Player character homes!

[Rias]

Tired of living out of an inn room? Or worse, a bank vault? I know I am. (Sort of. I actually really like inn rooms.) So we're rolling out the player character homes system! We're starting with the very basic single-room homes for now and the ones available are all the same per town, but don't worry - you can SELL your home back at any time, if another shows up later that you want instead, or you want to upgrade to a larger one when they become available. Since we're just starting out and this is kind of a testing release, they'll sell back for 100% of their buy price, but the refund percentage may go down in the future to discourage various silliness.

Please note the following IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

- Only ONE HOME can be owned PER ACCOUNT. Yes, this is in part due to a dastardly plan to get people to commit to a main character! But it's mostly to help keep game resources manageable.
- You can SELL your home at any time (from the housing office), as long as it's completely empty of possessions. Doing so will then allow the purchase a different one (or buying one on a different character instead).
- There are homes available in both Mistral Lake and Shadgard, but they are limited in number. You must be a registered citizen in order to buy a home in a town.
- Rooms with player homes in them are noted with the word "homes" in parentheses next to a room name. Use the HOMES command in these rooms to see a list of subcommands that can be used to view and interact with these homes.
- When a homeowner enters a home, their group will come with them. Hidden stalkers that are not part of the group WILL NOT come along, so fear not! (Sorry sneaky types, private home burglary is not something we're interested in supporting beyond maybe some very limited and heavily guided/moderated event-driven instances.)
- The homes are all supplied with stoves that provide heat and can be used for cooking. The homes get "chilly" but shouldn't get colder than that, because as fun as it would be to have home heating woes be a part of the game, we thought it might be a bit too much to have people potentially freezing to death in their own homes. The stoves do require and run out of fuel, though, so don't forget to extinguish them when you're not using them!
- All homes also have a window that can be LOOKed at to see what's outside. Handy for if someone outside is using HOME KNOCK and you hear that knocking on your front door but want to know who it is before deciding whether you want to answer.
- A designated guest system is in the works. We're still deciding how we want it to work and what limitations and restrictions we want it to have. We don't want homes of shelved/retired/long-inactive characters to remain available to guests, for instance. For the time being, it's like inn rooms - guests can only follow the owner in, they can't just wander in on their own.
- The initial lineup of homes have 750 room space, technically 700 available since the provided stove takes up 50. More than inn rooms and bank vaults!
- Just to be perfectly clear: Yes, they are completely janitor-proof.
- Mounts and carts/wagons CANNOT be brought into homes. The doors weren't made for that kind of thing! These are living spaces, not workyards. We'll work out any furniture moving issues as they come up.
- There is no property tax at this time, but as it states when you go to buy a home, homes with owners that have gone inactive for at least 3 months may be added to a queue to eventually be resold if demand is high and no other homes are available. If this happens, possessions will be sent to a storage facility and the house's price will be refunded (minus any applicable fees, see in-game messaging when buying a home).
- While currently-available homes are all copy-pastes of the same single-room Shadgard and Mistral homes, there will be more variety added over time and again - you can sell your home at any time in order to buy a different one. We've also already got some GMs working on special custom homes to be auctioned and whatnot, and there may well be housing customization merchants and events at some point! Just remember that we're still in the Lost Lands, and lavish luxury homes are not a thing we have nor want an abundance of, so keep your expectations reigned in.
- There are some other homes floating around besides the copy-pasted ones that are not showing as for sale - these are legacy homes and are reserved for their previous owners, should they decide to come claim them (and still pay for them too - we'll come up with an IC excuse). Fear not, we'll soon have plenty more home variety available to purchase, including some completely unique ones!

Whew. I'm probably forgetting some things, but I'm excited to make this post and announcement so here we are. Feel free to ask questions, give feedback, and report wonkiness here in this thread, and report outright bugs in-game via the BUG command.

[Serity]

Excellent. Congratulations on the release, and best of luck to everyone aiming to pick a place up.

- There are some other homes floating around besides the copy-pasted ones that are not showing as for sale - these are legacy homes and are reserved for their previous owners, should they decide to come claim them (and still pay for them too - we'll come up with an IC excuse).

Thank you for explaining this, my curiosity was growing by the hour.

[Jilliana]

Super exciting!

One thing that I absolutely adore is the 'home tour' feature.

Looking forward to discovering who lives where.

[artus]

Now there's something to sink my riln into. Problem is, on who?
I'm brainstorming already, all while playing Odin Sphere on my emu and decorating my space on like two other games for the sake of drawing layouts in my head. It's good to see this, and it's evey better to see it in motion after a long, worthy wait. Thank you for being awesome.
Now on to sort out whose wardrobe will end up in a home anywhere eventually. Not that I have enough to buy any in this immediate moment. I'll drool until I can.

[Teri]

Neat. And uh, with the homes now available I was curious about how beds will be handled (Because I'd love it if we can swap blankets etc on them beyond however they get crafted the future.) Maybe have space on beds for extra blankets or I dunno whatever people toss on beds.

[Rias]

Clarification on the stoves running out of fuel comment: Even without a fueled/lit stove, a home should never get colder than "chilly." The fuel is just required for that extra cozy warmth feeling and for cooking (and the light stoves provide). So no need to stress too much over running out of fuel or leaving the stove on.

P.S. Peat is much more efficient than firewood!

I'm working on beds right now! Though on the subject of beds I'm going to need to sleep in mine soon, so they won't be ready tonight/this morning. But yes, we do want people to be able to get the rest bonus by logging out in their homes so long as they have a bed in them.

[Volinn]

I am very excited! I was hoping to get one of the more unique homes (I've been eyeing multiple for days now, ever since I noticed the stealthy updates), but I'm glad to hear there will be a 100% refund rate at least for a while. Went and got one now and-- yes, beds! Also feel the sudden need for cauldrons.

[Tessa]

Hi!
First, thank you so much! This is absolutely exciting and wonderful!
I am curious as to what counts as a legacy character? I ask because I am curious about something, but feel awkward posting it publicly. Thank you!

[Rias]

The legacy homes will be offered to previous owners if they have a COGG character who is a continuation of their CLOK incarnation, assuming and accepting all their previous history.

@Volinn Why cauldrons, specifically?

[Tessa]

Aha, thank you! <3