Player Housing in MMORPGs
I first started playing MMORPGs back in 1997 when my uncle introduced me to Ultima Online. From the moment I logged in and saw hundreds of other players in the game world, I was hooked and wanted to be a big shot in the game's community. And what better way to show off my awesome MMO wealth than a huge house with awesome goodies in it? Ultima Online introduced me to MMORPGs and showed me what great housing in an MMORPG looks like. Player housing in MMOs has always been either a his or miss ordeal. Some games implement housing incredibly well while others just bolt it on as an afterthought. Anyway, check out how some MMORPGs implemented player housing:
Player housing was introduced in Final Fantasy 14 with patch 2.1. Initially, only Free Companies (guilds) could purchase homes, but with the release of patch 2.38, Personal Housing became available. Players can own their own homes within 3 residential districts. Players must have at least on level 50 character and be a high ranking second lieutenant in one of the game's Grand Companies (factions). Owning a house provides some real benefits in FF14 too like Chocobo training and access to the game's gardening and airship systems. Homes exist in the persistent world in special housing wards alongside other homes. The launch of personal housing caused a ton of problems in Final Fantasy 14, as personal housing and free company housing was supposed to be separate from the extremely expensive guild homes, but wasn't. Plots are limited and prices are extremely high. To address the issue of limited availability for player homes, Square Enix released apartments for Final Fantasy XIV with patch 3.4, which makes player homes much more affordable (by increasing supply drastically). Player homes can also be furnished with forges and other items required to train crafting. With near infinite ways to customize and decorate a home, Final Fantasy XIV's housing system is top notch.
Elder Scrolls Online
The Elder Scrolls Online introduced a housing system with its homesteads patch in February, 2017. It launched with 40 unique homes sized from apartment to manor and features thousands of unique furniture items.
Housing in Runes of Magic exists in a unique instanced zone seperate from the game's regular persistent world. Players can decorate their homes with 130+ available interior items (tables, chairs, rugs, beds, etc) while also using their home for item storage. Crafting skills can also be used in homes with private forges (blacksmiths), laboratories (alchemy), and huge pots (cooking). Skill gain for crafting is faster in homes, so there's a reason to craft inside a house. Players can add rooms and hire additional housekeepers for extra gold too. Player housing is actually pretty in-depth in Runes of Magic compared to many MMORPGs, but the lack of persistence makes it difficult to show off your pad to others.
Ultima Online
Despite the fact that Ultima Online basically pioneered the entire MMORPG industry, the game still has the one of the best (if not best) player housing system in any MMO. The key to the game's housing system is that homes exist within the persistent world. No special player housing zones or anything like that. Houses could be placed anywhere that's not blocked by trees, brushes or other terrain. Homes placed near dungeons or other popular hunting grounds provided incredible utility while homes placed near towns made excellent shops. Players had near infinite possibilities for customizing their homes – from simply re-arranging furniture to showing off your super rare goodies on pedestals. Home sizes range from tiny small brick houses to massive castles. Houses in PvP spots made excellent safe houses from danger too. Housing in Ultima Online had everything a good player housing system needs – persistent world existence, variety, and utility. The fact that a game released in 1997 has a better player housing system than newer MMORPGs today is quite disappointing. With the huge success of World of Warcraft, developers just don't want to take bold risks anymore.
Rift's player housing system is actually quite unique. Instead of allowing players to own their own home, they can own entire areas called “dimensions” that exist in their own instanced area. Despite the fact that it's still instanced, dimensions are based on persistent world locations. Instead of a house, you can own an entire area and can actually build numerous structures within it from houses to temples. These areas are quite big too so players are free to decorate them however they like. One drawback here is that dimensions cannot be expanded in size, but players can purchase additional item storage space within their dimension.
Aion introduced its player housing system with patch 3.0. Free housing units are available to everyone starting at level 21 after completing a quest chain. Players can access their homes by using their “Homeward bound” skill that teleports them to their home. Those that aren't satisfied with a studio can purchase larger houses, mansions, estates or even a palace. What I like about the housing in Aion is that unlike most games, housing exists in the persistent world. Unfortunately, the way the game is designed, homes only exist in special areas and space is very much limited. Players can't expand their existing homes but can always purchase bigger ones. Players have to pay a regular maintenace fee to keep their homes, so players that no longer play can't hold onto a home forever. Player housing in Aion is actually some of the best i've seen, mainly because it exists in the actual game world rather than an instance. The only utility a home provides though is extra item storage and a minor buff when logging inside your home.
Player housing in Lord of the Rings Online is a mix between persistent and instanced. Upon reaching level 15, players have access to 3 different kinds of homes in LOTRO: Standard, Deluxe, and Kinship homes. Both the interior and exterior of these homes can be decorated. Even though homes don't exist in the persistent world, clusters of homes, called neighborhoods, exist together. Every neighborhood is instanced and contains 4 kinship houses, 10 deluxe houses and 16 personal houses. Since homes are clustered together, you'll actually have neighbors and see other people's homes. Like Aion, players have to pay a weekly upkeep maintenance fee to maintain ownership of their home. The only benefits to owning a home in Lord of the Rings is extra storage, NPC vendor discounts, and a skill that allows instant travel to your home.
Twin Saga handles player housing in a very traditional fashion. Every player can get a home, called a Terracottage, for free by completing a quest early on in the game. This house can be accessed at anytime simply by instancing into it. Players can furnish their terracottages and decorate them to their liking. Practical uses of player homes outside of decoration are limited in Twin Saga.
Similar to Twin Saga, player housing in Black Desert Online is instanced. It does exist within the persistent world though. Players can purchase "rooms" in major cities. Supply is not limited though as players can pick from a list of player rooms when zoning into one of these apartments. Players can customize their rooms with various bits of furniture and other goodies.
Housing in Star Wars: The Old Republic is handled through its strongholds system. Players can acquire and customize their own "bastions of personal luxury". Players can decorate their homes with furniture, trophies, mini pets, mounts, and other various goodies.
These are just a few MMORPGs with player housing. As a fan of housing in MMOs, I'm glad to see more and more games adding this feature. What game do you think has the best housing system? Which has the worst?
By, Stryxs
Been playing MMOs since I first got my hands on Ultima Online when I was 12 years old. Played so many games from Star Wars Galaxies to MapleStory to DAoC to World of Warcraft. Long time League of Legends player too! I'm also Known as "ReMo" and "Remotay"
