*swoops in with hot take as new/inexperienced player and/or person without a house*
I feel like a major issue is that, as an outsider looking in, people are too fixated on getting Plot X on World Y (maybe even specifically in Ward Z? Not enough of a housing fan to know if there's anything like "prime wards" in terms of "oh this is the ward that actually has activity" or stuff like that.)
Now, in an ideal world, yes, we might phase reality and allow two homes to exist in one physical place (well, digital I guess?) +1 to the instanced housing suggestion I've seen as I've lurked the forums, absorbing the debate.
Nowhere, I'm guessing (please, correct me if I'm wrong, with citation) it is never advertised "have a home wherever you want, in the neighborhood you want, with the neighbors you want!" My completely random guess is that the advertisements/back of the box bullet points mentioned in these threads probably mention "own the home of your dreams!" in which case...
- A) it's hyperbole, you aren't entitled to a specific plot, just the general concept of a home (and it's up to YOU to decorate or make the most of whatever you end up getting to turn it into the "home of your dreams")
- B) the above notwithstanding, you similarly are not guaranteed/promised that you're gonna get to be in your favorite ward with all your friends on the world you prefer.
I'm, again, guessing, but I don't think anything is promised about "own the home you want, on the world you want!". So that nips in the bud the "oh but all my besties are on [overpopulated Crystal world], why should I have to move?!?!" Because if you want your house, you have to. Or else settle for whatever you can get.
This debate to me, watching from the outside, is like (rich) people moving to LA, only to find out that nope, none of the fancy Beverley Hills mansions are up for sale, best you can do is an overpriced studio downtown (small plots and/or "undesirable" housing zones or wards or whatever); or, you can buy a really nice house in an outlying township, but deal with an hour long commute just to get to the city (getting a home off your preferred world/DC).
As for the FC thing... That's the way the rules are written. If you have the whatever it is, 8 million gil * number of alts you have for a medium (here is where I reveal my lack of housing knowledge lol), then bid away. If you don't, there's nothing stopping you from doing the same thing, other than your morals, I guess? But as has been pointed out exhaustively, far too many loopholes or odd situations, which may not even be intentional/meant to "game the system", exist. Inherited roles, having different characters/alts with entirely different like backstories or whatever, etc. I'm not even really into RPing, but a person's second character with an entirely different friend group and/or setup shouldn't be excluded from owning a home on that character.
