Bellisseria launched in April 2019 as the new continent for Linden Homes, and right from the start, it was a hit. The Traditional homes and Houseboats were gorgeous and instantly appealing. Over the next six years, more themes rolled out. My personal favorite was the Victorians. In those early days, everything sold out fast. Demand far outpaced supply, and landing a home felt like winning a mini lottery.
But over time, that energy shifted. As new themes were introduced, supply began to outpace demand. Instead of attracting new residents, the artificial demand was created by existing residents shuffling around. Even though more people subcribed to Premium to get a Linden Home, more and more homes started sitting empty.
At its peak, Bellisseria had a kind of magic. There was even an unofficial competition among residents. People used their five daily rolls to score the perfect parcel. When they ran out, they created alt accounts to keep trying. That Game of Homes era was exciting, and I met some of my closest Second Life friends during that time.
The early themes really stood out. They were not just well-designed, they felt limited and special. Now, with fourteen themes available, that feeling is gone. For me, the excitement has faded with each new release. I have not genuinely liked a theme since the Stilts.
Second Life clearly wants our money, but they have not figured out what we want in return. And with few new residents joining, they need to pay more attention to the ones who are still here. What do we want from Linden Homes? For starters, more house models within existing themes. Not just open floor plans, but actual new designs like Traditionals with porches or smaller Victorians. We want new models or parcel sizes to enjoy the themes that we already love.
A lot of the newer homes feel crammed together. In an effort to maximize income, they are now squeezing 20-24 homes into regions that used to hold only half that, leaving room for community spaces like parks and landscaping. The neighborhoods are losing that curated and upscale feel and starting to resemble tightly packed social housing.
Another big issue is communication. Back when Bellisseria launched, the Lindens were much more transparent. We had updates and timelines and usually knew what to expect. Now, it is mostly silence. Announcements drop with no warning, nothing feels on schedule, and there are still unfinished coastlines that look completely abandoned.
It has been six years. Instead of improving what already exists, they keep adding more themes, especially after the introduction of 2048 sqm homes for Premium Plus subscribers. At this pace, Bellisseria may become larger than all of Second Life’s continents combined. Will it ever sell out again? Even if people migrate from the old Linden Homes or new users join, there’s still a long way to go before all the empty parcels are claimed.
Within my own circle of friends, the spark is gone. Most of us used to have 5-10 homes at a time. Now, some are down to one. Others have walked away completely. We went from collecting homes like ultra rare gachas to barely caring if we have one at all. And I am not sure Second Life is prepared for what happens when its most loyal residents walk away.
If Linden Homes are not meant for us anymore, they need to attract new residents fast. Because the ones who have been here are already moving out.
Thanks for this honest post. You and others in the “Game of Homes” — there used to be an awful lot of you! — played the Bellisseria game avidly and LL met their customers’ requirements with ever-new home models. But as Raph Koster and other big game title developers have commented, customers always burn through content faster than you can make it and it is an endless challenge. Then you have to either get new customers, keep up the content chase, or retire.
If you can’t go to the expense of constantly rolling out new content to meet customer demand, you can still re-shape game/world features. For example, LL could delete the empty houses on every Belli sim and put in bodies of water to make them more desirable to live adjacent to. They could put autoreturn to 60 and put pet walks or other types of spaces to show content. They could put stores of their own, with their select content creators, which some people will want to shop in, and won’t mind next to their homes as it creates a feeling of a little village, which many, many people want as a product in SL.
They could select some Belli sims without any one in the houses, or half empty, and put in spaces where they allow anyone to have a store. They could plunk down a few attractive store buildings which they’ve already made from Shop ‘n Hop or other events. People would flock to get a Belli building where they could sell their breedables or gatchas or original creations with only the cost of their premium account and no extra rent or tier or commissions taken out on the MP.
They are unlikely to do this due to their own and others’ allergy to commerce which — because they always imagine it to be ugly and intrusive since they don’t accept it and regulate it — always becomes ugly and intrusive escaping their rules where it is not allowed at all.
They could do a few other little things that are merely policy changes: allow search/place ads to be used in Belli, i.e. enable a parcel to be put in search so that people can have events, clubs, galleries, DJ parties without dependency on a few big highly-controlled Belli groups. They could even allow tips jars or vendors if kept inside homes that would considerably ease the distress people feel now that they can’t maintain both a Belli home AND a parcel somewhere they rent or buy for their little business.
They could allow you to pain the dingy white porches on the Victorians with an option for External paint that covered that trim, like trim on other styles of houseware elsewhere.
They could stop hoarding housing in short supply, maintaining artificial scarcity due to their problem of half-empty sims and people racing to the next fresh content.
There are people who select a house in Belli or even in my Mainland rentals and stay there for 10 years, not budging. Some people actually dislike change and like the static view that stays predictable in Belli or in a little Mainland community (that increasingly faces challenges to keep the view given the “transportation games,” spam cars, glowing spires, and ad-farmers stop operating with impunity.
I actually don’t think even all those amenities and easements will work, as I think it’s likely the natural state of virtuality run by authoritarian corporations to tend towards economic downturns and entropy and finally death, like The Sims Online and even the reverse-engineered FreeSimsOnline (as distinct from liberal democracies under the rule of law with a free press, independent judiciary — and even they trend towards entropy and death, too without a lot of vigorous action.)
Even so, the Lindens could enable their platformed business on the Internet to last longer if they once again *met customer requirements* instead of getting distracted with literal shinies like PBR or nonsense like balloon rides on the old Teen Grid no one will use.
Belli is the Lindens’ best
I like my peaceful little corner of Bellisseria. It’s in an older section so there are very few people on the region, often none at all, but all the homes are all ‘occupied’. Opening up Belli regions to events and/or stores with vendors will cause lag. Might as well get a piece of ugly mainland instead for less money.
I love Prokofy’s ideas!!
Yes to replacing empty housing with attractive bodies of water and beaches!
Yes to shops for select content creators!
Yes to shops for all content creators!
This wasn’t only the list, but Yes to dance clubs!
I’m a big fan of Jane Jacobs’ book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” and her concept of “Mixed Use,” which today many call “The 15-minute City.” I dream of my home, and some shops I like, and a dance club, all being walkable! And by the way, so does Philip Rosedale:
https://youtu.be/wMCj_MWMYh8?si=9bTPq2HOTT4gvLxG&t=3165
https://youtu.be/wMCj_MWMYh8?si=LIFMtDbY_iOjd5wk&t=3315
https://youtu.be/wMCj_MWMYh8?si=AN2xbT_L4KRqrM4L&t=6080
So you guys are the reason I couldn’t get a home for months when they first rolled out. Insanely selfish. Also this is the most out of touch post I’ve ever read. Lol who tf can afford to have multiple alts paying for premium and hoarding, collecting them? Bro wtf?
Linden Lab loves paying customers
well said
Mainland Developer & Travel guy here. I really enjoyed this article. Thank you for writing it.