Last week, Guild Wars 2 became the latest western MMORPG to finally add proper housing, with pages lifted straight out of Wildstar and RIFT. I’m thrilled to see it happening, not just because I like Guild Wars 2 and want to see it thrive but because housing can be one of those features that adds a major layer of stickiness to MMOs (at least if it’s done properly). And I can’t help but look at the rest of our genre and wonder who’s next because fam, we still have some top-tier MMORPGs that aren’t making an effort on this front. And now I know you’re all thinking of World of Warcraft.
But for this week’s Massively Overthinking, I want to just stipulate that WoW needs housing and move past it to talk about other MMORPGs that either need it or need a major rework of whatever they have. Talk to me about another MMO that doesn’t have player housing and should. What’s holding it back, and why would it be a major improvement?
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): You know, after I posed this question to the team, I actually struggled to come up with a good answer because most of the MMORPGs I have sunk serious time into in the last few years have all had housing. GW2 really was the last holdout. That’s how important it is to me. And sometimes it’s not even the housing itself that is the reason; it’s more like housing is a
In fact, if I run down my list just of the MMORPGs that I have permanently installed, only Classic Guild Wars and Project Gorgon lack housing. I realize GW1 is in maintenance mode and is never getting housing, so I’m at peace with that (and no, guild halls never counted). But Gorgon could really benefit from it, dang. Does it have the budget for it? Surely not; it barely has the budget to stay alive, so I’m not really judging it here. But it’s exactly the kind of deep and addictive sandbox that could be enhanced so, so much by even a middling housing system.
If I can chuck in one more game? I’d love to see Albion Online rethink islands into proper housing. Islands got me hooked on the game for quite a while because of the attention paid to livestock and herbing and farming, but the house is basically just a shell. I’d love to see more.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog):Â Even if I’m not sure the playerbase would care, I’m going to say that EVE Online should have housing.
Why? Well, I’ve got to believe that having to constantly fight wars over and over again would get exhausting and having some place to hang your hat and maybe mark your exploits would be a welcome change of pace. Also I guess there could be some manner of mechanical benefit, like accelerated skill learning when you log out inside your own personal space.
Again, I’m sure I’m missing the mark with what EVE players would actually want, but then they deserve a nice bit of comfy and non-combat good times too, right?
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): I’ll toss in an entry in the “rework” department, which is Lord of the Rings Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Both of these use a hook system that is overly restrictive and greatly limits the number and the placement of objects in a space. I’ll give credit to both of these MMO communities for doing some pretty incredible things within those limitations, but it’s an antiquated design that needs to be overhauled in favor of free-form placement. Now, can either of these teams wield the resources and manpower to make that happen? Probably not, but the need is there.
Sam Kash (@thesamkash): I wish I could speak to housing better, but frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn. At least not personally. I’m all for the feature existing as there are clearly a lot of people who really adore it. I’m always a proponent of adding more features for more players. It’s just never been a feature that I got into. Except for The Sims. I did like that game.
I think that’s a reason that survival games don’t often click with me. It seems like a lot of the gameplay involves building your dwelling and its surroundings. And I just don’t really enjoy doing that stuff. Me likey big swords. Me likey big fights.
Every week, join the Massively OP staff for Massively Overthinking column, a multi-writer roundtable in which we discuss the MMO industry topics du jour – and then invite you to join the fray in the comments. Overthinking it is literally the whole point. Your turn!
