Revision as of 10:35, 31 August 2019

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The Wastelands came into existence on January 17th, 2007, and is the oldest, largest, and longest lasting Post-Apocalyptic themed estate in Second Life. It sustains itself through the efforts of our continually growing and evolving community of individuals who have a passion for the damaged and ruined landscape you see before you. In fact, around 95% of everything you see in The Wastelands is created by the residents who live here. If you're reading this, it's likely that you've just joined our community, you're interested in purchasing some land, or you're interested in hanging out as a game-player, roleplayer, or regular visitor. Maybe all of the above! Whatever you're interested in, welcome!

The Wastelands is a themed residential estate inside Second Life. What this means is that everything that is built here on the land must have a certain post-apocalyptic look and feel to it. Structures that have collapsed due to age, heavily weathered and nature overrun buildings, bombed out bunkers, and scrapped together makeshift homes would fit right in here. If you want to build a pristine beach house on our sands, a modern day military base, or even a skyscraper on our horizon -- perhaps The Wastelands isn't what you're looking for. Many of us feel there's a certain romanticism about a world where everything is ruined or old, and we want our builds to elicit that sense of desolation and desperation.

With all that in mind, I want to state that we know not everyone is a great builder. I myself lack the skills to build such awesome things as some of our long term residents do. As long as we can see that you're making an effort to keep your build in theme, you're more than welcome to stay here. We also have free high-quality resources, including prefabs, made by Wastelanders, for Wastelanders, to help even the most uncertain builder make a thematic and interesting home. And remember, all of the best builders in Second Life started out with a plywood cube at some point!

There is also casual role play and supplemental games here that are both 100% opt-in. You don't need to roleplay if you don't want to, nor do you need to play the games hosted here, nor even dress in theme in order to visit. We'll never kick out somebody for RPing, for not RPing, for playing the game, for not playing the game, or for just plain doing these things poorly -- unless the actual rules of this covenant are being broken in the process.

However, it's the general consensus that if you choose to role play, but are role playing something entirely different than the rest of the community, you'll be considered off "doing your own thing" or OOC. Please do not contact a Developer about RP, as we won't assist you since this is not an RP-mandatory estate. If you have questions on how to interpret the roleplay guidelines, or if you would like more information, advice, or feedback, contact a member of Road Patrol.

In the past we've been criticized as to why we're not a role play- or game-mandatory estate. The answer is quite simple: Communities founded around such "inclusion" always leave someone excluded, which is why I think it's important to be as tolerant and welcoming to as many people as possible. You never know... that person dressed up as a bling-robot-squid in a tutu might be the coolest person you've never met!

Estate Rules

Much like any large community there needs to be a set of sane and reasonable rules to help direct it. Ideally, we want to use them to foster growth and guidance. Sometimes, however, we just need to cite them and tell people to follow them or leave. The following is the best and most-accomodating set of rules we can devise - their aim is to benefit everyone while avoiding restricting people's freedoms.

That said, visitors and Residents who do not read the covenant are NOT exempt from the rules of this covenant. If you don't like the rules of this covenant, it would probably be better if you went someplace that you enjoy. If you repeatedly or intentionally break the rules of this covenant, you'll find yourself ejected, or temporarily or permanently banned from the estate.

The Management of the estate are the sole people responsible for enforcing and interpreting the rules. You don't have to listen to anyone who isn't management, but keep in mind there are some long-term residents who'll offer advice and are just trying to be friendly and helpful. Our community is strong and willing to teach and help, if you're willing to listen. If management asks you to do or change something, please be as accommodating as possible - We're just trying to help you fit in a bit better!

On to the rules themselves:

Conduct

We are a Moderate rated estate. That means that sexual conduct isn't allowed on this estate -- including role play. Adult avatars may go topless, but keep below the belt covered: no genitals are to be exposed at any time. There's a continent called Zindra in Second Life that is made just for those types of activities.

Because we are a Moderate estate, that means you MUST BE 18 years or older to access this estate. If you are under 18, you have falsely represented your age to Linden Lab, and we will have to report you. We don't want to get in trouble for hosting a minor on the estate, especially if they lied to our service provider.

All visitors and residents are contractually obligated to follow the Linden Lab Terms of Service, and all of the additional terms and policies contained within. Of note we'd like to remind all visitors and residents that they have agreed to adhere to the Linden Lab Community Standards. This estate makes no exception to those rules, and to help protect our community we seek to enforce them where applicable.

It's true that some of the definitions of the Community Standards are vague, so we'll give some examples:

Residents and visitors to the estate are not allowed to harass, threaten or embarrass another avatar or to cause distress, unwanted attention or discomfort of such avatar, or any other person or entity.

The Wastelands does not condone harassment in any form and may suspend or ban the accounts of any avatar who harasses others. Personal attacks, such as those based on a person's race, national origin, ethnicity, religion, gender, lifestyle choice, disablement or other such affiliation, are strictly prohibited.

Residents and visitors to the estate shall not engage in "disruptive behavior".

Many things can constitute disruptive behavior, including the following: Defacing anothers property, griefing an event or a sim, the excessive use of gestures, or caging or orbiting other avatars. Outside weapons or objects that are used on residents or visitors without their consent are strictly forbidden, as well as anything that causes any sort of distress, be it auditory, visual or just a general annoyance. The Devs and Road Crew reserve the right to determine what disruptive behavior is, and the actions required to resolve the issue.

The general rule of thumb is to follow your moral compass, use common sense, and put yourself in the other person's shoes.

Estate management doesn't ban individuals from the estate by request -- only by objective evidence. If you encounter someone who is violating this covenant, contact any member of management immediately and give them clear details on the situation. However, we don't take sides in a dispute between people UNLESS they're violating this covenant. If you are having a conflict with another individual in a non-game and non-roleplay situation, we suggest you MUTE that person until cooler heads prevail. Still, don't be closed-minded to resolving your issues at a later date. After all, overcoming our differences is what makes us a great community!

The members of our estate management are very real people. If and when we interact with you in an official capacity, we expect to be talking with the person behind the keyboard, not the persona you play in Second Life.

Any violation of these rules could lead to a temporary ban, permanent ban, and/or eviction from the estate! It does not matter who you are, how much land you own, or how long you've been here. These rules apply to everyone equally. Ultimately YOU are responsible for what you do or don't do while you're here.

Land

The land you rent in the estate is your own personal bubble of Post Apocalyptic goodness. The in-world land tools allow great control over your land, from media settings to who you allow to build an terraform on it. In order to help alleviate some common issues residents might run into, as well as help maintain your property; I've outlined some things that should or should not be done.

Terraform responsibly. It is imperative that you do not terraform right up to the property lines. Please leave a two to four meter buffer of unaltered land around your property. It is important because if you have a neighbor, you can unknowingly alter their land or even return a portion of their build if you terraform right up to the property line, and you won't have the ability to fix it. Please do not dig a 100 meter hole, or create a 100 meter tall mountain. Steep declines or inclines of land create "land static". Land static is what happens at the base or at the top of the land when there is a sudden drop of land without any smoothing in between. It looks like sharp or spiky land, and often seems unrepairable -- but with effort and care it can be fixed. If your land or neighboring land looks jagged or spiky, please contact a developer for assistance.
Build responsibly. It is important that you do not build right up to the edge of a neighboring parcel or Estate land. In general, it's rude and can be perceived as aggressive by your neighbors. No one likes being fenced in by a build.
Be considerate of your neighbors. If you choose to have objects that frequently make noise on your property, please consider using the option "Restrict spatialized sound to the parcel" so your neighbor isn't slowly driven to a homicidal rampage featured on Channel Four News.
Residents may build bridges and paths over estate infrastructure land as long as it does not obstruct regular walking areas. To do this you must anchor your prims on your land, or else auto return will kick in.

Required Land Settings

In the Objects tab of "About Land", If Auto-return is enabled on your land it must be set to 5 minutes or greater. This gives people time to drive their vehicles over your land, rez things to show off, or allow NPCs time to cross over your parcel.
WARNING: If your land is deeded or set to a group and the objects are not also set to the same group when you enable auto return, those objects will be returned to their owners. Please make sure your objects are set to the proper group that your land is deeded to before you enable auto return!
In the Options tab of About Land, "Object Entry" MUST be set to All Residents. Visitors want to drive vehicles, and NPCs want to occasionally enter your land.
In the Options tab of About Land, "Run Scripts" MUST be set to All Residents. Visitors want scripted objects to work, and NPCs don't want brutal brain-death if they step on to your land.
In the Options tab of About Land, "Avatars on other parcels can see and chat with avatars on this parcel" MUST be checked. Having it disabled is very disjunctive to the game and role play experience that the estate hosts.
Parcel media streams MUST NOT be of adult nature. Again, we're a Moderate estate, not an Adult estate.
In the Access tab of "About Land", Allow Public Access MUST ALWAYS be checked. We do not allow global ban lines or exclusive white lists on who can and who cannot pass over your land. You may ban people individually, but you may not ban everyone.

Shop Specific

Perhaps the strictest rules in the estate apply to shops. Not only do shops have to apply the rest of this covenant to the build, but the shop structure, vendors, and ALL ASSETS the shop sells must be in theme. Services, sounds, gestures, and animations might fall outside of this rule. Shops must also be on the ground, in an enclosed structure. That means four walls and a roof, and it must not in a skybox. Shop owners may have one guest or friend vendor for the entire estate, and the guest must be aware of and follow the rules of this covenant. If there is more than the one guest vendor, you may be asked to inform them that they must get some land for themselves. All images used for sales must have the genitals covered up as well.

Land Types

Over the years the estate has grown and adapted to residents needs, and as such different types of land have been made available for a resident to live on. Each land type usually has a different cost associated with it. The following few paragraphs describe each type of land in detail.

Classic Full Region

This type of region is what we started with ages ago. It is the de-facto full region in SL with 15k prims and 100 avatar limit. In most cases neighboring land will be right next to other neighboring land. In terms of land impact, 117 prims will be available per 512sqm of land you own in the region, more or less. The area of the land you own in comparison to the prims is considered the standard amount. Infrastructure is typically anchored onto very small parcels, and sometimes roads and paths overlap onto resident land. Regions that belong to this type: -Currently None-.

Full Region Plus

These types of regions are exactly like the Classic Full Regions, except they come with 30k prims. As a land owner you'd effectively get twice as many prims to use on your land than a Classic Full Region, but you would pay 20% more in tier. Regions that belong to this type: The Wastelands and The Junkyard.

Double Prim Full Region

Also known as the half-land region, the double prim region makes more room for infrastructure builds, and gaps between neighboring plots. It is a full 15k prim region with a prim bonus of 2. In terms of land impact, 234 prims will be available per 512sqm of land you own in the region, more or less. Because half the regions area is dedicated to infrastructure, larger builds owned by the estate are allowed. Usually nothing overlaps onto a residents land. Regions that belong to this type: Fort Stygian.

Double Prim Full Region Plus

These types of regions are exactly like the Double Prim Full Regions, except they come with 30k prims. As a land owner you'd effectively get twice as many prims to use on your land than a Classic Full Region, but you would pay 20% more in tier. Regions that belong to this type: The Great Fissure.

Homestead

Homesteads in The Wastelands are the same type of region that SL offers with 3750 prims and 20 avatar max. The exception is that the estate has a small 32sqm plot (with 1 prim) in a corner of the region to facilitate estate and game needs. The availability of these region types for residents are EXCEPTIONALLY rare, waiting years for one is not uncommon. These regions are made available to only one avatar, for the entire region. They can set or deed the land to a group, but one avatar is responsible for the tier. Residents must APPLY and be APPROVED to move into these types of regions, and have a loose but well thought out plan in hand. Regions that belong to this type: Cormac, The Rot.

Outlands

Outlands are Homestead regions that allow several residents to live on individual parcels. Infrastructure is sparse, but well built. Resident parcels are the largest in terms of area among all land in the estate that isn't a homestead. There are only two sizes of parcels, one with 216 prims, and one with 434 prims. Tier is a little bit higher than normal, but your land is never directly in contact with your neighbors, and there are only 8-10 parcels per region. Regions that belong to this type: North Yard, Hambone Slough.

Desolate

Desolate regions are perhaps the most unique in the estate. They leverage experience keys to make the region appear 10x bigger than it actually is! This is done by "stacking areas" in the sky combined with a unique teleportation system at each regions edge. Estate infrastructure is typically mirrored 32 meters off the edge of the region so it seems seamless. Almost the whole region is made of infrastructure build, with VERY small parcels made available to 8 residents. Each area is the size of a full region, with a landmark unique to it. Landmarks are where the resident "lives" among a more detailed infrastructure build for the area. Tier for these parcels are a premium; but considering you have the surrounding 256 meters built for you, as well as the landmark, and no neighbors within 400 meters of you, it's quite appealing to some! Regions that belong to this type: Burnt Oak, The Sand Seas.

Selling Your Land

One day, you may decide to leave The Wastelands for one reason or another. As long as you have positive tier remaining on your parcel, you're allowed to sell (or gift) your land to other residents. Since this estate came into existence, there has never been a single instance where a parcel was transferred with overdue tier, and it went smoothly. There has always been an issue. Because of the inevitable complications involved for the land buyer: if your land is both for sale AND overdue, it WILL BE RECLAIMED by the estate the very day it is overdue. There is NO tier grace period for land that is both for sale and overdue. You can either abandon the land, or pay tier to keep it for sale.

Land Flipping

In order to prevent the act of land flipping, the following rule must be established: If you are selling land and it's been less than one month after it's claimed date (in about land) -- you may not sell "to everyone" for a price higher than what you bought it for. If you've owned the land for more than a month, or are selling it to a specific person, feel free to sell it at whatever price you want. Land flipping is both harmful to the estate, and buyers who are legitimately looking for a good deal. Those who flip are taking advantage of both of those things, and it's something the estate won't tolerate.

If you buy some land (from the estate directly, or another resident), set it for sale at a higher price, AND you've owned the land less than a month, estate management will treat this as land flipping. You will be asked to reduce the for sale price or cancel your land sale. If you do not comply within 24 hours, your land will be reclaimed by the estate.

Subletting Land

Only individuals who meet the following prerequisites may sublet land:

You must own and maintain 3750 primitives worth of tier. Fall below this threshold and you may not sublet any further.
You must obtain permission to sublet from NeoBokrug Elytis.

OR...

You must rent a whole Homestead region.

WL: Game Rules

As a landowner, there is only one rule you need to be aware of relating to the combat game hosted on this estate: You may not use your land powers as a tactical advantage over other players. This includes banning, ejecting, and freezing avatars while playing the game. Violation of this rule will result in a suspension or ban from playing the games.

Content and Theme

We operate a themed estate in Second Life and our theme of choice is the post apocalypse genre. There is a lot of post apocalyptic media, and we have been influenced by a ton of it. However, during the five years of hosting this community, we've etched out our own vision of what the post apocalypse could be. This is covered in great detail in our RP section of this wiki, and many residents choose to build to suit that. But that doesn't mean we don't welcome other forms of post apocalyptic expression to some extent.

Intellectual Property

Also known as IP, will be honored in this estate. Those who violate others IP in SL shall be ejected from the estate. IP is a very serious issue, with very real legal ramifications. If you copy-bot content that is not yours, you will be Abuse Reported, banned from the estate, and more than likely have a DMCA filed against you by the creator.

Content Blacklist

For context of this section, "the cutoff date" means August 1st 2015.

Beginning August 1st 2015, any land that has a "Claimed" date that is after the cutoff date will be subject to new rules regarding what is allowed to be rezzed upon your parcel. You can find out your claim date by going to "About Land" while over your parcel. Buying, selling, or deeding your land to a group will change the parcels claim date -- and it will make your parcel subject to the new rules.

The specific rule is that any content created by any of the creators on the Content Blacklist, is expressly forbidden from being rezzed upon the estate after the cutoff date. This is a short list of the biggest offenders that I see on the estate most often. I will update the list as time allows. Additionally, if you have content that is a copy of something created by someone on the blacklist, but not actually created by them -- it still counts as being blacklisted. I know it seems confusing and the SL Marketplace is a big place, which is why I've taken the time to make some citations to screenshots of the original games for the stores.

If you have blacklisted content on your land, we will ask you nicely to pick it up within 24 hours. After 24 hours we'll send you another IM and probably return the items to your Lost and Found folder. If you insist on re-rezzing the items on your land despite our warnings, we'll reclaim your land. It may sound harsh, but the policy is pretty simple, and I won't argue over who is and isn't allowed to have content on the estate or semantics.

Finally, I've included some "Wastelands Endorsements" on the blacklist as well. These are people who make themed original content. You're better giving your money to them, than scammers or content rippers. Original content creators work much harder than those found on the blacklist, and they ought to get your hard earned spacebux.

Grandfathered Parcels

If your land has a "Claimed" date before the cutoff date, the content you have on your land will be exempt from our scrutiny.

Restricted Content

While we do allow pretty much anything to be built on your land that is thematic, there are a few things that are not allowed on the estate.

Anything that violates the SL ToS is not allowed. This includes casinos, first life religion or politics, racial slurs and hate speech.
Anything that belongs on an Adult region is not allowed. We are a Moderate rated estate.
Content that puts a great strain on region resources is also not allowed. Some examples are Temp Rezzers or "Prim Savers", overly popular clubs, griefer weapons, and camping chairs.
Content that restricts avatars freedoms are not allowed. This includes security systems, broad ban lines, and caging weapons.
Signs that are full bright or overly eye-catchy are not allowed. The ONLY land for sale signs allowed on the estate can be found here.
Real world national or group symbolism is not allowed. This includes flags, seals, and similar things. Fictional symbolism is fine, as long as it isn't just a remix of real world symbolism. The Wastelands strives to avoid projecting the real world into the estate because deep down, we're all here to escape.

Anything that is not thematic is allowed but must be built at an elevation of 512m or higher.

Restricted content is not allowed at any height.

Breedable Pets

A breedable pet is a scripted object that produces offspring. They are very popular in SL, and residents often either love them or hate them. In order to save time, frustration, and most importantly confusion, we've come up with the following breedable pet policy that is sort of a middle ground for everyone.

Breedable pets are considered non-thematic by the management of the estate, no matter how thematic they look or how hard you try to shoehorn them into role play. They ARE allowed at elevations greater than 512m, but any lower and management will ask you to move them.
Everything in moderation. If you start using more than your fair share of region resources, we will ask you to cull the herd.
"Pets" that were never designed to produce offspring, and reasonably fit within the theme of the estate, are allowed below 512m.

Cost

Tier Rates
Prims	L$ Weekly*	USD-Weekly
Full - 312	L$553	$2.12
Full - 468	L$830	$3.18
Full - 625	L$1110	$4.25
Full - 937	L$1660	$6.36
Full - 1250	L$2218	$8.50
Homestead	L$9135	$35.00
Outland - 307	L$660	$2.53
Outland - 580	L$1318	$5.05
Desolate - 195	L$1025	$4.06
Plus - 234	L$326	$1.28
Plus - 468	L$665	$2.55
Plus - 702	L$1000	$3.83
Plus - 936	L$1331	$5.10
* L$ Prices	are	approximate

In order to maintain your land here in The Wastelands, you must continue to pay for it. Think of it as a subscription to the community. In truth, I am just a middleman -- Linden Lab bills me for the land, and then I bill the residents to maintain the regions. Because of that, you don't need a premium SL account to live here. The small markup on tier helps us maintain the estate and the theme, run events, and develop new fun things for residents and visitors.

Unlike most estates in SL who bill per the square meter, we bill by the prim and region type. Any long term estate owner will tell you that the proper measurement of usage is the prim count, not square meters. This keeps it simple because we can adjust the prim multipliers on each sim, and still bill everything the same. None of that shady "double prims" business -- because when it comes down to it, you're still paying the same amount on a different size of land. Our current rates in USD weekly/monthly across the estate are to the right.

All payments must be made in Linden Dollars to the Tier Payment board, or by Tier Auto-Pay. If you are overdue with tier payments, as much as pains me to do it, I must reclaim your land. Linden Lab doesn't allow me any breaks on my tier, so I cannot allow much of a break on anyone else's tier. Fortunately with proper and approved notice we allow tier to be overdue for short periods of time. We have also have grace period for un-notified late payments, which is covered in detail below.

Any land that is purchased from the estate owner (NeoBokrug Elytis) always includes 4 weeks of tier. Any land that is purchased from another resident might have more, might have less, and very rarely might have a negative amount of time left. When in doubt, ask the estate management for a information on a specific chunk of land before you purchase the land!

All tier payments and land purchases are final, and THERE ARE NO REFUNDS! I cannot stress this enough. If you buy land and you don't want it the next day, it is your responsibility to sell it before your tier meter runs out.

The Patreon Discount

The Patreon discount is a automatically applied to your tier payment calculation depending on patreons performance for the previous month. The way it works is patrons support the estate through patreon donations, and the more funds that are recieved through patreon, the higher the discount becomes. This discount is calculated on the fifth of the month, and varies from month to month. It could be as little as no discount at all, or as much as 99% off! However, because this rate changes from month to month, all land holders are still liable for the full rate of tier at any given time. That means you should not rely on the discount as part of your pricing when acquiring land.

Patreon Caveats

The tier discount only applies at the time of payment, and does not apply to any previous payments made.

If at any time there's enough donations to meet any of the patreon tier discount goals, the maximum amount of time of any tier payment will be limited to 4 weeks in the future, instead of the normal 12. There are no refunds for tier paid ahead of those weeks where a discount would have been applicable, nor will the time you've already paid for be lost. You just won't be able to pay more than 4 weeks of tier.

If there is a tier discount in effect, parcels that are owned by the estate and for sale will be marked *UP* above whatever the discount currently is. For instance 5% discount would equate to a 105% land purchase price. Patrons who don't currently own any land may request to buy a single parcel it's original cost.

The Patreon Discount does not apply to land purchases, and only to tier payments made after the land is initially purchased.

Tier Grace Period

For every 4 weeks of consecutive occupancy after the initial land purchase date, you will be granted one day of grace period up to a maximum of 7 days. The exception to this is if your land is set for sale; then you have a 0 day grace period because land is not allowed to be sold if it is overdue. There is NO tier grace period for land that is both for sale and overdue. If you want to help insure your land from most issues that would prevent you from paying tier on time, please consider setting up an auto tier paying mailbox. At the same time make sure your have some L$ available in your Second Life account for the mailbox to deduct from. We realize that real life is chaotic and unpredictable; so with at least 24 hours of notice we can sometimes hold off on reclaiming land beyond your grace period, but you MUST contact us! 99% of the time we can work something out, no matter your current situation.

This policy is on a parcel per parcel basis. For example, if you've lived at one place for over a year you'd have 7 days of grace before it was reclaimed. But if you owned another piece of land for only 2 months, that would only have two days.

Covering Our Butts

I want the general spirit of the estate to be, "Have a good time, and respect the people behind other avatars." The management of The Wastelands is very forgiving and understanding, but some people in the past have chosen to repeatedly take advantage of that fact. In situations like these, where people will skirt technicalities and abuse our trust, we need the power to ban for whatever reason we see fit. That's not to say it comes lightly, but some people won't understand that unless you spell it out for them. These are the fringe cases in which the person is causing more harm than good to the community and to those managing it.

In the event where diplomacy fails, we retain the "right to refuse service to anyone" as pretty much any establishment has. As such, we reserve the right to:

Change this covenant to accommodate situations that fall outside normal practices.
Ban anyone for any reason or no reason.
Return any object on the estate.
Reclaim any land for any reason or no reason, without a refund.

Special Thanks

We'd like to thank...

The Developers and Road Crew who help maintain the estate, both current and past.
Desmond Shang for your initial encouragement and words of wisdom that got the estate off the ground.
Warren Ellis, for your initial word of mouth that helped the estate bloom.
The growing and thriving community that is the Wastelands. Without you all, there wouldn't even be a Wastelands in Second Life. The tens of thousands of man hours the community as a whole spends here clearly shows through our builds, events, and much more. We're so much more than an estate now, we're a huge community represented through the estate. I am forever grateful to each and every one of you who helped my initial idea flourish.
And finally, Henry Bemis. For your unending devotion to reading, even after the bomb fell.

Difference between revisions of "Covenant"