I like this idea a lot. I would be doubtful that housing in XIV would be this free form but who knows? Anything that's player driven is a great idea, an instanced village is probably what we would get in this game unfortunately. While I like the idea of being able make to put houses in the existing wild I am not with the idea of contested land or villages you need to defend from other players. That's in the realm of a PvP game which this is not.

IF it were possible to build houses in the world at large or even camps I would be all over that. What is a camp? It can be as simple as a bonfire in the wild, or as large as a bunch of tents put together, perhaps you can even bring your retainer along (put up a bell post). Camps in games usually bring about bonuses, maybe they regen anima or something as helpful.