[U43] Home Tours - Rewards in order to motivate people to invest time in housing?

JiubLeRepenti · August 21

Hello guys,

I just make this short thread to know your feeling about the idea of implementing rewards within the new Home Tours system?

I'll just C/P what I said on a previous thread:

You have the possibility to visit other players' houses... Ok... Then what?

I mean... What the purpose of it? What do you get in exchange?

A cool idea would have been to unlock rewards depending on how many upvotes you get. For instance:

5 upvotes: get 50k gold
10 upvotes: get 150k gold
25 upvotes: get a pet
50 upvotes: get a crown crate
100 upvotes: get a mount
etc.

Sorry, but if it's just about displaying a window to allow visits, then an addon was already existing for it on PC...

And I preshot what many ppl will say: "Yea but if we give rewards, it will create competition and/or fraud where ppl will just upvote each other's houses in order to get all the rewards..."

And I'll reply to that: "Yes it's a possibility that it would come with competition and/or fraud. Then what? Do you prefer a stillborn system that won't generate any hype or motivation? Or a system that will push ppl to invest themselves in housing and the sharing of their creations, even if it means some may take advantage of it?"

What do you think about it? Don't you think it could be a good idea?

Cheers,

Jiub

Veryamedliel · August 21

No point.

Personally, I have no desire to open up my house, no matter what the rewards.

Second, giving out rewards is just asking it for it to be abused. A decent sized guild can easily upvote everyone just for the rewards. If you allow for only 5 votes/month per player, it'll take longer, but won't get rid of the abuse.

If you're giving out rewards, it'll have to be something inconsequential. Titles, achievements and such.

The system was dead before it was announced and everyone knows it. It's only use is sharing crafting stations with people outside your guild, which you already can. The only difference is that you can publish it now.

JiubLeRepenti · August 21

Veryamedliel wrote: »

No point.

Personally, I have no desire to open up my house, no matter what the rewards.

Second, giving out rewards is just asking it for it to be abused. A decent sized guild can easily upvote everyone just for the rewards. If you allow for only 5 votes/month per player, it'll take longer, but won't get rid of the abuse.

If you're giving out rewards, it'll have to be something inconsequential. Titles, achievements and such.

The system was dead before it was announced and everyone knows it. It's only use is sharing crafting stations with people outside your guild, which you already can. The only difference is that you can publish it now.

Ok, but then how do you expect this new mech to motivate people to start doing housing?

This is my point: how can you expect this mech to be attractive for players and the community? What's the point in making a feature that already existed on PC through an addon if you don't bring any interest in it?

vsrs_au · August 21

Linking the number of house recommendations to gold? That would NOT end well.

JiubLeRepenti · August 21

vsrs_au wrote: »

Linking the number of house recommendations to gold? That would NOT end well.

It was an example. Of course you would need to balance the rewards.

But here, with what we got, I just see a stillborn mech that won't bring new people to invest their time in it, excepted for those already doing housing.

vsrs_au · August 21

And my point was that linking any rewards to house recommendations would just be open to abuse.

Jaimeh · August 21

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

Ok, but then how do you expect this new mech to motivate people to start doing housing?

This is my point: how can you expect this mech to be attractive for players and the community? What's the point in making a feature that already existed on PC through an addon if you don't bring any interest in it?

I mean housing is a game activity that you either like doing or not, like all game activities. People who do housing, do it because they enjoy the creativity it involves, that's their motivation. Plus, the game already offers free houses and a lot of free (or easily attainable furnishings) so there's no barrier to entry. The point of the feature is to make it easier for players to visit homes and get inspired (or do RP, host events and so on), and generally make the community more vibrant and connected, putting an achievement behind it means even players who don't participate in housing will likely engage with the feature and this way they might even like what they see and get motivated to do some housing of their own (but it is mostly for the housing fans, and there's nothing wrong with that--if for eg., an update includes content for ToT I won't mind just because I don't play ToT, they can't cater to all the playstyles every couple of months).

JiubLeRepenti · August 21

vsrs_au wrote: »

And my point was that linking any rewards to house recommendations would just be open to abuse.

Ok, but then what could we bring in order to motivate people to invest time in it?

What would you propose?

I'm not saying that my idea of rewards was the best, but I surely say that the current system is stillborn and won't bring anything new nor interesting for the players.

LatentBuzzard · August 21

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

vsrs_au wrote: »

And my point was that linking any rewards to house recommendations would just be open to abuse.

Ok, but then what could we bring in order to motivate people to invest time in it?

What would you propose?

I'm not saying that my idea of rewards was the best, but I surely say that the current system is stillborn and won't bring anything new nor interesting for the players.

Why would you try and bribe motivate people to use a low effort system that no one asked for but was delivered instead of the many other actual suggestions that people made to make housing better ? If they want to make housing more rewarding then they can give players what they've asked for, not a low effort house finder that was billed as some big housing update and which doesn't actually affect housing.

The home tours feature can go the same way as Tales of Tribute. Unwanted, unused and forgotten.

Shara_Wynn · August 21

Can we stop using the word "stillborn". It's a bit of a crude expression. Perhaps it's just me but I find the use of that term to describe something other than what it actually means, distasteful.

Artim_X · August 21

Ya know you can just get your guild to upvote an inn room that just has a statuette of Dibella, which results in rubbish houses being recommended.

People have used Essential Housing Tools for years to experience the concept of housing tours without getting a reward for it. Although I would have preferred something more for the housing update, I do like that peeps who don't use add-ons can now experience housing tours to see how creative the playerbase can be.

This is not the kind of system that needs rewards.

LunaFlora · August 21

the people interested in housing, visiting houses, or having other people visit their houses will probably use Home Tours. i know i will once u43 releases on Playstation.

Only zos knows the number of recommendations that houses get, we don't know so linking rewards to it seems odd.

The people that want to use Home Tours shouldn't need incentive to use it. there's no need to give incentive.
Maybe zos will add extra stuff to it in the future anyways, but i certainly don't think it's necessary.

And yes it is the base game version of the Housing Hub from the EHT addon for PC, the creator of the addon (Jimmy Sammartino/cardinal05) was involved with this feature as he works for zos.

Not everyone on pc uses addons and there's 2 other platforms we can play eso on, Playstation and Xbox which can't use addons at all.

in case anyone believes otherwise:
People have definitely asked for things like this to be added to base game eso so that everyone can use it instead of just pc addon users. i for one have hoped for it for years and im glad Home Tours got added in update 43.

Zyaneth_Bal · August 21

Rewards are a major issue in eso. Many activities just aren’t worth replaying or even trying at all. Unless for their own sake but that’s not how mmorpgs are where rewards are a crucial part of the genre.

Zyaneth_Bal · August 21

But housing is more like a cosmetic/social aspect, so I don’t think it needs any material rewards.

Lalothen · August 21

People create beautiful & unique houses because they enjoy doing so, and other people will visit them so they can see someone else's creativity & perhaps gain some inspiration from it. Not everything needs reward-yielding competition baked into it - especially not one of the only relaxing endgame activities in ESO.

SilverIce58 · August 21

I dont think its a terrible idea like some people are making it out to be, however it'd definitely have to be some kind of innocuous rewards, like achievements, maybe a couple titles (they dont do anything so wouldn't matter if this one mechanic were to give out a few), and maybe like an emote or something.

Meiox · August 21

maybe ask also how you will motivate people to visit other houses?

Ingenon · August 21

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

Ok, but then how do you expect this new mech to motivate people to start doing housing?

I don't think this new mech will motivate people to start doing housing. I play on PS/NA, and we don't have access to the Home Tours via an add-on. And it isn't an issue. Many folks in guilds let others in the guild visit their Primary Residence. And advertise their Primary Residence in guild chat and on guild discord. I have toured multiple folks houses on PS/NA without Home Tours being available.

I do not expect any noticeable impact from ZOS releasing Home Tours on console servers. I expect a bigger impact from the Infinite Archive updates which also release with Update 43 on September 4 for consoles.

TaSheen · August 21

Veryamedliel wrote: »

No point.

Personally, I have no desire to open up my house, no matter what the rewards.

Second, giving out rewards is just asking it for it to be abused. A decent sized guild can easily upvote everyone just for the rewards. If you allow for only 5 votes/month per player, it'll take longer, but won't get rid of the abuse.

If you're giving out rewards, it'll have to be something inconsequential. Titles, achievements and such.

The system was dead before it was announced and everyone knows it. It's only use is sharing crafting stations with people outside your guild, which you already can. The only difference is that you can publish it now.

Yep. Agree. As for motivating people to do this, why? Some will (and already are) fully on board with this already. Others are only going to get motivated IF the rewards are "NICE" in some way, OR if they can figure out ways to abuse the system to "come out on top". One more "meta" thing incoming....

Lugaldu · August 21

As a PC player and extreme housing fan, I was incredibly disappointed by the announcement of Home Tours, as it brings zero innovations for housing = building and decorating.
I don't think anyone needs motivation to use this "feature" because if you like it, you'll just use it anyway. I have no use for it and I can't even imagine that rewards like leads for antiquities (with terrible drop rates of course - I'm looking at you, ToT) will be hidden behind it in the end - to "motivate" people...

Reginald_leBlem · August 21

Literally no need for rewards. I've had a grand time visiting houses and carefully selecting who gets my upvotes, I wish I had more than a week because I think they all deserve one!

Let it be what it is-- a way to share your home, and visit others.

ComboBreaker88 · August 21

There should definitely be a leader board with rewards just like any leader board.

N00BxV1 · August 21

Housing isn't something that I enjoy doing, and no reward could ever motivate me to invest time into it or the Home Tours.

I'm just disappointed that Home Tours is the main feature of this major update. And I'm sure most Housing fans would've preferred something more substantial than what they received.

I'm also disappointed by how they no longer release any new Group Dungeons this time of the year. So I basically have nothing to look forward to in-game until next year, because I also don't care about PVP or the Infinite Archive.

DenverRalphy · August 21

I don't think housing enthusiasts need incentives. It's inherently built into them already.

But if there were incentives, the order of magnitude would need to start in the Millions just to get their attention. Housing isn't cheap. It's expensive. Obscenely expensive.

Anything less would just be a nice token, but in no way a driving force.

Bo0137 · August 21

I strongly agree with rewards for the people who put up these homes for visiting. Reason being, they are content creators! They make content for Zenimax to monetize. If I spend, let's say, 1 hour at these houses, I'm paying 1 hour of ESO Plus and Crowns to Zenimax.

These content creators should be rewarded not with gold but with crowns. Crowns are more easily converted into real money. Besides, these people invest crowns in developing these houses.

And I also think time spent into these homes should reward the visitants with exp. Because otherwise people will not really be interested in roleplaying in these "hubs" if they could invest their time in more profitable experiences, such as farming or grinding.

On this, check my thread: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/661792/housing-tour-u43-has-good-potential-to-become-a-source-of-community-based-content-and-more/p1

DenverRalphy · August 21

Bo0137 wrote: »

I strongly agree with rewards for the people who put up these homes for visiting. Reason being, they are content creators! They make content for Zenimax to monetize. If I spend, let's say, 1 hour at these houses, I'm paying 1 hour of ESO Plus and Crowns to Zenimax.

That would only be conceivably applicable if ESO+ was mandatory to use the Home Tours feature. And even then that's a stretch.

davidtk · August 21

TBH my reward is that someone will like my house. Because I do it because I like housing and my motivation could be that ppl will go to see my house.
I kind of regret that I didn't add some houses to the EHT community, it would have motivated me to complete more houses.

ArchangelIsraphel · August 21

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

vsrs_au wrote: »

And my point was that linking any rewards to house recommendations would just be open to abuse.

Ok, but then what could we bring in order to motivate people to invest time in it?

What would you propose?

I'm not saying that my idea of rewards was the best, but I surely say that the current system is stillborn and won't bring anything new nor interesting for the players.

I understand that you have good intentions, but don't feel that we need to motivate users to participate in the feature. Those who enjoy the idea will already decide to do so on their own. Those who have no desire to, won't, and frankly speaking I am not a fan of the idea of attempting to push them into doing so through any kind of incentive.

Driving people to seek social approval for their houses in order to get a some kind of reward seems contrary to what housing is truly about for a lot of people- making a space for themselves,that they enjoy, rather than putting on a show for others.

I am personally heavily invested in the housing system- both monetarily and through in game gold, and I won't touch this new aspect of it, even with rewards. I created those spaces for myself as a roleplay element of my characters, and while I might post the occasional screenshot or share those homes with friends, allowing strangers to walk through them isn't something I desire. I'm just completely uninterested in upvotes or anyone else's opinion regarding my homes. There's nothing that would convince me to change that.

We also already have quite a few members of the community who do like sharing homes, and the reward for them is in the sharing or contests they regularly participate in within their guilds.

Ultimately, though, we are all adults and will decide what content we would like to genuinely engage with on our own, without a bribe.

ThelerisTelvanni · August 21

Well to be honest I personally do housing because it is fun and rewarding to have my own home. It is rewarding getting the furniture plans, make the furniture and finally decorate your house to give yourself a nice place in game for yourself.

If you want to make it more rewarding add functionality to housing! Allow us to do more things there and let us be more creative with new and more furniture. Give us better options to make our dream house. That is all the reward I need for housing! Or make the farming less time consuming.

But to be honest if someone does not do housing for these things, it is not a good thing to externally motivate by rewarding you with stuff for getting likes. Especially since not everyone that does housing does it in order to show off. Many might do it for themselves. They might not want to share there stuff and locking additional housing rewards for sharing might ruin something for them.

I think rewarding players that get recommended is a bad thing for the game. And as others mentioned is is destructive to the system since some will manipulate it to get the rewards that make the recommendation worthless.

Sorry to say so but I honestly think the rewards are a bad and destructive idea. And I do not want them for the "Home Tours".

If you need rewards for housing, take part in a competition!

TheMajority · August 21

I personally would like the gold reward for upvotes but I think it could be used dishonestly because people with multiple accounts would then upvote themself from visiting themself.

tsaescishoeshiner · August 21

I don't think so, because Home Tours is a great idea for a social experience that has innate rewards of seeing cool houses and sharing creative works. Like a duel, or like non-queue Tales of Tribute, or making outfits, the reward is the fun itself.

I wouldn't mind if there was a reward for LISTING a house and getting your first recommend for each property--like a small bunch of housing mats. That would encourage people to list, without creating a game where people have to spam their house to win rewards or making it competitive.