shimareo Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Excitement, achievement, ownership, and belonging, these are a few feelings that I get when I think of player housing in MMORPGs. For me player housing has always been an important factor in whether or not I commit to an MMORPG long term. In many instances player housing is an important factor for many other players beyond myself. So why is it so important to us, why do people cling to virtual homes that have little meaning to the overall game? Ownership The first thing that comes to mind with player housing is ownership. When games allow players to own a piece of the game world it makes us connect in a way that we never did before. In Everquest 2 when you buy an apartment in Northern Freeport you can say to anyone "I'm a citizen of Freeport, that’s my city," and the truth is it is your city. It’s the same thing that happens in the real world. When you buy or rent an apartment in the real world your home city instantly becomes the one you're living in. I recently moved from my home town of over sixteen years and within six months my new home had begun to feel familiar and my old home had become less familiar. The truth is player housing gives players the ability to feel like the own part of the world, in some cases like Ultima Online players would log back on even if they were burnt out of the game just to check in on their house. Back in 1999-2000 I remember waiting outside of a "decaying" house (the player had neglected to pay their rent on the house and it was pending deletion) desperate to build my own house for at the time Ultima Online had limited space for housing. It was such a big deal in UO that websites and third party companies built on land in the hopes of selling it for real money. Back in those days if you wanted a castle (the largest house type) you often had to buy up more than one "plots" of land next to each other so that you could build such a large building. At the time castle plots were so rare that the average cost was around $500! Purpose Player housing gives players the feel that their characters are "real" in that world and not just random avatars that pop in/out of the world. These characters have homes in the world which often inspires non-rpers to RP in some small way. The truth is I've always found the strongest RPing communities to be found in games with player owned housing. On another note for purpose it can be said that loyalty can be created. In Star Wars Galaxies (which had a housing system similar to UO) many players opened shops in their stores. Often I found myself going back to the same players over and over again to buy the things I needed. No longer were sales "random" auction bids but true transactions. Often players would spend hours just going from player shop to player shop looking for the best prices on an object. Which then created a whole new time-sink in those MMOs, and the truth was it was fun. I always felt overjoyed when I found a good deal and then I would advertise to all my friends that "Wookiee-Nook's House of Bargains" was the best place for composite armor. Longevity Aside from the obvious bonuses to players, player housing influences the longevity of games. Most of the games I've seen get shut down in the recent past lacked housing of any kind. Tobula Rasa, Earth and Beyond, APB, and many others lacked any true mechanic to draw players back into their worlds other than raw gameplay. Obviously raw gameplay isn't enough to keep games running (unless you're Blizzard). Ultima Online, Everquest 2, Ashron's Call, and even the infamous Star Wars Galaxies are all still alive while some of the above games that lacked true player housing died out. The fact that SWG is still alive even after 95+% of MMOers have hate for that game is amazing. I'm not saying that housing is keeping SWG alive but it’s fair to assume it could be a factor. An interesting example of housing having some sort of influence is the Ashron's Call story. Ashron's Call 1 added housing to their game. Ashron's Call 2 was launched and died within one or two years of launch. It’s sad to say it but AC1 was one of those rare instances where its "child" game died before it did, AC1 is still alive even though it looks like it’s from the gaming stone age. Now as mentioned above player housing can't be attributed to have saved AC1 but the truth is it really could be a factor. The Bottom Line Player housing is obviously good for both players but developers as well. So why is it that more modern MMOs are keeping this feature out of the game even though technology has obviously progressed? If you lay out the lists of dead games and living games you'll find the vast majority of dead games are non-housing games. Overall the ability to "own" a bit of the gaming world seems to be an important factor to MMOers, even if we don't consciously consider it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blistrich Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 (edited) Interesting post. I like it. What I would suggest in lieu of player "housing" in SWTOR is an expanded player ship which is highly interactive, fully customizable, and open to others to come on board and have a damn party. The ship is separated from the rest of the game. It feels unnecessary (even for space combat), because it is a highly underutilized environment. A player's ship should be their home, and it should feel like it is one. I think player housing gets less and less attention in mmos because it is seen as superfluous by the developers given that not too many people consider an absence of player housing to be a detriment to the game. Edited April 18, 2012 by Blistrich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kindara Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I'd rather see expanded use of the ship since it is techincally a mobile house. And honestly playing house decorator is like playing moisture farmer..its not exactly ...star warsy...sure it exists in part of the universe but those are the people who get blasted by the Empire to make a point or just to be mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimareo Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 i wouldn't mind if your ship was your home but you cant do **** with it i mean ya they added some things to the ship but i want to be able to put furniture in it like in swg and paint at least the inside and move stuff around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKMaster Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 LOL SWG 2.... It's dead, move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Ravenhurst Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 (edited) Great post, agree 100% - housing is a must have. Also ship customization SWG style. If you check out the poll it´s obvious that the majority agrees with you too. Hopefully BW stops developing this game for minorities. Edited April 18, 2012 by Lord_Ravenhurst Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimareo Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 lol i know im trying to... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoE_Nicolatian Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Very well thought out post, and I would agree with most of it (SWG closed just days before SWToR started). Another great example I would throw out there is Dark Age of Camelot, the player housing there was phenomenal, although it wasn't setup as an open world choice like SWG, it still was done very well and the amenities of housing to include guild housing were awesome. -my 2cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanglez Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 (edited) Interesting post. I like it. What I would suggest in lieu of player "housing" in SWTOR is an expanded player ship which is highly interactive, fully customizable, and open to others to come on board and have a damn party. The ship is separated from the rest of the game. It feels unnecessary (even for space combat), because it is a highly underutilized environment. A player's ship should be their home, and it should feel like it is one. I think player housing gets less and less attention in mmos because it is seen as superfluous by the developers given that not too many people consider an absence of player housing to be a detriment to the game. In remember years ago when 'construction' was introduced to runescape. I literally just made money and built my house, i stopped leveling my combat skills for like .. a couple of months, just so i could max out construction to have all the 'cool' stuff in my house. Now, admittedly I was a lot younger when i played runescape and thus might have been entertained by it easier, but the fact that I got to be responsible for how my house looks was awesome. I still venture back to the game every few years, and my house is still there 100% en-tact. Having said all that, the way our Ships are completely instanced off in our own personal little hangar instance, is quite similiar to how one would have entered the Runescape player owned housing.. So to me... I'm pretty sure this has already occured to them OP. I don't disagree with your statement at all really, but the foundations have already been laid for it. I'm almost certain ship customization to the point of making it 'as unique as you could' to your character will one day be a reality in this game. Edited April 18, 2012 by Nanglez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordRichardEW Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Great post, agree 100% - housing is a must have. Also ship customization SWG style. If you check out the poll it´s obvious that the majority agrees with you too. Hopefully BW stops developing this game for minorities. Just looked at your poll, mmm would not call those numbers a valid sample of the player populations to say the majority of the populations want it. Maybe if the total sample was in the hundred thousands not just hundres then it would be valid sample of the player population. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thbends Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 (edited) I loved player housing in SWG but SWTOR does not have the space to support it. I agree with most... Let our ships be our homes by adding some customization to them. As much as I loved SWG the housing ended up being a bad thing because there were so many smoking because they were not paid for or the shops not kept up. You would end up running house to house to find 60% or more were dead. Nothing says a game is dieing more then a city of homes smoking up the sky. Edited April 18, 2012 by thbends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livnthedream Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 the fact is player housing leads to dead cities. the fact is that dev time spent on making you a happy homemaker could be spent on other, cooler, things. such as new gear skins/ships/mounts/pets/etc. the fact is you are drawing conclusions based on incomplete and in many ways false data. really attempting to claim housing was it when there are several games with similar longevity that DIDNT have housing. eq1 and eve just to name a couple. the bottom line, i dont want housing. we are already getting it in the form of our ship. the ability to decorate it etc is already coming. the devs have spoken on this several times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFKGCWBOT Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 (edited) the fact is player housing leads to dead cities. the fact is that dev time spent on making you a happy homemaker could be spent on other, cooler, things. such as new gear skins/ships/mounts/pets/etc. Cooler items? Items that aren't craftable, but rather chase like a carrot on a stick? Whoopee! So cool and fun! Korrean Grind Game thataway -----> Edited April 18, 2012 by AFKGCWBOT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halog Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 the fact is player housing leads to dead cities. the fact is that dev time spent on making you a happy homemaker could be spent on other, cooler, things. such as new gear skins/ships/mounts/pets/etc. the fact is you are drawing conclusions based on incomplete and in many ways false data. really attempting to claim housing was it when there are several games with similar longevity that DIDNT have housing. eq1 and eve just to name a couple. the bottom line, i dont want housing. we are already getting it in the form of our ship. the ability to decorate it etc is already coming. the devs have spoken on this several times. RP much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livnthedream Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 (edited) Cooler items? Items that aren't craftable, but rather chase like a carrot on a stick? Whoopee! So cool and fun! Korrean Grind Game thataway -----> yeah because you cant make mounts or gear right? i guess you really want the ability for your hero to make chairs too, cause thats SO much better. RP much? yeah, none of this is in wow, i guess there is no rp there right? Edited April 18, 2012 by livnthedream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halog Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 u RP irl? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Moonshadow Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Player housing is just an excuse to have your ingame avatar to behave like yourself in real life. To sit indoors all day and google crap on the Holonet all day. No. At least with your ship you occasionally blow something up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livnthedream Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 u RP irl? yes i do actually. twice a month im a rather proud member of the camarilla. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baratta Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I see more and more people wanting player housing. I wouldn't mind having an instanced planet with housing only and already pre built and in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMornard Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I'd rather see expanded use of the ship since it is techincally a mobile house. And honestly playing house decorator is like playing moisture farmer..its not exactly ...star warsy...sure it exists in part of the universe but those are the people who get blasted by the Empire to make a point or just to be mean. Ah, yes, the Star Wars Galaxies Version 1 factor... "I wanted to play Luke Skywalker. Instead, I got to be Uncle Owen." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collapsewithin Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I'd rather see expanded use of the ship since it is techincally a mobile house. absolutely agree. we'll eventually have a lot of neat stuff on our ships, but its all going in via the legacy system and will cost an absurd amount of credits/legacy level. and from what ive seen in other games, player housing becomes graveyards. and why would you want a house that is stationary and tied to one place, when you have a ship that can go everywhere with you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalfear Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I'd rather see expanded use of the ship since it is techincally a mobile house. And honestly playing house decorator is like playing moisture farmer..its not exactly ...star warsy...sure it exists in part of the universe but those are the people who get blasted by the Empire to make a point or just to be mean. I thought same before I saw ships There is some room to work around but most ships are already cluttered by design Id rather have EQ2 houseing in TOR and use those to decorate and what not I guess if you could gut your ship of all the extras and design yourself it might work but I think you would also need more ships so players had a choice of ship While I love my couns, I HATE THE SHIP! While I love my Trooper, I HATE THE SHIP! Now the smuggler and imp Agent ships are cool! Love them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artthen Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Hi everyone, Since there is an existing thread on this topic, we’ve closed this thread in an effort to consolidate discussion. You can find the existing thread here: Player Housing?? We encourage you to continue your discussion at the above link. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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