Skybox of Doom: Bucking the Downward Trend

Recently, Linden Lab made a large number of landowners unhappy by glutting the market with new land (causing land prices to plummet) and lowering the cost of new private sims (causing many rental sims to lose large numbers of renters). It hasn't been surprising to see land selling for 50% of its previous value.

So I knew I was faced with a challenge when deciding to sell off 4608sqm of my land. Most of the land in the sim had been bought up by a Gorean (sound familiar?) to build dozens and dozens of tiny rental skyboxes. This meant the already rocky terrain below was left barren, largely devoid of even a single tree.

I approached the skybox owner about selling my land. As predicted, I was treated as clueless and potentially gullible. I was told that most mainland was being sold now for two to three lindens per square meter, and that I should drop my asking price.

(Oh, did I neglect to mention that the skybox owner was griefing a nearby club owner because she dared putting ban lines around her own workshop - which apparently interfered with Mr. Skybox's ability to fly around "his" region?)

So I lowered my asking price. Slightly.

Then I erected a 4608sqm cement skybox.

Honestly? I was sick of the desolation. If I was stuck with the land, at least I was going to have surroundings that were amenable to me. I built it first, planning to come back to retexture the interior later. By the time I finished assembling it, I was actually pleased with it! Since I figured it wasn't going to sell, I was going to cancel the sale and muck about in the air, visually shielded from the clutter of rentals in my midst.

Ironically, I forgot to cancel.

I'm guessing that my cement behemoth was the incentive the skybox builder needed to buy me out - for L$6.07 per sqm. I was in world, talking with a friend when suddenly I get my skybox handed to me, piece by piece - and a muncha bunny dropped into my account.

The funny thing? The 4608sqm started out as one 512sqm plot that I bought for Three for her plot of tier-free land under her premium membership. When she changed her mind, I noticed the 512 next to it - and the one next to that one. And so on.

Land ownership is insidiously addictive.