The Captain Jack Free Housing Initiative of 2014 - No Player House Restrictions

Peasants didn't own stone buildings in the city, like players will own in the game. But if someone in that era did own such a building, it would have been easy to buy or make a tub, and it would have been easy for several people to get into the tub.

Plus, for all we know, some players might want to build public bathhouses.

 

SotA is not medieval game. There is some advanced technology from Titans, who are likely aliens, there is magic, and there are avatars.
Avatars are not New Britannians. Avatars are us from Earth of today.

 

If a peasant could not own a stone building in a city, they surely would not have a hot tub either - they could not afford materials to build such a thing, nor would they have had the space to contain it. Let's remember in medieval times, most people were peasants.

So here we make a game for the rich, and make objects that were never part of the Kickstarter that break immersion of a realistic picture of how people live, just because it's not "earth" and maybe not "medieval."

The whole reason I liked UO and SotA was of the setting. But that setting is now getting more and more blurry, not to mention, trashy.

But ya, hey, let's have hot tub parties on our lawns. It's so steam-punk-medieval-whatever you call it.

 

There were plenty of people who lived in cities and towns. I'm sure peasants had barrels btw, to store goods. A tub is not much more complicated than a barrel. The bigger luxury would be carrying water from the stream to fill the tub regularly and then heat it. They would have carried water to the village for other purposes, but to have a bath every night probably would have been a chore. It would have been a lot of water just to set up a bath for one or two people every day. Hence, bath houses.

And hey, I'd have no problem with being required to fill up a tub with water... but that's just me. I don't find the existence of tubs in the game strange, though.

Btw, just found a picture of larger tubs with multiple people, http://www.pinterest.com/pin/347832771194330194/ Didn't want to fill up the thread with more pictures, so I linked it.

 

Sure, another bath house, presumably a house of ill repute, based on the couple they show in bed together in the same room.

 

Could be Caliya, that doesn't mean communal bathing wasn't done without prostitution.

 

I don't find the existence of an actual bath tub that fits with the decor, and inside a house, to be strange.

But on someone's lawn, or every person's lawn, and sometimes stacked in ridiculous ways, breaks immersion for me personally.

 

Caliya, though there are a lot of things on people's lawns that feel strange for me personally :>

 

Caliya, btw, we know from records that bathhouses often had rules that genders had to be segregated. So to the extent that there was communal bathing, it was probably often segregated unlike in the pictures shown. Unsegregated bathhouses I can be sure existed too because of complaints they devolved into brothels. But I don't know really how common one situation was versus another.

 

So up here in the cold Nordic countries during the Norse era most would bathe once a week. You'd start with a tub/barrel and hot water, the highest ranking would go first then down in order. You'd even bathe the thralls/slaves.
In the Nordic countries Saturdays are still named after "bathingday" lördag or laurdag.
So that would be huscarls, farmers, peasants, servants and slaves bathing in tubs usually every week. Even during winter.

The proto-Norsemen seems to have picked up this tradition when being mercenary auxiliaries for the Romans.




I just found it strange that is all.
Some things rubs us the wrong way and we can't always explain why.
Me I have no problem at all with the tubs, although I'd like to have a smaller one craftable in the game.
If you don't like them then that is how it is.

 

Right, not just Norse countries, but all throughout Europe in the middle ages was pretty much that way. And why one tub? Affordability, the ability to heat enough water sufficiently (less resources) and it only fit one person. So low man on the totem pole got cold and dirty water.

In Shroud, one can argue that because of the Tesla power, you can heat a tub that way. It would just look way too strange to me.

 

Well and getting the water itself and replacing it so it isn't stagnant. When you place the tub on your lawn, its automatically full with water of course, and the Moon Towers can't do that.

 

Btw,

I for one would find it cool if there were full Roman style baths somewhere in the game -- large pools -- either outdoors or underground. Would be a good player basement type.

 

I actually voted "I own a POT and I intend on having rules limiting player decoration.", not because I intend on having any restrictions on declarations, but because I intend to have a business district which I will require looks like one for the sake of immersion. There are different levels of restrictions. I am planning on "zoning requirements." However, if there is someone that is causing a problem for the majority, the unpleasant responsibility of negotiating with them would fall to the town owner.

 

I'm still against a Homeowner's Association making decoration rules. I just think objects should have thoughtful design and placement rules.

 

Yes please yes.
These already exist in the game, but not for players, instead they are all over the place in dungeons.
Very frustrating for someone planning a Thermae.

 

I see a lot of debate on the forum about how fugly some of the lots are and how it breaks immersion etc wanting restrictions, rules, gated communities etc. Many players that I see are really into decorating their homes in a pristine fashion, spending the rest of their time farming, leveling up, optimizing their characters etc... To make a long story short one of the biggest flashbacks I had to the original UO feel was none of the things I just listed above. It was while playing a session in Owl's where I was running around naked, with my Santa hat on, doing goofy stuff on peoples properties, because I can!

I explored all the nooks, crannies and puzzles people had out. Some offered a fun puzzle, like the castle maze that someone set up, others simply wanted to see how high they could stack things on their property with clever ways of allowing individuals to climb. Whats that? You put planks on your front door so no one can see what you're up to? Well too bad cause I snuck up onto your windows, getting in your business! It was all fantastic and unexpected fun and exactly what makes UO in my mind special. Its the ability to see peoples pure creativity right in front of you, even if it is odd, or messy or downright different.

Now I know some of you purists probably completely disagree with me but if you really want this world to thrive you must make room for people to feel that they can express themselves and break free from the expected, the tedium that we are all so used to in life.

Now I will grant that perhaps some of the modifications are a bit much, stacking chess boards, anks, having ghetto trash on the front lawn is a bit out there but I feel that countering this desire will only make things worse in the end for the community and world as a whole. Unless perhaps the system is modded to allow for some healthy out of the box thinking when it comes to things like this. I mean it is sandbox no? I actually think the player run towns are a possible brilliant solution for all sides as they will be able to make their own rules regarding conduct but you wont see me in the overly rigid ones that's for sure


Last part I wanted to mention with respect to the whole creative spirit is in how we also form our groups and characters. Being a thief, being a builder, being an odd ball whatever it is, you had a place and there were always those who shunned or embraced you but we were all one big happy family in the end. That's why UO's armor styles and diversity worked so well. We had byzantine empires, roman empires, vikings, orcs, NEWB PWNERS, all of it! We need more, more I say! And yes still the familiar comforting backdrop that Lord British provides us all for when we are looking to lose ourselves in a fantasy setting.


https://plus.google.com/111660901279307942320/posts/h9sjkVsEyAg

Pretty awesome

 

How do people deal with seeing the edges of their monitor?

 

What does that have to do with this topic?

 

Immersion.