A Base of Operations

I recently had a conversation with my brother who had just started playing Lord of the Rings Online F2P (LOTRO), about the housing in that game.  I think anyone who has played the game would agree that the housing in LOTRO leaves a lot to be desired (it sux).  Some of the best housing implementations in MMOs have been in Ultima Online (UO) who basically broke the ground on this ‘fluff’ feature, Star Wars Galaxies (STG), and EverQuest II (EQ2), all of which had some really outstanding feature components but also had their share of drawbacks.  Say what you will about SOE but they do know how to do housing in an MMO (and I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, that they've recently added housing to EQ as well).

I really liked the freestyle  housing in EQ2.  I used it as my base of operations, my place to get away from the grind, a place to regroup before setting off on my next set of quests and adventures, and I even held my guild meetings there at the request of the members because they loved the place (I spent a LOT of time, energy, and resources trying to make it awesome, and it paid-off).  On the other hand, Turbine slapped the housing together in LOTRO because of an overwhelming player request and then basically ignored it besides adding more and more items for use in the limited hook system.  Try as I did, my house was nothing more than a cookie-cutter copy of every other house of that size, with storage.  It was nothing more than an oversized walk-in storage closet.

Many, if not most, MMOs today ignore this feature even though it has so much potential as a game feature.  It gives the player a sense of being a part of the game’s world because you own a small piece of it.  It is the single best way to establish immersion into the game’s universe.  It also gives the devs a new source on which to base rewards and loot in the way of furnishings and accessories for the homes, and it establishes an often needed money-sink to help control rampant economies.  Housing also tends to draw more casual players and RPGers into a game and is probably the single most requested fluff feature next to personal avatar customization.

With the introduction of the Captain’s Quarters and the upcoming Incarna, CCP is taking it’s first baby steps towards player housing in New Eden.  In EVE up to this point, our ships were our homes but with Incarna, our characters will finally be walking in stations with full bodies instead of just a stagnant floating head portrait.  There has been a lot of talk and speculation about what Incarna is going to entail…  How will it affect the established gameplay?  Will it be mandatory?  Will there be combat &/or missions?  Will it tie in at all with PI and eventually with Dust 514?  Will it be nothing more than in-game socializing without any ‘meat’?  All valid questions.  But I haven’t seen much, if any, discussion on how the housing aspect is going to play out?  Even when the CQ was unveiled the discussions focused mainly on its affect on docking and on its being mandatory, not on the housing itself.

The first thing that came to my mind as I read CCP Chiliad's dev blog - Looking Ahead: Captain's Quarters and the Road to Incarna - were, "will we have a CQ in every station?"  That would be kinda weird, especially if we can customize them with mods and accessories. As a matter of fact, can we customize them?  Will we be able to interact with the items within the CQ such as sit on the couch shown in front of the main screen or lie on the bed?  Will we be able to add other pieces of furniture?  Will there be smaller items that will be placeable and useable within the CQ like trophies, mementoes, military/corp/alliance decorations and insignia displayed on plaques, mugs, food and drink, holograms, skill books, blueprints, maps, clothing, ship models, etc., etc., etc.  Will we be able to visit other players’ quarters to hold meetings, entertain, or just hang out to take a break from the grind?

If there are ports, will we be able to actually see what is happening outside the station within our view?  Will there be functional market screens, maps to plot courses, an accessible database, corp screens, a PI screen, manufacturing & research screens?  Will we have a comm (chat) to interact with others besides the normal chat?

Is the CQ going to be the ultimate housing or will there be more?  Perhaps the CQ is just the housing allocated in each station for visiting pilots but there will be an option to purchase permanent quarters that would be uniquely our own, and the real customization will be happen here instead of in the standard CQs.  If there is going to be additional housing to purchase, will there be different sizes, layouts, and locations within the stations?  On how many stations will a player be able to have a personal quarters?  Only one?  One per system or constellation?  Per region?  Per empire?  Or as many as you can afford?  Will corporations and alliances be able to purchase headquarter and office complexes similar to the guild halls of other games?

CCP wants to make EVE the ultimate Sci-Fi space game – a complete, all-encompassing universe.  Housing, if done right, can be a HUGE step towards reaching that goal.  I’m hoping that they look at this as an essential part of Incarna and don’t slap in a standard set of rooms that have no real use and is nothing more than eye candy.  When I need to unwind after that last roam, or need to gather myself before the upcoming big fleet battle; when I want to take a break from making ISK out in the roid belts, the moons, or the PI enterprise; when I want to plot my strategy with my closest buddies for the take-over of the empire; if I want to lay-low for awhile from my enemies but still have access to my personal empire however big or small; or simply want to take some time away from the turmoils of space and do a little customizing, I want to be able to dock my ship and go home for awhile.  I want a base of operations.

What are your thoughts on this?  I know a lot of EVE players couldn’t care less about this aspect of Incarna, nor about Incarna itself.  But I suspect that there are just as many that do.  I’d like to hear your thoughts on the matter, pro or con.