One answer to that question could have been revealed in the notes for this community in the Linden blog. The communities were placed by a scripted bot in under 15 minutes. Which explains why some of the areas look rather too symmetrical. But it is a perfect shake and bake virtual neighborhood with an ability to placed anywhere on Linden mainland new and historic.
After a one day preview this week, the beta project was opened to the public and invitations were emailed. I was one of the chosen Beta testers to my surprise. The invitation contained a direct link to the new Linden Home signup page. On that page I was able to view house and theme previews. The themes now contain four choices, California Modern, A-Frame Mountain Cabins, Japanese Traditional and Fantasy. Notes on the Linden blog stated that they have more designs on the planning board but these four were chosen for Beta based on their popularity across the grid.
The beta project is, at this point, strictly plots of 512 sqm. All the themed housing are one floor plans except for a few offered in Modern styles. Potential residents are only able to choose house theme styles, the location of their future home is randomly generated.
Once house theme is selected and the plot is named, the user is immediately given a landmark link to his/her new home. The assigned house takes up every inch of the assigned plot with little room for landscaping. In fact landscaping is discouraged since the planners are worried that it won't be in theme. However all this depends on how strictly the zoning policy is enforced. Will the Lindens crack down on people placing crazy object on top of these houses?
I chose the Japanese Traditional theme since it seemed the best planned of all the choices.
The plot is double primmed so a resident can place more objects in it than regular plots. Also the houses do not count toward plot prim allotment. The texture work is rudimentary inside the house, nothing fancy. There are a few drawbacks to the house. There is no second floor which is possible in the floor plans but not included. The windows can not be opened. The house walls are set to glow which means they stay the same during all times of the day cycle especially at night.
As a test of zoning restrictions, I placed objects outside the house.
They are in theme but still a subversion of the theming plan. They have been outside for almost a day, but they haven't been returned to my lost and found folder nor have a I received any take down IM notice.
The one element the Lab has not tested is sim load for these projects. As of now these themed communities are set upon 64 sims quite a bit away from old mainland. Their blog states that only an initial 500 people received Beta invites. Which means an average of 7 to 10 Beta testers per sim. However the communities hold an average of 30 to 40 houses per sim. And in regular conditions, sims work fine until population climbs over 25 then it lags down. Unless population is strictly controlled these communities could turn into lag hell if there are upwards of 40 people on them along with their guests.
But these problems are mere bumps in the road, because it is obvious that they are mostly ready to go live. And they will be death knell for small rental agencies who make their bread and butter on small, cheap temporary living quarters.
