Sub-Zones & Renting
Zone owners can subdivide their zones into sub-zones — smaller areas with independent ownership, permissions, and build access. This enables the landlord/tenant economy that powers The Grid's commercial spaces.
How It Works
A sub-zone is a defined 3D volume within a parent zone. The zone owner creates sub-zones and can either assign them for free or rent them to other players.
Example: A Shopping Mall
Imagine you own a District-sized zone and build a shopping mall:
- You build the mall structure — walls, floors, hallways, common areas
- You create sub-zones for each store unit (e.g., "Store A1", "Store A2")
- You list them for rent at 100 credits/month
- Other players browse your available sub-zones and lease one
- Tenants customize their store with their own textures, objects, and scripts
- Visitors walk through your mall and browse each tenant's shop
You (the landlord) control the mall structure and common areas. Tenants control only their leased store space.
Tenant Rights
When you rent a sub-zone, you can:
- Build within your sub-zone boundaries
- Upload custom textures, models, and audio
- Run scripts attached to objects in your space
- Configure your sub-zone settings (within the landlord's rules)
- See who's visiting your space
You cannot:
- Modify anything outside your sub-zone
- Change parent zone settings
- Access other tenants' sub-zones
- Perform admin/mod actions on the parent zone
Landlord Controls
As a zone owner with sub-zones, you can:
- Set rent prices and billing cycles (daily, weekly, monthly)
- Approve or deny tenant applications
- Evict tenants (with a 48-hour grace period)
- Set rules for tenants (max asset size, content policies, etc.)
- Enter any sub-zone at any time
- View analytics — foot traffic, revenue, visitor demographics
Rent & Billing
- Rent is paid in Grid Credits
- Deducted automatically at the start of each billing cycle
- The platform takes a 5% commission on all rent payments
- If a tenant can't pay, they get a 48-hour grace period
- After the grace period, the lease ends and the sub-zone returns to "available"
- All placed blocks and assets remain for a configurable period before cleanup
Sub-Zone Limits
| Zone Tier | Default Sub-Zone Limit |
|---|---|
| Plot | 2 |
| District | 8 |
| Region | 32 |
| Realm | 256 |
Additional sub-zone slots can be purchased as a premium add-on.
Boundaries
Sub-zone boundaries are enforced by both the game client and the server:
- Visual indicators show boundaries in build mode (subtle colored outlines)
- Build restrictions prevent placing blocks outside your sub-zone
- Server validation rejects any block placement that falls outside bounds
- No overlap — sub-zones cannot intersect with each other