Housing Crisis: Is MMO Housing In Need of Renovation?

Michael Dunaway
By Michael Dunaway, News Editor
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Player housing is in the works for Star Wars: The Old Republic. A mini-trailer from a dev chat earlier this week gave fans a brief preview of the upcoming feature, offering a windowed view of Coruscant's skyscape as seen from what looks like a luxury apartment, which can probably be yours for a small security deposit of 1000 Cartel Coins.

OK, putting aside jokes about the SWTOR cash shop... even if the housing and everything in it is available for free – as it is in subscription MMOs and many F2P ventures – what's the big deal? Why should anyone care about housing for the sake of housing?

Player housing is one of those things that MMO fans always say they want but never know quite what to do with. Sure, we'll buy our plot of land, decorate it up all nice, maybe invite a few friends over to look at it once in a while. But unless you're a role-player who likes to organize and run regular social events, then what do you do with it after that “new feature shine” has worn off?

We talk a lot about how various “old” MMO mechanics need a reworking, whether it be combat, questing, raiding, crafting, or whatever, but “housing” rarely seems to make that list. Granted, it's a small and relatively minor part of most games – but maybe that's the reason it's viewed as secondary. In my opinion, housing as just a place to hang some trophies and have extra storage space is about as integral to a game as a new set of cosmetic gear – neat to look at for a little while but ultimately forgotten and serving no real gameplay purpose. And you can't even take housing with you on adventures.

I think that if you're going to put housing in your game, you should make it more than just a place to put stuff. Some recent games have been trying to make housing a more integral part of gameplay. WildStar, with its warplots, is looking that way, and any houses, castles, or bases you build in EverQuest Next and EQN Landmark look to be integral parts of the gameplay experience. Finally, after many years of half-hearted promises, Blizzard finally looks to be adding a form of combat-ready player housing in World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor.

“Storming the keep” is such a fundamental part of PvP, and some PvE, that I'm surprised more developers haven't sought to integrate that style of gameplay with player housing, or at least some kind of customizable fortress mechanic. Attacking or defending a developer-made keep is one thing; attacking or defending a place you or another player built seems much more exciting and personal. There are some concerns, I suppose, about exploits and a lack of variety – that once one person or guild figures the “best” way to build a castle, everyone else will copy it and it will be nigh impregnable – but that's what playtesting and iteration, and maybe the occasional nerftastic patch, are supposed to solve.

I know it's not much to go on, but the SWTOR housing as seen in this brief clip looks pretty but not especially exciting or innovative. That could describe SWTOR as a whole, but it's not like that's the only game to pick on. I was one of the first people to buy a house when they were first offered in The Lord of the Rings Online. Six years, and one move, later, and I've got a bigger house and more stuff. Yay?

Perhaps not every style of housing is appropriate for action and exciting gameplay. That SWTOR Coruscant apartment doesn't exactly look like a wretched hive of scum and villainy – well, maybe for senators, but that's a totally different brand of evil. And there's something to be said for having a quiet retreat, shut off from the hustle and bustle of the MMO world, where you can /sit and /sleep in peace or roll around in your mountain of loot, Uncle Scrooge-style.

But ask yourself this: Have you ever been actually entertained by MMO housing for more than a few weeks or months? Do you see it as something integral to MMO design, something that every game simply must have to be considered a complete experience? And are you happy with the “relaxing” style of housing we see most of the time today, or would you prefer a more action-oriented slant to your housing?

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About the Author

Michael Dunaway
Michael Dunaway, News Editor
Michael Dunaway has been part of the MMOBomb team for years and has covered practically every major Free-to-Play MMO title since 2009.

Discussion (16)

kramer 9 years ago
Being creative with housing in games like Minecraft, Rust and 7DTD is where the fun lies. Add some additional functionality like crafting, communication and storage, now you're getting somewhere. Go further, and extend housing to a larger community building - for villages and keeps - that are both customizable and destructible - that's a home run. I only wish I knew how to code.

mcchicken 9 years ago
Housing is icing on the cake.

Xina 9 years ago
UO > All.

House 9 years ago
The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot: housing simulator 2014.

Nick 9 years ago
They should ban Housing.

MidAir 9 years ago
Housing is a cool feature that can entertain but i think it needs some usefull stuff as a bank or buffs if you log out in your home something that makes it usefull even when you finished building it

Merkadis 9 years ago
heh whats to say? mmos in a whole are in need of renovation, not just housing lol.

View 1 reply
spider0804 9 years ago
Star Wars Galaxies

The End.

View 2 replies
SweetThing 9 years ago
Archeage:
Placing houses on the open world in Archeage. sleep, sit, storage items, play, decorate, craft, receive emails, custom walls of your choice, open treasures, Players can decide which people can enter their house and may open chests(friends, family, all, guild). Your house can be raided in war zones. In order to build houses in Archeage, you need a certain number of raw materials, which can be found all over the world. Open Beta started in Russia. download it, download english patch and you are ready to play.

View 1 reply
Padsoldier 9 years ago
The basics I would expect from player housing would be: crafting tables, vendors/vending machines (with basic food and vendor crafting materials), access point to bank (personal or guild), fast travel location, class/profession trainers, mailbox, pets/followers, some cosmetic/social stuff.
It's a sweet bonus if it provides things like dungeon/raid portals, auction house access, questgivers (for dailies).

I dislike the idea of farms and such (unless totally automated), because that'd just make the players feel forced to come back every day/hour. I feel similar to what WoW is planning to do with Warlords of Draenor: the ability to have workers/mercenaries and send them on missions/make them do profession things (which will probably make resources worthless in trading, because everyone could produce what they need).

MMO 9 years ago
IMO, housing could have a great potential, if put to any use.
Think of Harvest Moon games, a housing could be used to refine items, if you buy the workstations for it, or cooking for items to use ingame, sleeping to give some "rested" bonuses, storage for extra pets, display for armours colllected ingame, for medals or achievements, or even a training ground, so before logging out, you choose an action for your character to perform while you're logged out (think of monster hunter felynes).
It could have some great uses, apart from the cosmetic thing.

Mounted 9 years ago
Mounted son


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