PLAYER HOUSING IN MMOS

A little slice of ownership.

- Harvey Randall

As World of Warcraft: Midnight looms, Blizzard has released its player housing early for those who've pre-ordered the expansion—I won't wax poetic about the system, mostly because I’m sure that'll be amply handled elsewhere in the pages of this magazine.

Instead, I want to talk about player housing in general: why it’s good, what it means, and how it relates to the broader ecosystem of MMORPGs as a genre.

MMOs are, in a lot of ways, about expression. In ye olden days of the internet, there was (and still is) a game called Second Life—this game is pretty much built on top of player-submitted stuff. Custom avatars and, more to the point, UGC residencies that take place on a grid.

Crucially, the thing has straight-up 3D modeling software in it, meaning players cannot only look however they damn well please, but they can also create spaces for themselves, too. And while most MMORPGs today are focused more on hitting stuff and getting new gear, there’s a reason most of them incorporate player housing into their systems: it rules.

THIS BIT’S MINE