Suggestion: Housing forum

[Pen N Popper]

Housing continues to be a popular topic.  One thing I find difficult to agree with is the "handing down" of houses to people that simply shared the house.  If there is an IC basis for the inheritance, that would be different, but I would suggest that such could/should be approved prior to the incident of dispute.

What I suggest, then, is a new Housing Forum in which each house on the server has a stickied thread.  Consider each thread to be the official records kept with the local city for each.  The owner of the house would be listed and they would keep things updated such as who has keys, if it is jointly owned and by who, etc.

I'll give an example:  Bumblebee uses a room at someone's home.  What if that player stopped playing or the PC permed or such?  Do you think he (and any other key holders) should inherit the house for free?  Do you think that they should even be given first chance to purchase it?  Such decisions should be made by the owning player before they leave or at the team's discretion.

[Laldiien]

I'd say not a bad idea with a few caveats:

1) Stickies would be impractical as there are over 150 distinct player-owned structures (Houses, guildhalls & shops) and the stickies would be tossed out of order when ever one was updated.

2) Who should the rather onerous task of creating a thread for each structure fall to?  House Owner?  Orth?  General Public?

3) What if you don't want people to know who has keys to your house?

[Pen N Popper]

I don't really follow the "impractical" aspect, and order would not matter would it if each thread title was the house number and location?  Given a full list, I would volunteer to create the threads.

As for private keys, there's nothing saying that all keyholders would have to be listed.  But if they are to be included in some sort of last will & testament, or put onto the homeowner deed, then I think that is a reasonable requirement.  I imagine this to be an OOC forum but explained ICly as registering with the city.

[Hellblazer]

Housing continues to be a popular topic.  One thing I find difficult to agree with is the "handing down" of houses to people that simply shared the house.  If there is an IC basis for the inheritance, that would be different, but I would suggest that such could/should be approved prior to the incident of dispute.

What I suggest, then, is a new Housing Forum in which each house on the server has a stickied thread.  Consider each thread to be the official records kept with the local city for each.  The owner of the house would be listed and they would keep things updated such as who has keys, if it is jointly owned and by who, etc.

I'll give an example:  Bumblebee uses a room at someone's home.  What if that player stopped playing or the PC permed or such?  Do you think he (and any other key holders) should inherit the house for free?  Do you think that they should even be given first chance to purchase it?  Such decisions should be made by the owning player before they leave or at the team's discretion.

this is a mighty fine idea. And to reassure laldiien, there is a way to make thread unreadable by any other than the thread starter and the team of moderator. You just Have to look at the pivate cdt. You know someone wrote, but you don't know who what thread it is or what is in it.

[Laldiien]

I don't really follow the "impractical" aspect, and order would not matter would it if each thread title was the house number and location?  Given a full list, I would volunteer to create the threads.

As for private keys, there's nothing saying that all keyholders would have to be listed.  But if they are to be included in some sort of last will & testament, or put onto the homeowner deed, then I think that is a reasonable requirement.  I imagine this to be an OOC forum but explained ICly as registering with the city.

The impractical aspect is if it's stickied, it goes above the other non-stickied posts.  Since the entire forum consists of housing, there is no practical reason to have them stickied.

Do you have to register with your city who you give keys to?  I don't.  If it's in a will somewhere, PRIOR to the death or quitting of the character, then having a list of holders is moot.  For that matter, I can choose to leave my house to someone that doesn't have a key, as long as it's done prior to my last DT.  "I give my house to the current Executor of the Stone Rebuilding Project for disposal as they see fit" kind of thing.  (No, I'm not)

I'm all for listing joint owners, though.  Would simplify the transfer of ownership.

On the topic of inheritance though, something has always bothered me.  Say I own a house.  I see myself getting bored with my PC, or I have a staggering number of DT's.  I submit my child PC.  (Over 18) and am approved.  Is it reasonable to leave my house to myself?  I have no opinon as I don't have a child PC and only 2 DT's with no end in sight for Galen, but it was just wondering what everyone else thought?

Same with multiple houses.  If I can afford more than one, can I buy as many as I want?  I think it's frowned upon, but I have not seen where it's not authorized.  Rather than ask the GM's to make up another rule to enforce, what is the communities opinion?

[Gulnyr]

Same with multiple houses.  If I can afford more than one, can I buy as many as I want?  I think it's frowned upon, but I have not seen where it's not authorized.  Rather than ask the GM's to make up another rule to enforce, what is the communities opinion?

From here:

I would however like to take this moment to remind those people who do own housing that a PC can only own one piece of housing (two if one of them is a functioning main guild office).

This rule is across all servers not each server. There are several PCs who seem to break this rule. We know who you are, and also of course where you live!

If you are in breach of this rule please either sell some property or contact me to discuss your options

[Laldiien]

Yup.  I missed that post.  Ok, so multiple houses for one PC is not allowed.

Thanks.

[Honora]

My 2 cp:
 
 If you own two houses with one char, unload one.  I know there are a few that do.  It's hoarding, in my opinion.
 
 My opinions on inheritance are less black and white.  Honora "inherited" her house from her presumably dead fiancee.  She may leave the house to her adopted daughter in a will.  I think inheritance is a valid method of house transfer.
 
 However, the player must have the inherting char in game already, and inheritence happens only under the conditions that the orginal PC perm'd or was retired and generally only if the will was in the CDT beforehand.  Think about it; how many of our parents would let us take their houses while they were still actively using them?

[Tialle Dianesis]

On the topic of inheritance though, something has always bothered me.  Say I own a house.  I see myself getting bored with my PC, or I have a staggering number of DT's.  I submit my child PC.  (Over 18) and am approved.  Is it reasonable to leave my house to myself?

Wouldn't the Child PC also inherit the items stored within the home as well? In general, isn't this considered mulling?

In my opinion, with regards to plenty of players waiting to own a home, it's unfair that a person should inherit their own home. To make things simple and painless, anyone who becomes bored of their PC or has it permed should just give the house back to the market. Again, just my opinion.

I love the idea of a housing forum, and it would help add history to a home in an ICC sort of way. Maybe it could have a link to the owner's CDT?