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We (Achaea) are in the process of doing a comprehensive automated housing system. Our current one is manual, and too much work for our administrators. It will work like this:
1. The player-run cities (currently 6 of them) each got a new Ministry added to them: the Ministry of Development. It is that Ministries job to develop subdivisions within the city. Developing a subdivision basically involves sticking together ansi-colored ascii tiles with various icons (gardens, roads, lakes, rivers, and so on) and then declaring certain locations as housing plots, and putting prices on them. That's already been implemented. The next few steps are in the process of being coded.
2. Players will get the ability to purchase room credits that they can then use to build a house on a housing plot that they own (and must purchase from one of the cities). Players will then be able to modify their houses at will, including how they connect to each other, doors, locks, and so on.
3. Players will get the ability to buy multiple housing plots and form 'compounds'. Compounds are walled-off sections of a subdivision, with only one entrance. They'll be suitable for various groups of players, such as a guild that wishes to have a compound in which only guild members may purchase houses, or maybe a religious Order that wants a special compound only for its high-ranking priests.
4. Players will be able to purchase configureable, descriptionable guards for the interior of their houses, in order to guard against theft (we'll be creating reasons for players to store their loot in their houses).
5. Finally, and lastly, we'll be putting in a system of functional furniture, including a crafting skill for players to create their own furniture from furniture patterns they'll write (all of which must be approved by an admin, but once approved, we know it's not full of profanity, inappropriate references, and so on.)
All in all, we expect this system to be extremely popular, as it combines creativity on the part of city government ministers in making attractive subdivision maps, and allows players to freely express themselves in a forum in which other players are unlikely to be offended. If you don't want to read the room descriptions in someone's house because they offend you, just leave. You'll never have any reason to go back there, unlike public rooms.
--matt
Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands
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