The Vanishing of A Continent: Gaeta 1 To Be Phased Out By End of 2016

 

 For the first time, Linden Lab will be doing away with one of the Mainland continents. 

 

On Wednesday, the Lab announced "A new chapter for Mainland."  The plan was to open 90 sims on the Zindra continent, which has not yet been finished, while the residents of Gaeta 1 are being asked to move. The reason the Lab gave was that "Adult mainland continues to operate at very high occupancy and shows consistent demand. At the same time, some General and Moderate mainland areas, including Gaeta 1, have seen lower overall use over time." And so rather than simply just raise the number of sims on Zindra, they made the decision to adjust "existing capacity to better reflect where Residents are most active today."

 

The Lab went on to say the change will start this month, April, expected to finish by "the end of 2026," and there are no plans to close other Mainland areas. They did say the change was to start "early April," but it was already the 15th when they made their announcement.

 

 Of the Second Life Mainland areas, Gaeta 1 and Zindra are distinguished by each having unfinished look. Of Gaeta 1, the southeast and east central areas were never completed. It's north of the Mainland northeast of Bellisseria, but not connected to it by sea sims, and distinguished by it's small size, 141 sims, smaller than a few private sim continents, and large amounts of abandoned land. The SL Wiki describes the land as being created in June 2008, with the north added a little later. 

 

The Yavascript pod tours gave the reason for the unfinished business as,  "Much of the land around here was being prepared for sale, as SL was expanding, in 2009, but as land supply exceeded demand, it stopped. ... In more recent years, mainland has become more popular, especially alongside roads and by water. Nonetheless, this continent was still never finished, as can clearly be seen from the shape of the map."

 

One other detail, the SL Wiki described Gaeta as the most underpopulated continent.  

 

 

The other unfinished continent, Zindra, is more famous for being the Adult-rated Mainland continent: All the sims are Adult-rated. The first of its land appeared in 2009, "and continued a few years later" according to the SL wiki. But development stopped before the southeast was finished. 

 

Besides that the buildings and the signs on the map show residents are free to explore their sexual sides, other than the unfinished corner the land is distinguished by a larger size than Gaeta, 348 sims, and for some reason being placed *far* away to the right of the other mainland sims. 

 

And it's the second most crowded of the Mainland continents, second only to Heterocera, with little abandoned land and high land prices. 

 

Two threads appeared in the forums about the topic, one in the Land forums by Linden Lab, the other in the General Discussion Forum. Naturally, there were a number of objections. 

 

"... being a many year resident of Gaeta I's lovely north coast. Nukeing Geata to create an expanded area of adult regions (which is also disconnected) doesn't make any sense to me. None of Geata I is adult at the moment and it's not clear to me that there's a shortage of adult parcels, so I'm not sure what problem this is actually solving."

 

"I am one of two landscapers, developers, and managers for Bimini Falls, a growing community sim that currently spans over 14 regions on Gaeta. Bimini Falls has been a long-term project that has taken over a year and a half of continuous landscaping, design, and development to reach its current state. The owner has invested significantly throughout this time, purchasing additional land multiple times as the community expanded and evolved. It is also important to recognize that the foundation of this work began long before my sister (the other landscaper) and I joined the project a year and a half ago. In total, this represents years of creative development, planning, and ongoing refinement. The financial investment from the owner—covering land purchases, upkeep, development costs, and our compensation—has been substantial. What makes this situation especially difficult is that Bimini Falls is not something that could simply be rebuilt elsewhere. Starting from scratch in a new location would require another one to two years of intensive work just to reach its current level of development, and even then, it would never truly be the same. The unique character, flow, and history built into the current regions cannot be replicated. In addition, there would be a significant loss of income from renters during the entire rebuilding process, further compounding the financial impact on the community and its owner. This situation is incredibly heartbreaking and deeply upsetting for everyone involved, as so much time, effort, and passion has been poured into bringing Bimini Falls to life." 

 

"As a former Gaeta I tenant who still has affection and nostalgic memories of Gaeta I, I think its utterly shameful and a backwards move by LL that will have Residents in Gaeta I and the other Mainland continents worried and fearing for the future. Why not just keep Gaeta I as it is and where it is now? Why are LL being so heartless? Is it just a case of in order to complete Zindra, another entire continent must be sacrificed for it? Unacceptable. Just no." 

 

"So wrecking a G or M rated community in Gaeta1 (which had been there 17 years) is totally fine with you, if it benefits an Adult rated community in Zindra?"

 

"Despite what is said in the reading, it feels like a small scale tester for a larger scale version later. The writing appears to be on the wall for mainland change and not the good kind." 

 

Some were open to the idea, "Optimally it'd be better if LL could finish both continents, but idk if the demand is there for more M regions with so much abandoned land on M continents, meanwhile Zindra's basically full. So... yeah. IMO this is a no-brainer, as long as existing landowners in Gaeta 1 have some way of recovering their investment." '

 

"This action will not be taken because they have nothing else to do during their working days.
The Lab has to get rid of parts of the grid that are running at a loss month after month and try to keep SL appealing for the vast majority of users I recon." 

 

"Zindra is so fugly it baffles me what would drive a non-land hogger person to the point of insanity where they'd voluntarily buy and stay and use land there." 

 

Prokofy Neva would comment, "Watch Gaeta land prices go up so you can get a free transfer to Zindra which will go for a fortune if landscaped." 

 

 Derrick Linden would answer the concerns, "Given the sizable amount of unowned mainland, increasing our overall mainland footprint isn't really something that's in the cards right now. After careful review, this felt like our best opportunity to shift some of our existing mainland resources for the long-term health of the mainland overall."

 

The Lab anticipated there would be lots of questions, and scheduled a Town Meeting for Monday April 20 at 11 AM at Town Hall Island1 (241/15/29). 

 

Stay tuned foe more information on this developing, and major, story.

 

Bixyl Shuftan