Introduce a new 'class' of sim

...not to mention fewer neighbour disputes because people are less likely to build right up the boundary line -- if they have fewer prims per sq.m.

No. These sims should be several times bigger than existing sims (ie. there would be far more terrain to traverse). The prim count should be the same though. So, if a 'supersim' was four times larger than a regular sim, a 2048m2 parcel would be the equivalent of a regular sim's 512m2... but it would still only have 117 prims available.

The idea is to deter people from building border to border, and to leave some terrain exposed so more land is visible and the environment looks more natural instead of cluttered.

Do follow the discussion link. We had an interesting chat about this, and the idea seemed quite popular.

Seems like openspace sims (Void sim is the WRONG name) already do what you're asking.

No they don't!

The 4 x figure was just a number pulled out of my ass. If you read the discussion, you'll even see that I mentioned "If nine times larger, then a 4608m2 would have a 117 allowance.".

Also, this is meant to be a MAINLAND -- not a private island -- proposition, because that is where clutter, and hidden & unnatural, terrain is a problem. Where there is no zoning. Where people build right up to each others borders because they can. Where the neighborhood disputes come from that the Lindens won't do anything about because to act on them would overwhelm CS resources.

The idea came after seeing vast beautiful, glorious, vast open spaces in Entropia Universe, the like of which will never, ever be seen in SL because simulators simply have too little terrain with too high a prim concentration.

Having a sim big as 9 with the same prims is just a waste of space. Sure, great for a forest for example, but not for living. A sim as big as 4 though, sounds OK. But, like said earlier, you can do this with 4 Openspace sims which will eventually be the cost of a normal sim. In addition, there are user-owned mainlands (as far as I know. If there aren't, there should be.) to which you can "connect" and buy 4 Openspace sims.

...and why would a forest be a waste of space? Or, how about a 16 sim 4x4 on a single server without borders for a vehicles location? Not everyone comes to SL to live in suburbia - a lot of us come here exactly to get AWAY from it!