Well firstly some introductions. I'm
Simon Gutteridge (known on the OSGrid as James Beejay or Richard
Senior in Second Life). After a long Second Life I discovered
OpenSim and specifically the OSGrid in 2008. Being a technically
minded person who dedicates most of his time to helping others I
quickly found that people needed help getting into OpenSim and
created PioneerX
Estates an OpenSim Hosting company to make life easier for
all.
So now you have discovered OpenSimulator
(OpenSim) and want to know how you get involved. As with it's
SecondLife counterpart, OpenSim is based on Avatars (virtual
people) and virtual land. Virtual Land is combined to form a
virtual world known as a Grid. Grids come in private or public
forms and some offer land for purchase only (following the
SecondLife model) and some such as the popular OSGrid allow you to
'create' your own land and attach it to the Grid. For the purposes
of this article we will cover the options available for connection
to the public grids such as the OSGrid.
Ok, you have created your Avatar (on the grid
homepage) and had a look around your chosen grid, now you want some
land. There are many options available to achieve the land you
desire and choosing the one that suits you best is not an easy
task. In it's simplest form land in a virtual world is actually
resources on a server somewhere. The more resources available the
more land or objects on the land you can have at any one time.
So what options do you have?
Free Plots of Land
(Homesteads).
These are plot of land offered to the
community for free by people who have 'spare' space on servers of
there own and offer this space to the general public.
How do I get one?
These are mostly offered on the
community forums so if you have not yet done so it is worth signing
up on the forum relating to your grid of choice. The forum is a
great community place as well as where you will find the 'free'
land.
How much land do I get?
These plots of land are at the
discretion of the person providing them and generally vary in size
from 1024sqm to 4096sqm. The amount of objects (prims) that this
can support varies depending on the person providing
them.
How much does it cost?
These plots are offered free of charge
so there is no cost involved
What's the advantage?
The biggest advantage with this type of
land is that it is absolutely free. With no costs or management
involved it is the easiest option to get a limited quantity of
land.
Where's the disadvantage?
The disadvantage here is that the amount
of land, both in size and the amount of objects it can handle.
These limits are generally quite small for free land. In addition
to this your land is at the discretion of someone else and as such
it's availability or stability cant be guaranteed.
Rented Plots
This follows the SecondLife model in
that you can rent a plot of land for your use. The payment options
for such land varies from virtual currency (on grids that support
it) to small donations (or month costs) via such payment types as
Paypal.
How do I get one?
Most often you will find this type of
land offered for sale through the website of the owner and
advertised on the forum associated with your grid of
choice.
How much land do I get?
These plots of land vary in size but are
most commonly found for around ¼ of a 'sim' that's 16,384sqm
of land.
How much does it cost?
Prices vary massively from provider to
provider so read the other options available and shop around. It is
often easier to get Rented Regions than single plots of land. Also
as the value of the 'virtual currency' on grids that support
currency can vary massively you should always check against real
world values.
What's the advantage?
The advantage here is that you get a
large quantity of land than with free options and often these
support more objects (prims).
Where's the disadvantage?
The disadvantage is that it is often
cheaper to shop around and use one of the other options below than
to buy a plot this way.
Rented Regions
This follows the SecondLife model where
you rent a full region of land (65,536sqm) from a company or person
offering the service. Some grids only offer this type of land,
however with most of the 'public' connection grids such as the
OSGrid this service is offered by third party companies.
How do I get one?
These are mostly advertised on the
website of the company providing them or on the forums of your
chosen grid. If the grid proves this themselves it will often
appear on there website and generally in the 'Land Store' or
similar named section.
How much land do I get?
By there very nature these are entire
regions and are therefore 65,536sqm in size. The only thing that
varies from provider to provider is the amount of objects (prims)
supported in the price. These can range anywhere from around 2000
upwards and are generally prices accordingly.
How much does it cost?
This varies from provider to provider
and from package to package. You should consider the amount of
money your paying verses the amount of objects the land will
support.
What's the advantage?
The biggest advantage with this type of
land is that you can get a large amount of land and a respectable
amount prims for a reasonable cost, but have none of the server
management hassles
Where's the disadvantage?
The disadvantage here is that your
amount of land is fixed. Consider you purchase 65,536sqm of land
which will support 10,000 prims for $75 a month and you decide that
you only want to use 5,000 prims on the land. This option will not
allow you to setup a second plot of land at 65,536sqm and use the
remain prims on that land. You are fixed to the one area of
65,536sqm
Home Hosted
Server
This is where you take a PC at home and
install the OpenSimulator software directly to it then connect this
PC to the grid to supply your land. Remember not all grids support
this type of connection but the ever popular OSGrid
does.
How do I get one?
You download the OpenSimulator software
into either your normal home PC or a spare you have lying around.
Once installed and setup to connect to your chosen grid this PC
will then provide the resources to run your land.
How much land do I get?
As with all OpenSim land the amount of
land and the amount of prims supported is dependant on the amount
of resource available in the server machine. If your home machine
has windows XP and 2Gb of available RAM then you can expect to be
able to have between 2 and 4 regions (65,536sqm each) of land and
support a total of around 20,000 prims.
How much does it cost?
There is no cost as this is based on
your own provided resources.
What's the advantage?
The biggest advantage with this way of
doing things is that you get more land and prims than any other
low/none cost solution. You also have direct access to the OpenSim
console so you can use server commands to control your
land.
Where's the disadvantage?
The disadvantage here is the internet
connection you have at home. Because your server must support all
avatars visiting your region the amount of data moved over your
internet connection can become a limiting factor. Additionally if
you place this on a PC that is not running 24/7 then when the PC is
not running the land and objects on it will not be available. In
grids such as the OSGrid if regions are offline for extended
periods of time then the map location they occupy is made available
to other people and you risk loosing the location.
It should also be considered that it
will be your responsibility to keep the OpenSim server software on
your PC up to date and configured correctly.
Rented Server (Dedicated or
Virtual)
This option is where you rent a server
from a providing company and install the OpenSim software just as
you would on a home machine. The reason behind this is that a
server in a datacenter will have much better internet connection
and resources available than your home machine.
How do I get one?
Sign up and rent a server (dedicated or
virtual) from a suitable hosting company. Generally the most cost
effective way is to rent a linux based virtual private server (or
VPS). The provider will give you access details to the server.
Following some of the excellent guides on MAXPING you can setup
this server to interface with your grid of choice and provide your
land and objects.
How much land do I get?
This depends on the size of the server
you order. The limiting factor is generally the amount of RAM
available in the server. The RAM must fit the linux system, the
OpenSim software and then the additional space is used for land and
object storage as well as running visiting avatars. For example 2-4
regions (65,536sqm each) would fit into a 1024Mb server with enough
space left over to support around 15,000-20,000 prims (objects).
For more on how these prim limits actually function take a look at
'How Prim Limits Work'
How much does it cost?
It is worth shopping around for your
server as prices do vary from company to company. However you can
expect to pay £30-50 for 1024Mb (1Gb) server.
What's the advantage?
The biggest advantage here is that you
are in complete control of the server and therefore the way it's
resources are allocated. The amount of land available impacts the
amount of resources for objects. The more land you decide to have
the less objects across the whole land.
Where's the disadvantage?
The disadvantage of having your own
server is that you much mange the software on the server. It is up
to you to install, update and maintain the OpenSim software running
on the server. Even with the excellent 'How to' guides this can be
a daunting task for those not use to working with servers or
command line utilities.
Professional Hosting
This option is generally the best of all
worlds. The advantages of Renting a server without the down sides
of having to do the management yourself. OpenSim hosting companies
which provide the server fully setup and
managed for a modest fee.
How do I get
one?
Hosting companies will often sell there
services through there own websites and advertising. Also they can
be located through the forum of your chosen grid.
Once you have select your hosting
company you need to follow there sign up procedure.
How much land do I
get?
This varies on the package you purchase
and price you pay. However the cheapest of deals is not always the
best. There are some hosters out there that make claims to the
amount of objects and land there servers will support that are
unrealistic at best. As with anything in life if it's too good to
be true it probably is.
How much does it
cost?
As a guide, prices around the
£40($60)-£80($110) a month should get you a server
offering 1-4 regions of land with prim support around 15-20,000.
Don't be tempted by offers stating '20,000 prims, 10 regions of
land for $20 a month'. For more on how these prim limits actually
function take a look at 'How Prim Limits Work'
What's the
advantage?
The biggest advantage here is that
hosting takes away the hassle of running your own server while
providing large areas of land and large prim numbers. Having a
server provided by a professional hoster also give you access to
all the expertise available at your chosen company. Often these
hosters will prove an easy to use web interface and/or access to
your servers console if you would like it.
Where's the disadvantage?
The disadvantage of using hosting is
that the price is higher than any other option. This is because you
not only pay for the server resources you need to run the land and
provide the objects but you also pay for the service of setup,
maintenance, update and even staffed helpdesks in the case of some
providers.
Examples of those offering various
ways to rent land
PioneerX Estates
Snoopy
Adam Firsbys Deepthink
Ralf Haifisch
Looking for Free (Homestead) Land, take a look
at
OSGrid - Region Forum
Final words…..Well my advice would
always be, read up on your options and make your choice. Shop
around for a good deal but double check that deal is realistically
priced. There is nothing worse than not getting a service level you
expect. Oh and of course read MAXPING for all the best help and
advice on OpenSim.
We recommend that you discuss this article on Think, but if you really want to you can leave a comment right here as well: