Home Ownership - by popular request

[Ranyard]

Originally Posted by Pogny

this is a great idea

but try to imagine if every player can build his own house :
- lots of lags to load all the houses
- whats the use of deeds ?

Ma will never let people build their own house, and people holding a deed will be not happy to pay for an house when now people can have it for free...

but i love the idea !

the new houses really wouldn't be free. unless you had the crafting skill to assemble the house yourself.
otherwise you have to:
pay to have the foundation laid,
pay to have the bricks put up,
pay to have the plumbing installed for the privy,
pay to have the roof put on.

all these would be done my specialized craftsman. one game I played had the housing set this way, and let me tell you, those craftsmen where highly sought after.

after the initial bugs of the game were worked out, there was little to no lag when moving into an area that was full of player built housing, so I don't imagine this would be an issue here in EU

[Indigo Wyrd]

Time to grab the reins here... this one's getting out of control!

I'm not talking about building houses like those that dot the Corinthian shore line, nor even the more modest homes around Argus or... well, anywhere there are currently houses.

I'm talking about little shanties - small cabins, not elaborate chateaus.

Room enough for a single bed, a side table and a storage box type housing.

Done right, they'd match their environments - made of purple logs in the Shinook area, or igloos around Solifas Crater, stacked stones in the Eudorian plains...

Done high-tech, they'd be similar to the "boxcars" of outposts, though likely only half the length. Not much in the line of splendor - they're not supposed to be.

They should be small, cramped and encourage people to want bigger and better places, hence they should be cheap and openly available.

Not that I don't like the idea of truly custom-build, 1 PED per brick, multi-million PED, do-it-your-self housing in the styles that already exist - this would also be cool, but it's beyond the scope of this thread.

[Bomb]

Great idea. But it could be more complex, like Ozi said. I like the idea of after a year your "dwelling" maybe became bigger or got an enhanced look. Became a solid feature rather than a dwelling you could pick up and move. Then you could get a deed. I also like the idea of being able to pay to add on certain areas, at least after the one year trial period. Nearly anyway you look at it, it will help the economy, theme and growth of EU. But lets wait until we see what CE2 brings. Maybe this has already been thought out and planned.

[Dreamdancer]

Originally Posted by Indigo Wyrd

Time to grab the reins here... this one's getting out of control!

I'm not talking about building houses like those that dot the Corinthian shore line, nor even the more modest homes around Argus or... well, anywhere there are currently houses.

I'm talking about little shanties - small cabins, not elaborate chateaus.

Correct. What you propose might actually be doable.

To all the others: FORGET the notion of crafted housing. MA created the houses to get PED into the economy... I'd say about 40% of all EU housing is in the hands of speculants. MA CANNOT piss these people off, as they have significant PED tied up in the game, their leaving would send the economy into chaos.

MA did everything to make EU a heaven for resellers and relisters, for people who put ridiculous amounts of money into an online game. This is already starting to bite them in the backside hard.

The others, those that do not put significant RL money in the game, are, in MA's eyes, only gambling addicts, not worthy of storyline or gameplay whatsoever, only sitting in front of the screen clicking, sweating and salivating, waiting for the flashes. At least they behave like they view their main customer base like this.

I believe MA needs to wake up on some of the realities of running a MMO. What scares me most is, I feel they might not even WANT to run a MMO more often than not lately.

Regards,
DD

[Ozi]

Originally Posted by Dreamdancer

To all the others: FORGET the notion of crafted housing. MA created the houses to get PED into the economy... I'd say about 40% of all EU housing is in the hands of speculants. MA CANNOT piss these people off, as they have significant PED tied up in the game, their leaving would send the economy into chaos.


Regards,
DD

I do not agree with your absolute conclusion here. Crafted housing would certainly boost the economy of EU and it suits MA for everyone to dump their cash into bricks and mortar because it will then be forever tied up in the now permanent building (unless they work out a way for demolishions). Hence MA would have alot more cash to use in cash investment accounts.

So long as the cost for crafting a small house exceeds 1000 peds there is no problem with introducing crafted housing.

[Indigo Wyrd]

I don't think these shanties should become craft-able at any time.

Now I don't oppose the notion that, after a year's time being awarded a "deed" for the territory that shanty has occupied.

I also like the idea of crafted, expandable houses, that are actual houses.

Implementation would actually be a very simple matter, perhaps 3-4 dozen lines of code for shanties.

Crafted homes - this would be a bigger undertaking, but not beyond the scope of what either Gamebryo or CryEngine2 are capable of by a long shot.

Crafted homes: (look, I bolded this for a reason)

They begin as a lowly blueprint, but these are bit different than the rest of the blueprints out there... yes, they have a list of ingredients, but that's about where the similarities end.

You collect the housing blueprints like you would any other - and place them into their own Book - but... again, similarities end there.

The Housing Book isn't socketed when opened. Instead it's a grid.
On that grid you arrange your housing blueprints, positioning rooms, stairs, and so on, until you've fit all the pieces together and you're happy with it.

Then you click the "Materials" button, and you get your list of materials, like you would with any other blueprint.

So, let's say your custom house consists of:

1 Generic Entry
2 Medium Rooms
2 Medium Bedrooms
1 Large Trophy Hall
6 Generic Connecting Halls
8 Standard Windows
5 Standard Doors
1 Entry Door

You might get a cost list like:

50,000 Standard Bricks
12,000 (pickatree) boards (hey, these already exist!)
12 Standard Hinges (hey, these already exist!)
16 Glass Planes

Requires area of: Some-Size x Some-Size x Some-Size to Build.

Now if you've the land space to place this, you take your materials, your completed blueprint, and head on over to your location. Once you've reached your location, you "activate" the print, by dropping a construction terminal to begin the construction of your house.

The Construction Terminal is basically a placeholder item, as it may not be possible to carry all the materials required for construction at one time.

This would work much like dropping and arranging items already works - you see a "phantom" version of your house, and you manipulate it into position.
Once placed, construction begins - your materials are spent, and when complete, your little plot of ground sprouts an Estate Terminal in place of the construction terminal, and you're awarded a standard Estate Deed to with as you please.
Congratulations.

Once completed, you then have the chance to spend your next fortune on texturing and coloring your walls, and floors, and all that fun stuff, to make your house complete.

[Dreamdancer]

Originally Posted by Indigo Wyrd

Crafted homes: (look, I bolded this for a reason)

They begin as a lowly blueprint, but these are bit different than the rest of the blueprints out there... yes, they have a list of ingredients, but that's about where the similarities end.

You collect the housing blueprints like you would any other - and place them into their own Book - but... again, similarities end there.

The Housing Book isn't socketed when opened. Instead it's a grid.
On that grid you arrange your housing blueprints, positioning rooms, stairs, and so on, until you've fit all the pieces together and you're happy with it.

Then you click the "Materials" button, and you get your list of materials, like you would with any other blueprint.

So, let's say your custom house consists of:

1 Generic Entry
2 Medium Rooms
2 Medium Bedrooms
1 Large Trophy Hall
6 Generic Connecting Halls
8 Standard Windows
5 Standard Doors
1 Entry Door

You might get a cost list like:

50,000 Standard Bricks
12,000 (pickatree) boards (hey, these already exist!)
12 Standard Hinges (hey, these already exist!)
16 Glass Planes

Requires area of: Some-Size x Some-Size x Some-Size to Build.

This sounds nice, so far, but let me expand on this. We are talking about MA/EU here:

• You will need someone who has an Omegaton Cement Mixer Truck (costs shoot up to the price of hangars 1 week after they are introduced because certain participants -- miraculously -- deposited obscene amounts of money 1 week before they appeared on auction)
• There is a cement cartel, and mixing one batch of mortar costs 300% of the expenses. Cement mixers who are not in the cartel get their garages blocked by the cartel mixer's alts
• You will have to supply the cement, only minable in PVP4
• The cement mixer's drum is (L), and only drops from Eomon because of it's size
• Chikara Power shovels are bugged and actually dig holes 25m to the west-southwest of where they are standing
• The silica market is manipulated. Glass is actually so expensive, people who can't afford it put gem mosaics in their windows
• Houses decay real fast. Like, more than apartment rent would cost. UNLESS they were built with the help of an Avatar that has reached the rank of Great Grand Master in the Homesteading skill. As only building houses increases this skill, Buzz Lightyear is the new noobie must-see as hes rapidly building and demolishing houses whilst skilling just NE of PA. He is awarded a Guiness Record for the biggest amount of money burnt in an online game within 24 hours.
• Houses are bugged in a way that their item points can not be used. The problem is known and has been forwarded to the design team for further investigation. A year ago. In a sealed, boobytrapped attaché case. Marco lost the combination lock number in internal communication.
• Many things about the introduction of crafted housing were very fishy, with people seemingly magically doing exactly the right investments to ensure market domination. The admins of anothER forum are happy about the increased traffic until they find out that all the conspiracy theory threads are written by Kn*ckles, F*licity, BMW and their alts singlehandedly.

I could go on. Hope you get my meaning (it is supposed to be funny), and sorry for not being able to resist.

Regards,
DD

[NightwolfAA2k5]

This would be nice... But I'd rather IRL housing

- Nightwolf

[LivingGod]

To refer to the main post... we are meant to be colonizing... lets do so...

Especially with the new engine coming this idea should be added as well...

Lets see how it goes.

Dave

[Indigo Wyrd]

Originally Posted by Dreamdancer

[...]
I could go on. Hope you get my meaning (it is supposed to be funny), and sorry for not being able to resist.

Regards,
DD

Ahh humor, laced with bitterness - like a good glass of absinthe, never quite sure how to take it, but once it's down, it's too late =)

And while it may very well be that certain individuals are catered to due to their exuberant deposits, it would be utter foolishness to keep such a narrow market. I've considered making some rather sizable deposits of my own, but with the lack of worthwhile properties, and even bigger lack of worthwhile items, I'm holding off doing so.

With such limited appeal, it would be exceptionally difficult to tailor the model I have in mind to the audience I'd like to target, and it's quite obvious those established persons have no interest in this audience either - which is good, because they're ignoring a huge source of revenue - both virtual and actual.

It takes less than basic math skills to realize that 1000 sales of 10 PED each is worth more than a single sale of 5000 PED. ;-)

But we've digressed considerably - and as the above post states so plainly - we're supposed to be colonizing.