Visible housing in MMO's

JeffH · 19 Jul 2011 at 15:02

I've been looking for a new MMO for a while and thought a good approach would be to list what I like from previous games and see what's out there that fits. I won't bore you with my whole list, but one thing I jotted down was visible housing. One of the most enjoyable parts of SWG was setting up your home the way you liked it with trophies gained from your travels. Also looking round at other's homes as they were all clustered together and not hidden away in instances that nobody visits (like housing and guild halls in EQ2). It gave a real sense of community too.
Why is visible housing not used more often? Is it just due to server resource?

'Wes · 19 Jul 2011 at 15:03

Sandbox mate.

Kosmiche · 19 Jul 2011 at 15:04

Lord of the Rings Online has player housing within "neighbourhoods" that are slightly off the beaten track.

Ceryndrion · 19 Jul 2011 at 15:04

Server resources, real estate, a whole heap of reasons..

Sleepery · 19 Jul 2011 at 15:11

To my knowledge SWG was the only one that allowed it pretty much anywhere. Horizons had plots scattered around the world. DaoC and LOTRO have specific zones for it, which are always completely deserted, and Vanguard has it in the game world but on offshore islands.

It's one of my favourite features in an mmo, I loved having a house overlooking mos eisley or at the edge of that huge cliff that Theed was built on.

'Wes · 19 Jul 2011 at 15:12

Sleepery said:
To my knowledge SWG was the only one that allowed it pretty much anywhere. Horizons had plots scattered around the world. DaoC and LOTRO have specific zones for it, which are always completely deserted, and Vanguard has it in the game world but on offshore islands.

It's one of my favourite features in an mmo, I loved having a house overlooking mos eisley or at the edge of that huge cliff that Theed was built on.

Read the bottom paragraph wrong, i thought it said 'i loved having a house overlooking mos eisley at the edge of that huge cliff that Theed was built on', i was like 'wut?'.

Sleepery · 19 Jul 2011 at 15:13

They moved Mos Eisley to Naboo in Episode 3! Well, they might as well have, they ****** up everything else in that film

'Wes · 19 Jul 2011 at 15:18

Sleepery said:
They moved Mos Eisley to Naboo in Episode 3! Well, they might as well have, they ****** up everything else in that film

Ewan McGreggor complained about his script for Episode 3, i think some of the others did as well.

JeffH · 19 Jul 2011 at 15:19

It's the housing in instances or in places nobody visits that makes me wonder why they even bother. Would be nice to see it all out in the open again one day.

Tombstone · 19 Jul 2011 at 15:22

Sleepery said:
To my knowledge SWG was the only one that allowed it pretty much anywhere. Horizons had plots scattered around the world. DaoC and LOTRO have specific zones for it, which are always completely deserted, and Vanguard has it in the game world but on offshore islands.

It's one of my favourite features in an mmo, I loved having a house overlooking mos eisley or at the edge of that huge cliff that Theed was built on.

UO allowed housing anywhere, I believe its where SWG essentially copied the idea from (along with npc vendors)

Sleepery · 19 Jul 2011 at 15:37

How could I forget UO! Probably because I never had a house in it

No1newts · 19 Jul 2011 at 15:53

It would be a great addition but you need a much larger world just for housing and I can imagine they weigh up the pros and cons of needing much bigger maps and server power just for housing and decide not to bother.

I would love it, but more viable and just as good would be guild housing. Attach conditions such as so many members, certain guild level, achievements and then make them an absurdly time consuming/expensive team effort would keep numbers down and give you something to be really proud of.

Utnac · 19 Jul 2011 at 16:23

Space... Vanguard had housing 'in the world' but only by restricting it to specific areas off the beaten track.