Still, the housing system in SoTA does seem quite developed, so once you are the proud owner of a lot and decide to build upon it, there's much to do, decorate, store, and make the place feel alive. I have personally not played the game just yet, but housing does seem to be shaping up to be a well-rounded and carefully crafted feature. So if you don't mind chipping in a little extra (you can actually sell your lots to other players later if you'd like), it looks to be worth the investment if you want to make a piece of the world your own.
Most promising to me, however, looks to be WildStar. The devs have gone on record stating that housing is going to be a fully fleshed out feature in the game. Heck, they devoted a video to the whole thing. I haven't personally played for more than 10 minutes just yet, but the way housing is intended to work makes my eyes widen. Players will be able to grab a plot and then set it up with a campsite. That's just the beginning, as housing upgrades will become possible over time and will grow to include the outside of your house too. Loot that you can use to decorate your house will drop, and you can craft some of the rest. Fill your house with some of the right types of stuff and you'll be able to increase the XP you get from resting. Logging out in your house will also give you a boost. And items? You can place those freely.
Carbine is not just having a housing system squeezed somewhere in there just to say they have one. Housing will be integrated into the player experience if they want it, but there are also lots of apparent benefits to encourage making the investment. Treating housing like it's more of an integral part of the game, rather than just a feature only the hardcore collectors or the more socially inclined will use is promising.
Housing in WildStar also looks to work nicely with those inclined toward the Settler path. House plots will get features called Plugs that will be customizable. Players will be able to set whatever privacy settings they want on their homes, and also invite or recruit other players to do things or even serve as caretaker or help drive off trouble.. If you love to craft, fill one with a workbench. And so on. For that, those other players will be rewarded. These types of assistance look to be flexible in terms of timing, but that there's this type of cooperation with rewards at stake is a nice touch.
It's great to see options like these emerge inside a modern game . These are promising for the community in the game, and I'm personally looking forward to WildStar for in part to see how that investment in community and social features in a game like this will play out. As a subscription game, housing will be one of the launch features, so this is the only one where it's right there in what you pay for the game itself. Just from what we know so far, the housing system seems like a mix of old and new systems, with a bent toward self-sufficiency but lots of options. And that's not a bad thing.
Of course, this list isn't comprehensive, but it looks to be a good year for player housing in several accessible forms. Whether you want things a bit more old school, as a new feature in an old favorite game, or as a mix of old and new in a shiny package, 2014 looks to deliver more solid options than we've seen in a while.
Christina Gonzalez / Christina is a freelancer and contributor to MMORPG.com, where she writes the community-focused Social Hub column. You will also find her contributions at RTSGuru. Follow her on Twitter: @c_gonzalez
