Expansion on Housing

Ok, going to expand on my ideas for player owned housing. The idea of the players being able to build and modify the existing landscape will be one of the core elements on the actual javascript engine. This, like all other items beyond basic drawing routines will be built as a module so it can be added too and/or modified easily.

In the other game I am developing, Nemesis Star (a space-based MMOR), actual habitable planets are somewhat rare so the players have the option of construction massive space stations. In addition to this they will be able to rent sections of their newly constructed station out. As such it makes sense to me, since i have this similar idea in multiple games, that it should be built into the core engine. Not to mention the fact that a great portion of online players really like the idea of having their own little piece of the world that they own.

I have played way too many mmorpg's in my life, quite a few of them in their early release and beta stages. A great many of them totally flop on their ideas for housing, perhaps due to a lack of understanding of the wants and needs of their player base? Or problems due to lack of available land, or allowing them to build houses pretty much anywhere. I remember one 3D FPS types mmorpg that some friends and I played, we put our house on top of a gigantic tree. 

Anyways I'm rambeling a bit here so here's  an expansion of the list of core ideas that should be addressed.

• Guild Housing.
  
  Almost all players join a guild and as such they should be allowed special housing just for them! Any housing built for the guild is owned by the guild itself, not any one player. This is to prevent characters who go inactive but control the resources of the guild.
  
  
• Hiring Workers.
  
  Not all players will want to spend the time leveling up construction and building skills just to add a single room to their house. You should be able to hire other players to build your house for you! Not only does this encourage a few to work these skills, but it opens up a whole new market for the players beyond just crafting a billion arrows to sell.
  
  
• Hiring NPC's.
  
  In order to get people from spamming the town square with their goods they are wanting to sell you will have the ability to hire a merchant to sell them for you. This obviously is not a new idea for any of those who have played Ultima Online. In addition you can hire protection for your house, expecially seeing how you can be attacked by "monsters".
  
  
• Traps and Magical devices.
  
  Certain sensitive rooms you may wish to put traps on if you are part of a PvP town. Their will of course be areas that you can store your hard-earned items but anything stored your house withing this type of town is up for grabs by an expert thief. You may have to feed and pay an NPC guard untill the day they die, but an Iron Golem never sleeps and doesn't care for gold.
  
  
• To Catch A Thief ...
  
  In order to prevent a massive uprising of theives their has to be a way for players to bring them to justic. And as such your traps and NPC guards always have a chance to capture the player roaming around your home. This can lead to prison time or even public hangings, it is entirely up to the town. I'm sure their will have to be quite a bit of tweaking work in order to get it to run smoothly, but it is an idea that has been mentioned repeatedly across many different mmorpg's but has never been taken seriously. 
  
  
• Environmental Changes ...
  
  Due to the fact that the map is saved on the server and delivered dynamicly you will be able to make some changes to the map itself. Things such as planting trees, cutting trees down that are in your way, leveling the ground out and more. Say for example your land area borders a mountain / cliff area. You do have the option to begin a tunnel and continue your town inside of the mountain. The downside, to that is if your town get's taken over by mob's, they also take over your new dunegon.
  
  
• Unbuildable Areas ...
  
  Their are none, but some areas may require a great deal more work to ... pacify .. than others. Not to mention if you just start throwing up a house just anywhere you may find the kings guards on your doorstep demanding their taxes and other fees. Or perhaps you build your house within a PvP town's area without their permission ... they now have the right to take the taxes out of your hide.
  
  
• Underwater Cities ...
  
  Yes, when i said you should be able to build anywhere ... with the right technology and skills ... you can build anywhere!
  
  
  

That about sums up the core ideas I have for housing, next i will touch on player guilds, factions, towns, nations.

-M