Can I get the door for you?

[mattrious]

I'm not sure when or why the change was implemented but I'm curious as to the point of the doormen in the various apartment buildings. I would think only the richest of the rich would have someone in place to handle keys and delve them out to the various people renting the apartments. I do remember in the days of old, the populace use to keep their keys after they initially received them. Why was this changed? I'm sure there is a logical explenation, I just don't understand why a zalanthas commoner would trust someone with a key to their home?

The way it is currently implemented doesn't really put much responsibility on the player. I understand that this is nice for those players who were losing their keys or having their keys stolen, etc. I think it would also be nice to have the denizens to be more responsible for their keys, instead of turning them in and receiving them each time they come and go. Kind of a holding-the-hand type style that I really feel should not be in place in a harsh world such as Zalanthas.

[jstorrie]

The main issue was that you could rent an apartment and then have a key to the place forever. Every apartment had multiple sets of keys to it floating around all over the world.

The doormen system keeps the number of active keys to a minimum.

[mattrious]

The main issue was that you could rent an apartment and then have a key to the place forever. Every apartment had multiple sets of keys to it floating around all over the world.

The doormen system keeps the number of active keys to a minimum.

Could locks be changed each time the new apartment was rented? Making the old keys irrelevant? This could be an additional cost to the initial rent and in turn make apartments that much more a luxury.

[brytta.leofa]

Could locks be changed each time the new apartment was rented? Making the old keys irrelevant?

That's actually done now (a fairly recent change).  But who would issue the key in the first place?

Also, remember that labor is probably cheap in relation to property.

[netflix]

I'm sure there is a logical explanation, I just don't understand why a Zalanthas commoner would trust someone with a key to their home?

The people who hand out the keys aren't just some random thugs off the street. They're Nenukis. They're the landlords. They own the building. It's not -your- home, it's their property that they're letting you stay in for a modest fee. I think that anyone would safely assume that Nenyuk has it's own duplicate copies of all of the apartment keys, just like any IRL landlord would. They need to get in after you die/don't pay your rent one day. Or Templar So and So shows up and demands to search the apartment. They're not gonna risk getting any costly doors kicked in, especially considering the damage it would do to the very, very expensive locks.

So, it's really very Zalanthan. Nenyuk isn't going to trust you with -their- keys. And if the dirt grebbing commoner doesn't like it? Let em live on the streets.

[mattrious]

Could locks be changed each time the new apartment was rented? Making the old keys irrelevant?

That's actually done now (a fairly recent change).  But who would issue the key in the first place?

Also, remember that labor is probably cheap in relation to property.

Well before, there was someone to issue the keys as well or maybe we could do a little downsizing? Put one NPC property manager up to manage the variety of different apartment buildings in the city-states and villages, etc. In 'Nak you would have a single NPC located at the Bank, along with the banker. This NPC would be in charge of handing out keys and collecting rent for the various different properties located throughout the city. If the previous owner expired? The apartment would eventually open again and when their rent was not paid in a timely manner, the next person to rent the apartment would get the new key to the lock that had just been changed during this vacant perioud.

[mattrious]

I'm sure there is a logical explanation, I just don't understand why a Zalanthas commoner would trust someone with a key to their home?

The people who hand out the keys aren't just some random thugs off the street. They're Nenukis. They're the landlords. They own the building. It's not -your- home, it's their property that they're letting you stay in for a modest fee. I think that anyone would safely assume that Nenyuk has it's own duplicate copies of all of the apartment keys, just like any IRL landlord would. They need to get in after you die/don't pay your rent one day. Or Templar So and So shows up and demands to search the apartment. They're not gonna risk getting any costly doors kicked in, especially considering the damage it would do to the very, very expensive locks.

So, it's really very Zalanthan. Nenyuk isn't going to trust you with -their- keys. And if the dirt grebbing commoner doesn't like it? Let em live on the streets.

Yes, but also in Zalanthas it makes sense to save the 'sid when you have it. House Nenyuk is spending money to employ all these different doormen and guards. Why not just pay one guy to do it at a centralized location and make the commoners do the work? The daunting task of managing multiple sets of keys for the different apartments and handing out a key to each person who is allowed into that domicile is more work than what its worth. Why does Nenyuk care what someone does with their key? They care about the 'sid and all of this micromanaging of where the keys are and being kept is a waste of resources on a few different levels.

[Majikal]

The main issue was that you could rent an apartment and then have a key to the place forever. Every apartment had multiple sets of keys to it floating around all over the world.

The doormen system keeps the number of active keys to a minimum.

A bit off topic, but I remember this back in the day. I once had a one day assassin get handed a keyring loaded with all the keys to Tuluk apartments, rather funny. Makes me smile when I hear people complaining about how hard it is to keep an apartment secure nowadays.

[EldritchOrigins]

I'd guess it's more for game play which usually takes a back seat to realism.

An extreme example would be that of coding all bodily functions.  This would certainly be realistic, but would distract from game play when people would regularly be seeking a latrine, chamber pot, or some back alley to relieve themselves in before messing themselves.  Again, I know this is an extreme example, but it illustrates the concept of game play over realism well.

I can imagine that the staff may have not trusted players with their keys, and didn't want to have to replace them.  Sure there could be some coded way to replace a key and maybe pay some coins, but that would cause complicate things.  I think the way things are done now keep things simple.  I don't see the current way of handling keys detracting from gameplay or roleplay (also very important!), while it seems to prevent many potential problem that would be caused were things handled differently.

[spawnloser]

Could locks be changed each time the new apartment was rented? Making the old keys irrelevant? This could be an additional cost to the initial rent and in turn make apartments that much more a luxury.

They could do this, sure, but that requires the staff to intervene each and every individual time an apartment is rented to a new person.  This system does it automatically.

What this new system did wasn't fix the key issue so much as it fixed the 'Players in Nenyuk' system.  The new system replaced the boring, busy-work role that was playing a Nenyuki under the old system.  All the Nenyuki (under that system) were solely apartment vending machines to the rest of the playerbase and the Nenyuki players generally got bored and stored faster than those playing other GMH family roles.  This eliminated that and helped to consolidate the playerbase just that small amount by offering one less clan to spread the players into.