Outdoor Storage (Lawns)

I don't mind people putting everything they own in their front yard, but it does take away from the purpose of housing - and that I don't like.

In my opinion it devalues homes because frankly you can fit more stuff on an open lot than you can in some the smaller homes. Open lots are more accessible, they're still protected by restricted access, and they don't require you to buy anything from the add-on store. Of course they're less immerssive too.

So here's a suggestion: Allow players to "weather proof" items. Weather proofed items would not suffer from the effects of weather (rain, snow, wind, sunlight, etc) and be fine to place outside on your front lawn. Non-weather proof items however would degrade more quickly over time.

You'd still have the freedom to put everything in your yard, but you'd have to pay price for it - which should discourage the activity while also preserving the value of a good roof over your head.

Some items (that make general sense to be outside) would always be weather proof and would not require extra maintenance.

 

That's an interesting idea, but the thing i worry about if things were needing to be weather proofed then people might be limited on what they can do with their yards. For example the picture you are showing might be someone who has a great idea for his furniture being outside that will look great or else it just took a few trips from the bank to even get it home and that person hasn't gotten around to organizing it yet. I feel that it's not something that should be limited or controlled by the game, and I know that many don't agree with me on that point but I worry about that happening. I want a sandbox. Too many well most games don't even allow us to put things in our yards to the extent that we will be able to here. Some yards won't look good to some people, but perhaps to someone else it will be just fine. Oh well it's another point where I end up in the middle, and I just want freedom and others want uniformity. That's why we are all here because of those differences and that is hopefully what will hopefully make a better game. I think you do come up with very good ideas Barron.

 

This is how HOAs get started. No one likes HOAs.


The game shouldn't restrict how people utilize their land. They paid for it/earned it. The picture you posted looks to me like someone who is really interested in testing out crafting. It's not like they have junk cars up on blocks!

I also don't like adding another layer of crafting/frustration/red tape onto being able to place things in my yard. If you come to my house in PaxLair, I've started setting up a fun little outdoor bar area (work in progress). If I had to weatherproof every single mug for the beirut table.....well....no one would be playing beirut that's for darn sure.....

 

I think most of the yards look horrible, mainly because people throw all their stuff out in front to make it easy to access.

What I'm calling for is a way to make lazy people pay a price for being lazy. I'm not trying to take away freedom from people, I'm simply saying that freedom shouldn't be free (in this case). So if one or two people feel like they have a great idea to put all their junk on the front lawn - great, they're welcome to do that. But we shouldn't make it so easy that everyone does it just because it's more convenient to get to after a few hours of level grinding.

 

But how lazy are they if they have gone out of their way to craft or purchase items to put on their lawn? And in all honesty...some people just aren't good at decorating. Some people prefer practicality over decorating, as in your picture above.

I think we are getting into dangerous territory if we are going to start telling people what they can and can't put on their front yard (or even limiting or creating barriers to doing so). I just don't think making the process of placing items in the yard annoying for those of us who enjoy creating a nice yard is the right answer. I can honestly say that if rules like that start making their way into the game....I might be worried at the direction the game is heading in.

I also think MOST players are going to try to make their house look fun. This is very early in a new release where people are testing what they can do. Some people haven't even been on enough yet to be able to craft or buy things to make their yards look nice. I saw a lot of great setups last release.

 

First I'd like to say I fully get where you're coming from.. BUT.. while I would like to agree, I think the total freedom to decorate is a higher priority in this case. What someone does with their land is their business even if they're breaking several laws of good taste. I don't want to see junk out in people's yards or weirdly stacked items that have no business defying gravity etc.. but consider some of the ramifications here.

Such a plan would deter serious decorators... and there are some darn good ones out there in this community. It would also deter maze builders. Personally I find the mazes to be pretty unrealistic but they're also apparently pretty popular and with the addition of hedge walls and hopefully other viable maze decorations they should be more realistic to have so many around.

For those two reasons alone I'm willing to accept the bad for the sake of the good.. (since really the bad amounts to little more than an eyesore).

A lot of events need (or will need) space to decorate outside. I know some of my own plans may call for long term décor in out of the way locations. Town owners will no doubt want to have outdoor lots specifically for décor.. or public crafting areas.

Yeah they could always pay extra to weather proof everything but that would just make the entire process more cumbersome. Besides all that, I don't believe furniture / most decorative items are meant to even have durability. They would all have to be overhauled to break down and need repair if left outdoors.

 

Applying a 20th/21st-century standard of neatness to someone's frontyard is uniquely non-immersive. You think some peasant in the 13th century gave a damn that his front yard was littered with crap? There wasn't time for tidiness, people were trying to grow food to eat.

Boo to taxes on putting stuff in your front yard. Give the people freedom to be slobs if they want to.

I mean, like Baron I'd prefer that everything be more presentable but would never support a TAX based on my/his personal preferences.

BEWARE the Tax Man. Next thing you know you'll have to buy a fishing license, or a elfing license, depending on what you're hunting.

 

We're not in 13 century anything. We're in 2015 where a portal opens up and populates New Britannia with a bunch of Avatars, who btw are the only people that can't seem to keep piles of junk out of their yard. I have yet to see one of the natives act the way most players act.

 

That house belongs to someone really nice who helped me get going, he does craft and his house does fit the type of town that is Owl's head unlike some castles there that make it hard to find the actual "main" castle. Thats not what I call junk

 

well my first thought on this is that if a Avatar has a stretch goal item like a elf house where is the
BASEMENT!!!
Nice 1 maybe 2 story one would hold all that crap laying around

 

Apparently you do mind it, otherwise why post this thread

All kidding aside, the screenshot you posted looks fine to me.

I am in favor of letting people decorate their lots in the way they want without any penalties.

I think we're seeing a lot of "unfinished" lots in the pre-alpha. People are rushing to test the basic functionality of the game (including crafting) and don't have time for decorating.

 

Maybe those people don't really feel like taking the time to decorate because it's pre-alpha and everything will just get wiped...so all that time in making it pretty was a waste....

I on the other hand have filled my deco limit and don't care about the wipe :-D

The point is, just leave them be, they aren't complaining about how much we have decorated *giggles*

 

Natives don't really own many houses, maybe that's why.

Fact remains, one man's trash is another man's treasure. And taxing the appearance of someone's front yard is a bad idea.

 

And not everyone has/wants a Large castle to put things in ..

I think you are seeing more of this behavior because it is an ALPHA.. people are testing all sorts of things.. I change things all the time just to see how things fit/stack/hit box test, etc. You never know. I have a feeling it will change as people get more attached to 'their' actual piece of the world when it goes live.

The windmills are already fading some..

 

Yes he is very nice and also super creative. I'm sure his lot will be ever changing.

 

It's debatable whether or not they actually have more room, as they only have (bar stacking antics) a single horizontal plane to decorate.

A similar topic came up when the stacking antics first became apparent, and my suggestion then was simply to either load contents only upon entering a plot (and those with private plots would automatically filter themselves out) or even better, allow the user to choose which plots and decoration they want to see, so it's entirely up to you what gets classed as an eye sore. Double click the house sign, choose "Don't Render This Plot", done. That way others aren't forced to pay for your aesthetic beliefs... because, unlike the real world, there's no prior investment cost (education, art foundations etc) to fund generic art which may, or may not, please individuals once it's created; it's just piling stuff up in a computer game, so the logic of taxation or utility cost really doesn't apply.

 

You should have come later, after the Party had ended

 

The solution is player run towns. If someone is junking up their yard, the town mayor can lock them out. That is SOTAs version of HOAs. But I agree with the sentiment above. Its good to know if your neighbor is a good guy before giving him the boot.

 

I dont want anything to degrade, especially more quickly.

As for people junking up their lots, oh well? Big deal? Its better than not having freedom to do so...