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Player housing!
Shiineko
Member Posts: 161
Where are all the games with player housing at? Everquest 2 and Neocron would be the only games with decent player housing that I can think of.
Too many development teams are focusing their efforts on combat-related activities and not paying attention to easier and more-accessible non-combat related fun stuff.
Instead, they are focusing their attention on gear grinding. Where is the role-play in killing the same stupid raid bosses over and over? These games need to be re-classified as something other than "role-playing game" to be honest. Excuse my rant, and let us get back to the topic at hand...
If you know of any game that has decent player housing in it (FFXI's mog house is not player-housing, by the way.) POST IT HERE! Let's get people who care about that informed of other games current-- or future-- that have player housing in it!
(TL;DR: Less combat-related endgame and more non-combat related end-game. Stop calling it RPGs if it's an action-adventure game.)
Comments
From upcoming not yet released titles ArcheAge will have really good housing system. You will be able to build house in normal open persistant world (not instanced) , houses size will be from tiny to quite big. Various house styles are planned. Guilds will be able to build castles in special 3rd continent.
Rome Gods and Heroes (or what it's called) seems to have pretty good player housing too.
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
I used to play Runes of Magic, and they too have a player housing system, and gives you bonues on certain furnature that could aid you.
0.01% of players care about housing (guesstimation). You really don't want to put money into such features.
Combat is something that most people do most of the time in most games. It is good to focus on combat. Good combat can be a game maker and bad combat is often a game breaker.
Housing is usually just a fluff-feature. Nobody cares if it is done badly and hardly anyone notices if it is done well.
I wouldn't hold my breath.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
I think it's much higher than that, not a majority of any kind but not 0.01% either. Even WoW forums have threads about housing popping up pretty often and that's where i would least expect to find people requesting it.
It's not going to happen in an AAA game anytime soon, but i'm sure there's a market for a niche game that gets housing right (ArchAge shows a lot of potential in that direction...)
How to do player housing: EQ II.
How NOT to do player housing: Lotro.
SWTOR has player housing similar to what EQII did, you get your own ship where you can store stuff and go to for crafting.
player houseing in LOTR was so imersion breaking , that i couldn't play the game after discovering the housing area!
btw among all the other great things to look forward to in GW2 here is a statement about housing
He mentioned that there will be no Guild Halls on release as we want to make Guild Halls a great experience and not just a "place". We will introduce player housing at some point after launch, and at that time we will also implement guild halls.
You could decorate your houses in EQII. You can't decorate the inside of your ship in SWTOR. At least not at launch.
Good to hear but, at one point or another, on every new mmorpg release last years the housing question poped up and the Devs answer is always the same: Planned down the road, after launch etc.. to never be implemented. Will be a nice surprise if this time is for real.
Back on topic I agree with the OP, endgame non combat activities would be nice. As others have said EQ2 housing is a good example of that, even if it is instanced, is as sandboxy you can get with housing (Check this link for examples http://eq2decorators.com/ideagallery.html.). I even know people who are still playing EQ2 since launch because they can't imagine playing a game without that housing freedom. For them housing is the endgame, and SoE knows it because every expansion/event expands housing options aswell.
Endgame being only based in combat just shows the lack of imagination, thinking out of the box and the high grade of sheeping, game companies show since 2004.
edit: grammar.
Thats one of the things I dislike about SW:TOR: it doesnt have serious housing.
You get a "house" but its your star ship and every character gets its own and its forcefed to you (you dont get a choice and you dont have to work for it).
It is only natural to find such threads there. People that are fine with not having player housing don't go to forums to write about it. There is a higher than average concentration of minorities in these forums aswell. People don't really like sandboxes, harsh death penalties and free for all PvP all that much whatever you may have learned from reading these forums.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Vanguad: Saga of Heroes as some nice player housing as well...
You have 2 optins. Either buy a house or a ship (or both). Ship is (of course) a moving sort of house, while the real house allows you storage. Both come if different shapes & sizes.
Tosh.
The fan base for housing is huge, it's just that housing fans are generally better natured social types that don't post continously on forums whining about it one way or the other, so remain an invisible demographic for the most part.
The designer that ignores 'just fluff' in terms of community creation and player retention is an idiot tbh. 'Just fluff' is essential in any MMORPG thats more then just a combat system and some maps. TBH, any game in this genre that launched as just that probably wouldnt get my interest at the start and certainly wouldnt hold it past the free month.
Both GW2 and SWtoR understand this with their 'personal areas', both of which are foundations for future development.
If you like player housing fine that is your right.
But what is the point of housing? You don't get cold,You don't need to eat and you don't sleep so all primary need for housing is complety unnessary in a game.The only purpose is storage but games have banks where players store their stuff so it is complete unnessary in most games and it is just a fluff feature for rpers.The resources that takes to have houses some times are better use elsewhere.
I am strong believer in fluff even though i don't use it but given the choice between PvP,PVE,Crafting and Fluff.Fluff has to come in last place
lol well yes... ofc in reallife terms housing in MMORPGs isnt required. I don't think anyone claimed it was for any of that.
Housing is both social (the housing community in EQ2, as an example, is amazing, creating friendships and bonds across guilds and levels) and creative (which appeals to a huge, though largely invisible for the reason I give above, demographic).
It can also be a major driver behind in game economies, creating a whole new market for crafters (that might not even be into housing themselves).
It also, from a dev point of view, enables a MUCH deeper investment by the player in to their world (game) and so is an amazing tool for long term player retention.
Actually on forums like this one , usually one group of people vastly onvestimate amount of people interested in housing and second group vastly underestimate players interested in housing.
From my experience average joe player is happy to have and go for a house , many decorate in after and have fun with it, but at same time he consider other things in game more important.
I have to say I agree with both of Vasavius' posts. They are pretty spot on.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Average joe player might, but the players, such as the players in EQ 2, who are avaidly interested in housing also tend to be role players.
There is a lot of social interaction as well as the role play they love.
And, in the case of EQ 2, they do partiipate in the economy by buying items from crafters.
This is that whole economy thing that many mmo players love to tout.
They might not be a majority but I see these people as adding depth to the community and the game.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I am glad you said this Vesavius. I agree with you and find that Quirhid needs to look past the FPS that most likely dominate their spare time. The key thing that I'd say 70% (yes, a guess.) .. people on the forums here forget about is the last 3 letters of the sites name, "RPG". Being social and having "fluff" believe it or not is a huge disc in the backbone of what MMO's were intended to have and do. Housing helps immerse you into that world. Quest , fighting, yes all fun, all needed , but you need that break or you get burned.. OR, you level fast, feel like your awesome cause you "beat" it all quick and then complain when you have nothing to do, thus, condeming the game you just had so much fun in playing.
Few examples, I played Runes Of Magic for abit, and for a mall game, I must say its very well played out in terms of housing. Choosing a style, then changing that style when you want, people able to come see your home and your "accomplishments". ... Star Wars Galaxies, hands down my all time favorite in terms of housing. I mean if you can't see the good things that came from that, then your blinded from all your arena fighting and Doritos dust apparently.
Not to mention the word they used, "fluff". So, you mean to say you never once saw a mount or item you wanted enough to try to get.. wait, thats the point of the big picture isnt it?... Aquiring "things"? Never underestimate the social club or you'll end up with mindless drones of macro 1, macro 2, macro 3 rinse and repeats.
p.s. Any comments above in said statement from user Syllendale are purely opinons of user and thus can not always be considered facts. Take statements from said user as such and remember to smile!
Yeah.Agreed. You know don't get me wrong.
I think still majority of players will enjoy having a house even if they don't care about it much.
So game if other things apart of housing are done right , just benefits from housing and other frequently neglected things. Even if just becasue players feel like they have something to do apart of combat even if they do fight most of the time , they feel like they have a choice. Besides some more social active players have nice influence on community , so yea.
But housing have to be done right. Half-assed housing like in f.e. Lotro don't bring too much value. Best is open world housing , and if that's impossible for some reason in a game , instanced , highly customizeable EQ2 stule housing is second best.
Yeah it helps economy as well I agree.
It is a old game, but Ultima Online still has the best housing imo...You can buy different sized lots and totally design your house brick by brick....put water in etc....Be nice if a newer game could ever have non-instanced housing that could match this.
I like Vanguards housing 'area' system.
My point was their is no real need for it and you take out of almost any game with no real consquence to gameplay.WoW prove this pretty much it is unnessary feature that is not worth hassle to implement properly.I understood the need for fluff it is what makes a mmo become a living world but it is last place on importance of stuff.
I like features like housing,ship building,fishing,gambling,dancing,mount racing,pet rasing,pet fighting,etc but games have been successful without them.I guess my point is this when you are game that realize that is video game like Rifts,Wow,Warhammer housing is fluff waste of time when you have stuff like dungeon finder and cross server stuff you are not trying to be a real world and gamers are looking to live in your world.
Now if you are game that try to be a real world like a Darkfall,You should be trying to have as much fluff as possible the less stucture your game has the more fluff the game needs and if game like Darkfall had a pokemon like system like pet and mount raising and pet fighting,robust housing options it makes sense but what sense does it make to have housing when people play game like this the sign on do their dailies,stay in town talk to guildes,do a raid sign off.
Some games need it,Some games don't
My best and happiest player housing experince has to be UO. I liked that I was able to craft at my home and have vendors there.
What is it you are looking for in player housing?
Can you list some of the "non-combat related fun stuff" that you would like to do with housing?
I'm interested in which aspects of player owned structures you find most appealing.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre