Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Linden Lab Answers Questions and Concerns About Gaeta 1, Other Issues, At Town Hall

 
By Bixyl Shuftan
 
 
 
From Zada Bury

 On Monday at 11 AM SL time, there was a meeting at Linden Lab's Town Hall building. The main reason was for residents to get answers to questions and concerns about The Lab announcing that the smaller of two unfinished Mainland continents, Gaeta 1, will be closed down and it's residents relocated while the other unfinished continent, Zindra, will be completed. But other issues could be brought up as well. 
 

 I was a little late for the meeting, and regretfully as far as pictures are concerned, my viewer went into "safe mode," with much of the scenery around me not showing much of what was in two nearby sims, including the Linden avatars on stage. 
 
from Zada Bury

 Patch Linden was among the Lab staff there. But most of the questions would be answered by Derrick Linden.
 
From Zada Bury

Behind the audience, someone had put up a huge sign, "SAVE GATEA 1 !!!" 
 
 

 Pantera Polnocy would make a video (click here if it fails to load).
 
There was a considerable amount of chatter. Fortunately someone, Neon Lyter, had done some editing, separating the big questions. 
 
[11:09 AM] Tay Doll: How will the actual moving process take place? Is the land owner responsible for actually moving their own items?

Yes, however we’re planning to work with each individual person and give them time to move the content they need or want to move over, and pick up anything they don’t plan on carrying over.

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[11:14:12 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:09 AM] Fieri Bloodrose (infierna.bloodrose): will small areas of protected land possibly be opened?

Currently we don’t have any plans to open any existing protected areas, and the new regions that are being created in Zindra will have protected roads and waterways.

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[11:16:35 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:09 AM] Neon Lyter: Why not finish Gaeta 1?

This was certainly an option that we had considered, however, there are large swaths of land available here, especially those that are not along any waterways or nearby roads, that is unoccupied and unutilized. As mentioned in the blog, we’re wanting to shift this land into more desirable adult mainland, and use it as an opportunity to finish out the Zindra continent.

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[11:19:40 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:11 AM] Neon Lyter: Lots of people are about preserving the history of SL. This move is going to destroy a lot of history.

I absolutely hear you and it is something that we had to consider very closely and carefully. However, we feel as though this puts us in a more ideal position as we look toward the future and positive future for both Second Life the mainland especially.

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[11:12 AM] Timo Daehlie: Sharp next ?

We have no plans or changes anticipated for Sharp or any other mainland continents at this time :)

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[11:12 AM] Jelly Doll: @Derrick (derrick.linden)  will residents be able to hold Gaeta1 land and the replacement land without additional costs during the move to allow for builds to be more easily moved? or will they have to drop one and start over on another (as it was during the last forced move) ?

This is something we anticipate some users needing, and we will absolutely be working with them to the best ability the we can to make this transition as smooth as possible. And that does include possibly assisting them in this exact manner.

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[11:24:00 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:12 AM] SarahKB7 Koskinen: Four older (Nascera) Linden Homes continents were deleted last year. What has happened to those regions (and the financial savings they created) and why have those Nascera regions not been redistributed to complete both Zindra and Gaeta 1, while also connecting Gaeta 1 to the remainder of mainland?

Those four continents of old Linden Home regions were brought down and the redistribution of those regions is a slower phased process, and are being released with new style Linden Homes over the longer period of time. Those regions were earmarked for Linden Homes, and not Mainland.

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[11:26:24 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:13 AM] Zurí L McGlockin (pucci): will there be any water regions along the protected waters opening for purchase? most of the ones that are here have already be purchased up by land companies.

Yes, there will be some water regions that will be resident occupied. However, the first priority is the individuals that are impacted on Gaeta 1 and those are getting first dibs on the new land being made available on Zindra. We will not make any of the new land available for anyone else to purchase or claim until those individuals are sorted through.

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[11:13:15 AM] Nibbles (skyler.pancake): Gaeta 1 was originally created in 2008. Why was the continent left unfinished? Is it not arguable that the continent would have been more popular and occupied if Linden Labs had finished the expansion of the continent?
Zindra meanwhile, was announced in June 2009 with work on the land starting shortly after, but then left uncomplete for 15 years. Why the change of heart? What has spurred Linden Labs to make this decision after over a decade of residents pleading with Linden Labs to provide additional adult mainland?

Why is Gaeta 1 being sacrificed for the prior decisions of Linden Labs and the incompetence in finishing the continent? At the time of the decision being announced, Gaeta 1 had 10.2% of land abandoned. This is in comparison to Jeogeot with 29.6% and Satori with 27%. Why should the residents of these continents not be concerned that their creations, their effort and time, might just be done away with?
If the decision was based on remoteness to other continents, do the residents of Heterocera,
which in comparison only has 10.7% abandoned land, need to worry that the land they own may be seized some day?

What about Bellissaria? Certain themes in Bellissaria are massively unpopulated. Alpinisseria has 69% of all available homes empty. Fantasseria is only 48% occupied. Overall, there are 10,000 plus homes available on Bellissaria to currently be claimed, meaning 39% of houses there are currently unoccupied. Why is more effort being put into expanding Bellissaria when there's this much product currently unused? Why are we not halting the expansion of Bellissaria or repurposing land from there instead?

[11:36:53 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): @Nibbles (skyler.pancake) Your question was a bit long, so not-repasting it, but to follow up: 

So there’s a lot to unpack here, and I’m gonna try to make this quick because there’s a lot of questions being asked and we don’t have a WHOLE lot of time. I can’t speak to Gaeta 1’s creation or its unfinished state, this happened prior to my tenure here, and pretty much all of the individuals that were in decision-making positions at the time are no longer here. I totally understand this sentiment, but I unfortunately don’t have much I can answer on this front. However, I did see the figures on the forums that are being quoted here based on externally-collected data, and these numbers are not accurate to the information that we have. Gaeta 1’s occupancy on non-protected parcels was actually only 44%. And it being disconnected was a contributing factor, but not the primary reason.

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[11:38:14 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:14 AM] ϻ ᴀ ᴢ ᴛ ᴀ (maztadizazta): question : if we have a xx amount of land in Gaeta 1 we will be given choice for equal amount of land or we can also chosse to buy more than what we currently own for example if its a 1/2 sim can we get a full region in the expansion option too? and what will be the pricing on that

No, it will be same sized parcels for parcel placement.

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[11:42:11 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:15 AM] James Starling: What steps are you going to take to ensure that the new land in Zindra is not immediately bought up by land barons?

We are not making any parcels of land available there until everyone that is being moved from Gaeta 1 has been taken care of and have claimed parcels there, or elsewhere, as they desire and we work with them. That leaves us several months ahead that these regions will begin to be added to Zindra, but not made available to claim the land. The timeline for this whole process is through the end of this year, so realistically no land will be made publicly available until that time. After that, we’re currently discussing strategies for how to make the remainder of the new land available, and it will likely be some sort of mixture of auctions and/or a possible lottery system that we are discussing internally. However, if you have other thoughts, we’d love to hear about them.

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[11:43:32 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:16 AM] V (vivaria.nightingale): So, will us Gaetanss also get first dibs on scoopin up some additionall A class land before the land hoarderss that aren't Gaetanss? & If so how much we lookin at pricing wise? uhh?

Yeah, I’ve answered this already, but just to reconfirm - yes, Gaeta 1 landowners will get first dibs. Pricing will remain the same on your current tier structure as long as you’re just doing a like-for-like parcel switch.

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[11:45:25 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:19 AM] Zoé (zoee.yiyuan): people of general lands do not really like to move to a continent like Zindra that is openly and clearly made for sexual intentions. Why not make extra general / mature sims free at another continent ? Maybe a complete generall continent, not too big maybe, would attract serious investors again

Absolutely understood on that concern, so the good news is that you don’t need to move to Zindra. There is plenty of available General and Moderate rated land available, and our Land Operations team will be happy to help find somewhere for you to move based on your specific needs.

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[11:47:39 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:19 AM] ApplePieCheesecake: In terms of void edge land on Gaeta, what is considered comparable on Zindra? Is it ocean access?

This land is being considered as interior land and not water. However, the new land being spun up on Zindra has plenty of available water, and that doesn’t necessarily immediately disqualify you from owning water-adjacent parcels.

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[11:48:38 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:20 AM] ღ ɳყxιҽ ʋσιɗɓσυɳɗ ღ (punanidasani): What about people who have SL families with child avatars who are living on Gaeta I? They cant move to an adult continent.

My answers are slow, apologies, but also addressed - you don’t need to move to Zindra, we’ll help find you somewhere on a General rated region if that’s what you need.

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[11:51:08 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:21 AM] Feorie Frimon: Is this part of an over all 'resurgence' in a focus on mainland architecture? Or is this a 'one time' project'?

This is definitely one step in the direction of looking at working with our Mainland product, and we have several initiatives that we’re currently working on. For instance, we’ve been doing some stuff that I don’t really want to spill the beans on here, however, those of you that have been paying attention to New Bloom Mountain might have some indication on things to come :)

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[11:54:29 AM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:28 AM] Timo Daehlie: When managing relocations or land disputes on Gaeta, do you take into account how long someone has owned their land? Specifically, do long-term residents receive priority over those who purchased land just this week?

Overall, our priority is the largest impacted communities first. Afterwards, we’ll be working with individuals and smaller groups. However, we are giving priority to residents and groups who owned their land prior to April 15th when this blog was released.

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[11:28:37 AM] Aletta Mondragon (alettamondragon): I had this question in the forum discussion, rather a suggestion, since our questions weren't addressed there, could you share your opinion on this here, please?

What if you first tried to redesign Gaeta I and move it to Gaeta V, for example between the Northwestern part of Gaeta V and the Northeastern part of Corsica, roughly between Mya Mo and Imajin, reducing Gaeta I's size so that you get rid of the abandoned land but keep the Sandy Beach Trail, the coastline and the existing communities, moving the other regions as needed to reshape it? It cannot be more work than these planned relocation efforts, and if that doesn't bring you the desired results, you can still shut it down, but trying couldn't hurt more than keeping all the abandoned land online already has for so many years.

[12:00:00 PM] Derrick (derrick.linden): @alettamondragon

There were considerations put into this, but the primary concern that we’re attempting to work toward a resolution here is that there is an imbalance between A vs G/M regions. This opportunity allows us to help the land market on Zindra while also solving for lower occupancy numbers on Gaeta 1.

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[12:04:34 PM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:32 AM] Tay Doll: Will we see more projects like this in the future of land being recycled to for better purposes to be more efficient and progress SL forward?

We are entirely focused and only have plans currently for Gaeta 1. Afterwards, I can make no guarantees for what the future holds, but I want to make it clear that we understand how impactful this is and do not take decisions like this lightly. So this will continue to be evaluated for the future of the mainland and SL as a whole.

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[12:06:35 PM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:32 AM] Bahama Joe (joebahama): Can you set expecations as to how much land will be available to non-Gaeta residents?  97 regions are moving to 90.  What percent of those 97 were abandoned before the announcement?

We don’t have any clear indications yet just because we don’t know how many will opt for new land on Zindra vs existing G/M land. We anticipate having left over land on Zindra, we just can’t estimate exactly how much.

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[12:14:42 PM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:49 AM] Prokofy Neva: Did the Lindens already mention how many people this is estimated to actually affect who actually log on?

There were 349 unique land owners or groups as of April 15th that owned land on Gaeta 1

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[12:16:40 PM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:52 AM] Kristy Aurelia: Will the new Zindra regions have PBR terrain?

Oatmeal already answered, but just in case anyone missed it: not PBR, but we will be releasing new 2k textures on Zindra as we begin to roll out the new Zindra regions.

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[12:18:05 PM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:55 AM] Ayane Ueda (nalurimurai.lust): @Derrick (derrick.linden) - Will there be a possible chance in the future that Zindra might be connected to the rest of Mainland?

No, this is not possible. We do not place Adult and G/M rated regions adjacent to one another.

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[12:20:20 PM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [11:56 AM] James Starling: What is LL going to do to help residents with very strong memories attached to their land. For example, residents who still have things rezzed out from family and friends who have passed away in real life. Is there some way for Linden Lab to move these objects to the new land?

Unfortunately, we don’t have any options available to us to selectively relocate specific objects like this.

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[12:24:27 PM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [12:01 PM] Zoé (zoee.yiyuan): Can we have a meeting with just Gaeta 1 people, just to sort out things more in detail?

We’re currently planning to do a smaller town hall specifically as an invite-only to individuals and groups that have land on Gaeta 1. These will be sent as personal invitations, so keep an eye out for incoming communication over the coming couple of weeks. These will be sent via notecard from a Linden.

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[12:34:01 PM] Derrick (derrick.linden): [12:25 PM] Jelly Doll: @Derrick (derrick.linden) how is contact being handled in the case of group owned land ?

We’re balancing and weighing depending on if the founder still active, in lieu of that we prioritize the individuals that are contributing the tier to the groups.
 
At the end, the Lindens thanked us for taking part, Kit Linden saying, "Thank you all for coming to this town hall meeting!" 
 
Commentary: This will almost certainly not be the last we hear about Gaeta 1 being phased out. It is noteable that just about every Linden who was around when they stopped updating Mainland is no longer at the Lab.  And while there are no current plans to go further, many residents will certainly wonder if down the road other places will be on the chopping block. 
 
 More later on the issue as developments appear.
 
Bixyl Shuftan 
 

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