Houses and bars are the ultimate goal for every character since they provide a space where a character can live and which he can decorate to his liking. There are several house designs that are available for sale and what type of house you buy is entirely up to you, with a few exceptions. For example abandoned factories can only be bought in the catacombs and the dungeons, bar designs can only be bought at the predefined bar locations. Other than that you are free in your decisions.
Some of the streets and locations in Sociolotron contain a red arrow that is labeled "An entry to private homes" or "An entry to a business location" or even such individual names like "An entry to the Market Tavern" or so. These are all exits to private homes and they are always shown in red. When you buy a house it will be created at the location you select. When you double click the red arrow, you will receive a list of up to 32 houses at this location, each with it's individual number. Your new house will be one of them. by selecting the house and going through the door, you enter this house. The following graphic shows the house entry dialog:
The most important feature is of course Go Through which will bring you into the house if it is unlocked or if you have an invitation. If you don't you can always try to Ring the Bell which will cause a message to be displayed for the house owners provided they are in the house informing them that you are outside. If you have a key you can always Unlock or Lock the door and as the owner you can even Change the Lock which will render all existing keys obsolete. This is a handy feature when you have given keys to other characters but don't trust them any more. When you change a houses door from this dialog, all interior doors will also receive new keys with the same lock as the entry door. That means that all interior doors can be operated with the same key as the entry door. If you don't want that, you can later change the locks of the interior doors individually by clicking on them and choosing Change Lock from the Lock Tab.
While up to 32 houses can be at a house location, only one bar can be at a designated bar location. There are only a few bar locations per district and they are usually the object of heavy competition. However keep in mind that bar owners must pay a hefty property tax while the tax on houses is rather moderate.
You can also change the name that is shown to people in the entry dialog. To do so you must be inside the house and click on the exit door. Then go to the Room Owner Tab and click on the Rename House button. In the resulting dialog, choose a short name, up to 32 characters which will be shown in the entry dialog from now on. It may take a client restart for the name to show up.
If you buy a bar, you will also receive a Gryphon statue in the bar. You can lock it down and pick it up to move it to another room, however you can not transport it out of the bar. It can not be stolen either. When you lock it down it may take until the next day for Gryphon message to be sent to that room
Only Owners, Co-Owners and Renters can log off in a house. Any other character who logs off in the house will be transported to the street where the house is, when he logs in after the daily server maintenance restart. Before the restart, they will be logged back in in the house. This is important to know for abduction scenarios. When a character gets stuck in a house, you should wait a day until after server restart to free him.
You can rename your house to anything you like. to do so, select the Common Tab in the top right corner while you are in your house, then select the Room Owner Tab and click on Rename House.
Important:
If none of the house's owner or co-owners signs in for 60 days, the house is eliminated! Make sure to have at least one co-owner sign in every 60 days if you plan an extended absence from Socio!
(c) 2005, Sociolotronics LLC