Bounter
Active member
- Joined
- May 9, 2022
- Messages
- 356
- Thread Author
- #1
The apartments... Yeah, those things, remember them? The apartments or housing blocks, are a iconic and recognizable part of Half-Life 2's world. It's where decent chunk of world building takes place, and it shows the life of citizens who DO live within cities, but not in underground / resistance.
On Willard however, apartments are one of the most UNDERUSED and USELESS parts of the server, making smuggling skill look like oxygen (at least it shows you costs of stuff). Now, why am I throwing such a take in here? Well, I'll explain below, starting with..
1. The Cost
Regular apartments / housing, cost 35 credits to afford for the first time, and THEN require rent, which I THINK is 15 credits (correct me if I'm wrong)? Now, this is semi-steep, because that is how some restaurants price their food, or how clothing / tools in other stores are priced. How is it a problem? Well...
- Most people DO NOT have just 35 credits to spare, they're either too poor, or simply need to spend it on things like food / drinks.
- People who CAN afford housing, usually do not have a need for it (Slummers / Rebels can sleep I-C in Slums [ Bases, Clinics, Spots], CWU can sleep in the warehouse, CMU in the clinic).
- 35 Credits + rent builds up quick, and you need a STEADY supply of credits, which unless you constantly participate in shifts, or make it for rations (hard due to Unrest), you won't be getting. You could obtain them in less than legal way, but that has risks.
2. Location
Now, this one seems like a odd thing to talk about, so let me elaborate. The location of apartments, simply isn't something that is attractive to a decent chunk of the playerbase, as it's located right in the center of the city on Victory Square, RIGHT above the Ration Center. Now, this already makes it pretty hard if not impossible to use for any Rebel / Insurgent / Anti-Combine person trying to go undercover, or work from the city, especially because anything suspicious in apartments would... Not go unnoticed. Not to mention most of them, reside in slums (Sewers give gas, so not there).
Slummers live in the slums, and have no need to go and live in a apartment either, especially if they're a black-band, BOL or simply have IC reasons to not live in housing. And again, lots of slummers are either self-made medics, chefs, or drug dealers (among other things), and none of that would fly, unless they're a chef or something.
Loyalists and CWU / CMU have a short distance toents, but IC they can just sleep inside of their workplaces, or just, don't sleep at all. Which is a good segway to....
3. Lack of IC and OOC use (except for 2 things)
It's a perfect segway, because there is NO USE for apartments, in pretty much all ways. They lack storage, ovens or crafting stations (most are not very legal anyway), and doubt you can make a small food-stall in them for people of the housing! This already makes them not desirable, as you then gotta kit them out YOURSELF, and if you hide something illegal, that's even worse for you. IC and OOC wise, no person would go into an apartment that has NOTHING. Even HL2 apartments are somewhat kitted out, even if barely.
Roleplay wise, they are also inferior to slums, or streets! Most people will be at shops, bars, restaurants or other "hub" areas (fire-place in the slums for instance) to interact with people. Housing however, is very tight, small and because most people DO NOT USE IT, you're not getting much roleplay with people in them anyway, wether it's your flatmates, or neighbours. They also can't produce as interesting RP as other areas, due to being JUST housing.
The constant fighting and unrest caused by rebel-attacks in THEORY would cause people to get housing to avoid curfews, beatings and so on, but like I mentioned above, why bother when you can unload and wait it out (not sure if it's allowed, but you can do it), or simply reside in a area you know won't be checked. And even then, once the situation calms down, you now have a apartment with limited use, that you either keep holding onto, or stop paying rent.
NOW, there are 2 things, that Apartments actually affect, those are:
- Unrest Rations not being given to people who lack housing (rare, and usually when Rebels screw up + it's not even the only requirement for some Rations).
- Curfew / Unrest / JW having searches and citizen-checks, with a decent chance of you being beaten for not being in a housing, due to not owning it. This so far though, happened only once, but still.
These are uh... Very rare and not very common. In regular and stable state of the City, these will pretty much never come up, and if they do, they suck, but that's still not big enough to encourage people to actually GET housing.
TL-DR
Apartments and Housing have basically no function both IC, OOC and RP one to most people, and are so underused and not thought of, they can be considered a waste of space in a way, due to them really mattering in VERY FEW situations.
On Willard however, apartments are one of the most UNDERUSED and USELESS parts of the server, making smuggling skill look like oxygen (at least it shows you costs of stuff). Now, why am I throwing such a take in here? Well, I'll explain below, starting with..
1. The Cost
Regular apartments / housing, cost 35 credits to afford for the first time, and THEN require rent, which I THINK is 15 credits (correct me if I'm wrong)? Now, this is semi-steep, because that is how some restaurants price their food, or how clothing / tools in other stores are priced. How is it a problem? Well...
- Most people DO NOT have just 35 credits to spare, they're either too poor, or simply need to spend it on things like food / drinks.
- People who CAN afford housing, usually do not have a need for it (Slummers / Rebels can sleep I-C in Slums [ Bases, Clinics, Spots], CWU can sleep in the warehouse, CMU in the clinic).
- 35 Credits + rent builds up quick, and you need a STEADY supply of credits, which unless you constantly participate in shifts, or make it for rations (hard due to Unrest), you won't be getting. You could obtain them in less than legal way, but that has risks.
2. Location
Now, this one seems like a odd thing to talk about, so let me elaborate. The location of apartments, simply isn't something that is attractive to a decent chunk of the playerbase, as it's located right in the center of the city on Victory Square, RIGHT above the Ration Center. Now, this already makes it pretty hard if not impossible to use for any Rebel / Insurgent / Anti-Combine person trying to go undercover, or work from the city, especially because anything suspicious in apartments would... Not go unnoticed. Not to mention most of them, reside in slums (Sewers give gas, so not there).
Slummers live in the slums, and have no need to go and live in a apartment either, especially if they're a black-band, BOL or simply have IC reasons to not live in housing. And again, lots of slummers are either self-made medics, chefs, or drug dealers (among other things), and none of that would fly, unless they're a chef or something.
Loyalists and CWU / CMU have a short distance toents, but IC they can just sleep inside of their workplaces, or just, don't sleep at all. Which is a good segway to....
3. Lack of IC and OOC use (except for 2 things)
It's a perfect segway, because there is NO USE for apartments, in pretty much all ways. They lack storage, ovens or crafting stations (most are not very legal anyway), and doubt you can make a small food-stall in them for people of the housing! This already makes them not desirable, as you then gotta kit them out YOURSELF, and if you hide something illegal, that's even worse for you. IC and OOC wise, no person would go into an apartment that has NOTHING. Even HL2 apartments are somewhat kitted out, even if barely.
Roleplay wise, they are also inferior to slums, or streets! Most people will be at shops, bars, restaurants or other "hub" areas (fire-place in the slums for instance) to interact with people. Housing however, is very tight, small and because most people DO NOT USE IT, you're not getting much roleplay with people in them anyway, wether it's your flatmates, or neighbours. They also can't produce as interesting RP as other areas, due to being JUST housing.
The constant fighting and unrest caused by rebel-attacks in THEORY would cause people to get housing to avoid curfews, beatings and so on, but like I mentioned above, why bother when you can unload and wait it out (not sure if it's allowed, but you can do it), or simply reside in a area you know won't be checked. And even then, once the situation calms down, you now have a apartment with limited use, that you either keep holding onto, or stop paying rent.
NOW, there are 2 things, that Apartments actually affect, those are:
- Unrest Rations not being given to people who lack housing (rare, and usually when Rebels screw up + it's not even the only requirement for some Rations).
- Curfew / Unrest / JW having searches and citizen-checks, with a decent chance of you being beaten for not being in a housing, due to not owning it. This so far though, happened only once, but still.
These are uh... Very rare and not very common. In regular and stable state of the City, these will pretty much never come up, and if they do, they suck, but that's still not big enough to encourage people to actually GET housing.
TL-DR
Apartments and Housing have basically no function both IC, OOC and RP one to most people, and are so underused and not thought of, they can be considered a waste of space in a way, due to them really mattering in VERY FEW situations.
