you actually deed your land to the group, only the following group abilities will be available to group members, regardless of what your group roles say:

• Parcel Powers > Always allow 'Create Objects'
  
• Parcel Content > Return objects owned by group (includes object's shared with group by using the Share with group checkbox in the object properties).
  
• Object management > Deed objects to group
  
• Object management > Set group-owned objects for sale
  
• Object management > Manipulate (move, copy, modify) group-owned objects (Moving is always allowed when this is enabled, copying and editing sometimes isn't- even with objects on deeded land.)
  

Deeding your land to a group

Everything possible on land that's set to a group is possible on deeded land, but deeded land enables many more role-specific group abilities to take effect as well. The following abilities are only available to group members on deeded land:

• Parcel Identity > Toggle 'Show in Find Places' and set category
  
• Parcel Identity > Change parcel name, description, and 'Publish on the Web' settings
  
• Parcel Identity > Set landing point and set teleport routing
  
• Parcel Settings > Change music & media settings
  
• Parcel Settings > Toggle 'Edit Terrain'
  
• Parcel Settings > Toggle various About Land > Options settings
  
• Parcel Powers > Always allow 'Edit Terrain'
  
• Parcel Powers > Always allow 'Fly'
  
• Parcel Powers > Always allow 'Create Landmark'
  
• Parcel Powers > Allow 'Set Home to Here' on group land
  
• Parcel Access > Manage parcel Access lists
  
• Parcel Access > Manage parcel Ban lists
  
• Parcel Access > Change parcel 'Sell passes…' settings
  
• Parcel Access > Eject and freeze Residents on parcels
  
• Parcel Content > Return non-group objects
  
• Parcel Content > Landscaping using Linden plants
  
• Parcel Content > Return objects set to group
  

Should you deed your land?

If you simply want to let group members build on your land while preventing the general public from doing that then setting your land to the group and adjusting your About Land options is all you need to do. If you want group members to have more freedom, such as the ability to set your land as their Second Life "Home" location, then deeding is the way to go. If you're one of my tenants and you wish your land to be deeded, just invite me to your group (as an Officer) and contact me.

A warning to mainland residents

Most of the above information applies to mainland holdings as well as rented land on private estates, but you should know that the stakes are a fair amount higher when you deed mainland properties to a group. Anyone in the group with the proper abilities (like in the Officer's role) can sell group-owned land to another player, or even to themselves. This is not much of a risk on a private island because many islands prevent the sale of their land, and estate managers can easily fix the problem on islands that do allow it- but if you lose a piece of mainland property you lose it forever. Make sure that you only grant those kinds of powers to people you trust VERY much. It's also worth noting that proceeds for any group-owned land you sell are divided between all group members who have the 'credits and liabilities' ability enabled, and those profits are disbursed all at once at a specific time of every day (usually very early in the morning).

Final words

Proper management of your rented or owned land requires your understanding of the About Land options and the abilities of various group roles. You can learn more about the abilities by taking a look at the Abilities subtab of the Members & Roles tab of your group's information dialog.

Big Changes at Desperation Isle

[Updated October 2, 2007]
If you've been to the Desperation Isle Estates recently you may have noticed that the scenery has changed. The central land mass, Desperation Isle, has actually moved one map slot to the East and a brand new island has moved into its old location. Work has begun on the new island, cunningly dubbed New Desperation Isle, and we are on track to open by Monday, October 8. We are going to great lengths (and expense) to ensure that the transition goes smoothly for visitors, residents, and mall renters. Please read on to learn what to expect in the coming weeks.

General questions

Is Desperation Isle going away?
The island you currently know as Desperation Isle will indeed be shutting down, but this is not going to happen until New Desperation Isle is completely up and running. Eventually "Desperation Isle" will become a yet-unannounced special island that I'm sure regular visitors will be quite pleased with.

How long until New Desperation Isle is ready?
We are tentatively planning to open New Desperation Isle on Monday, October 8.

Will we be able to visit New Desperation Isle while it's under construction?
The island will be restricted to members of the group Mistress Wildefire's Sub-space (which includes mall renters and tenants of Desperation Isle Estates). The general public will not have access until we're about ready for the grand opening.

What's going to be different about the new island?
While we're keeping some of our plans secret, you can expect more dynamic terrain and plenty of hidden gems to uncover. We know our audience, and I promise you that all of the popular items and areas on the old Desperation Isle will be represented on the new island in one way or another.

Why build a whole new island?
I had already been planning to add a new island to Desperation Isle Estates, and decided to take the opportunity to completely rethink Desperation Isle and produce something that more closely met my vision for a dark and intimate adult gathering place. Rather than simply shut down the old island and rebuild, I decided to take my time building New Desperation Isle from scratch while leaving the old island open for my visitors and mall renters. The way I've chosen to do things is actually costing me a fair amount of extra money, but I wanted the transition to proceed as painlessly as possible for everyone involved.

Is the new island going to lag like Desperation Isle has for the past couple of months?
Probably not. While we're ultimately at the mercy of Linden Lab, we are making certain design decisions specifically with lag reduction in mind. We hope to deliver a bigger, better Desperation Isle for you with performance that rivals or exceeds how the island used to perform before the mysterious lag issues that popped up in June. (By the way, performance on the old Desperation Isle has improved recently due to some changes that both I and Linden Lab have made.)

How do I find the new island?
At the time of this writing, the world map still hasn't updated so you can't get there by mapping it. You have a few other options, though:

• In Search > Places, look for: New Desperation Isle and click the Teleport button.
• Open my profile and look at my Picks. I have a Pick for New Desperation Isle with a working teleport link.
• Just go to the old Desperation Isle and fly West. The mall is at the highest point in the New Desperation Isle sim, in the NW corner. The teleport location is on the second floor between the two signboards.
  

I'm not able to get onto the island!
You must belong to the Mistress Wildefire's Sub-space group. This is the same group that vendors use on the old Desperation Isle. The group is invite-only. Just contact me and I'll add you as soon as I can.

Mall-specific questions

How will this affect mall renters?
The old Desperation Isle still exists, and is still listed in Classifieds and Places Search, so you will continue to get business there until (and probably a few days after) the transition. During the transition to the new mall, you will NOT be expected to pay double-rent. Beginning on Tuesday, October 2, existing vendors are now invited to set up shop at New Desperation Isle. Claim a spot by paying your new rent box only. Any time left on your old rent box on Desperation Isle will be refunded to you (and I will take your old rent box offline so you no longer get notifications from it), and you may keep selling your items on the old island until it shuts down.

Will mall rent remain the same on the new island?
We will have a new rent pricing structure, and the result will actually mean a reduction in rent for many vendors. Our base rent price is dropping from L$200/week to L$100/week, for a reduced number of prims. The rent boxes all default to L$200/week. I will make adjustments and refunds based on your prim usage once you're set up. Here's the pricing breakdown:

• 1 to 10 prims: L$100/week
• 11 to 15 prims: L$150/week
• 16 to 20 prims: L$200/week
• 21 to 25 prims: L$250/week
• 26 to 30 prims: L$285/week (5% discount)
• 31 to 35 prims: L$333/week (5% discount)
• 36 to 40 prims: L$360/week (10% discount)
• 41 to 45 prims: L$405/week (10% discount)
• 46 to 50 prims: L$425/week (15% discount)
• Over 50 prims: Let's talk. =)

Will you consider profit sharing instead of a flat rent?
While I prefer a flat rental rate, if you'd like to set up a profit sharing system to cover your rental, this is a possibility. There are several requirements:

• You must use a vendor that supports profit sharing.
• If your sales don't generate an amount of profit equivalent to my flat rates for rent, I may ask you to adjust my cut of the profits or move out if I get queries from vendors willing to pay the flat rate.
  

I have more stuff than I can fit in one stall. What can Ido?
You can rent out more than one stall. If you rent out adjacent stalls, I can even remove dividing walls at your request. The price you'll pay for the additional stall will either be L$150/week or higher, if your overall prim usage exceeds what L$150 would cover. For example, if you rented out two stalls and used only 21 prims, you'd pay L$200 for the first stall (up to 20 prims) and L$150 of the second, even though you're only using 1 prim in that stall's allotment, for a total of L$350/week. If you had two stalls and used your full 40 prims, though, you'd pay L$400/week to cover your prims. This actually works out cheaper than the old mall for vendors with large items or boxes who simply need more room, and is the same price for vendors who just have a lot of prims.

All the rent boxes at the new mall are set to L$200/week but I'm going to use more (or fewer) prims than 20 prims. What do I do?
If you know you're going to use a different number of prims than the L$200/week will cover, pay the box at least L$200 to claim your spot and I will make adjustments later, based on the number of prims you're actually using. The rent box only accepts multiples of weekly amounts (for example, L$200, 300, etc.) until I adjust it. If you overpay to cover your first week's rent, I will refund the additional amount when I update your box.

I set up my stall on the new island, but I still have some rent left at the old mall. Can I apply that rent to the new mall?
Since the rent box can only be updated in multiples of weeks, I will simply refund you any remaining rent you have on your box at the old mall once you set up at the new one. I'll also remove your old rent box so it doesn't keep bugging you for payments.

How will the new mall be different from the old one?
I have redesigned the new mall to give merchants bigger stalls (both taller and deeper), provide a less cramped environment, with bigger walkways, and still provide high visibility to a number of vendor stalls when people visit the island. The teleport location is on the east side of the second floor of the mall (between the signboards), and the ground-level entrance is directly below, on the first floor. The new structure is similar in architecture to the existing mall, however it covers a larger area, and has much better-placed staircases that should drive more traffic between levels. It will also be equipped with simple teleporters for moving between the two levels.

Will I need to join a new vendor group?
If you are already in the Mistress Wildefire's Sub-space group you will not have to join any groups to be able to set up shop on the new island.

Can we see a preview of the new mall?
The mall is essentially complete, and is ready for vendors. You can find it in the Northwest corner of the island.

Will the rules for vendors at the new mall be any different?
I will be updating the guidelines for accuracy and readability, but I don't expect there to be any major changes to the rules. I will update the Desperation Isle Estates blog with the new rules when they're ready.

I currently have a free space at the old Desperation Isle mall. Will I still be able to set up shop for free at the new place?
I do not have plans to provide free mall space to anyone but members of my slave family at the new mall. While this was a tough decision, the increased price of the new island necessitated the change. Hopefully the new rental pricing structure will allow you to continue doing business with us. If you're a current vendor at Desperation Isle and you do not think you'll be able to afford staying with us if forced to pay our published rates, please discuss the matter with me.

Resident questions

I'm a resident of Desperation Isle Estates. How will this change affect me?
You'll now see a very different (and more scenic) island at the center of Desperation Isle Estates. This land mass connects all of the four rental islands, allowing visibility of the entire region from all sides. All residents who are members of the Mistress Wildefire's Sub-space group will be able to explore the new island while it's under construction. It is understandable that you may have some concerns about your view. Be assured that we're working hard to make New Desperation Isle both an attractive and fitting centerpiece to our growing estates.

Will the change affect performance on the existing residential islands?
We do not expect performance of the existing residential islands to be affected by this change, however residents of Desperation North and Desperation West should see an improvement in the speed and seamlessness of border crossings when moving between your home island and New Desperation Isle.

Protecting Your Privacy

NOTE: The covenant policies mentioned here only applied to the multi-tenant full-prim sims we used to operate. We do not have any such restrictions on our current homestead and full-prim sims, since they are all single-tenant regions. This article is for historical purposes only.

The primary reason that I moved off the mainland and purchased my first private island was that I was sick of bumping into ban lines whenever I wanted to fly or walk around my own sim. They're ugly and terribly inconvenient. Many residents on the mainland immediately enable an Access list on their land which only allows group members or specific avatars on the property. Everyone else in Second Life will be faced with an ugly red "No Entry" barrier (or a green "Buy Pass" barrier) if they attempt to walk or fly nearby. This is exactly why Access lists are expressly forbidden in the Desperation Isle Estates covenant (see section 6.4).

You do have other privacy options, however, and I will go over them here. First off, let's take a look at the land options screens that apply to privacy. (Note, I will not cover land groups and build restrictions here. That's all covered in the Protect Your Land From Grief Attacks page.)

Important: If you are having problems with specific individuals who are intentionally trying to harass or spy on you, please both alert me and file abuse reports against them in the Second Life Help menu. I can ban problem avatars from the entire estate, and Linden Lab does investigate harassment issues. This article is about general, day-to-day accidental intrusions.

Privacy Options in About Land
First let's take a look at the Access tab of About Land. (While standing on your land, just go to World > About Land and click the Access tab.) Please do not check any of the boxes on this screen. Doing so will present banlines to every resident of Second Life who isn't in your group or the list of specific avatars.


Next we have the Ban tab. It is definitely okay to add specific people to this list and check the Ban these avatars checkbox. If you have a particularly problematic individual bothering you, contact me and I can ban them from all of my islands. At the bottom of the screen you'll see the Deny by Payment Status options. These will ban anyone who meets the given qualifications, based on how much payment information they've given to Linden Lab. Do not check any of these options; they have the same negative effect as using an access list, as far as I'm concerned.


If you are a Voice user, you can limit spoken conversations to your own parcel, so that people not on your parcel can't hear what you're saying. Choose Use a private spatial channel to keep voice chat only on your property, or choose Disable spatial audio on this parcel to disable voice altogether.


Security Devices
So you're not allowed to use the access list or blanket ban options- how are you supposed to get some privacy? Well, security devices are allowed, so long as they meet certain requirements. I personally use Psyke Phaeton's HomeSecurity Orb. Below I'll describe how to set up one of these orbs in a way that conforms to the Desperation Isle Estates covenant. But the following guidelines apply to all security devices:

• The device must warn intruders and give them a minimum of 30 seconds to leave the property.
• The device must only sense people on your own land; it should not affect people on neighboring properties.
• You should only use the minimum number of devices to protect your land. For example, a single orb with a 96m radius is enough to protect the ground level of an entire 25% of an island. (96 meters in all directions.)

HomeSecurity Orb Setup Walkthrough


First off, place the orb on the ground, in the center of the area you want to be protected. Next, touch the orb to bring up the menu and then click <[SET UP]>. Now click Next>> and step through the wizard, using the following list as your guide. Each numbered item below corresponds to a numbered page in the 15-step setup wizard.

1. You can actually add orb operators any time, but this screen shows you what you need to type to do it.
2. Read carefully. You must follow all the steps described here in order for group members to manage the orb.
3. Remember that the scan range is a radius. In other words a scan range of 30m will have a spherical scan diameter of 60m, or 30m in all directions from the orb. You only need ONE orb with a radius of 96m to cover the ground level of an entire 1/4 of a sim.
4. Same as step 3.
5. Do NOT pick anything less than 30 seconds before sending intruders away. Any less than 30 seconds is too short for people to even turn around- especially if they just accidentally teleported in to the sim, in which case they may not even be able to move for 30 seconds.
   
6. Read and follow the steps here closely- this will give you steps for automatically making anyone wearing your group tag 'safe.' In other words you won't have to add them to the safe list as long as they're wearing the group tag.
7. Use these steps if you don't have a land group, or there are people who aren't in your group you want to grant access to.
8. You can specify specific people to always target here.
9. Teleport or Eject are preferred; push isn't always enabled, so it might not be effective for you.
10. Just pick 1% since push isn't recommended anyway.
11. You must pick On for this step. Your orb should only protect your own land.
12. You only need to click On here if you own multiple adjacent parcels that are not joined and have different names.
13. These options don't work if the object is deeded to a group (group-owned). I just pick Off anyway.
14. No preference here. I click On.
15. Click Next>>.
    

Final Words
I am just as interested in ensuring your privacy as I am in maintaining an attractive, friendly environment for all residents. If you have chronic problems with specific individuals, or you need advice on a specific privacy issue, please contact me and we'll work something out.

Covenant Update for Desperation Isle Estates

[Updated 2008.02.10]
Thank you for considering a Desperation Isle Estates property. There are several sections to this covenant that cover an introduction to the isles, steps on how to find and acquire land, general renting details, and rules for residents. For the latest covenant and answers to frequently-asked questions, visit the Desperation Isle Estates blog at: http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/

*** 1. ABOUT THE ISLANDS ***
Wildefire Walcott's Desperation Isle Estates is a residential adult community; a place to build your home in the company of like-minded folks. There are no taboos here. (Well, except anything that is an outright violation of Linden Lab policy.) The islands are primarily residential, however commercial renting is allowed so long as it adheres to the 'Rules for Renters' guidelines in this covenant. Any businesses should be attractive, should aesthetically 'fit' on the island, and should never be a nuissance for other residents.
As with all private islands in Second Life, Desperation Isle properties are for RENT, not for SALE. The 'purchase' price you pay is a 'refundable deposit,' and immediately grants you the same powers over your land that a full owner would have- but you will not be able to resell the land to another resident, and you must comply with this covenant in order to remain a tenant here.
You do NOT have to be a premium member of Second Life to rent land on these estates.

As of February 2008, there are now two "phases" of Desperation Isle estates. There are a few important differences between the two phases.

PHASE 1:
- The islands that comprise Phase 1 are Desperation North, South, East, and West, all surrounding the adult public playground, New Desperation Isle. You can see and easily see and walk, fly, or swim to neighboring Phase 1 islands, as they are all connected.
- In order to provide a dark, romantic atmosphere, and to remain consistent with New Desperation Isle, it is always night time on the Phase 1 islands. If things look too dark for you to see well, you can usually fix this by increasing the 'Nighttime Brightness' setting in the 'Adv. Graphics' tab of Preferences. If you just need to see things in daylight temporarily, you can use the 'World > Force Sun' menu options to see the isle at Sunrise, Sunset, or Noon.
- The use of privacy devices (also called "security orbs") is allowed at ground level and above on Phase 1 islands due to the potential of foot traffic from New Desperation Isle.

PHASE 2:
- Phase 2 begins with the addition of Desperation Kelly and Desperation Vivienne, and is currently in development.
- The Phase 2 islands are not directly adjacent to any other islands, giving them unobstructed ocean views in all directions.
- Phase 2 islands are on a normal day/night cycle.
- Due to the decreased likelihood of random foot traffic, the use of privacy devices/security orbs is not allowed below 300m elevation. In other words, it is okay to have an orb to protect your skybox, but not your home on the ground.

*** 2. PRICING ***
Lots up to 4096 meters are priced according to a flat rental rate based on the size of your parcel and rounded to the nearest L$25. Lots over 4096m go into a tiered pricing structure after that, where the more land you get the better a value it becomes.

• 512m, 117 prims, weekly L$225 ($0.85 USD), 4 weeks L$900 ($3.40 USD).
• 1024m, 234 prims, weekly L$450 ($1.70 USD), 4 weeks L$1800 ($6.79 USD).
• 1536m, 351 prims, weekly L$675 ($2.55 USD), 4 weeks L$2700 ($10.19 USD).
• 2048m, 468 prims, weekly L$900 ($3.40 USD), 4 weeks L$3600 ($13.58 USD).
• 3072m, 703 prims, weekly L$1350 ($5.09 USD), 4 weeks L$5400 ($20.38 USD).
• 4096m, 937 prims, weekly L$1800 ($6.79 USD), 4 weeks L$7200 ($27.17 USD).
• 6144m, 1406 prims, weekly L$2700 ($10.19 USD), 4 weeks L$10800 ($40.75 USD).
• 8192m, 1875 prims, weekly L$3500 ($13.21 USD), 4 weeks L$14000 ($52.83 USD).
• 12288m, 2812 prims, weekly L$5250 ($19.81 USD), 4 weeks L$21000 ($79.25 USD).
• 16384m, 3750 prims, weekly L$7000 ($26.42 USD), 4 weeks L$28000 ($105.66 USD).
• 32768m, 7500 prims, weekly L$13575 ($51.23 USD), 4 weeks L$54300 ($204.91 USD).
• 65536m, 15000 prims, weekly L$25600 ($96.60 USD), 4 weeks L$102400 ($386.42 USD).

IMPORTANT: Wildefire Walcott is the sole owner of the islands and only she collects rent on Desperation Isle Estates. Her alt, Illana Ireton, sometimes deals with residents, but normally doesn't handle payment matters. Do not trust ANYONE ELSE who attempts to collect your Desperation Isle rent from you. (Contact Wildefire immediately in case this happens, and please provide names and chat logs.)

*** 3. HOW TO FIND AND RENT LAND ***
Here's how to find which lots are available for rent:
1. Go to Search > Places and search for Desperation. Any of our parcels for rent will begin with "For Rent:" and will list which of the Desperation Isles the parcel is on, they also have a special icon that looks like a price tag.
2. You can teleport directly to the parcel for rent by selecting a given parcel and clicking Teleport.

-or-

1. If you're using "New Search" (the search box in the upper-right of the main SL screen), search for the following to get more specific results: for rent desperation
2. If any of our "For Rent:" parcels come up in the listings, click the desired parcel name, and then click teleport.

-or-

If you are standing on one of our islands, you can do this:
1. Enable the View > Property Lines option in the menu to show colored lines around each plot.
2. Enable the View > Land Owners menu option to show which parcels are taken or available. Red land is owned by someone else, Green land is owned by you, Purple land is owned by a group, and brown/auburn land is available to be rented.
3. While standing on the land you intend to rent, right-click the ground and pick Buy from the pie menu. The list price for the land will be shown (see the 'Refundable Deposits' section below), and if you have enough L$ in your account you will be able to buy the land.
4. Contact Wildefire Walcott in IM to say you've started renting. She will invite you to her private group as a resident and set up a rent box for you. This will give you unlimited access to Desperation Isle and also serve as a way to get important notices for residents. This is a non-spam group; only relevant notices will be sent.

NOTE: If you can't find a parcel of just the right size, contact Wildefire Walcott. She can divide or join available lots as needed, although she will not be selling anything smaller than 1024m at this time.

*** 4. REFUNDABLE DEPOSITS ***
The price you pay to acquire your land is a refundable deposit that covers your rent until your rent box is set up. Once you make your first payment to the rent box, Wildefire will return some or all of your deposit to you, depending on how many days pass before you make your first rent box payment. For example, if you're able to make your first rent box payment on the same day that you take possession of your land, she will refund the entire deposit amount to you. If it takes her two days to set up the box, or if it takes YOU two days to pay it, Wildefire will subtract two days' worth rent from the deposit and refund you the rest. You won't be losing money either way; it just sometimes takes a day or two for her to get the rent boxes ready- especially if you're on different time zones. If you go for a whole week without paying your rent box, however, Wildefire will reclaim your land and keep the deposit. You can only get any of your deposit back by paying your rent box within your first week of residence.

*** 5. GENERAL RENTING INFORMATION ***
- As a renter you will be able to terraform your land, manage ban lists, and set the media streams for your parcel- basically anything that a full-fledged land owner can do.
- The number of prims you're allowed to use depends on the size of the parcel (refer to the chart above). The exact calculation is (ParcelSizeInSquareMeters * 15000) / 65536, rounded down. This is because a single sim (65,536 square meters) supports a maximum of 15,000 prims. If you require more prims you can pay for additional prims (in 117-prim increments), assuming Wildefire has extra land in that sim. It's an additional $125/week for every 58 prims.
- Wildefire Walcott does have a number of copiable (but not transferrable) high quality houses she can place on your land at your request, for no extra fee. Due to item permissions, you will not be able to make modifications, but she can (within reason) make alterations if necessary.

*** 6. RULES FOR RENTERS ***
It is impossible to come up with a single set of guidelines that specifically covers everything that you should or shouldn't do. I will revise this section of the covenant as issues arise, but please closely read and understand these rules and use your best judgement when building. As always, you may contact me with questions or concerns about your own land or that of your neighbors. Also, note that some rules only apply to specific phases of Desperation Isle Estates. These exceptions will be clearly noted.

6.1 PAYING RENT
- Wildefire Walcott will set up a scripted rental box in a secluded location on your island that will remind you when rent is due, and you can pay the box as needed. You are expected to pay your rent box as soon as you possibly can once it is first set up; Wildefire will refund you the balance of your initial purchase price as soon as you do so (and notify her).
- Rent is expected weekly, and is to be paid to Wildefire Walcott via your individually assigned rent box. (Your first week's rent is due as soon as Wildefire sets up your rent box. She will tell you how to find it when it's ready. If you do not pay your rent box within a week of claiming your land, Wildefire will reclaim the parcel and return your items.)
- Wildefire may contact you personally if rent is 2 or more days overdue, and may reclaim the land if you go for 5 days or more without paying or responding to her IMs.
- Be sure to inform Wildefire if you know you're going to be away for an extended period when rent would come due. Ideally you would pay your rent forward to ensure keeping your space for when you return.
- VERY IMPORTANT: Please notify Wildefire Walcott in the event that you decide to leave Desperation Isle Estates. She will not be mad at you for leaving, so long as she is able to re-list your vacated land as soon as it becomes available. If you just quietly move away and let your rent box expire, Wildefire loses a MINIMUM of 5 days rent, due to how the rent boxes work (they let you go up to 5 days late before evicting you), and THAT will make her angry.

6.2 BUILDING
- NO UGLY BUILDS ON THE GROUND! The ground level of the island is meant for attractive residences and businesses. The terrain should flow naturally to neighboring lots, and your overall area should "fit" aesthetically with the rest of the island. I don't care so much what you put in the sky (above 300m, please), but if it's on the ground it needs to look nice and cannot negatively affect the rest of the island. A good rule of thumb to follow is to ask yourself, "If this were in real life, would I want to live next door to this build?" If the answer is "No," then perhaps you shouldn't do it. Also, I'm a reasonable person. If there's a look you're trying to achieve, or you have some other design or privacy concern, just talk to me- I will work with you to come up with an acceptable solution.
- No building within 0.5 meters of parcel border without permission from your neighbors.
- No skyboxes below 300 meters in the sky. Specifically, this means any structures below 300m should be firmly on the ground.
- When building, please do not use textures larger than 512x512.
- No freebie houses. There are a number of well-known "freebie houses" scattered all around second life. Some are better than others, but really the sight of them kind of gives a sim a "low-rent" feel. If you are low on funds, please talk to me, as I have a selection of nice low-prim houses to fit lots of many sizes, and can provide them at no cost to you.

6.3 TERRAFORMING
- While you are allowed to terraform your lot, please do so within reason. The end result must still look like natural coastline.
- Do not terraform coastal lots out to the sim border; preserve a natural appearance at the edge of the sim. The land may touch the border here or there, but if you just fill out the land flat against the simline it results in a completely unnatural looking shelf of land that seriously detracts from the look of the beach.
- No terraforming within 1 meter of the parcel border without permission from your neighbors.
- No sharp cliffs between your property and that of your neighbors. Drastic "cliffs" or "shelves" that result when you raise or lower your whole plot break the flow of the land and stretch out the ground textures, resulting in a distracting, unrealistic appearance.
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6.4 PROTECTING YOUR LAND
- All renters must either have autoreturn enabled, or must DISABLE the ability for "All Residents" to create objects on your land. This is an anti-griefing measure to protect your land and that of your neighbors.
- You can only maintain a Ban list- you may NOT have an Access list. (In other words, you may explicitly ban certain people from your land, but you may not set up your land so that only residents on your list can get in.) If you need privacy, use a security device, but its range must be limited to your parcel, and it must give residents a warning and at least 10 seconds to leave your parcel before ejecting them. NOTE: If you become the target of griefing, please Abuse Report the offender and also notify Wildefire Walcott of the names and details. She will look into it and ban these folks from the entire Desperation Isle estate (encompasses all islands) if necessary.
- *PHASE 2 ONLY*: The use of security orbs is allowed on Phase 2 islands, but they must be placed over 300m in the sky. No securty devices are permitted at ground level.

6.5 PLACING OBJECTS
- No shouting objects (i.e. scripts that use llShout).
- No political propaganda in publicly viewable areas.
- No public-facing advertisements (signs inside stores, only viewable to people in the store, are okay). If you have a store, it IS okay to have a sign with your store's name on it, and have products displayed in your windows- just no advertisements for products, places, or services out on open land, please.
- No camping chairs, money sploders, dance pads, or other incentives to get people to camp on your property to artificially drive up traffic.
- Restrict spamming items (notecard givers, landmark givers, greeters) so that their range is limited to your parcel.
- Sound-generating objects must be limited to your parcel (i.e. spatialized sound setting in About Land).
- No particle emitters without permission.
- If you have one of those "weather systems" (which are also particle emitters, by the way) that produce rain and snow, please do not leave them running 24 hours a day. They are a serious script burden on the sim. Please only run those things when you're actually there to enjoy them.
- Do not place any 'physical' objects without permission from Wildefire Walcott. Some items, such as prim inflatables for swimming pools, are physics-enabled, which in itself isn't a problem, but if physics-enabled objects collide in certain ways they can actually crash the sim, which is bad for everyone.
- No rotating objects out in the open.
- No plywood prims laying around. If you're building your home, some exposed plywood during the build is understandable, so long as you clean up when you're done. But please never leave random untextured prims or abandonned builds for the rest of your neighbors to see. (Again, partial builds are more acceptable over 300m.)
- No vehicles left out on the lawn. It's fine to own or use vehicles, so long as they don't disrupt neighbors, but don't leave them just sitting out in the grass. If your house has a driveway or garage, you may place DECORATIVE (non-physical) vehicles in there, but physical vehicles (that is, vehicles that have the Physical property enabled in the Second Life client) MUST be picked up after use.
- Do not block the views of neighbors with walls or privacy screens taller than 3.5 meters. If you wish to give yourself a little more privacy, please do not do it at the expense of your neighbors. There are several alternatives that are better for the rest of the island: Attractive looking bamboo or wrought-iron privacy fences can achieve the desired effect while still letting light pass through. Thoughtfully-placed trees and bushes can also give you a nice private-feeling environment (just please DO NOT make a big straight, unnatural wall of Linden trees, and please try to use plant species that you'd be likely to find on an island.) 'Blight Be Gone' screens by Keith Extraordinaire (KX Designs) come with an option that has nice looking textures on one side, but is clear on all others. When you put them around your parcel, you see the texture, but everyone else around you sees your land. Another option is to move up into the sky. You can safely place your home anywhere between 300 and 700m, giving you the opportunity to distance yourself from neighbors by hundreds of meters.
- Please note that while I won't outright ban so-called megaprims (prims larger than 10 meters in any dimension), they CAN negatively affect sim performance, and I may ask you to remove specific megaprims if sim performance or stability suffers and the Linden Lab collision detection tools point to your megaprims as the cause. Specifically, when avatars stand on or nearby some megaprims, their avatars slightly "interpenetrate" the megaprim, which results in siginificant physical collision events which can seriously hurt sim performance or even crash the sim. The megaprim does not have to be "physical" for this to happen.

6.6 USING YOUR LAND
- No high-traffic public establishments (in other words, no casinos, no gambling, no malls, no busy clubs). You MAY run a store or a low-traffic public gathering place (like a small club or an adult play area), so long as it's not a nuissance to your neighbors.
- No 'temp-on-rezzers' or 'holo-rezzers' without explicit permission from Wildefire Walcott. (I don't really mind that they give you more prims, but each temp-on-rezzer puts an additional load on the asset server, and that affects every single resident in Second Life.)
- Limit the amount of hovertext on your items when possible. It often shows through walls and can creep into neighboring properties if you're not careful.
- No sandboxing below 300m. If you wish to use your land as a sandbox for building projects, that's absolutely okay- but please keep that activity well above the cloudline. The ground is intended for "permanent" homes and businesses.
- When Linden Lab enables the "Restricted" classification for individual properties, only residents who successfully go through the Second Life Age Verification process will be able to access Restricted land. It will be up to individual tenants to decide which classification to give their own properties, and Wildefire Walcott will not be held responsible for user actions.
- As of February 10, 2008, subletting your rented parcels is no longer permitted. In other words you cannot rent land from Desperation Isle Estates only so you can rent it out to someone else at a higher price. We offer some of the lowest island rental prices in all of Second Life, and we don't do that just so people will take advantage of our generosity. These estates are for real residents and businesses, and there is only one landlord here.

Please contact me with any questions.
Wildefire Walcott, owner of Desperation Isle Estates
http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/

New Island Added to the Estate

Desperation South became the newest addition to the Desperation Isle Estates last Friday and is about 75% rented out already! If you're looking for affordable living in a mature and well-managed community with no up-front "purchase" fees, please check us out!

Like the rest of our rental islands, Desperation South is meant for residential and light commercial renting only. No clubs, no casinos, no malls. Please see our latest covenant for pricing and building info.

How to Recover Returned Items

There are a number of different situations where inventory items of yours that are rezzed in-world might be returned to your inventory. Some people use the Return Items feature of About Land when picking up their things before moving to a different plot. Sometimes you'll forget to wear your group tag when placing items on your property and they'll be autoreturned to you. When this happens, your returned items end up in the Lost and Found folder of your inventory. Due to a technical change made to Second Life last year called coalescing, multiple objects returned to you at the same time are usually lumped together as a single entry in your Lost and Found folder.

This fact has caused endless confusion among Second Life residents, who see that only a single item ended up in Lost and Found and think that the system lost all their other items. What follows is a demonstration of how coalescing works and how you can recover your coalesced items.

1. Vapor here has several objects set out on her property. Each object has a name corresponding to its color. For example, "Red Cube," "Orange Cube," and so on.
   
   
   
2. Vapor has rented a bigger plot on one of the other Desperation Isle estates, so it's time to pack things up. Initially she starts returning objects one-by-one. She right-clicks the yellow cube, clicks More, and then clicks Return. The yellow cube is ends up in her Lost and Found folder.
   
   
   
3. Vapor decides this will take too long so she goes to World > About Land and takes a look at the Objects tab. She selects her name in the list of object owners and then clicks Return Items. The rest of her cubes appear in her inventory- but this time they're bundled together under a single entry. She can tell that even though the entry is simply named "Green Cube," it represents a number of individual objects because the icon for that entry looks like a little stack of boxes instead of one single box. The object name that gets used to represent rezzed items is seemingly random. She could have returned an entire house to her inventory and ended up with a single entry named "Object" in Lost and Found.
   
   
   
4. Vapor goes to her new location and decides to unpack her things. She steps into a big open area with enough free prims for her to rez her items, and drags the "Green Cube" entry onto the ground. All of her bundled items are rezzed at this time, in their same relative postitions as when they were were initially returned. She can now take them all into inventory one at a time, by right-clicking them and then clicking Take. This will return the items either to their original folders if they were originally dragged from someplace other than Objects, or to the Objects folder if their old folder no longer exists.
   
   

Important Note
If items get returned to you, but you don't find anything at all in Lost and Found, it's possible you need to clear your cache and re-download your inventory. Here's how:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences and click the Network tab.
2. Click the Clear Cache button and then click OK.
3. Click OK again and then exit Second Life.
4. Log back into Second Life (it may take a little while longer as your cache is deleted).
5. Once you're logged back on, open up your inventory and leave the window open until it is done re-downloading your items. This can take several minutes. While your inventory is downloading there's usually a "Fetching..." message at the top of the inventory window.
   

How to Join Two Parcels

If you rent multiple lots it may be convenient for you to physically join them. Joining does not affect your prim usage as your prim allotments are already shared between lots you already rent, but it can make managing land settings easier. I can join land for tenants but in order to do that, I need to reclaim the land, join it, and then sell it back to you. Here's how to do it yourself:

1. Turn on View > Property Lines and View > Land Owners. Land that you own will turn bright green and individual parcels you own will be surrounded by green borders.
   
   
   
2. Stand on one of the pieces of land you wish to join and right-click the ground, and then click Edit. This brings up the Edit Land window.
   
   Note: If you don't see the Buy Land, Abandon Land, Subdivide, or Join buttons, click More >> to expand the dialog.
   
   
3. Left-click the land you're standing on once. This should make a little yellow box on the ground.
   
   
   
4. Now drag that box across the border of the land you want to connect to, so that the box crosses over the border. The box does NOT have to cover the entire parcels- it only has to go across the border. Note that the Join button will now be clickable.
   
   
   
5. Click Join. This will connect the parcels.
   
   
   
6. You might have to go back and re-set some of your settings in About Land after joining, as only the settings for one of the two connected parcels are used.
   

Covenant Update for August 19

I have updated the covenant to reflect our new way of renting land. Specifically, all vacant parcels are listed for L$1 and you must pay your first week's rent immediately once I set up your rent box. This should reduce confusion we've had in the past where people paid their boxes too early when we used to have a purchase price equal to the first week's rent. There are no rules changes in this version of the covenant.

[Updated 2007.08.19]
Thank you for considering a Desperation Isle Estates property. There are several sections to this covenant that cover an introduction to the isles, steps on how to find and acquire land, general renting details, and rules for residents.

*** ABOUT THE ISLANDS ***
- Each of our rental estates is a tropical residential adult community; a place to build your home in a community of like-minded folks. There are no taboos here. (Well, except anything that is an outright violation of Linden Lab policy.)
- The isles are primarily residential, however commercial renting is allowed so long as it adheres to the 'Rules for Renters' guidelines in this covenant. Businesses should be attractive, should aesthetically 'fit' on the island, and should never be a nuissance for other residents.
- Residents of the Desperation Isle estates have access to all areas of the public playground, Desperation Isle (even when it is closed for organized RP).
- As with all private islands in Second Life, Desperation Isle properties are for RENT, not for SALE. The 'purchase' price you pay is a 'reservation fee,' and grants you the same powers over your land that a full owner would have- but you will not be able to resell the land to another resident, and you must comply with this covenant in order to remain a tenant here.
- NOTE: You do NOT have to be a premium member of Second Life to rent land on these estates.
- Lots up to 4096 meters are priced according to a flat rental rate based on the size of your parcel and rounded to the nearest L$25. Lots over 4096m go into a tiered pricing structure after that, where the more land you get the better a value it becomes.

512m: 117 prims, weekly L$250 ($0.94 USD), monthly L$1000 ($3.75 USD)
1024m: 234 prims, weekly L$500 ($1.87 USD), monthly L$2000 ($7.49 USD)
1536m: 351 prims, weekly L$750 ($2.81 USD), monthly L$3000 ($11.24 USD)
2048m: 468 prims, weekly L$1000 ($3.75 USD), monthly L$4000 ($14.98 USD)
3072m: 703 prims, weekly L$1500 ($5.62 USD), monthly L$6000 ($22.47 USD)
4096m: 937 prims, weekly L$2000 ($7.49 USD), monthly L$8000 ($29.96 USD)
6144m: 1406 prims, weekly L$2850 ($10.67 USD), monthly L$11400 ($42.7 USD)
8192m: 1875 prims, weekly L$3800 ($14.23 USD), monthly L$15200 ($56.93 USD)
12288m: 2812 prims, weekly L$5400 ($20.22 USD), monthly L$21600 ($80.9 USD)
16384m: 3750 prims, weekly L$7200 ($26.97 USD), monthly L$28800 ($107.87 USD)
32768m: 7500 prims, weekly L$13600 ($50.94 USD), monthly L$54400 ($203.75 USD)
65536m: 15000 prims, weekly L$25600 ($95.88 USD), monthly L$102400 ($383.52 USD)

*** HOW TO FIND AND RENT LAND ***
Here's how to find which lots are available for rent:
1. Enable the View > Property Lines option in the menu to show colored lines around each plot.
2. Enable the View > Land Owners menu option to show which parcels are taken or available. Red land is owned by someone else, Green land is owned by you, Purple land is owned by a group, and brown/auburn land is available to be rented.
3. While standing on the land you intend to rent, right-click the ground and pick Buy from the pie menu. The list price for the land will be shown (L$1), and if you have enough L$ in your account you will be able to buy the land.
4. Contact Wildefire Walcott in IM to say you've started renting. She will invite you to her private group as a resident and set up a rent box for you. This will give you unlimited access to Desperation Isle and also serve as a way to get important notices for residents. This is a non-spam group; only relevant notices will be sent.

NOTE: If you can't find a parcel of just the right size, contact Wildefire Walcott. She can divide or join available lots as needed, although she will not be selling 512m or 1536m lots at this time.

*** GENERAL RENTING INFORMATION ***
- Rent is expected weekly, and is to be paid to Wildefire Walcott via your individually assigned rent box. (Your first week's rent is due as soon as Wildefire sets up your rent box. She will tell you how to find it when it's ready.)
- Wildefire Walcott will set up a scripted rental box in a secluded location on your island that will remind you when rent is due, and you can pay the box as needed. Wildefire may contact you personally if rent is 2 or more days overdue, and may reclaim the land if you go for 5 days or more without paying or responding to her IMs.
- The number of prims you're allowed to use depends on the size of the parcel (refer to the chart above). The exact calculation is (ParcelSizeInSquareMeters * 15000) / 65536, rounded down. This is because a single sim (65,536 square meters) supports a maximum of 15,000 prims. If you require more prims you can pay for additional prims (in 117-prim increments), assuming Wildefire has extra land in that sim. It's an additional $125/week for every 58 prims.
- Be sure to inform Wildefire if you know you're going to be away for an extended period when rent would come due. Ideally you would pay your rent forward to ensure keeping your space for when you return.
- Some plots come pre-landscaped with objects such as trees, paths or homes. These items are not transferrable, and thus remain the property of Wildefire Walcott. If you do not wish to keep them on your land, please use the Return Objects feature in About Land after purchasing the land to return the items to Wildefire Walcott (do NOT delete them). I would ask that you not just leave the landscape barren. Do what you can to preserve or enhance the tropical flavor of the isle.
- As a renter you will be able to terraform your land, manage ban lists, and set the media streams for your parcel- basically anything that a full-fledged land owner can do.
- Mistress Wildefire expects her tenants to be good neighbors to other residents of the sim. She will provide you several guidelines regarding expected behavior and aesthetics on your land.
- Wildefire Walcott does have a number of copiable (but not transferrable) high quality houses she can place on your land at your request, for no extra fee. Due to item permissions, you will not be able to make modifications, but she can (within reason) make alterations if necessary.
- In order to provide a dark, romantic atmosphere, and to remain consistent with neighboring Desperation Isle, it is always night time on the Desperation Isle Estates. If things look too dark for you to see well, you can usually fix this by increasing the 'Nighttime Brightness' setting in the 'Adv. Graphics' tab of Preferences.
- If you just need to see things in daylight temporarily, you can use the 'World > Force Sun' menu options to see the isle at Sunrise, Sunset, or Noon.

*** RULES FOR RENTERS ***
It is impossible to come up with a single set of guidelines that specifically covers everything that you should or shouldn't do. I will revise this section of the covenant as issues arise, but please closely read and understand these rules and use your best judgement when building. As always, you may contact me with questions or concerns about your own land or that of your neighbors.
- NO UGLY BUILDS ON THE GROUND! The ground level of the island is meant for attractive residences and businesses. The terrain should flow naturally to neighboring lots, and your overall area should "fit" aesthetically with the rest of the island. I don't care so much what you put in the sky (above 300m, please), but if it's on the ground it needs to look nice and cannot negatively affect the rest of the island. A good rule of thumb to follow is to ask yourself, "If this were in real life, would I want to live next door to this build?" If the answer is "No," then perhaps you shouldn't do it. Also, I'm a reasonable person. If there's a look you're trying to achieve, or you have some other design or privacy concern, just talk to me- I will work with you to come up with an acceptable solution.
- All renters must either have autoreturn enabled, or must DISABLE the ability for "All Residents" to create objects on your land. This is an anti-griefing measure to protect your land and that of your neighbors.
- No shouting objects (i.e. scripts that use llShout).
- No political propaganda in publicly viewable areas.
- No public-facing advertisements (signs inside stores, only viewable to people in the store, are okay). If you have a store, it IS okay to have a sign with your store's name on it, and have products displayed in your windows- just no advertisements for products, places, or services out on open land, please.
- No camping chairs, money sploders, dance pads, or other incentives to get people to camp on your property to artificially drive up traffic.
- No casinos, no gambling, no malls. (Note: By 'mall' I mean a structure whose purpose is mostly to rent vendor space to numerous Second Life merchants. Malls place a very large resource burden on an island (with all the textures and scripted, networked vendors).
- No building within 0.5 meters of parcel border without permission from your neighbors.
- Restrict spamming items (notecard givers, landmark givers, greeters) so that their range is limited to your parcel.
- You can only maintain a Ban list- you may NOT have an Access list. (In other words, you may explicitly ban certain people from your land, but you may not set up your land so that only residents on your list can get in.) If you need privacy, use a security device, but its range must be limited to your parcel, and it must give residents a warning and at least 10 seconds to leave your parcel before ejecting them. NOTE: If you become the target of griefing, please Abuse Report the offender and also notify Wildefire Walcott of the names and details. She will look into it and ban these folks from the entire Desperation Isle estate (encompasses all islands) if necessary.
- Sound-generating objects must be limited to your parcel (i.e. spatialized sound setting in About Land).
- No particle emitters.
- No skyboxes below 300 meters in the sky. Specifically, this means any structures below 300m should be firmly on the ground.
- No 'temp-on-rezzers' or 'holo-rezzers' without explicit permission from Wildefire Walcott. (I don't really mind that they give you more prims, but each temp-on-rezzer puts an additional load on the asset server, and that affects every single resident in Second Life.)
- Limit the amount of hovertext on your items when possible. It often shows through walls and can creep into neighboring properties if you're not careful.
- When building, please do not use textures larger than 512x512.
- No sandboxing below 300m. If you wish to use your land as a sandbox for building projects, that's absolutely okay- but please keep that activity well above the cloudline. The ground is intended for "permanent" homes and businesses.
- While you are allowed to terraform your lot, please do so within reson. Do not terraform coastal lots out to the sim border. While you are allowed to alter the terrain of your land, the end result must still look like natural coastline. I don't care if it touches the border here or there, but if you just fill out the land against the simline it results in a completely unnatural looking shelf of land that seriously detracts from the look of the beach. Finally, no terraforming within 1 meter of the parcel border without permission from your neighbors.
- Do not place any 'physical' objects without permission from Wildefire Walcott. Some items, such as prim inflatables for swimming pools, are physics-enabled, which in itself isn't a problem, but if physics-enabled objects collide in certain ways they can actually crash the sim, which is bad for everyone.
- No freebie houses. There are a number of well-known "freebie houses" scattered all around second life. Some are better than others, but really the sight of them kind of gives a sim a "low-rent" feel. If you are low on funds, please talk to me. I have a selection of nice low-prim houses to fit lots of many sizes, and can provide them at no cost to you.
- No plywood prims laying around. If you're building you're home, some exposed plywood during the build is understandable, so long as you clean up when you're done. But please never leave random untextured prims or abandonned builds for the rest of your neighbors to see. (Again, partial builds are more acceptable over 300m.)
- Do not block the views of neighbors with walls or privacy screens. If you wish to give yourself a little more privacy, please do not do it at the expense of your neighbors. There are several alternatives that are better for the rest of the island: Attractive looking bamboo or wrought-iron privacy fences can achieve the desired effect while still letting light pass through. Thoughtfully-placed trees and bushes can also give you a nice private-feeling environment (just please DO NOT make a big straight, unnatural wall of Linden trees, and please try to use plant species that you'd be likely to find on an island.) 'Blight Be Gone' screens by Keith Extraordinaire (KX Designs) come with an option that has nice looking textures on one side, but is clear on all others. When you put them around your parcel, you see the texture, but everyone else around you sees your land. Another option is to move up into the sky. You can safely place your home anywhere between 300 and 700m, giving you the opportunity to distance yourself from neighbors by hundreds of meters.

Please contact me with any questions.
Wildefire Walcott, owner of Desperation Isle Estates