Player housing doesn't really add anything to my enjoyment of the game, especially since most games that do have housing, have special instaces for it, which is a complete turn off.
I guess it's good for RPers and people who like Sims but the feature doesn't do anything for me.
To me it adds a sence of realism and purpose, the american dream if you will.
I would love to see maybe a large caste, with shops down main street or in a square with player homes surrounding it. Maybe the homes could have some type of crafting benches inside, or weapon racks. A restroom because I'm tired of no games having them lol. Maybe a trophy/treasure room for extra storage.
Decorate your own lawn maybe grow some crops out in your back yard. The possibilities are really only limited to the staffs minds.
IMO Having housing in a non-sandbox MMO is pointless, i would rather let Arenanet spend that time and budget developing more content, dungeons & quests.
"Dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms, one of them's making a poop, the other one's carrying it for him, who would you assume is in charge."
"The idea behind the tuxedo is the woman's point of view that men are all the same; so we might as well dress them that way. That's why a wedding is like the joining together of a beautiful, glowing bride and some guy" -Seinfeld
i would rather have an instanced guild hall but then perhaps each member can sublet a small area of the guild hall of the building so that their guildmates can oberve their major achievements/decorations or whatnot. perhaps this could even serve as a tool to intice prospective recruits. you would just invite them to your guild hall, they could see how awesome it looks and how much each member has achieved, and maybe join because of this. it could serve as an excellent way to showcase guild prestige, personal achievement, as well as personal dedication to the guild.
Most memorable games: AoC(Tryanny PvP), RIFT, GW, GW2, Ragnarok Online, Aion, FFXI, FFXIV, Secret World, League of Legends (Silver II rank)
I would like to see what you guys think Player Housing would add to the world of Guild Wars 2.
I, personally, do not wish there to be player housing. At least not in a similar form to anything I have seen done previously in other games. If they do intend on having player housing (Guild Hall stuff would be better imo) then it would need to be done differently to fit within the game without taking away from other aspects of the game (Having it all instanced would reduce the visible population surrounding what would naturally be the big population centers within the game, for example.).
So what do you think Player Housing would bring to GW2 and do you think it would have any detrimental effects on the game as a whole? What sort of changes from what we would consider the 'standard' way of doing it could be done to make it fit in the game as well as possible?
Personally I dont see the point in player housing. However, i am aware that lots of people seem to like it...... it seems like more of a sandbox feature though, and you will never see player built houses in the various gw2 zones - the game just isnt designed that way.
If it is ever introduced it is likely to be instanced, and probably part of your "home" instance in your races city
Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom
Housing in GW2 would be a waste. It's more of a sandbox mechanic. Put your stuff there, trophies and a social/commerical hub.
I love players housing, but it wouldn't make sense in this type of game.
GW2 is a combat game. Plain and simple. Housing would mess with the flow and theme. No other mechanics exist in the game to compliment or support player housing.
I would like to see what you guys think Player Housing would add to the world of Guild Wars 2.
Huge player retention for a strong demographic through investment in their character's world.
A crap load of extra stuff for ANet to sell in their cash shop.
You as an individual might not get player housing, but it's time to be a little objective about it. Something that might not be your personal taste could very well be excellent for the game you play. If you can look beyond your own personal tastes for a sec anyhow. A lot of folks like games that are more then simply combat systems and maps.
I dont understand the apeal of player housing. If i wanted to play the sims, i could. But frankly i just dont see the point. People that want housing remind me of old parents who want to show you thier photo albums or some loser who wants to show you slides of thier vacation. No one cares about or see's these experiences as pleasant. It amazes me that people are self-centered enough to believe that other people actually give a damn about your in game house. And if your not planning on showing these things off to other players (who dont genuinely give much of a damn) then you may as well boot up the sims.
Player Housing DID effect games negativly. if aging content didn't do it, it was the player housing that caused Cities to become ghost towns.
However in Guild Wars 2 I don't see that being as much of an issue. Sure, NPC interaction != Player Interaction but GW2 has made the cities far more life like than any other MMO's have done in the past. SWTOR tried but in my opinion failed. Even if you are the only player running around in Rata Sum, there will be so much lively NPC chatter around you so even when you are alone, you won't feel it...or at least I won't. I'm looking forward to whatever minigames they add to the cities as well.
Player Housing will happen and in GW2, not such a bad thing.
Originally posted by Nailzzz I dont understand the apeal of player housing. If i wanted to play the sims, i could. But frankly i just dont see the point. People that want housing remind me of old parents who want to show you thier photo albums or some loser who wants to show you slides of thier vacation. No one cares about or see's these experiences as pleasant. It amazes me that people are self-centered enough to believe that other people actually give a damn about your in game house. And if your not planning on showing these things off to other players (who dont genuinely give much of a damn) then you may as well boot up the sims.
Though some people use it as a trophy house to have their visitors stroke their epeen...there are some roleplayers who use it so they won't get bothered which ia a legitimate reaosn to have them....then there are other reasons that, well, I won't get into but they're less valid IMHO.
I am going to play devil's advocate and point out that player housing DOES have a downside for the game. Because, well, it does.
Let's face it, when players talk about player housing, they want a whole lot more than JUST a house. They want a lot of customizable options for that house, they want to be able to decorate and customize it and show it off to their friends. These are the only people who care about it...so not satisfying them would be dumb if you are going to do it. This means that it takes a significant amount of development time as well as a significant amount of time from the people who do game assets/artwork.
And there is your downside. It's a trade off. You want player housing done right, it is absolutely going to take away from some other aspect of the game because the development team has to spend resources (time) on it.
As someone else has already pointed out though, having the player housing also opens up a whole new area of items which they could add to the Gem Store. And I personally think it would more than pay for itself.
As for me, I love player housing in games that have it and do it well. But I also don't care if it is not there. If I really want to design and decorate houses I will play The Sims.
If it's done well and I can customize and decorate the house, it gives me something else to do than pve or pvp when I just want to sit back and relax and play around in my ingame house. It gives me items to aquire to decorate and items to craft perhaps to use in the house and perhaps sell to others. Its additional fluff like fishing and other mini games that you find in other games.
Personally I love player housing. For me it adds an extra layer of immersion that keeps me interested in the game when I may get tired of the standard pve/pvp for a bit. When I first started playing mmos, it was all about becoming a part of the online world in which I was playing. In my mind, nothing does this like having player-owned property to add your own personal mark on the world. In my "perfect game", there would be vast, non-instanced player stuctures. Not just housing, but castles (shadowbane) and merchant shops. They would take the place of merhcant npcs, and would be destroyable by enemy factions. I guess I'm showing my true colors; a sandbox fan.
Even though sandbox style mmos arent the flavor of the month, or year, or decade, I still don't see why themepark mmo's don't include player housing. I personally don't see how it can hurt. In fact, as many before have mentioned, even though not everyone would utilize the system, it would make the game that much more appealing for those that do want playing structures. In this same vein, it boggles my mind that games like WOW, with their massive budgets and fluff items galore, haven't added player housing.
I guess I don't understand the stigma associated with player housing. And the arguement that it takes resources from the rest of the game doesn't really ring true to me either. I would bet that most people who enjoy player housing would be happier with some form, even limited, rather than none. Just my 2 cents.
Although I am a HUGE propronent of non instanced player housing and cities, there really isn't any purpose outside of RP or a non-combat time waster for a themepark game.
They are awesome for games where crafters can decorate and sell their goods from their house, and they are awesome for games where city pvp happens and gathering locations for guilds who plan hunts and guild activities.
I don't think I've ever seen a case where Player Housing was "detrimental" to a game in any shape or form.
Pretty much this. While there are MMOs who claim this to be the case, it's generally just because they're don't want to spend the production time to make it happen. There is little evidence to this being the case, especially if the game has a healthy population as is.
Originally posted by Rhoklaw
SWG is thee only MMO I know of where players and communties as a whole could produce a living, breathing home, city or metropolis if they wanted.
Granted, games like Shadowbane allowed you to build Castles and shops. There were no player homes to speak of.
ArcheAge may be the closest MMO clone to what SWG offered, but not close enough to my liking.
SWG will always be one of my favorite MMOs ever simply because of how much they allowed players to do. Developers who think allowing such sandbox open ended creation into the player / communities hands is a bad or unworthy task are obviously not RP style gamers.
Ultima online was one of the few that had an absolutely massive player driven player housing community; it only escalated when they implemented the system where you could build the house tile by tile and make an actual real estate with gardens, gates, statues and fountains out front. To add to that preset buildings such as castles, towers, mini towers, villas, log cabins, etc. made up of a lot of buildings for those without the gold to construct an entire estate of their own.
In addition to constructing every single piece of property within reason, it also had one of the best customizable indoor and out door housing available (systems which EQ2 borrowed to a lesser extent) whereby anything could be placed anywhere and on top of each other. Many constructs could be created just by using common items, such as benches, aqua blue cloth and cotton balls to make a jacuzzi or black cloth, fish, aqua cloth to make a fish tank and the like. Not to mention the other stuff which could be crafted by professions such as tables, chairs, plates, utensils, bakery items, armor sets... the list goes on, and plates could be placed on tables next to utensils, food placed on the plates on the tables, ale poured into mugs... It was all really intricate and this only touches on about one percent of it all.
Not to mention the player communities, kingdoms and towns that were formed by guilds or just groups of players. Some even bought out real estate in an entire area to make villages or grand cities where they had a mayor and such. This become especially interesting when they finally made that building crafting tool mentioned previously what with all of the unique buildings you've never seen before made by player architects.
Due to frequent travel in my youth, English isn't something I consider my primary language (and thus I obtained quirky ways of writing). German and French were always easier for me despite my family being U.S. citizens for over a century. Spanish I learned as a requirement in school, Japanese and Korean I acquired for my youthful desire of anime and gaming (and also work now). I only debate in English to help me work with it (and limit things). In addition, I'm not smart enough to remain fluent in everything and typically need exposure to get in the groove of things again if I haven't heard it in a while. If you understand Mandarin, I know a little, but it has actually been a challenge and could use some help.
Also, I thoroughly enjoy debates and have accounts on over a dozen sites for this. If you wish to engage in such, please put effort in a post and provide sources -- I will then do the same with what I already wrote (if I didn't) as well as with my responses to your own. Expanding my information on a subject makes my stance either change or strengthen the next time I speak of it or write a thesis. Allow me to thank you sincerely for your time.
As a player of SWG, player housing does the following.
Pros:
Gives you a sense of community far beyond just a chat box and voice program. A interactional, breathable town completely created by you and your mates.
A place to go that isn't idling in a city, a place to personalise and show off like a persistant HoM.
If open world pvp and player housing were introduced, it would give a much more epic feeling to 'Guild Wars' if one guild attacked another guilds home and were forced to defend or lose X money or Y amount of buildings.
A much more realistic place to put items other than 'bank slots' and 'bag space'.
Cons:
If it were persistant, I know the whole place would be covered with houses making it look less beautiful than it is already.
Possible to do some dirty shenanegans like fence entire areas off with buildings.
Doesn't really tie into the whole go out an explore mentality if you spend alot of time in your player house.
People shouldn't confuse the home instance with the player housing cause they are two different things in GW2.
Guild Halls are also confirmed to be added again so along with them, we will probably and obviously get also the Guild VS Guild battles again which would give us not only additional things to look forward to (guild workshop, guild bank and everything else we can research already additionaly to our own flags, banners and so on...) but also give all guilds their own home again on which they will be able to have meetings, a trophy room(as far as I read months ago) and so on...
In my opinion player housing adds to any game as long as its well done.
What I would like to see would be having a garden (like a farm in monster forest online) in the "backyard" of your house in which one could plant seeds that can be collected through the world making it possible to raise your own materials for cooking or pets one can feed so they can get their wool, meat, skin and similar (without the blood part / killing involved though ).
Our own hall of monuments were already confirmed to make its way into our own house and a workshop with all the tools for crafting needed would be great to have too.
So we could have the following:
- living-/bedroom, Kitchen/bathroom (decoration, buffs through meals alone or with friends, buff through taking a bath and other mini games possibilities)
- garden/farm (raising plants and animals)
- workshop (crafting)
- hall of monuments/trophy room
It would definately add to the fun no matter if one is a casual or a hardcore.
The buffs would be only PvE related like as example:
- took a bubble bath = 10 minutes regeneration boost by 2% to 5% (randomly gained)
- eat breakfast = 10 minutes attack/defence raised by 2% to 5% (randomly gained)
- have a brunch/lunch/dinner with friends (or tea party?) = 10 minutes attack/defence/regeneration increased by 2% (good for a team that wants to run a dungeon in hard mode)
Small buffs that can be helpful without overpowering someone and without making it a nessecity to have your own house.
So people that like housing and want to use such features could work on them while others that don't like housing don't have a dissadvantage (buffs can be obtained through guild influense aswell after all).
Well these are my ideas and how I would like it to be.
Comments
Player housing doesn't really add anything to my enjoyment of the game, especially since most games that do have housing, have special instaces for it, which is a complete turn off.
I guess it's good for RPers and people who like Sims but the feature doesn't do anything for me.
To me it adds a sence of realism and purpose, the american dream if you will.
I would love to see maybe a large caste, with shops down main street or in a square with player homes surrounding it. Maybe the homes could have some type of crafting benches inside, or weapon racks. A restroom because I'm tired of no games having them lol. Maybe a trophy/treasure room for extra storage.
Decorate your own lawn maybe grow some crops out in your back yard. The possibilities are really only limited to the staffs minds.
"Dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms, one of them's making a poop, the other one's carrying it for him, who would you assume is in charge."
"The idea behind the tuxedo is the woman's point of view that men are all the same; so we might as well dress them that way. That's why a wedding is like the joining together of a beautiful, glowing bride and some guy"
-Seinfeld
Most memorable games: AoC(Tryanny PvP), RIFT, GW, GW2, Ragnarok Online, Aion, FFXI, FFXIV, Secret World, League of Legends (Silver II rank)
Nothing if its instanced like most game build it.
Personally I dont see the point in player housing. However, i am aware that lots of people seem to like it...... it seems like more of a sandbox feature though, and you will never see player built houses in the various gw2 zones - the game just isnt designed that way.
If it is ever introduced it is likely to be instanced, and probably part of your "home" instance in your races city
Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom
They should be non-instanced and siegeable.
I owned a castle in UO which I made into a mall. Made a lot of money selling my wares. Loved it!
Housing in GW2 would be a waste. It's more of a sandbox mechanic. Put your stuff there, trophies and a social/commerical hub.
I love players housing, but it wouldn't make sense in this type of game.
GW2 is a combat game. Plain and simple. Housing would mess with the flow and theme. No other mechanics exist in the game to compliment or support player housing.
^Well, maybe in this case. I would be pro housing in GW2.
Huge player retention for a strong demographic through investment in their character's world.
A crap load of extra stuff for ANet to sell in their cash shop.
You as an individual might not get player housing, but it's time to be a little objective about it. Something that might not be your personal taste could very well be excellent for the game you play. If you can look beyond your own personal tastes for a sec anyhow. A lot of folks like games that are more then simply combat systems and maps.
Player Housing DID effect games negativly. if aging content didn't do it, it was the player housing that caused Cities to become ghost towns.
However in Guild Wars 2 I don't see that being as much of an issue. Sure, NPC interaction != Player Interaction but GW2 has made the cities far more life like than any other MMO's have done in the past. SWTOR tried but in my opinion failed. Even if you are the only player running around in Rata Sum, there will be so much lively NPC chatter around you so even when you are alone, you won't feel it...or at least I won't. I'm looking forward to whatever minigames they add to the cities as well.
Player Housing will happen and in GW2, not such a bad thing.
Though some people use it as a trophy house to have their visitors stroke their epeen...there are some roleplayers who use it so they won't get bothered which ia a legitimate reaosn to have them....then there are other reasons that, well, I won't get into but they're less valid IMHO.
I am going to play devil's advocate and point out that player housing DOES have a downside for the game. Because, well, it does.
Let's face it, when players talk about player housing, they want a whole lot more than JUST a house. They want a lot of customizable options for that house, they want to be able to decorate and customize it and show it off to their friends. These are the only people who care about it...so not satisfying them would be dumb if you are going to do it. This means that it takes a significant amount of development time as well as a significant amount of time from the people who do game assets/artwork.
And there is your downside. It's a trade off. You want player housing done right, it is absolutely going to take away from some other aspect of the game because the development team has to spend resources (time) on it.
As someone else has already pointed out though, having the player housing also opens up a whole new area of items which they could add to the Gem Store. And I personally think it would more than pay for itself.
As for me, I love player housing in games that have it and do it well. But I also don't care if it is not there. If I really want to design and decorate houses I will play The Sims.
What happens when you log off your characters????.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
Dark Age of Camelot
Personally I love player housing. For me it adds an extra layer of immersion that keeps me interested in the game when I may get tired of the standard pve/pvp for a bit. When I first started playing mmos, it was all about becoming a part of the online world in which I was playing. In my mind, nothing does this like having player-owned property to add your own personal mark on the world. In my "perfect game", there would be vast, non-instanced player stuctures. Not just housing, but castles (shadowbane) and merchant shops. They would take the place of merhcant npcs, and would be destroyable by enemy factions. I guess I'm showing my true colors; a sandbox fan.
Even though sandbox style mmos arent the flavor of the month, or year, or decade, I still don't see why themepark mmo's don't include player housing. I personally don't see how it can hurt. In fact, as many before have mentioned, even though not everyone would utilize the system, it would make the game that much more appealing for those that do want playing structures. In this same vein, it boggles my mind that games like WOW, with their massive budgets and fluff items galore, haven't added player housing.
I guess I don't understand the stigma associated with player housing. And the arguement that it takes resources from the rest of the game doesn't really ring true to me either. I would bet that most people who enjoy player housing would be happier with some form, even limited, rather than none. Just my 2 cents.
Although I am a HUGE propronent of non instanced player housing and cities, there really isn't any purpose outside of RP or a non-combat time waster for a themepark game.
They are awesome for games where crafters can decorate and sell their goods from their house, and they are awesome for games where city pvp happens and gathering locations for guilds who plan hunts and guild activities.
Waiting on: The Repopulation
Ultima online was one of the few that had an absolutely massive player driven player housing community; it only escalated when they implemented the system where you could build the house tile by tile and make an actual real estate with gardens, gates, statues and fountains out front. To add to that preset buildings such as castles, towers, mini towers, villas, log cabins, etc. made up of a lot of buildings for those without the gold to construct an entire estate of their own.
In addition to constructing every single piece of property within reason, it also had one of the best customizable indoor and out door housing available (systems which EQ2 borrowed to a lesser extent) whereby anything could be placed anywhere and on top of each other. Many constructs could be created just by using common items, such as benches, aqua blue cloth and cotton balls to make a jacuzzi or black cloth, fish, aqua cloth to make a fish tank and the like. Not to mention the other stuff which could be crafted by professions such as tables, chairs, plates, utensils, bakery items, armor sets... the list goes on, and plates could be placed on tables next to utensils, food placed on the plates on the tables, ale poured into mugs... It was all really intricate and this only touches on about one percent of it all.
Not to mention the player communities, kingdoms and towns that were formed by guilds or just groups of players. Some even bought out real estate in an entire area to make villages or grand cities where they had a mayor and such. This become especially interesting when they finally made that building crafting tool mentioned previously what with all of the unique buildings you've never seen before made by player architects.
As a player of SWG, player housing does the following.
Pros:
People shouldn't confuse the home instance with the player housing cause they are two different things in GW2.
Guild Halls are also confirmed to be added again so along with them, we will probably and obviously get also the Guild VS Guild battles again which would give us not only additional things to look forward to (guild workshop, guild bank and everything else we can research already additionaly to our own flags, banners and so on...) but also give all guilds their own home again on which they will be able to have meetings, a trophy room(as far as I read months ago) and so on...
In my opinion player housing adds to any game as long as its well done.
What I would like to see would be having a garden (like a farm in monster forest online) in the "backyard" of your house in which one could plant seeds that can be collected through the world making it possible to raise your own materials for cooking or pets one can feed so they can get their wool, meat, skin and similar (without the blood part / killing involved though
).
Our own hall of monuments were already confirmed to make its way into our own house and a workshop with all the tools for crafting needed would be great to have too.
So we could have the following:
- living-/bedroom, Kitchen/bathroom (decoration, buffs through meals alone or with friends, buff through taking a bath and other mini games possibilities)
- garden/farm (raising plants and animals)
- workshop (crafting)
- hall of monuments/trophy room
It would definately add to the fun no matter if one is a casual or a hardcore.
The buffs would be only PvE related like as example:
- took a bubble bath = 10 minutes regeneration boost by 2% to 5% (randomly gained)
- eat breakfast = 10 minutes attack/defence raised by 2% to 5% (randomly gained)
- have a brunch/lunch/dinner with friends (or tea party?) = 10 minutes attack/defence/regeneration increased by 2% (good for a team that wants to run a dungeon in hard mode)
Small buffs that can be helpful without overpowering someone and without making it a nessecity to have your own house.
So people that like housing and want to use such features could work on them while others that don't like housing don't have a dissadvantage (buffs can be obtained through guild influense aswell after all).
Well these are my ideas and how I would like it to be.