[Suggestion] Monthly Housing Upkeep

[SirBrighton]

Problem
I'm sure a lot of you are already aware of the story going around about two players who own 28 houses between them (Link to story). A lot of people see this as selfish, while others say they earned those plots fair and square and are entitled to keep them.

Suggested Solution
Instead of requesting for there to be a maximum amount of personal plots one account can own per world (which I suspect some people would start a war over), maybe it would be more practical to add a monthly upkeep cost for each house owned over a certain amount.

Upkeep Cost
The upkeep cost wouldn't have to be huge, but enough to make you continue to work to keep those extra houses. After all, if you're able to afford that many houses, it should be no problem, right? Maybe something like:

• Small houses: 50,000g/month for each extra house over 5
• Medium house: 100,000g/month for each extra house over 3
• Large house: 150,000g/month for each extra house over 2

The upkeep would be taken directly out of the character's on-hand gil at the start of each month, while a Free Company's upkeep would be taken out of their Free Company chest instead (as such, make sure only trustworthy people can withdraw gil from the Free Company chest). As such, if you plan on being away for a long time, you would need to make sure to have the required amount of gil on your character or in your Free Company chest to cover the upkeep for the months you won't be on.

Result
This won't prevent people from buying as many houses as they want, nor will it force players to relinquish houses they already own, but it will make owning a large number of them a bit costly. Over time, players may get fed up with having to constantly pay the upkeep costs for the extra houses and decide to sell them.

Repercussions
Failure to meet a month's upkeep would earn a strike on that plot. When a strike is given, the owner of the plot would be sent an email telling them the name of the character that owns the plot, the world that character is on, the ward and plot number and how many strikes it has. To remove the strike, that month's upkeep must be paid off at the next month's upkeep. If last month's overdue upkeep was met but the current month's was not, the number of strikes would remain the same. With three strikes, the house would be demolished and put back up for sale.

I'm open to (mature) feedback about why this would be a good or bad idea, suggestions to make this better, or your own suggestion to address this issue. Don't make sarcastic comments akin to "this is dumb, you're dumb", I am simply trying to find a solution to the limited housing market so all players can enjoy the content.

*Edit: There have been some good replies from people explaining why they think this is a bad idea. Using their feedback, I agree that this is a bad idea and that a better solution must be found.

[Aldeus]

That's not a bad idea actually, and it would be a decent money sink for the uber wealthy.

[Elamys]

It sounds like a decent idea but I'm not really sure I'd like it. On top of the already existing demolish timer, we're now expecting people to pay rent - it's very punishing for people who can't play all the time. Right now if you have to leave for 45+ days (you're a service member or going on an extended vacation or whatever) you have very little recourse other than to hope you can get someone else to log in and take care of the house for you. To add a rent charge on top of that feels unfair, especially since they've already put in the work to buy the house.

I don't like the people for owning that many houses, but I don't think a monthly charge is the solution. Someone who was already rich and active enough to buy 28 houses that fast can probably afford that cost each month anyways.

[touya]

So, those of us who get houses, are to be more punished?

For characters that don't have houses, can we impose a fee on them then? Like a "Well, you have to pay because everyone else has to and you're just sitting on your gil and not using it for anything currently" tax? I mean, it doesn't have to be much. On top of people paying their monthly sub, they would only have to pay like say 5% of their total gil on all retainers/person. Because they're just sitting around hording gil and not putting it back into the economy. If you want to tax those of us who have houses and already have restrictions and limitations just because you get your panties in a bunch about people putting in hard work, then those of us that have houses should be able to demand taxes and fees on those who don't have one or who are trying to save for anything.

[Dzian]

It sounds like a decent idea but I'm not really sure I'd like it. On top of the already existing demolish timer, we're now expecting people to pay rent -.

I've said before now they should have a lease lease of some kind INSTEAD of the demolish timer. would be fairer all round.

Going away for a few months? you could pay 3-6 months lease up front and ya house is there when you come back. would also work for players wanting to take a break between patches (something which Yoshi said should be perfectly ok for players to do)

Obviously put a limit on it. say 180 days. to stop people paying like 10 years lease up front

Never come back? ya house is reclaimed when youre lease runs out and freed up the plot for another player..

Might also free up plots that players own but don't use. if they have to keep fronting a leese for a plot they never touch they might release it and free it up for someone else. one of the problems now is a lot of the taken plots are never used. owned by some guy that literally enters them once a month for no reason other than to reset the demo timer..

Would be a much better system all round than the stupid demo thing we've got now.

my suggestion a while back was like a housing venture, can be gotten paid for with gc seals or fc points or something like that. each one equals a weeks lease on your plot.

it's very punishing for people who can't play all the time. Right now if you have to leave for 45+ days (you're a service member or going on an extended vacation or whatever) .

A lease system could work for this. going away on service for 3 months. just turn in a bunch of those "housing ventures" or whatever before you go... would keep your plot secure till you return.

[Marluxia]

Or they could just....fix their housing system to prevent this kind of abuse.

[Krotoan]

while I'd be fine with this, I know players who barely clear 100k a month. They don't have crafting leveled and don't gather. They have houses but would HAVE to play more hours just to earn money to keep them, it's not really fair to those who barely afforded their houses in the first place. It kinda makes the game into a job, which is the fastest way to make it unfun for a lot of people.

[RemTsuki]

I think they should just separate housing into 2 category: the personal zone & the FC zone
In the FC zone: Housing will be set in community format, like it is right now, and only FC with a set amount of active people will be able to keep their house after a certain amount of days. "Active" means generating a specific number of FC credit points via whatever activity they're doing, & it's up to SE to set a realistic amount for this.
In the personal zone, each house (including outdoor yard) is instanced rather than the current pre-existing mixed up format between FC vs personal. I think people would rather to have their house instanced so facilitate housing for everyone rather than keeping it in the community format with limited spaces like the current system.

Also, separate housing zone into different tiers: the cottage zone, the medium house zone, and the mansion zone to facilitate more people in each category. It's kind of absurd that there're only 72 mansion plots in any given server. Each server should have at least 200 FC houses in each tiers, and unlimited instanced personal houses (like the inn)

[SirBrighton]

So, those of us who get houses, are to be more punished?

Paying bills is not a punishment. Is this not how owning a house in real life works? Owning a house doesn't mean you get free utilities too, you must pay for those (unless you want to live in a house with no power).

For characters that don't have houses, can we impose a fee on them then? Like a "Well, you have to pay because everyone else has to and you're just sitting on your gil and not using it for anything currently" tax?

Wow, the angry sarcasm though. Gil isn't a limited resource shared between all players on your server. I can sit on max gil and not affect your ability to get it yourself in any way.
Also, there is no "putting it back into the economy" with gil because it is created and removed by the system, not the economy, and the system has an infinite supply.
The lack of logic in your questions really shows just whose panties are in a bunch here.

[touya]

Paying bills is not a punishment. Is this not how owning a house in real life works? Owning a house doesn't mean you get free utilities too, you must pay for those

Is this a job? Or is this a game? Meant for entertainment and fun? I'm pretty sure Yoshi-P and the dev team are going to see this at some point and ask the same question. I don't pay SE so I can have another job. I pay them for a game to have fun with in their world and systems. The people who bought those plots DID NOTHING WRONG. And also on this note: You're not even on that server. People are whining about something that isn't even affecting them or their server worlds. Tell me, What TOS did these two players break? NONE. If anything, everyone who is against them is in fact harassing them which IS against TOS and all those against it deserve a ban imo under the TOS harassment section.