Glossary: Second Life and Terrain Terms Defined

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Glossary

 

Estate

A collection of Regions owned by a single user

 

Plot/Parcel

Regions can be divided into smaller plots or parcels and either sold or leased to other users. Parcels share the terrain textures of the host Region and can be individually terraformed using the in-world terraforming tools.

Private Island

Synonym of Region although sometimes confused with an island shaped parcel of land within a Region.

 

RAW file

an image file used by Second Life to determine the height and certain properties of a region.

Region

A contiguous 65,536 square metres area in Second Life owned by a single user and running on a single Sim.

 

Sim

Sim, abbreviation for Simulator. The name given to a single instance of the Second Life server software used to represent a Region.

Sim and Region are commonly used interchangeably but care should be taken to avoid confusion. It is quite possible for one person to own all the land in a region (65,536 square metres) but not be listed as the sim owner.

Sim Owner

Currently the only person who can upload external terrain files.

Listed as Owner in the Region/Estate dialogue.

 

Terraform/Terraforming

In the context of Second Life, Terraforming is the art of creating a terrain. This can be by using the in-world land editing tools or by uploading a RAW terrain file.