New Housing FAQ and Housing Article on Polygon

We just published a new Housing FAQ. Huge thanks to the folks on the Dev+ forums who helped us hash out the FAQ (missing bits, clarification needed, etc.).

Colin Campbell over at Polygon just published a great article about housing. I love how much the article featured folks from our community versus just having me blather on. Gigantic thanks to Dame Lori and Fireangel for taking the time to answer Colin's questions.

http://www.polygon.com/2013/9/13/4724762/lord-british-and-the-oklahoma-land-rush

 

Clarification: Even though the lots are mentioned in the FAQ as available in the Add On store we haven't yet added them. Soon!

 

Just finished reading it (the FAQ, I mean), that's a lot to digest. Thanks!

 

Nice Article !

Whilst I personally have reservations on the whole "Pioneer" concept in RL, with SoTA this really is fantasy, so sure it's a great and accurate way to describe what you're doing and sounds fun
The article should hopefully garner plenty of attention and interest for the game


I see someone has already commented on Polygon - that Portalarium might have to consider RL Tax issues with selling lots online. Of course this sort of thing has been going on for a good few years now (eg Second Life, Entropia etc) yet from googling it seems that such talk is still the matter of speculation and debate, or does anyone know otherwise ?

 

From the housing FAQ:

Hm, does this mean that renting non-instanced rooms, basements, attics, and so on in existing NPC structures is off the table for now? Like a room above the Bakery, or the basement of the Blacksmith?
It's fine if it is, I just don't want to keep bringing it up as a possible feature if that's what's being referred to here.

Or does it mean only instanced housing is off the table for now? Which makes more sense to me, but I don't want to presume..

Any clarification would be great, DarkStarr. Thanks very much for the updated information.

 

Yeah, I'm not sure I'm understanding it correctly either: we can "adapt" our house to also function as a tavern/store (just craft or buy some related furniture) that we can run (as in, roleplay as a tavernkeeper, etc., I'm not talking about NPC vendor placement), but we can't purchase proper inns/tavern/shops, yet?

 

Lots are now for sale in the Add On Store.

RE: Temp Housing: Specifically we won't have the concept of renting but not owning a space in the game.

You can run a tavern and sell food and drink but you won't be able to rent rooms to other players through a game system. You can role play this by making them kindred and agreeing to have them pay you a regular fee.

 

Great to know! *thumbsup*

 

Hey Starr, it looks like the Store link isn't currently working...you just get a blank page aside from the text :

The virtue is not here, nor virtual.

 

Ok thanks for the information, DarkStarr.

Rather than renting to other players, I was thinking more along the lines of creating player housing that wasn't a standalone structure. Players could rent open/shared world spaces, in civilization hexes, from NPCs. They could decorate and have storage, but would have no other permissions, and could not share ownership or storage. Think of it like.. Student Housing! heheh.

I'm fine with the decision, but is there a reason you can share as to why you won't have the concept of renting but not owning a space in the game? It's fine if you can't share the reason, too, but that would be nice to know, if that's the case.

At a glance, it seems like a great way to alleviate the perceived housing crisis without resorting to underground housing or other techniques, so it's puzzling why this specific mechanic isn't being utilized.
Again, not asking to be inflammatory, I'm just curious.

 

And we have a new Housing Update here for your enjoyment! Feel free to comment right on the article. https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=29385

 

Store is fixed now

 

at the moment i am citizen. can I buy a Village Lot Property Deed (ore more) from the shop and have 2 houses (or more) on one account ?

 

Yes you can have multiple lots on one account Crixus

 

Thanks for the update, and good to my word that if add-on property was available I would buy in...I am now a Deed owner and with a brang new Viking house to boot!

 

I find it extremely difficult to reconcile this quote from the polygon article…

with this quote from the FAQ’s…

Without completely freaking out about how easy it appears to be to abuse this mechanic. Could someone please take a shot at answering a few logical questions?

1) Why would anyone want to open a house to all players? What’s the reward?

2) Richard mentioned that houses might have “levels of magical protection”. Why do they need that? What happens if they don’t have magical protection?

3) How can SotA (housing) have a purposeful social experience if players can effectively put their house “on another map” where they can store items without risk and shut all the other players in the multiplayer game out of existence?

Thank you!

 

1) i think if you want to place a vendor, your house has to be public
3) as far as i understand it, "houses on another map" is what other games did, not SOTA

 

Thanks, Crixus I was hoping for DarkStarr or an equivalent (but the questions are certainly open for discussion by all).

1) I don't think we should assume that to be the case at all. In fact, I'd be shocked if this were true. SHOCKED.
3) I know that's what it was refering to, but if I as a player can just ignore everyone else, how is that not exactly like those games? How is that not the exact same type of instancing that Starr was saying they didn't want?

 

You might want people to wander into your house and see your trophies or craftwork. Other players will not be able to take anything from the house or move anything unless you mark them as kindred. Houses are part of the persistant world, so all online players see them and can interact with them (if you allow) even if they are not matched with you.

As such, all players will be able to interact with your vendor and such. Having it public should not be anything expoitable unless you trusted the wrong person with full access (kindred). However, having it public would be necessary if you want a "shop" rather than a "house".

 

We need details. For example, why can't I have a vendor outside my home, but a house that can't be interacted with by other players?

Also, RG was asked a simple question during the Hearth of Britannia telethon, "Can player houses be stolen from?" His short answer was "no" but he then went on to explain that some players might have different levels of magical protection that might have some kind of impact. RG was being very cautious in his answer.

So what's all that mean? How exactly does it work? I'd really like to know more about the general thinking between these mechanics. I realize it's all subject to change, but the idea that "You can flag your lot and/or house to private, friends only, or open to all players" seems extremely Respected Fellow Playerish. That's not a problem on it's own...but it's a potentially HUGE problem if you have some segment of the game that is trying to have fun with full pvp options. The two things simply don't balance themselves, the developers will have to really work at balancing this. I'd really like to know that they're atleast thinking about this and recognize that you can't just let people "opt" out of all the risk and still get all the rewards.

Based on the above quotes, I'm not completely sure that they realize this.