Standing Forever: Empty Plots to Castles

[Tard the Paladin]

Active player/IP isn't the issue at all it's the ones that do not play on any account they have besides to log in to refresh the house. Houses kept up by friends I know staff has gone around in the past to clear out friends lists to make those houses finally fall. That list would be filled again if it were an active player would it not? These places are not in areas where you could drop and expand. IDOCers usually sell off the property pretty quick and won't sit on a place for 1-2 years. Houses around Brit gate that were once big shopping houses and such now are just refreshed with no active playing on the shard. Just as you can't get vet rewards in the conquest unless you have the login time.

That's a good point about the vendor houses. That is the perfect example of how sitting on a plot actually detracts from the server. Luckily, we have Yew moongate as an active vendor area. There are probably some dead house out near Yew moongate but it is not as bad as Britain. Maybe a lot of the houses are just faction houses but the area outside of Britain guard zone should have a lot more vendors than it does.

I live on Horseshoe Island. I know most of the house owners there and they are inactive. The houses stay refreshed but the owners don't actively play UO. There's nothing wrong with taking a break but after a year of inactivity I think its fair to say they don't deserve the spot. I bet I'm not the only one living in a ghost town. Its obvious that this is a problem that is inherently difficult to resolve. But the system you mention about utilizing login time would be the optimal solution.

The inactive house sitters are atrocious parasites on the shard. A login time based system would finally drop these unused houses. Now a fair question is what to do about players who might want to come back to the shard one day? Well, all of their stuff in the house could go into a moving crate so when they come back they can rebuild a house. With the new system the returning players won't have to worry about not finding a spot for a new house when/if they do decide to start playing again.

Honestly, I think everyone that reads this post should be jumping up and down and saying "YES, YES, please implement this!" Simply because if you are reading this then you are most likely an active player. Since you are an active player, it is my opinion that you deserve the house you want in a desirable location.

That's not lollipops and rainbows either. There are more than enough good locations out there for the number of active players on UOF. Just get rid of the dead weight already. This is by far the number one issue that I've advocated for on UOF. Just get rid of it. Its unfair to active players and makes UOF look like Detroit.