Starting Point

Having little starting point, it is hard not to just draw from UO. Here are a few very old discussion points (1999 era).


There is no trade in land. Any land which is not crossed by a road and is level can be taken on a first-come, first-serve basis.

A house is constructed by purchasing a deed in gold from an NPC shopkeeper. This deed is then taken to the desired location where it is magically turned into a house.

A character may own only one house. (Keep in mind that a subscriber may have more than one character.)

Houses can be shared among several players by duplicating keys. For example, a mule character may be used to obtain more housing.
While not guaranteed, houses are secure for all practical purposes. Players tend to fill them with items to make them more glamorous or may just treat them as a place to store junk.

Houses can be neither stolen nor damaged.

If not regularly visited by their owners, houses will decay and eventually disappear.

Houses are required to run a player-controlled vendor and are thus crucial to the supply side of player commerce.

Several of these rules are designed explicitly to constrain the supply of housing. Controlling the supply of housing is very important for several reasons.

Unimproved land is extremely limited.

Wilderness is required for adventuring ? a crucially fun aspect of the game which must be maintained.

Houses serve as storage vessels and therefore promote hoarding and server congestion


Cited: <a href="http://www.mine-control.com/zack/uoecon/uoecon.html">The In-game Economics of Ultima Online</a>

 

Why would you not allow land to trade owners? That seems absurd to me. If the game isn't hosted on official servers then I see no point in this limitation.

Hopefully building a home will be more in-depth than the decade old mechanic of your deed turning into a home. After purchasing a deed I should need to hire a carpenter to at least put the frame up.

If the game is not server hosted (mmo) then the single house limitation would most likely be lifted.

I always thought it would be awesome for master thiefs to have the ability to enter player housing. This makes you the owner think twice about what you store in your house. As long as the risks to the thief were very great I see no downside. Now you're using magical locks and attempting to hide things. True role playing.

Houses required to become a vendor makes sense.

 

Good thought Simon. I like the thought of having to hide things with magic in your own home for safe keeping. Still leaving some kind of possibility for flaw. This creates opportunity for great personal stories in the game outside the main story line!

 

How bout the ability to booby-trap your stuff.

It'd be nice to log on and see a dead theif on your booby-trapped welcome mat.