(Large Housing Problem) 177 Bids on One House

[whysosalty]

Houses were initially insanely expensive and FC only. They were never intended as a luxury item but a reward that few actually managed to obtain, so scarcity or luxury were never intended as factors. It's been fundamentally flawed from the beginning, and it only snowballed the more they advanced the housing system as a means of actual gameplay. It's nothing to do with tone policing, I don't know why I have to keep explaining that. When you say something is unequivocally true, expect to get challenged on it, particularly when there's so much behind it that suggests your view is flawed and you're speaking from a place of self-interest than anything else. Anyone can say anything they like, but it doesn't always mean anything and you will come up against criticism for it sooner or later.

So how do you feel about people with multiple larges? Are we the double devil?

[Jojoya]

So how do you feel about people with multiple larges? Are we the double devil?

The devil is the housing system design that doesn't allow every player to have multiple larges if they desire.

Players need to stop wasting energy attacking each other when it's the developer design choices that have created the situation.

[Impia]

The devil is the housing system design that doesn't allow every player to have multiple larges if they desire.

Players need to stop wasting energy attacking each other when it's the developer design choices that have created the situation.

If I go to a party and I eat *all* the pies, I haven't broken any laws and I'm not going to suffer punitively. However, those pies were for everyone and if I consume them all for myself I have made a social transgression, and will suffer social consequences. It's bad behavior and shouldn't simply be dismissed because it's technically allowed by the letter of the law.

[Jojoya]

If I go to a party and I eat *all* the pies, I haven't broken any laws and I'm not going to suffer punitively. However, those pies were for everyone and if I consume them all for myself I have made a social transgression, and will suffer social consequences. It's bad behavior and shouldn't simply be dismissed because it's technically allowed by the letter of the law.

Is it bad behavior? Yes.

I am trying to be dismissive? No.

Does trying to hold those players to account for their actions socially change anything for the rest of the player base? Also no. Even if every multiple house owner gave up all their houses except one, there are still not enough large and medium houses in the game for every player that wants a large or medium house.

I want those with the ability to fix the problem - the developers - to fix the problem. Society spends way too much time arguing about who is to blame and not enough time focused getting problems fixed. Let's fix things and in this situation, only the developers can do that.

[Impia]

Is it bad behavior? Yes.

I am trying to be dismissive? No.

Does trying to hold those players to account for their actions socially change anything for the rest of the player base? Also no. Even if every multiple house owner gave up all their houses except one, there are still not enough large and medium houses in the game for every player that wants a large or medium house.

I want those with the ability to fix the problem - the developers - to fix the problem. Society spends way too much time arguing about who is to blame and not enough time focused getting problems fixed. Let's fix things and in this situation, only the developers can do that.

Despite my impassioned ramblings I'm not calling for a witch hunt, but social consequences and cultural attitudes toward behavior do affect how much of that behavior we see even if it doesn't change the actions of specific individuals. I want the devs to fix it too, obviously, but the prevalence of the "we can't fault the players who do this, it's the devs's fault for making the system this way in the first place" is a fairly permissive one.

[Jojoya]

Despite my impassioned ramblings I'm not calling for a witch hunt, but social consequences and cultural attitudes toward behavior do affect how much of that behavior we see even if it doesn't change the actions of specific individuals. I want the devs to fix it too, obviously, but the prevalence of the "we can't fault the players who do this, it's the devs's fault for making the system this way in the first place" is a fairly permissive one.

Because the developers designed the system to permit multiple ownership despite not allocating sufficient resources for every player to participate and obtain the housing of their choice.

They could have designed the system to allow multiple ownership for ALL players as many other MMORPGs chose to do but didn't.

I doubt anyone purchased FFXIV because they wanted to be a test subject in a social engineering project revolving around housing. There shouldn't be any need for talk about "social consequences and cultural attitudes" when it comes to housing in a game. Social consequences are a discussion for content that require direct player to player interaction. Housing acquisition is between the player and the game, not the player and other players.

I'm not going to fault those who do what the game allows, even if I wish they would choose differently. I will fault the game developers who chose to create the problem in the first place when other games have shown it doesn't need to be a problem at all.

[Veritas-Ancora]

I doubt anyone purchased FFXIV because they wanted to be a test subject in a social engineering project revolving around housing. There shouldn't be any need for talk about "social consequences and cultural attitudes" when it comes to housing in a game.

Exactly 100% this.

Imagine if our in-game content was the same way. "Oops, you didn't clear EX fast enough, we ran out of weapons to give. Sorry that's life."

Imagine how enraged Savage players would be if only the first 50 groups who cleared in 3 months got their weapon upgrades. Or crafting item loot was a gatekeeping thing of only 20 per year.

Now consider that I've been playing for 10 years without ever owning a Large. There are players who only played for months and got theirs. If this is a social engineering experiment, the only fairness is RNG. And before that, whoever clicked the sign first.

I still think instanced housing is the solution even 10 years later. But maybe the cloud servers will finally allow something similar.