"Player housing" is a bit of a catch all term that could include modular building, creating player cities and castles, creating unique defensive structures and the like. For some reason the majority of developers and a large swathe of players simply think it only means dumping a house and decorating it. When in fact it can be an important gameplay driving mechanism over and above "decorating".

I guess it's because mmorpgs are not about longevity anymore, it is about setting up ladder tournaments until the next mmorpg with a shinier ladder tournament comes out in the summer. "Player housing" requires the players to actually want to stick around in a game for more than five days and have some ability to take a longer view. That simply is not what the genre, or the players, are about for the main part these days.

Fantastic.

Originally posted by apb2011

When WOW was in its prime time, imagine all those thousands of players being able to build whatever they want wherever they want on a server. SWG and WOW back then, and also UO, were not resource intensive as games are in this time. The company can spend tons of money on hardware, but if you have the players being able to put game assets in the world, I don't care what anyone says, it will lead to the game being taken down for maintenance alot.

 EDIT*

And UO was not a 3D game, so it is obviously not as resource intensive. And we cannot speak of SWG, mainly because it shut down. If the game were still alive i'm sure housing would be fun like it was in UO.

I remember in the late 90s when i played UO, it was so fun to gank someone and get into their house. Take all there stuff. I think because the game allowed players to build houses wherever they want made it so fun. One thing that sucked is the way the game looked after. The landscape looked ruined. Now imagine that in an MMO nowadays. It would look kinda like fallen earth. Messy.

Eh, it has almost nothing to do with maintenence and if done right it won't even have a massive client impact.

It's not an impossible problem to solve, it's just expensive.  And games have to weigh that cost vs. what housing adds to their game (because it often just doesn't fit that well.)  And that's pretty much the end of the decisionmaking process: any capable developer can do it, it's just a matter of whether they should do it.

I like player housing. So I think there should have player housing in MMORPGs.

Originally posted by GTwander

Originally posted by ignore_me

Originally posted by GTwander

Originally posted by waynejr2

I have a friend who has been in the game industry since the 80s, who play UO, EQ and SWG back in the day.  He certainly can't be a new generation out of touch with it player and he thinks housing is a waste.

Ever ask him why?

Or is he the type who hides his G.I. Joe in his dresser and talks out of his ass 90% of the time?

who cares why lol.

Well, there is a difference between a guy with a solid argument that "it takes a lot of resources to make, and only X amount of people seem to use it, or even care" (which I would like to see proof of, btw, and using SWG or VG as an example, not a half-assed system like LotRO - which *I* don't even give a shit about).

VS

"LOL U IS BABBY, PLAY FARMVILLE" (followed by sputtering noises and stroking his no-no bits)

He saw it as glorified bank space without additional gameplay benefits that couldn't be otherwise added to the game.

Originally posted by waynejr2

Originally posted by GTwander

Originally posted by ignore_me

Originally posted by GTwander

Originally posted by waynejr2

I have a friend who has been in the game industry since the 80s, who play UO, EQ and SWG back in the day.  He certainly can't be a new generation out of touch with it player and he thinks housing is a waste.

Ever ask him why?

Or is he the type who hides his G.I. Joe in his dresser and talks out of his ass 90% of the time?

who cares why lol.

Well, there is a difference between a guy with a solid argument that "it takes a lot of resources to make, and only X amount of people seem to use it, or even care" (which I would like to see proof of, btw, and using SWG or VG as an example, not a half-assed system like LotRO - which *I* don't even give a shit about).

VS

"LOL U IS BABBY, PLAY FARMVILLE" (followed by sputtering noises and stroking his no-no bits)

He saw it as glorified bank space without additional gameplay benefits that couldn't be otherwise added to the game.

Then your friend has a very limited and shallow viewpoint of what housing in an MMO can be

Originally posted by PyrateLV

Originally posted by waynejr2

Originally posted by GTwander

Originally posted by ignore_me

Originally posted by GTwander

Originally posted by waynejr2

I have a friend who has been in the game industry since the 80s, who play UO, EQ and SWG back in the day.  He certainly can't be a new generation out of touch with it player and he thinks housing is a waste.

Ever ask him why?

Or is he the type who hides his G.I. Joe in his dresser and talks out of his ass 90% of the time?

who cares why lol.

Well, there is a difference between a guy with a solid argument that "it takes a lot of resources to make, and only X amount of people seem to use it, or even care" (which I would like to see proof of, btw, and using SWG or VG as an example, not a half-assed system like LotRO - which *I* don't even give a shit about).

VS

"LOL U IS BABBY, PLAY FARMVILLE" (followed by sputtering noises and stroking his no-no bits)

He saw it as glorified bank space without additional gameplay benefits that couldn't be otherwise added to the game.

Then your friend has a very limited and shallow viewpoint of what housing in an MMO can be

 

 

reread it.  You might have missed a little subtle bit.  You could reply demonstrating you understand that point.

Originally posted by waynejr2 

reread it.  You might have missed a little subtle bit.  You could reply demonstrating you understand that point.

Subtlety and sarcasm do not convey in text without explanation or at least context.

Originally posted by PyrateLV

Originally posted by waynejr2

Originally posted by GTwander

Originally posted by ignore_me

Originally posted by GTwander

Originally posted by waynejr2

I have a friend who has been in the game industry since the 80s, who play UO, EQ and SWG back in the day.  He certainly can't be a new generation out of touch with it player and he thinks housing is a waste.

Ever ask him why?

Or is he the type who hides his G.I. Joe in his dresser and talks out of his ass 90% of the time?

who cares why lol.

Well, there is a difference between a guy with a solid argument that "it takes a lot of resources to make, and only X amount of people seem to use it, or even care" (which I would like to see proof of, btw, and using SWG or VG as an example, not a half-assed system like LotRO - which *I* don't even give a shit about).

VS

"LOL U IS BABBY, PLAY FARMVILLE" (followed by sputtering noises and stroking his no-no bits)

He saw it as glorified bank space without additional gameplay benefits that couldn't be otherwise added to the game.

Then your friend has a very limited and shallow viewpoint of what housing in an MMO can be

 

 

"can be" is irrelevant.

If there is a good housing system that is fun, show it to me, and i will consider it. Vague blue sky discussion does not make a game feature.