Houses within houses

[petabyte32]

The other day I saw a video of the island in the sky prestige home. Cant remember the name but I am sure ya'll know what I am talking about. Anyway I thought it looked cool. Only one problem.... No house. Just a plot of land. Well it got me thinking. If this has been offered up before ignore this.

Start selling plots of land in the SC. Just clear plots of land themed to various zones. Like Commonlands, Zek, Enchanted Lands, etc. These would NOT be actual land in the world. Just a plot sorrounded by a fence or wall or what have you with the theme of a certain area in the game. You would access it from the prestige portals. You could put access points in the land its themed for also if done correctly. For example, in Commonlands, you have a small path through some mountains on the edge of the zone. Click it and get the menu to go there. But still would have access from the prestige portal or portals you can drop in houses.

Next add houses. Placed just like placing furniture. Make some buyable on the SC market. Add some to carpenter. Heck even other tradeskills can get in on this. Woodworkers could make more rural tent like homes. Scholars could make libraries. Weaponsmiths could make military style barracks. And so on. Add a few more as quest rewards....

That is all. Just something that hit me while looking at the video of one prestige home.

[Lizabethan]

You mean like...breakouts?

The "island in the sky" home is called the Tenebrous Island Refuge. We buy it because we like this empty space; we like building elaborate homes and things on it. This IS, to us, like selling a blank canvas.

And if you mean adding homes to SC, as in mini-homes that we can purchase instead of building our own on said breakouts, that makes me kinda sad.

[Gealaen_Gaiamancer]

petabyte32 wrote:

 Only one problem.... No house. Just a plot of land.

That's not a problem -- that's the POINT of the Tenebrous Island.  Want to make a nature refuge?  Get a lot of trees, rocks, flowers, plushies; arrange pleasantly.  Want to make a castle?  Buy/make a lot (whole lot) of building blocks and stack them up!  Want to make a _______?  Have at it!  I suspect there are at least a few carpenter/decorators on your server who would be tickled pink to be hired to build a house on your Island.

The only drawback that I've got for the Tenebrous Island is its low item count.  But ... I'd say that about ANY house that I was decorating.  I like to cram in a lot of detail.

[Lizabethan]

Gealaen_Gaiamancer wrote:

The only drawback that I've got for the Tenebrous Island is its low item count.  But ... I'd say that about ANY house that I was decorating.  I like to cram in a lot of detail.

/sigh sadly.. Agreed. But that's a different thread. 

[Gilasil]

I like it. 

Buy the Commonlands Refuge/Antonica Refuge/Sinking Sands Refuge/ whatever. Then, if you want a house, buy a house. If you don't want a house but just want trees/rocks/whatever then no problem get the trees/rocks/whatever instead.

Mix and match. 

Interesting original idea.

[Lizabethan]

Gilasil wrote:

Then, if you want a house, buy a house.

If you want a home and buy a Qeynos 5 room, that's one thing. We're discussing plots of land such as the Tenebrous Island, however, and placing a pre-made home on that (or a breakout, basically the same thing) would hurt creativity in the decorating community. It'd make prices we can charge for commission change. You wouldn't be hiring a decorator now, because you've already got your home that just needs some flowers around it. It would be discouraging to the morale of the decorators, where some of the most incredible visions start from a blank piece of land. You're asking to take our weeks of work and vision and turn it into a 10 minute process by Sony who can then bank the money, instead of us, who clearly worked harder.

PLEASE do not give the fine folks at Sony the idea that you'd want to hurt our community.

[Gealaen_Gaiamancer]

Lizabethan wrote:

Gilasil wrote:

Then, if you want a house, buy a house.

If you want a home and buy a Qeynos 5 room, that's one thing. We're discussing plots of land such as the Tenebrous Island, however, and placing a pre-made home on that (or a breakout, basically the same thing) would hurt creativity in the decorating community. It'd make prices we can charge for commission change. You wouldn't be hiring a decorator now, because you've already got your home that just needs some flowers around it. It would be discouraging to the morale of the decorators, where some of the most incredible visions start from a blank piece of land.

PLEASE do not give the fine folks at Sony the idea that you'd want to hurt our community.

I (as a decorator "on the side") actually am not violently against the idea of being able to buy a bare-bones house to plop down inside of a "____ Refuge" type of housing instance.  There are plenty of times when throwing up some quick walls work for the client, if they're more focused on the outside area, especially in T Island.  That said, this idea will probably end up being "station cash marketplace taking over Carpenters' territory" all over again--and that is worth avoiding.

[Gilasil]

I don't think anyone is talking about removing the existing housing options.

I figured the houses for sale for placement on such a plot of land would be empty -- just like when you get an apartment or house today by whatever means.  You'd then decorate as desired.  You get bare rooms and nothing else.

I suspect it would stretch their engine to its limits; and as a result there might be odd restrictions, but if it could be done it would be very cool and give players a whole new dimension in customization.

One restriction I'm pretty sure you'd have is no basements, but lots of houses don't have basements so I don't see that as a serious problem.  Another possible problem would be opening doors -- since the house would basically be a really big piece of furniture I'm not sure if their engine could handle doors. You might just need openings.  Some games I've played had houses like that and the players didn't seem to mind.  The most serious potential problem would be any restrictions on placing furniture (whatever you decorate with) inside other furniture (your  house).  I don't know if that would be a problem or not.

In the end, we don't know exactly what their engine is capable of.  They'd have to decide with their more complete knowledge of what can be done.

[Lizabethan]

Gealaen_Gaiamancer wrote:

 That said, this idea will probably end up being "station cash marketplace taking over Carpenters' territory" all over again--and that is worth avoiding.

[Gilasil]

Lizabethan wrote:

Gealaen_Gaiamancer wrote:

 That said, this idea will probably end up being "station cash marketplace taking over Carpenters' territory" all over again--and that is worth avoiding.

Not if carpenters can build the placeable houses.

[Lizabethan]

Still killing creativity. ^.^

[Amphibia]

Gilasil wrote:

Lizabethan wrote:

Gealaen_Gaiamancer wrote:

 That said, this idea will probably end up being "station cash marketplace taking over Carpenters' territory" all over again--and that is worth avoiding.

Not if carpenters can build the placeable houses.

They already can. I used to sell layouts for houses like that (for plat), and I know others who plan to do the same thing.

Here's how it works: You buy a layout you like from a decorator, and then you gather all the necessary materials (note that building blocks etc can easily be switched with something else if you prefer different colors/textures). The decorator comes to your house and loads the layout you bought into your house.

That's it.

[Rhymers]

I wish they would cell houses on SC. Not every one wants to make their own house. There is no reason why they couldn't have houses to buy we could place in these empty zones or through out breakouts. Just because you want to make your own don't mean we all do. Options are always better then no options.

[Gilasil]

Lizabethan wrote:

Still killing creativity. ^.^

Looks to me like it would give players whole new ways to be creative.  Now, in addition to decorating your house, you chose what house on what plot of land, it's placement, the outside of the house plus you can still decorate the house itself as you see fit.  As long as the house is just an empty house where you add furniture.

[Lizabethan]

Echoing what Hopsalong said, selling layouts and we make the profit (as we did the initial work) is not a problem for me. What IS a problem is trying to sell pre-made homes for SC, where Sony makes profits.

[Raferty]

Rhymers@Crushbone wrote:

I wish they would cell houses on SC. Not every one wants to make their own house. There is no reason why they couldn't have houses to buy we could place in these empty zones or through out breakouts. Just because you want to make your own don't mean we all do. Options are always better then no options.

And those options include hiring someone to build it for you. This is the only reason I play eq2. The only. My highest level character is 65 after years of playing. I decorate people's houses for profit. This is what I do. Essentially, you're saying that sony should make a house that puts me out of business. Thanks. We're not that expensive, and certainly far cheaper than anything sony would put out when considering the SC for Plat exchange. Moreover, then you have a unique home, and a new person you know! If you are so set on having houses that are pre-made... buy one of the hundreds of pre-built houses ingame. We call them inn rooms, 5 room houses... etc. Leave the TT island for the people who wanted and asked for it: The decorators.

[Rhymers]

Raferty wrote:

Rhymers@Crushbone wrote:

I wish they would cell houses on SC. Not every one wants to make their own house. There is no reason why they couldn't have houses to buy we could place in these empty zones or through out breakouts. Just because you want to make your own don't mean we all do. Options are always better then no options.

And those options include hiring someone to build it for you. This is the only reason I play eq2. The only. My highest level character is 65 after years of playing. I decorate people's houses for profit. This is what I do. Essentially, you're saying that sony should make a house that puts me out of business. Thanks. We're not that expensive, and certainly far cheaper than anything sony would put out when considering the SC for Plat exchange. Moreover, then you have a unique home, and a new person you know! If you are so set on having houses that are pre-made... buy one of the hundreds of pre-built houses ingame. We call them inn rooms, 5 room houses... etc. Leave the TT island for the people who wanted and asked for it: The decorators.

I don't have much plat, but I have cash. So why would I worry about how I can pay you when I can just buy the plot of land and house I want? You are trying to force me to play the game your way, I want to play the game my way also and that don't include paying you to do anything for me.

[Lizabethan]

Rhymers@Crushbone wrote:

I don't have much plat, but I have cash. So why would I worry about how I can pay you when I can just buy the plot of land and house I want? You are trying to force me to play the game your way, I want to play the game my way also and that don't include paying you to do anything for me.

We are a community. We work together. When I need help on raids, I call a raider; when I want my home done, I call a decorator. The raiders I call are paid for their time (in shards, gear, what have you) and the decorators are paid for their time in commission. Now, let's say that Sony offers to group me with a fantastic raiding merc for 2k SC which bypasses almost any other raider on my server. Are the raiders that need shards and gear going to be angry?

In a community, if you want X job done and done right, you call X person who specializes in such. We work together to accomplish goals. If you want a home built, you're going to have to hire a decorator (or become one). The way I see it is if we allow Sony to give us pre-built homes, decorated inside or not, then we're on a slippery slope.

[Katine]

I am a decorator and carpenter in game.  One of the things I LOVE most about EQ2 is what was done to improve housing and decorating.

That said, I LOVE the idea of more "blank" zones for housing like Qeynos, Commonlands, Antonica, Freeport, etc, where the flavor of the zone is kept, but the land is blank, like the Tenebrous island.  I don't like breakout houses for several reasons - not having teleporters, waiting for the zone to load, bugs, etc.

As for the idea of premade houses - they have that in EQ1.  You want that, go play EQ1.  I do not like premade houses.  The existing houses in game are gorgeous enough to suffice and whatever doesn't meet my wants and style, I build.  That's the WHOLE point of adding building blocks and all these other items that were added.

As for the arguement that someone has cash but not plat, and wants to buy a plot of land and house they want, it's a weak arguement easily solved.

Hire a decorator/builder, pay them in cash to do the work for you.  Give them the design of house you want, or look through their work, and viola - you have what you want.  What's the difference if you pay Sony or another player?  You're still paying for what you want.

Sony, PLEASE add more empty zones for housing, like TT island, Dimensional Pocket, etc., but preferably with the older original zones.

Please do NOT add ready built houses, unless, of course, you want your subscriptions to drop even further because honestly, I think it's the decorators and carpenters that are keeping this game going these days.

[petabyte32]

Katine@Oasis wrote:

I am a decorator and carpenter in game.  One of the things I LOVE most about EQ2 is what was done to improve housing and decorating.

That said, I LOVE the idea of more "blank" zones for housing like Qeynos, Commonlands, Antonica, Freeport, etc, where the flavor of the zone is kept, but the land is blank, like the Tenebrous island.  I don't like breakout houses for several reasons - not having teleporters, waiting for the zone to load, bugs, etc.

As for the idea of premade houses - they have that in EQ1.  You want that, go play EQ1.  I do not like premade houses.  The existing houses in game are gorgeous enough to suffice and whatever doesn't meet my wants and style, I build.  That's the WHOLE point of adding building blocks and all these other items that were added.

As for the arguement that someone has cash but not plat, and wants to buy a plot of land and house they want, it's a weak arguement easily solved.

Hire a decorator/builder, pay them in cash to do the work for you.  Give them the design of house you want, or look through their work, and viola - you have what you want.  What's the difference if you pay Sony or another player?  You're still paying for what you want.

Sony, PLEASE add more empty zones for housing, like TT island, Dimensional Pocket, etc., but preferably with the older original zones.

Please do NOT add ready built houses, unless, of course, you want your subscriptions to drop even further because honestly, I think it's the decorators and carpenters that are keeping this game going these days.

Why do people always turn to the "Go play this or that" argument? Its getting old. Frankly its older then Doom on a 386. Get some new come backs please. I dont want to play X game because it has some feature I might like. I play Y game because a ton more features I like and would like to see more. Got it? Too bad... On with the show...

Ok the first big argument I am reading here is it hurts creativity if they added premade houses that you could put on empty land plots. Well hate to tell you this but your wrong. It does NOT hurt creativity one bit. Your decorating the land itself. Only now instead of trees, plushies, flowers, rocks, etc.... You now have structures to add to the list. From small little tents, cabins, tombs, etc to larger structures like towers, keeps, etc. The land becomes the pallet not just a few rooms in a building.

Because it doesnt stop with "Well there is my premade house. I am done." There is a heck of alot of more to it then that. For those of you that say it would hurt creativity then you arent very creative to begin with or you would know all this already.

Yes someone mentioned using the various blocks and such to make houses. Ok fine. But with a 800 item limit you aint building anything big. This aint minecraft.

Also it wouldnt hurt to add more outside decor with this. To add even more creativity. Imagine making a hunting camp in a commonlands plot. You got your tents, fire, various flora and fauna, weapon rack or three, and the list goes on. What about a fort on a Zek plot. You got the barracks, chow hall, towers, walls, plushie or pet soldiers, and more. And all these things have to placed to look right. You dont throw things done randomly. They gotta mesh. They gotta look good together. You cant have a red halfing home in an undead fort (unless its a undead halfing fort) and call it the CQ. 

The sky is the limit on the items they could add. Not just the premade structures. Of course that leads to design time and that leads to heavy cost on the developer side of it. But some, if not the majority, of the items are already in the game elsewhere. Just have to move them over to the housing side of it. Alot of structures and other outside decor already exist that would work perfectly.

As for hurting carpenters well as I said I would put a few houses on the SC marketplace. But the bulk would be tradeskilled. I would even try to give love to all the tradeskills by letting them all make certain specialty houses. As I said previously like a scholar making a library. Or a woodworker making tents. Yah the carpenter is the housing guy but this helps every tradeskill. Not just one. And something that big you would want to spread the love and not alienate everyone. But whatever. That is more point of view then anything else.

They could even add things that let adjust more of the weather and light levels. Saw the tower prestige home that has a weather control. Nice. Now add stuff that lets us make it snow, change night to day, etc. Then you got something even better for empty land plots.

[Knives]

I'm not sure why Lizabethan is so ardently against this, I think it's a pretty neat idea that would greatly improve the creativity of the decorating community, and I'll try to explain. First, I want to reference a point made:

Lizabethan wrote:

Now, let's say that Sony offers to group me with a fantastic raiding merc for 2k SC which bypasses almost any other raider on my server. Are the raiders that need shards and gear going to be angry?

Would you bring one of the current mercs into a raid? I would hope the answer is no. The same thing applies here. No skilled decorator is going to look at 1000 "pre-made" houses and say "Wow, that thing is better than anything I could ever make.". If Carpenters could make pre-made houses, it would be a quick way for people to get into the decorating aspect of EQ2 without getting overwhelmed.

Now, on to my main point. I've seen many threads on the forums where people create "villages" with only 3-4 "buildings" and maybe some empty walls because they've exceeded the item limit. I've even run into this problem myself. If you had generic houses you could place anywhere, you could knock out the grunt work of building a village while only losing maybe 6 or 7 item count. No skilled decorator would stop at that, they would now go and modify the "silhouette" of those generic pre-made buildings. Add towers to some, go inside and make kitchens, turn one into a castle.

I don't think the OP wants SoE to go find the best player-made houses, one-up them, and then put them on the market place. It would be a generic shack that you would have to do 99% of the work for.

[Regolas]

I really wasn't aware some people play this game for the sole reason of decorating others houses for plat. Just curious, how much do these services cost? I have a derelict unrest estate that needs decorating!

[General_Info]

Katine@Oasis wrote:

That said, I LOVE the idea of more "blank" zones for housing like Qeynos, Commonlands, Antonica, Freeport, etc, where the flavor of the zone is kept, but the land is blank, like the Tenebrous island.  I don't like breakout houses for several reasons - not having teleporters, waiting for the zone to load, bugs, etc.

As for the idea of premade houses - they have that in EQ1.  You want that, go play EQ1.  I do not like premade houses.  The existing houses in game are gorgeous enough to suffice and whatever doesn't meet my wants and style, I build.  That's the WHOLE point of adding building blocks and all these other items that were added.

personally i think it would be cool if they snipped pre existing land as you say with a pre-built and empty plot of land with a fenceline as the border and a gate as the exit point with you being able to look over the border and go hey that's X building in antonica/commonlands etc, etc. for the ones in freeport and qeynos they could create an extra district (i.e one they take out during the city revamp) and make the story that the restructuring of the cities isn't yet complete (some buildings still under construction as zone art would be sweet)

[Finora]

There's been feedback asking for empty plots of land and houses with big yards since release. FINALLY they've started adding some, pity all of them are on the Marketplace but at least we have the options now.

As for ready made houses, people have asked for that in the past too. I've sent feedback for such things myself. I think it would be a great addition (I just hope all the options wouldn't be stuffed on the marketplace). A quick cottage for the decorating and/or pocketbook challenged etc & most importantly to save item count.  I'm all for things to save item count. Look at the Halfling Vale house for example. That's basically an empty lot with an empty house stuck on it. It'd be no different than having a current house with a break out yard. People still need to decorate or hire a decorator to get the look they want. And those who won't hire a decorator for that, likely wouldn't be hiring a decorator in the first place.

Those who fear for decorators not getting to build houses from scratch anymore, I seriously doubt any plop down house they ever put on the marketplace or any other game obtainable way could ever compete with the work of a talented decorator. Just take a look at the homeshow forum. There is so much clever work & imaginative design from so many! Many of the homes I've visitied look better than anything I've ever seen in game. Some of them are just jaw droppingly gorgeous.

I personally think it would be fantastic to have plop down houses (and toilets, more sinks, etc etc MORE!). It could save a TON of item count in some situations & allow for much more detail to be added.

Armorers, Tailors & Weaponsmiths all compete with the marketplace for appearance items. Carpenters have been competing with the marketplace for a while with housing items. Alchemists now compete with the market for some potions. Sages compete with the  research assistant & the research time reducers sold on the market. Provisioners even have to compete a little bit since there's food offered in the dungeon maker area of the market. It's working out better for some than others. In this case, I think serious decorators have zero to fear from something like that being out there.

[Goozman]

I've never been impressed by the makeshift houses people make in the larger areas. They always look all blotchy, jagged and with multiple polygon errors. I would fully support this idea, to buy a large house and place it on a plot of land; I'd even go so far as to say we should be able to customize the layout and "theme" of the house.

I do not support, however, the idea that they be sold with SC; this should be an in-game commodity. Perhaps carpenters would make an item called "collapsable house" or simply "blueprints", and you would use the item in your home, and it would open a window where you get to design the layout. Make it cost 100 rares or something, I don't care.

[Lizabethan]

Knives@Everfrost wrote:

I'm not sure why Lizabethan is so ardently against this

I've explained my counter argument thoroughly and have seen nothing in this thread to make me change my mind.

[Gilasil]

I don't care if it would be provided via SC or a carpenter through the broker.  I think it's a great idea.  Whether it's provided via SC or whether it's provided via player carpenters is to me a whole seperate issue.

I stopped playing EQ1 before player housing was available and so comparisons with that don't do much for me.  Saying I should go play EQ1 because you don't like the idea is a cop out.

As for the so-called player made housing now.  I guess you're basically talking about assembling something resembling a house by combining room dividers etc.  I can see how that wouldn't work well in their system.  In another system designed for it where things snapped together perfectly and cleanly that would be the ideal solution.  I suspect their current system would require a lot of work to make it do that well.  I was hoping for a solution which would require little of any programming making it more likely to happen.

With all the housing available now I just can't see what the problem would be with having a placeable house -- initially empty of furnishings -- which a player could put on a plot of land.  There might be technical issues, which would be for SoE to decide, but the basic idea looks great to me.  Placeable houses could be made by carpenters and sold on the broker.  It actually provides MORE work for player crafters then SC houses -- if they can make them themselves.  It allows MORE for creativity on the part of the player.

It would also greatly increase the variety of "fluff" items that could be provide whether they be through player crafting, quest drops, or SC (again, how they come into the world is a seperate issue from whether they are in themselves a good thing).  For example, trees, rocks, and bushes.  I don't know if any of that is available now, but all of them would be useful in addition to all the possible interior furnishings.

As for me I'd like the idea of a little cabin in the woods, or a stucco house (complete with rock garden and a rock lined path) in the desert.

[Maisland]

Knives@Everfrost wrote:

I'm not sure why Lizabethan is so ardently against this, I think it's a pretty neat idea that would greatly improve the creativity of the decorating community, and I'll try to explain. First, I want to reference a point made:

Lizabethan wrote:

Now, let's say that Sony offers to group me with a fantastic raiding merc for 2k SC which bypasses almost any other raider on my server. Are the raiders that need shards and gear going to be angry?

Would you bring one of the current mercs into a raid? I would hope the answer is no. The same thing applies here. No skilled decorator is going to look at 1000 "pre-made" houses and say "Wow, that thing is better than anything I could ever make.". If Carpenters could make pre-made houses, it would be a quick way for people to get into the decorating aspect of EQ2 without getting overwhelmed.

Now, on to my main point. I've seen many threads on the forums where people create "villages" with only 3-4 "buildings" and maybe some empty walls because they've exceeded the item limit. I've even run into this problem myself. If you had generic houses you could place anywhere, you could knock out the grunt work of building a village while only losing maybe 6 or 7 item count. No skilled decorator would stop at that, they would now go and modify the "silhouette" of those generic pre-made buildings. Add towers to some, go inside and make kitchens, turn one into a castle.

I don't think the OP wants SoE to go find the best player-made houses, one-up them, and then put them on the market place. It would be a generic shack that you would have to do 99% of the work for.

Item count.  In my opinion... that alone gives this idea merit.

[petabyte32]

Lizabethan wrote:

We are a community. We work together. When I need help on raids, I call a raider; when I want my home done, I call a decorator. The raiders I call are paid for their time (in shards, gear, what have you) and the decorators are paid for their time in commission. Now, let's say that Sony offers to group me with a fantastic raiding merc for 2k SC which bypasses almost any other raider on my server. Are the raiders that need shards and gear going to be angry?

In a community, if you want X job done and done right, you call X person who specializes in such. We work together to accomplish goals. If you want a home built, you're going to have to hire a decorator (or become one). The way I see it is if we allow Sony to give us pre-built homes, decorated inside or not, then we're on a slippery slope.

The premade house is a decoration just like any other decor. I dont see you getting upset that X painting already has a frame or that Y altar already has an idol or that Z bed has green covers. The bulk of the decor you got now is all premade. Why arent you upset about that?

Because the things already in game are tools in a decorator's pallette. From the blocks and walls to the fireplaces, chairs, and even altars. They are the decorator's paints. Well a premade house would be as well. Instead of just doing the inside of a house your doing all the land. Not just inside. Premade structures are apart of that.

Personally I would figure a decorator would be happy to have premades. Because it increases the amount of items one can put into it. You get 800 items for the tenebrous island I believe. So if you build a house on it. Its gonna take what? 200 to 300 items just in blocks, walls, rails, stairs, etc? So you only get 500 items left for the rest. A premade structure would be ONE item. So that is 799 empty for alot more detail.

Plus decorators would get alot more business. I used to be a builder in SL. I designed, homes, plots of land, and even whole sims. I cant count how many jobs started with "Make it match the building already on it." All because they tried to do it themselves and just couldnt get it right. So they called me. They just knew they wanted a certain building on it. But couldnt find or create the rest of the look they wanted.

Let me ask you this Liz since you, apparently, are a decorator. How many jobs have you had where a client comes to you and says they want a house decorated and they say they want it to look like or match a specific item or group of items they already have? I am willing to bet you got alot of them. Well the premade structure thing is yet one more thing, one big thing, that would have people knocking down your door. "Hey I got the commonlands plot and a bloodskull barracks. I want the rest to match that. Like an orc military camp. Can you do it?"

How about someone coming to you and saying "I got the Enchanted Lands plot. I want a halfling village kinda thing. How about it?" Wouldnt it be nice to actually have halfling houses to put down on it? Talk about the wow factor for a client.

The point is.... It doesnt stop creativity. It only enhances it. But people are scared they might lose work. Eventhough the reverse would happen. It would increase jobs. You gotta think outside the box and think how can it help you. That is where the creativity is. Not just run scared "Oh no I would lose work!"

[mezagetu]

I'm in favor of the idea of prefab housing you can place in zones but I would include a bit more depth to it.

How about one tradeskill class say a scribe produces the plans for the house.  So an example "blueprint of a 5 room qenos house".

Then you go to the zone you wish to place the house and place like any furniture item.  This would then produce a building site.   You can then get different tradeskill classes to produce diffent parts of the house like the tradeskill instances.

If you don't have the parts you need you can always go to the broker and purchases them.  If you want to move the house to another zone at some point maybe you could break it down into component parts.  Allow people the option to move it around to get the placing right.

And for the mad wizards among us I want to be able to place my house upside down or at a slant.