I made this suggestion to a few of my fellow staff members....

Upon reading Zionia's comment, I agree with him fully. I'm changing my stance on the issue.

I propose a possible application process for claiming land. Not just the wait-till-they-don't-respond way, but also:

IGN:

Region name:

Owner:

Status of owner (inactive/permabanned):

Were proper measures taken to claim this land?:

Plans to improve this land:

I do agree that people should not "land horde". If you claim a region, it should be to IMPROVE on it, not just have it sit there and rot and say OH THAT'S MINE.

Just a few thoughts I had <object class="emojione" data="https://resources.enjin.com/1489581540/themes/core/images/emojione/svg/1f642.svg?0" type="image/svg+xml" standby=":)">:)</object>

regarding the fee notion:

i like the idea...it uses the same reasoning why i do 2 months since making attempts at contact...if you really want it, you will wait 2 months...if you are just looking to take up stuff, you forget about it over time...thus the 2 month waiting period tends to weed out about 80% of claims on land.

works the same with a fee as well...and may actually help move that number of actual claims down a bit. but then the people who hoard money will come sweep in and buy up all the land...and i really dont want that to happen...so its a careful balance game on a double edge sword XD

Claiming land is ridonk. I think the person has to formally allow you to claim their property. That is the only fair way. I only see people claiming because they are hard newbs and walk up to a city and start building right beside, total disrespect for other people. Happens all the time. If a person is banned they still have to give you their property. Just because someone is banned it means nothing. We all know how often people get unbanned.

Let's preserve cities unless the person gives them up. I for one don't want any newb to build on my shit ever, even if they can wait a month or a year or pay or whatever.

We need to ask the question why people want to claim land... Its because its beside there shit. There is enough room. EXPLORE. Don't be so damn lazy when walking away from spawn and use the damn world map

In my opinion, nothing should be claimable. It's way more fun to build your own stuff!

And for every structure built on the server, minetown becomes that little more valuable since something unique got created.

The only reason why I could see someone claiming land is when it would involve a region right next to your town, that blocks you from expanding.

Anecdote:

When I joined this server in June 2011, Saphyna, Unicorndefender and me built Poundtown.

About two weeks after we settled, ronvandorp built his first nimaro buildings (the notredame) not far off.

Saphyna and unicorndefender went unactive and I went from active to inactive like a yo-yo.

In the meantime, ronvandorp's city kept growing and growing.

It grew up to the point that it could not expand any more unless ron'd take over other people's regions.

The inactive poundtown blocked him from further expansion and succes for a long long time, since there was no way to contact the other owners.

Imagine how frustrating this must have been.

That whole dramatic land claiming thing with Sepyhx and Unicorndefender is what drove them away for good sadly, I'm still pissed about that now that I've been reminded.

Nothing should be claimable, it's just too much of a hassle and it causes too much drama. I agree with you Reggie, I absolutely hate it when someone builds right next to someone else's city. It happen to Hyrule a month ago, this member literally built right on the border of the cliff I was digging out. I don't want to report that or wait for the staffs opinion, I took matters into my own hands and dug that cliff out along with his city, I don't understand what people think when they see another city and start building right next to it, do they think that the owner of that city is actually going to be alright with it!?

Stuff like this is really annoying, I want the 100 block building law back or whatever we use to have for cities! Original building laws!

Only way you should be able to claim is if the person was perma banned. The only people that should be able to claim a perma banned players town should be involved in the town in some way. Whether their a resident or have worked a considerable amount on the town.

The claims "I found this I claim it" need to stop. Someone tried this with my area that was clearly marked. Sadly had I not checked the forums like many don't I could've possible lost my area that I put countless hours into. People might not be on the server for a variety of reasons. Either they quit, RL drama, taking a break or many other reasons. Main thing here is they have the option to return at any time. How would you guys feel to find out you took a break for a few months to return and find that everything you have worked hard to build has been taken??

Here's a Hypothetical example:

Coffeey gets banned for calling Irethena a stupid head. Its perma <object class="emojione" data="https://resources.enjin.com/1489581540/themes/core/images/emojione/svg/2639.svg?0" type="image/svg+xml" standby=":(">:(</object>

I cannot claim his town since I have nothing to do with it. I don't own a house nor have I ever helped with the town.

8x8johan can since he has done quite a bit of work in the town and is probably significantly invested in the town.

See pretty easy

So it seems that a majority support the these 2 solutions:

A: Land should only be claimable if the owner is permabanned

or

B: Cut the drama, land should not be claimable at all.

It'd be nice to see more responses to this discussion <object class="emojione" data="https://resources.enjin.com/1489581540/themes/core/images/emojione/svg/1f61b.svg?0" type="image/svg+xml" standby=":p">:p</object>

I see only a few opinions for never and the majority of votes for either always or only permabans...or kitties, because kitties rock xD

It is nice to see people's opinions on the matter though.

I liked the suggestion at one point of making claiming land so difficult and unattractive that people won't want to do it much unless they have extreme motivation to improve on a project. I forget who said that at some point. The fee is a good idea. Like I said before, going around and peeing on every hydrant you see is just stupid and lazy....land hoarders gtfo.

My personal thought on this is, No body should be able to claim land persay...HOWEVER, I do think that their are RARE occurances in which they could be claimed, but in a different way then this whole system we have now.. Basically it woulod be down almost like a sherriff sale... Mods would post a list of lands that have been forclosed by permabanned players, and set a date on which the auctions for those properties start. This giving people interested in going to these properties to look at them and determine if theyd like to bid on them. (Mods can make warps to these towns if no warps are active) Then let the auction start and last for maybe 3 days, and whammo auction goes to highest bidder...

i voted kitties because my personal thoughts were not expressed in voting options...

Claims should be allowed given proper handling, communication, and time. <object class="emojione" data="https://resources.enjin.com/1489581540/themes/core/images/emojione/svg/1f61b.svg?0" type="image/svg+xml" standby=":p">:p</object>