Housing Issues

[van_arn]

Not really. As long as the Auction is controlled by them (SE) with them making housing Rare/Exclusive to your account/character, then that would combat RMT. If a player loses the house by not logging in, then SE can retain ownership after demolition. Have the Auction opened for a certain amount of hours like 4 and have no limit on how much that person pays for it. RMT's wont spend too much for it if it'sd rare/exclusive, that cuts into their gil that they could sell. Thery could also do like how the government gets contractors, take the 3 lowest tier, 3 mid tier, or 3 highest tier bids and have a bid off amongst those 3 to purchase. They could also do a first time buyers program for those who have never owned a house and make it soo they can't transfer plots for a year. Also when you auction for a house that money is tied up like a deposit if in the tier of 3.

Not only that, but if you transfer your plot-- make it so rather than a flat 30% of the estate's value transfers, make it so you get the base value of your previous plot. You could spend 60 million on a small, and only get 4 million out of that when you transfer to medium or large.

That's 56 million gil just set on fire, which is absolutely beautiful if you want gil to become more scarce.

Bringing RMT in it, that's 56 million a player purchased through illegitimate means getting set on fire. RMT deterrent, supply/demand stabilization, and inflation protection all wrapped into one system.

Let's be honest though, a house on Balmung is worth more than 4 million. An auction system could be the healthiest way to resolve the system, without encouraging people to engage in unhealthy camping. The flipside could be if you want a cheap house, you'd be tempted to transfer to a server with lower population-- especially with the world visit system in place.