I am in favor of condemned status being switched on (preferably a co-owner on the same account as the owner can also refresh). In previous threads it seemed popular. But I'm not in favor of polls with loaded wording, and in previous threads they seemed unpopular.
I say no. Not because there are too many empty houses but because the OP is a whiny douche in every thread.
Can you provide a source or any shred of evidence of someone refreshing 40 empty houses? I'll even let you count guild town areas, bet you won't get that far. Premium houses and premium land areas are a commodity. If someone wants to buy every fort that they can afford, to hold them and make a profit over the years, good for them. I had the option of doing something like this years ago but I missed my chance. I can only imagine how many forts Labeler owns right now, but good for him. He pays 20+M per fort, in open auctions that ANYONE can bid against him for. In a few years we may be having to pay Labeler 30+M per fort, good on him for making the investment. I used to buy platinum for years, thinking I was making a sound investment. Champ spawns remained unchecked and the value of plat sank. Now I'm sitting on poopoo. I should have bought real estate. Condemning houses, is a good idea. However, it's not going to open up as much land as you think. I refresh all of my own properties. Even though I'm not as active as I once was, my houses would never fall under a condemned ruleset. Neither would the majority of houses out there, for the same reason. The last time we had a "condemned" feature activated on the server it was targeted at one player. This player was obviously never returning to UOR but owned a gagglefuck of castles and forts, and they were in super premium spots. They were all condemned and idocced. tl;dr: Condemning is a cool idea. Won't open up as much land as you think. Let Chris work on, and finish, projects promised years ago.
As much as I would like to have a big house I feel like it is a good thing that not everybody is having them and its a good goal to achieve. The only thing I do not like is the view of dagger isle as most of these houses are empty. My first reaction would have been to vote yes but after thinking about this I do not know enough about the housing situation and the scenes behind that. I don't feel like its an issue that houses are not dropping its just that one or two groups control every spot that falls. I am not sure, if any of you would think that its unfair but in my opinion randomized idoc's would solve the main issue. However, I don't want to interfere with some groups main purpose to play and therefor I don't really need a change
If you're not active then leave. If you need a break take one... and have the bank roll to pay the sizable rent on your fort(s) while you're "away doing other things". The inactive large plots that are in "refresh mode 4ever" should be addressed. Beware anyone that argues against it. That hole goes real deep.
Have to agree with @Cynic it wouldn't force that many houses to drop. Additionally players will find ways around any new restrictions put in place. Those who trust their guild mates/friends there could just swap house ownership while one is away & another active. @Caramon II you may enjoy a read of ( Air's Happy Polling Place ) thread. Had a different direction for limiting house ownership.
It should be one castle, one fort, one keep or tower per account. So each person can have 3 big ass houses and there is no housing advantage or mega real estate niche. We all want the same things in this game but everyone has their own niche and with time, that angle changes to bigger more Settlers of Catan type of shit. There are a lot of larger properties just being refreshed whether you want to argue about it or not. So if Labeler has 30 castles, doesn't make a difference because he's grand fathered in but moving forward, it should be otherwise. Moderators or the creator of UO simply can't predict game economics 3-6 years into the future. I've edited my post to state that my comment is directed towards density measures. There's a lot of empty castles, forts and keeps that would otherwise be smaller properties allowing more landscape. There's only 100-200 active players. UO Politics 101
I would understand if you weren't able to buy large properties, but they're easy enough to obtain with a little hard work. Get your own Fort today!
Nah man, Fix Factions first!! Get PvP back going strong and bring back (and in) people. A little PvP love goes a long way
I keep reading people say this....whats currently wrong with factions? Why are they "broke"? Coincidentally and since Ive read so much on how factions are broken that I naively joined the shadowlords figuring it wasnt going to mean anything. Hehe, you know what happens the next time Im at the bank. Luckily I was able to get all my items back. I had another little scare when I forgot about my faction status while transporting a few thousand regs. Ive since quit and that toon is not coming out for a few more days.
It's never going to happen. I'm not even being a negative nancy. It's been asked, requested, suggested, pleaded and begged for countless times. And it's still not in effect. So, you have to work around that or you're going to be bummed out. And while I agree that there would be less houses going idoc than you'd expect, I'd also argue that even just those 10-15 primo house spots filled to the rafters with rares of a time gone by would benefit the economy here with the reintroduction of cool shit. I think the last time Chris talked about it on the forums he explained the logistical nightmare of introducing it. Like what measures would need to be taken beforehand to let all players past and existing know to give them an opportunity to sort it out in a fair manner. Some people might have left but their house is a guild house, or it might be a really well stocked and used vendor house but the owner of the actual house doesn't play anymore, or a well loved public rune library or that L Tower in moonglow with the portal to wind dungeon. Who owns that house? Anyway, that's just tip of the iceberg shit with it I think. Do you also let them all drop at the exact same time? That would be a nightmare. Do you do it in regions? Do you publicise those regions like you do when you open up new sections of land like the Vesper land rush border? With a cool troll attack. It's not gonna happen man. You gotta work around it. It's less frustrating and more enjoying if you accept that. I promise you.
I've only been playing since January and had to take a 6 week break for medical issues. Since I came back a few weeks ago I have successfully placed two sandstone patios, a cabin on moonglow isle, 5 villas and one two-story. The two story spot might even fit a tower but I have a new neighbor that placed a small workshop next to me. I've demolished all but one of the villas because I was never going to use them. 3 of the four spots are still open. I found these just wandering around while my other accounts were macroing other useful skills. This isn't OSI in 2001 where 50+ people showed up to an empty idoc small house in a swamp because real estate was at such a premium. If you want a house just wander around for a while and check signs as you go. If you want a tower or larger save up some cash and watch the trade forum or get lucky during an idoc raid on one. I have participated (and got thoroughly stomped) in two tower idocs since I came back. Had I had better timing and skills I might own a tower today. Or you can post bitchy polls with loaded intent on the forums because you don't have a castle in primo spot and you feel butthurt about it. The choice is yours but I choose to spend my time playing and enjoying the game with all my houses.
Packed areas full of houses gives the impression of a packed server. Over time you realize that this is not the case here, turns into a let down for some. As for what do you do with players past? You do nothing. They have quit or retired or don’t make an impact. Who cares if a guy that doesn’t play anymore looses his pixels? Hell it might motivate people to come back for a spell.
I gotta say, I think this is the only feasible way for people to stop hoarding multiple houses on the shard... and thus it will clearly create more action as people will be fighting for the large spots. Can someone remind me - is condemned status per account, or is it multiple accounts? Can't see how the latter would work anyway. The only thing I would be concerned about is all the free space once people's houses collapse - not that it's necessarily a bad thing to have so much choice with house placement - but it would surely devalue many houses out there right now.
Can you elaborate a bit? I have seen a lot of true brittanians running around on war horses lately. What is wrong with factions? You’d think people would love playing with blessed verite/val weapons and warhorses