[Suggestion] Solving the "Housing Problem"

[Okita]

Hi everyone!

Before moving on to the solutions, I would like to highlight the problem areas first!

PROBLEM AREAS

• Buying and selling houses between players is against the game policy and is for all intents and purposes deemed "illegal"

• However, this still occurs rampantly and is considered by many to be a justifiable wrong due to 2 reasons:

1. The lack of a house trading system that enables the transfer of houses from one player to another; and
2. The lack of availability of houses on the market for players to purchase of the server directly.

• The lack of housing inflates the prices of houses since players set the price themselves:

1. Players looking for houses are forced to fork out almost 2-3 times the actual amount of the house.
2. The rise of "real estate tycoons" who buy and sell houses to make an exorbitant profit.

[Okita]

SOLUTION

1. Create an infinite number of wards. This would truly settle the housing issue once and for all as the supply would always meet the demand; and (or in the alternative)
2. Create a proper housing market. The present housing market is without a doubt mainly controlled by players who set the price themselves and sometimes form part of an elaborate scam.
3. Limit player housing to 1 personal house per server. There are recorded instances of players owning up to 8 houses in one server using different characters and Free Companies.

While some players may say that the housing system at the moment is fair an just, a majority will agree that there is a form of exploitation going on. Furthermore, it must be pointed out that as player set housing prices skyrocket, new players are tempted into trying to obtain Gil in order to afford a house. System set prices are reasonable, but player set prices are far from that, thus creating a temptation for new players to obtain Gil through illegal means.

I sincerely hope this does not fall on deaf ears!

[Canadane]

My petty one-liner solution: Be quicker on the draw.
See you in Shirogane!

[Acilith]

Even if they had a set market, on servers like Balmung other players would still request additional money on top of whatever the game will charge.

[Okita]

Even if they had a set market, on servers like Balmung other players would still request additional money on top of whatever the game will charge.

True, but the present problem (which I should have brought up on top) is the risk involved. Assume I buy a cottage from a fellow player for 10 mil. I either pay him first and risk him running away with my Gil OR he risks relinquishing his property and I buy it without paying him anything. Either way, we cannot report the incident to the Support team as it involves an illegal transaction. Furthermore, I know of 1 player on my server who owns 4 houses (2 of which are mansions) that are all empty. He constantly advertises it, clearly looking to cash in on his investment. Why should 1 player have that many houses?

These are exploits that are happening in the game and it really should be resolved.

[Dustytome]

1. Not going to happen. Square shot themselves in the foot with how they made fc housing, decided to double down and mix in personal housing with that and then went for the swiss cheese look by adding on to it.
2. Might work for personal housing, but FC + House sales are unaffected and that loophole is where the problem will be continue on.
3. Again, that will help in one way, but people will still continue to hold houses with personal FCs.

With that out of the way, how does this ideal housing market supposedly work?

[Okita]

Well, just brainstorming here: I was thinking about something like an an auction house where a player enters his/her house for sale and players can bid for the houses. The starting price of the house is capped so players can't start selling their houses at ridiculously high prices. Once the house is sold, only then will it be relinquished and automatically transferred to the purchaser. If a player gets booted however (due to inactivity), the property will appear on the aetheryte as usual.

Example:
I own a 4th class cottage I bought for 4 mil. If I auction it, the price would start at 1 mil and players can bid on it. Since the property is "up in the air", players wont pay for relinquishment, as there is a risk that someone else will outbid him (hence why you can't have a max amount which resulting in the property being automatically sold.)

[Dustytome]

Unless the owner receives at most the purchase price (full refund) then it still creates a problem of people flipping for a profit. In addition, having to outbid people with truckloads of gil only discourages players/leads them towards the path of RMT.

[Okita]

It would be pointless since you still need to beat the bids. At the very least, it cuts of the "Pay first -> Relinquish -> Check Aetheryte and hope no one stole he house".

And for people with truckloads of Gil, the real question i how far are you willing to push? The prices of houses are pretty much stable atm, fluttering around numbers that most people know. Problem is, they need to pay the "relinquishing fees" and the land price. Ultimately, I feel like an auction house is still cheaper.

E.g with the auction system, I could buy a mansion for 80mil (maybe 50mil over the starting price). Atm, the same house would prolly cost around 80mil anyway but i also have to pay the land price on the aetheryte.

[Dustytome]

I guess I just don't like auctioning systems. It locks a lot of people out and they lowered the pricing on houses to ensure it was a more viable purchase for a wider audience. They seem to want to let more people have access to housing, they just can't keep up with the demand due to the initial housing structure that they continued with. If I remember correctly they also didn't want to limit housing per account for rp reasons? I think that was from a live letter but it was quite awhile ago.