Question concerning the Quarter/Shop auctioning update

[Aelryn Bloodmoon]

viewtopic.php?f=23&p=93650#p93650

While I don't feel greatly sympathetic towards real estate moguls, I can't help but point out that I feel this is needlessly restrictive.

1: There is a rule about owning only one quarter at a time, so it's not like anyone can go out, buy fifteen hot properties at the same time, then mark them all up 10K for a cool 150K.

2: This would make a lot more sense if the in-game method of selling your home allowed you to set the price you wanted to sell it for. It does not. It is a fixed value that gives you absolutely no ability to haggle or bargain or trade.

3: Maybe you want to sell your home for future services rather than 75,000 gold, but that level 5 enchanter doesn't have 75,000 gold, so he never even looks or inquires, because... it's not the fixed, rigid in-game tool available to sell a quarter?


I'm just saying. This entire process of auctioning off a home is an in-character one. If you buy a quarter, and it's got nothing, and you gussy it up with pretty fixtures and such and then want to sell it for a profit, you should be able to. If the story of the server has turned as such that the location of your quarter is in hot demand, that's called rising property values, and you should be able to make a bit of a profit off of it.

I guess, coming to the question - who peed in the pool and made it so that this was viewed as a bad thing that literally merits having your home taken from you ooc'ly?


P.S. Speaking as a player whose character spent literal hundreds of thousands to purchase a high-demand quarter at one point, and didn't mind. It created months of RP for me.

[Daedin]

This is likely the kind of thing that fits into the whole "bending your rp to the benefit of the greater good" mindset.

Sure, you can put your manor for sale for an absurd price, because it is what your character would do.

But should you?

It is, in a way, a slightly less obvious version of quarterhogging.

Also, by not inflating the prices to ridiculous ammounts, this means more people will have a chance to buy the place, and not just the small percentage of those who have crazy ammounts of coin to spend.

[Abyssal Wrath]

I love this change myself.

[Aelryn Bloodmoon]

But this also removes the ability to sell your quarter for less, or for alternative forms of payment, such as services, quests, and general trading.

Example: Maybe your character would prefer ten sapphires of excellent quality to thousands of gold coins.

Edit: Other examples - a novice enchanter's future services. A master tailor's help in crafting some fine boots and a cloak. An artist's ability to cut gems or make fixtures. A mage's ability to scribe scrolls or make wands. Any (insert trade noun here)'s ability to make (insert approriate trade good here). A spy's ability to gather information.

This list can quickly grow endless.

[Nitro]

But this also removes the ability to sell your quarter for less, or for alternative forms of payment, such as services, quests, and general trading.

Example: Maybe your character would prefer ten sapphires of excellent quality to thousands of gold coins.

Edit: Other examples - a novice enchanter's future services. A master tailor's help in crafting some fine boots and a cloak. An artist's ability to cut gems or make fixtures.

Have you ever seen this happen? Because the only property auctions I've seen are either of the "massively more expensive" kind, or the "I'm going to pass this off to a friend under the pretense of an auction" variety.

Even worse when someone buys a shop that went for sale, empties out the inventory and then puts it up for sale again at 2-10 times the shop value depending on its desireable location.

[Aelryn Bloodmoon]

My own character was sold the weatherstone for crafting a piece of 5% gear. He was fronted the money for it from the owner of the weatherstone.

After successful creation, he paid over value to the character selling it to him directly, but this came with a plethora of plants that I was incapable of crafting or harvesting for myself at the time. (This was prior to the limitation on how many plants could be placed).

Overall, I netted several hundred thousand gold in profit and obtained one of the most highly valued/wanted properties on the server at the time. I also got a garden nice enough to make a druid jealous out of it.

And I had never interacted with the player in question before that arrangement.

So yes, I've seen it happen, very much so to the benefit of the purchaser rather than the seller.

[Nitro]

Well, stuff like that doesn't sound like it'll be a problem then, as per Irongron's post:

This isn't something I generally approve of, if players wish to sell property then there is a tool to do so. Limited periods of auction are likely fine, until there is a ruling otherwise, but I will be advising DMs to release these should they feel the auction is lasting too long.

One thing I am forbidding now though, is purchasing shops/quarter with the sole purpose of auctioning them off. I've started adding a lot more shops, and dropping the price so as to facilitate entry into the economy by new players.

This specifically targets those who purchase properties for the sole intent of selling them in an overpriced auction, or those who hold week/month long auctions to get their quarters sold for way above the normal buy/sell price.

[DarkDreamer]

For note, I have done so, hell I gave my property to someone that would never be able to afford it. I paid for him to take it over.

[Griefmaker]

I think the issue this is addressing is when something is being "auctioned" or sold for excessively ludicrous amounts of coin and are like that for a long time. I still remember within the past year four places which were sitting unused for weeks, with one near the Cordor Commons for a RL month or two, because they were waiting for someone to give the current owner a price like 3-5 times more than the normal purchase amount.

That stuff is silly.

But short term auctions I think are a great thing in general, but make it not last more than 1-2 RL days or it is just lame.

[Seven Sons of Sin]

There is nothing wrong with this new policy. The auctioning of property was ludicrous and absurd.

[Mango Reinhardt]

Honestly, I'm fairly ok with this change, though I will say that I have fairly often seen the 'auction' play used for other reasons than to make excessive money. One of my recent characters used such an auction to have a chance to meet various potential buyers so that he could ensure the house went to someone 'worthy' by his standards. Once he found someone, he sold it for the listed price with a smile, despite having been offered much much more by others. (And before anyone asks, no, this was neither an OOC friend of mine, nor an IC friend of the character).

As with all things, I only hope that DMs/Devs will look at this sort of thing on a case by case basis before releasing quarters.