On Monday, April 20th, 2026 Linden Lab hosted a Town Hall meeting to discuss the upcoming transition of the Gaeta 1 standalone Mainland continent and the 90-region expansion to the Zindra Adult continent. For detailed context on these changes, please refer to the following blog posts:
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The Town Hall was held to offer more information on the upcoming changes – which will be implemented over the course of the rest of the year and see those on Gaeta 1 transitioned away from that continent to land holdings of equitable size elsewhere on Mainland (and not necessarily Zindra), prior to Gaeta 1 being taken off-line, with the steady built-up of the more coastal region of Zindra over the same time period – and to address questions and feedback from Second Life residents.
A number of Lab Land and Support staff attended the meeting, with Derrick Linden fielding the majority of questions, with support from Oatmeal Linden, Whitney Linden and Wendi Linden.
The following is not intended as a full transcript of the Town Hall, but a summary of key questions / suggestions and their responses.
There was a large degree of conversation, particularly during the latter parts of the meeting, which was technically outside the scope of the meeting. This broader conversation included subjects like Zindra land prices, GTFO hubs, extending Mainland road systems, ad farms, Tiny Empires bots, and Yava pods, and is not reflected in the notes below, given the topics a) were mostly outside of any discussion on the Gaeta-1 / Zindra focus and b) did not garner significant responses from the Lab personnel at the meeting.
The meeting utilised local chat rather than Voice, and these notes have been taken from a chat transcript of the meeting provided by Pantera Północy (I missed the meeting myself, due to various reasons), and a summary of major questions and answers supplied by Neon Lyter. Pantera’s video of the session is also embedded at the end of this article – my thanks to both Pantera and to Neon for providing the video and information.
Introductions – Main Speakers
- Derrick Linden – Senior Manager of Product Operations, who has been with the Lab for almost 15 years.
- Whitney Linden – Supervisor of the Land Operations Team, who has been at the Lab for 14 years.
- Oatmeal Linden: Land Specialist with 4+ years at the Lab.
- Wendi Linden: Land Specialist with 7 years at the Lab.
Recap: Why are These Changes Being Made?
- Overall, these changes are designed to reflect how Mainland is currently being used.
- Adult regions continue to see strong demand and high occupancy, while some General and Moderate areas, including Gaeta 1, have seen lower usage over time.
- Rather than expanding total Mainland size, LL is reallocating capacity to better match that demand.
Impact on Gaeta 1 Residents
- For Gaeta 1 landowners, this will be a gradual, supported process running through the end of 2026.
- No regions will close without advance notice, and every impacted landowner will receive direct outreach with relocation options.
- This includes size-for-size parcel replacements, with flexibility to move to Zindra or other Mainland areas depending on individual preferences.
- The goal is to make this transition thoughtful and resident-focused, and LL want to give residents time, clear options, and direct support throughout.
Questions and Answers
General
Suggestion: Zindra has lots of troubles with open water traversal. The HOA-gated nature of Linden Homes could be a solution here. Build A-rated Linden Homes along the outskirts of the new expansion, among water like the stilt/houseboat concept, so that LL doesn’t have to run water regions with no paying customers in them while also restricting people from blocking access routes?
Response: Unfortunately we’re not here to talk about Bellisseria or Linden Homes products. This is certainly an option that we have available to us, and we will take it into consideration as we consider future plans here.
Q: Will small areas of protected land possibly be opened?
A: 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.
Q: will there be any water regions along the protected waters opening for purchase? Most of the ones that are here have already been purchased up by land companies.
A: 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.
Q: I live in a PG location so I have a concern: is this the beginning of a trend to reduce PG lands to zero?
A: No, no plans on that with PG land.
Q: [Is] Sharp (formerly the Teen Grid continent, and also unfinished, like Gaeta-1) next?
A: We have no plans or changes anticipated for Sharp or any other Mainland continents at this time.
Q: 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?
A: 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.
[Note: a follow-on question to this asking why resources are allocated / reserved for Linden Homes when the older themes have such a high vacancy rate, rather than revamping them. This went unanswered as outside the scope of the meeting.]
Q: Is this part of an overall resurgence in a focus on Mainland architecture? Or is this a one- time project?
A: 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.
We have also been doing more maintenance on existing Mainland (for example, the snow lands chair lifts, etc.). Please let us know about other potential broken content that needs some fixing, too.
Q: 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?
A: 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.
Concerns were also raised throughout the meeting about:
- The potential lack of available land facing open water on other Mainland continents which could be offered like-for-like to those on Gaeta-1 who have shorefront / open water land at present.
- The risk of those on Zindra losing their open water views as new regions are added.
- Neither of these concerns were directly addressed by the Lab.
Gaeta 1 Specific
Q: Did the Lindens already mention how many people this is estimated to actually affect who actually log on?
A: There were 349 unique land owners or groups as of April 15th that owned land on Gaeta 1.
Q: How will the actual moving process take place? Is the land owner responsible for actually moving their own items?
A: 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.
Q: Why not finish Gaeta 1?
A: 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 which is unoccupied and unutilised. As mentioned in the blog, we want to shift this land into more desirable adult Mainland, and use it as an opportunity to finish out the Zindra continent.
Q: 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?
A: This is something we anticipate some users needing, and we will absolutely be working with them to the best ability we can to make this transition as smooth as possible. And that does include possibly assisting them in this exact manner.
Q: What about people who have SL families with child avatars who are living on Gaeta I? They can’t move to an adult continent.
A: We are assisting everyone with their particular land needs. If they are unable to or do not prefer Adult Mainland, we are helping them find alternatives.
[Also it has been made clear in the official blog post that no-one currently on Gaeta 1 must move to Zindra, the creation of new Zindra regions is somewhat tangential to the Gaeta 1 transition, the two only linked by timing and the aforementioned wish to re-balance land allocation towards the higher demand of Adult regions.]
Q: [abridged and partially paraphrased for length]: Gaeta 1 was originally created in 2008. Why was the continent left unfinished? Zindra meanwhile, was announced in June 2009 with work on the land starting shortly after, but then left incomplete for 15 years. Why the change of heart after over a decade of residents pleading with Linden Lab to provide additional adult Mainland? Why is Gaeta 1 being sacrificed? Gaeta 1 has 10.2% of land abandoned, but Jeogeot has 29.6% and Satori 27%. Why should the residents of these continents not be concerned that their creations, their effort and time, might just be done away with?
Bellisseria also has large tracts of unoccupied homes (e.g. Alpine Homes (69%); Fantasy Homes (48% occupied), with Bellisseria as a whole only 39% occupied. Why is more effort being put into expanding Bellisseria when there’s this much product currently unused? Why not halt the expansion of Bellisseria or repurpose land from there instead?
A: 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.
Q: 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 choose to buy more than what we currently own for example if it’s a 1/2 sim can we get a full region in the expansion option too? And what will be the pricing on that?
A: No, it will be same sized parcels for parcel placement.
Q: 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?
A: 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.
Q: What if you first tried to redesign Gaeta I and move it to Gaeta V, for example between the North-western part of Gaeta V and the North-eastern part of Corsica, 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.
A: 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.
Q: 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?
A: Unfortunately, we don’t have any options available to us to selectively relocate specific objects like this.
Q: Can we have a meeting with just Gaeta 1 people, just to sort out things more in detail?
A: 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.
Q: How is contact being handled in the case of group owned land?
A: 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.
Q: Does anyone know if any of the Gaeta I regions have already begun to disappear?
A: Not yet – we’re beginning the process over the next 2-3 weeks.
We are not deactivating any regions until the land owners there have been able to find new locations.
Zindra Specific
Q: What steps are you going to take to ensure that the new land in Zindra is not immediately bought up by land barons?
A: 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.
Q: So, will Gaetans also get first dibs on scooping up some additional Adult land before the land hoarders that aren’t Gaetans? If so how much we looking at pricing wise?
A: Answered this already, but just to reconfirm – yes, Gaeta 1 landowners will get first dibs [on the new Zindra lands, if they want]. Pricing will remain the same on your current tier structure as long as you’re just doing a like-for-like parcel switch.
Q: In terms of void edge land on Gaeta, what is considered comparable on Zindra? Is it ocean access?
A: This land [void on Gaeta 1] 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.
Q: Will the new Zindra regions have PBR terrain?
A: We are updating the land textures to a higher resolution [2k], but not PBR.
Q: Can you set expectations 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?
A: 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.
Q: Will there be a possible chance in the future that Zindra might be connected to the rest of Mainland?
A: No, this is not possible. We do not place Adult and G/M rated regions adjacent to one another.
Those wishing to offer feedback on the Gaeta-1 and Zindra changes, these can be posted via the forum discussion thread.
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