Originally posted by David North - Author of the article
"The player house is actually a more recent feature that’s been appearing in games, and players are eating it up!"
No offense but ummmm... no.
Player housing has been around for over a decade. It has been around for so long any reason a developer gives for why it isn't in their product is nothing more than a crutch.
As a specific example, Star Wars Galaxies was launched June 26, 2003 and had an open world sandbox of Player Housing - there has never been player housing of its equal since.
Other MMO's that actually have housing may be much "prettier" with more options on the inside - but to literally build a player made city with a Mayor, positions of authority, and city specific structures based on "lots" where players could literally walk from house to house down a road instead of simply "instances" of player housing that doesn't affect the landscape of the game one iota... haven't seen anything like it since and therefore has been unmatched in the industry.
The only thing that I have seen since that could equal such potential has been EQ Landmark - but I don't really include that because the housing is not in game context "housing" but rather a sandbox creation game.
Player housing - simply no excuse not to have them.
You say its pretty in modern mmo's but I have never seen more immersive and intricate homes than in Galaxies. That being said housing is kinda one of those topics that everyone likes to bring up but 90% of players don't care about. I hear my friends all the time say "oh and I like that it has player housing" and then their houses are empty except for the hammock and rocketship they give you for digital purchase of the game (Yes i am talking about you wildstar)
What about an expansion on the personal storyline of the players character's?
Reason is because the personal storyline affects what is in the player's home in GW2. In the sylvari home instance if you picked the greenknight you can get the purple sylvari Gairwen practicing archery in your home instance.
Choices of the personal storyline affect npc behavior around the player. In the human street rat story line if the player chooses not to save their friend dieing the town folk talk about that he was killed. If the player chooses not to save the city from being posioned they complain about stomach aches.
Expanding on this concept will allow player's to collect behavoir's to describe what their chararacter is like to others through npc interactions.
Before GW2 was released they did advertise the game doing this.
On the topic of housing I'd like to echo two previous posters, housing has been part of MMOs for a lot longer then most staple features from way back with Ultima Online and yet keeps getting ignored by those developers more interested in making games then actual online worlds.
It's not a recent feature by any means, we just happen to have seen a small resurrection of it. However none of the newer MMOs has really hit the mark successfully like Ultima, Galaxies or even EQ2 and FFXI have. Honorable mention: Vanguard.
more sandbox features would be nice and increase the longevity tremendously...something like w vs w where you can build your own cities and keeps...combination of gw2 and reign of kings :-)
expansion of the personal storyline - not sure...tbh the storylines are quite bad...
housing i only think is interesting as part of a community effort - like building a city / keep together etc....individual housing - meh
I think Guild Wars 2 is one of the only games that has received great reviews across the board, yet when going to players and forums, receives the most hate,,
And yet, it's arguably the next most populated MMORPG outside of WoW, and it hasn't even put out it's first expansion.. That's pretty good longevity if you ask me.
I waited a while to play it and now I am and am loving it.
One thing to consider in certain games about asking for new races or new classes. While it's tempting for players to ask for such shiny features to be added(who doesn't want them anyway?) there are certain factors to be considered in certain games. For example in GW2 it's quite difficult to add new races because of how the game is build around story. Besides the usual codding required for such a move(armor clipping, new animations etc) there's also the fact that you have to add a whole new storyline for that race complete with a new starting area, new VOs and so on. As is the fact with Swtor and classes. Since these games have a focus on storytelling wich is divided/based on the individual race or class you're playing it's not that easy for them to add such features regardless of how easy the playerbase thing it is. Just a thought.
Comments
You say its pretty in modern mmo's but I have never seen more immersive and intricate homes than in Galaxies. That being said housing is kinda one of those topics that everyone likes to bring up but 90% of players don't care about. I hear my friends all the time say "oh and I like that it has player housing" and then their houses are empty except for the hammock and rocketship they give you for digital purchase of the game (Yes i am talking about you wildstar)
Yes valid points.
Good housing like in Wildstar would be nice.
For WvW i would like to see something like Darkness Falls in DAoC a PvPvE Dungeon
What about an expansion on the personal storyline of the players character's?
Reason is because the personal storyline affects what is in the player's home in GW2. In the sylvari home instance if you picked the greenknight you can get the purple sylvari Gairwen practicing archery in your home instance.
Choices of the personal storyline affect npc behavior around the player. In the human street rat story line if the player chooses not to save their friend dieing the town folk talk about that he was killed. If the player chooses not to save the city from being posioned they complain about stomach aches.
Expanding on this concept will allow player's to collect behavoir's to describe what their chararacter is like to others through npc interactions.
Before GW2 was released they did advertise the game doing this.
GW2 needs to make the Kodan a playable race. Never have I seen so much awesome packed into a single race.
All die, so die well.
On the topic of housing I'd like to echo two previous posters, housing has been part of MMOs for a lot longer then most staple features from way back with Ultima Online and yet keeps getting ignored by those developers more interested in making games then actual online worlds.
It's not a recent feature by any means, we just happen to have seen a small resurrection of it. However none of the newer MMOs has really hit the mark successfully like Ultima, Galaxies or even EQ2 and FFXI have. Honorable mention: Vanguard.
(,,,)=^__^=(,,,)
more sandbox features would be nice and increase the longevity tremendously...something like w vs w where you can build your own cities and keeps...combination of gw2 and reign of kings :-)
expansion of the personal storyline - not sure...tbh the storylines are quite bad...
housing i only think is interesting as part of a community effort - like building a city / keep together etc....individual housing - meh
kodan and tengu... and an additional specialization for every class together with more sandbox pvp features and more pve content - yes please
I think Guild Wars 2 is one of the only games that has received great reviews across the board, yet when going to players and forums, receives the most hate,,
And yet, it's arguably the next most populated MMORPG outside of WoW, and it hasn't even put out it's first expansion.. That's pretty good longevity if you ask me.
I waited a while to play it and now I am and am loving it.