Originally posted by Vandel
This is unrealistic as far as development.
The world of PS is large, but you get 18000 people wanting to build or own a home and you\'re going to end up with nothing to adventure through except urban sprawl.
I agree completely with Vandel on this scale aspect: as almost everyone is single in PS, it would be a house per inhabitant. If each house uses at least 50m? of land, it would be 1km? of dense inhabitation. As if people can build anywhere, inhabitation won\'t be dense, and as PS server ressources are certainly not infinite, it seems impossible for the moment. Especially because house building is a huge and probably new piece of development...
Nevertheless, I like Fish\'s idea of plan buying and plan filling:
http://www.planeshift3d.com/wbboard/thread.php?threadid=10615&boardid=11&sid=291623316404d81796d4c94e9b24ac53&page=1#17Is there any mason on this forum (or anyone who knows well medieval masonry) to list thoroughfully the steps of construction, the materials needed and the possible flaws that could occurs ?
About constructible area, I agree that people shouldn\'t be able to build chaotically anywhere, but the idea of buying the land (outside of towns) embarass me as it seems contradictory with the free no man\'s land idea that I feel outside of Hydlaa...
In all cases, some of the problems of house building can be solved by their causes and consequences:
. Bob wants a sweet home, especially to stow his belongings.
. He may want a house within city walls, but he must buy the plot of land, or rent a house.
. As it is expensive, he might want to build outside, in a no man\'s land.
. But would a mason walk each day 5 kilometers to build a house. Perhaps if he has a cart, but it will be quite expensive for the player.
. So Bob tries to build a hut. He buys nails and rope, and gets straw in the fields nearby, cuts bamboos near Ojarveda...
. He thinks he should have started to build nearby Ojarveda because he spends all his days bringing back bamboos...
. A PS week after (3 IRL days), the hut is over. Home sweet home !
. It starts raining. Waters flows through the straw-roof, and Bob is thrilling because his mansion do not protect him from the gusts of wind. (loss of some HP)
. Two days after, he smells that the roof is rotting. He gets again straw in the fields nearby, make it dry under the sun, and chages his roof.
. The following morning, he is awaken by something chewing his right leg. He awakes and realizes that a pack of roaming Tefusangs have easily broke into his hut, and seems quite happy to have found a player spawning point ! (Devs, set more player spawing points for starving Tefusangs please

. Bob\'s last thought is that nearer of Hyplaa, he could have been protected by Defenders.
. Bob runs out of Death Realm, and curses his old shack. As professionals are always too expensive, he decides to become a Mason\'s apprentice. That is not easy as most Masons have alreeady two or three of them, and don\'t want any other. At last, he gets hired by someone, and works (/train + practice) for his boss during 6 months. During this time, he lives in his Boss\'s house. He is lucky, as most of people lives in the Great Hall, some kind of huge dormitory at the edge of the town.
. During this time, the hut is not kept at al so it collapses, rots, and disappears.
. Bob still wants his own dwelling, but now he has clearer ideas. He will build with stones and wood, this will be stronger. As wood is lighter than stone, he decides to build next to a Great Peak.
. When he gets there, he finds that a small town is growing: other people are moved by the same constraints...
. He gets a place, and start to build his basement with stone blocks. He bought them from a Stone-Cutter who is going richer and richer with all the demand.
. Then he rents a cart to get planks from the sawmill next to the river. This sawmill has been build by the Woodmen Guild, several PSyears before and is one of the more productive element in Yliakum.
. During this time, he has asked to the recently Peak-town Security Guild their protection, to prevent someone to build one\'s house over Bob\'s basement. This guild is responsible of the protection of the city, especially raids of trepors, in exchange of food and the construction of their Guild Office...
. ...
I know that it is impossible for the moment, but I really would like that Planeshift-2008 may allow such kind of interaction...

...dreaming...

Also, there could be could be several type of towns: all made towns (Hyplaa, Ojarveda, ...), freely constructible areas, areas where land must be bought (and so GM permission granted), forbidden areas...
At last for the dynamique, dangers of living in an isolated house, roaming creatures, long term construction, skills needed, house degradation, and need of rare and heavy raw materials would naturally prevent chaotic urbanization.