Player Residence

* See also Player Apartment ( from the BS2 Multi-Player 'lobby' management interface )
* See also Standard_Possessions
* See also Player_Activities
* See also Modular_Game_Objects
* See also Player Fabrication
* See also Tools
* See also Game Experience
Pets
Player Trophies ( Momentoes and Accomplishments )
Personal Library
Communication Hub ( when you have a Team)
A 'homebase' place where various interface contexts might be resident ( to avoid cluttering general playing interfaces )
Workbench and Tools
Note_Board + String_board (Maps)
Desk + Table + Accountbook
Safe/Lockup
Team Assignment Board
Kitchen + Laboratory
Medicine Cabinet
TV + Radio + Phone 
Pneumo ? Mailbox
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Housing - As A MMORPG Game Mechanism :
Many MMORPG have some kind of "Housing" system with varying utility. Some it is just a place to put trophies, play interior decorator, or serves as some minor additional storage space. Others functioned as Player guild/kinship/association meeting/gathering places/bases. Many games have very meager Housing selection and customization options. A few allow the users to add crafting facilities, to have massive storage ( including museums of oddities) or to serve as 'map-rooms' ( for games that allow portals/jumps to pre-marked locations in the World ).
In this MMORPG's design, a Player's "Residence" is meant to have significant utility and to act as a base of operations, and to be flexible enough for many potential uses. Since Rapture is being 'rebuilt' and expanded, there are lots of opportunities for the Player to get more space - provided they are willing to work/put effort into to developing it. 
A Player would have a number of 'Team' NPCs which need to be housed ( part of their employment deal ... ), as well as storage space for all the bulk 'loot' accumulated ( in New Rapture, recovered lumber and wall panels are valued for 'fixing up' the City to its proper state. YOU might not have the tedious job of reclaiming all that stuff ( It is why you have NPCs to do grunt work ). But if you want to 'fix up' your Residence to match your social standing/prestige/needed utility, or to accommodate specialized facilities, you will deal with such stuff one way or another. Commercial Ventures can overlap with 'personal space' (sorry, no Tax Writeoff), and that workshop/manufacturing area can be conveniently (and cheaply) maintained where you live.
The MMORPG City Map would be huge, so there will be no problems (as other games have) with all the available space being absorbed ( "Ultima Online"https://www.bing.com/search?q=ultima+online housing for example ), or clumsy cloned areas ( as they do in LOTROLord of the Rings Online - a MMORPG game ). You still might have 'a ways to walk' from the City Center, unless you want to 'spring' for the expensive 'good' locations. Of course, 'out in the boonies', neighbors don't complain as much about raucous parties, screaming captive Splicers, or constant freelance target practice.
This reminded me : that it can be possible in THIS game to setup Enclaves 'further out' from the safer parts of New Rapture, to provide services to adventurers ( Convenience IS worth Money ), or Work 'Camps' for extended remote Reconstruction Projects. The mechanisms would be the same as normal Housing, except that the concerns for maintaining security would take larger effort.
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Real Fixer-Upper :
In the MMORPG, when you choose to get your own Residence in New Rapture ( after being in the New Citizen Dormitory since your 'Cure' ), you will have available OWNABLE places/locations already picked over by people before you. The condition of those will be sparse ( anything usable or recyclable will likely be gone/stripped ). The area which New Rapture was founded was an annex to Neptunes Bounty where workers lived, so there are many small (simple) units in that vicinity.
SO this is a bit like 'Farmville' where you incrementally add/equip your amenities ( like floors and walls ), as well as everything else which might make the place comfortable ( so you might be extending your stay in the City Dormitory while you do the first basics of those improvements ).
Previously mentioned was : The various Fabrication activities like adding in electrical and sanitary systems ( and later expanding/improving them ), and securing the premises. The minimum pre-installation would likely be a single working light socket ( reminiscent of early electrification where things were often plugged into that on thing in the ceiling ), probably initially without a bulb which has been 'borrowed', and never replaced.
So lots of activities to acquire the materials and items, and to get the work done ( often by someone else at the start when you might not have many skills yet ) to make your desired improvements/customizations.
Of course you could also RENT, but that costs money which you might not have alot of early on.
The 'City' will have a Claim Registry for locations for you to get Title to a location to make into a Residence. This will have attached a requirement that improvements be made within a time period -- A common measure to keep people from just claiming them as speculation property, and with a basic filing fee (for the same reason). This would be alot like traditional "Mining Law" ( which usually had a systematic way to handle most contingencies ). "Claim Jumping" would be controlled by laws. New Rapture IS a bit like a 'Boomtown'.
Outside of 'City Limits', enforcement would be looser, covered by more general Salvage Laws and property Claims -- maintained much more by the individual's measures/enforcement. This isn't quite the Wild West, where an outlaw/miscreant can head for the horizon ( Rapture is not an overly large place ), and peer pressure and reputation is well known, and repercussions might not easily be escaped. There are more remote areas to inhabit, but they would lack important infrastructure and methods of sustenance ( and much safety ).
With an increasing 'Cured' population, City Limits would continue to expand as the game World progressed ( and Players actively developed it -- integral part of the MMORPG's game system ).
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Appartments :
Rapture once had hundreds of residential buildings ( apartment blocks and high-rises ) for its 20000+ population, and Citizens are encouraged to continue rebuilding them for New Rapture's growing population. Most of the residences are populated far below their capacity as multi-person apartments are commonly occupied by one person and the upper storied of high-rises are inconvenient when stairs have to be used ( elevators often still aren't working in buildings that had them repaired ). Some Citizens are using the apartment complexes they have rebuilt as 'Company' bases both to house their 'Team' personnel and to act as storage sites for their equipment, tools and building supplies.
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 "Hotels" - Why did Rapture Have Them ? :
* NOTE - the word 'Hotel' was often synonymous with 'Apartment' ( longer term residence )
* 20000 people IN Rapture the cityscape, likely an equal number outside the city ( to make it 'self-sufficient' ).
* Many workers at industrial installation would not be permanent residents, so when they 'come into town' they need a place to stay.
* Residents of 'support' communities outside Rapture ( many living 10 and more miles away ) will want to visit the city frequently.
* 1000 units of hotel/motel accommodations would be a reasonable number .
* Some 'rich' residents prefer 'Hotel Living', with room/maid service and other advantages ( over an apartment ).
* Meetings/conventions and other events can be held at hotel facilities.
* 'Spas' like the Adonis Resort have hotel accommodations for guests.
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Things to Put Up on Walls In Your 'Residence' :
* Players can use Cameras to take pictures which can be framed and put on walls ( color film may be in production again soon ).
* Certificates - certified skills ( Skill certification by City )
* Commemorative Plaques for City Achievements.
* Looted Artworks ( or if added as a game feature - your own created artworks )
* Trophies/momentos of various kinds from missions/quests ( the stuffed giant squid may be a bit much )
* Lots of Decorations ( Rapture is full of those Art Deco doodads )
* Paintings
* You can Paint your walls and have Wallpapers as detailing ( make sure its part of your rent agreement to change these ).
* Equipment Racks ...
* Maps
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House/Home Clutter Issues :
One of the things that MMORPGs usually do is to have the Player's "House" be a separate simulation node ( isolated bubble, separated entirely from the rest of the Game World ), cut-off/independent from the rest of the Server terrain so that it simplifies the game's Player data feeds ( Otherwise, if you walked by outside the "House", all the objects/activities inside have to be observed thru windows/doors/etc... by the Player and all that data has to be piped to their Client ). 
There usually was a huge number of non-'baked' objects ( not part of the static level data ) given to Players as decorations and trophies ( often almost completely useless for anything more than that ) which could saturate the download data-stream. I recall in UO (Ultima Online) you would actually stall/freeze for upto minutes ( data coming from the Server for dynamic terrain content ) when you moved near many large Player owned buildings - Unfortunately the local monsters would come and continue beating on you til you were dead at the same time. 
So the question is : Will the MMORPG design for less realistic game experience to try to minimize the data and avoid choking' ? In this (Rapture/BioShock) MMORPG, even with better compression of the World situational data and Client 'Dictionary' caching alot of object data, there can still be a significant data transmission load ( Server-side as well as across the Client connection ) to let you get the proper view.
Most Residences will have closed doors and windows into their interiors ?? Apartments are usually like that, and I suppose the Ocean water could be made opaque enough so that someone with a telescope/binoculars won't be spying on you from an adjacent building.
You open the door to go in, then the download starts, and hopefully the default fill-in mechanism will be good enough to not have the scene 'pop' too much. When you enter your own home ( highest frequency for this event ) most of the detail stuff would already be cached, minimizing the transfer needed.
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One Thing We Did Not See Alot of in BioShock - Desk Telephones :
A very typical/useful thing to have in an office in the modern world. SO, a detail to correct -- One just hopes the Citizens of New Rapture can get a decent Phone System back in operation for you to want one. Shouldn't be much trouble to obtain one or more from the Ruins.
There are some payphones seen in the Solo games, which even gave a nice ring noise when you whacked them in BS2 -- busting Phones for money would have been a nice detail, but they musta been made out of the same indestructible/impervious material most of the vending machines were made of ( except the First Aid stations for some reason ).
Telephones would be part of the Player's routine communications, and a period flavor element for the Game, with simulated operators, tones/silences/crackling sounds, and delays ( until option bypassed ).
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BTW, DID you know the standard desk phone ( Western Electric Model 302 ) from those times was an Art Deco design ???
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Wiring your NPC 'Teams' "Base" and Other Mini-Game-like Activities :
Ever have a fuse blow ( these days its resetting the breaker ) and the after finally finding the hidden box somewhere, on fixing it to have it blow/trip again ?? Bad wiring can be much worse - think short circuits and wet floors.
Players who have a 'Team' of NPCs would provide a place for them to reside, to store tools/equipment/choice selections of loot/materials. ( This is the MMORPG equivalent of a 'House' ). The cheapest way to get such a place is to claim some semi-wrecked nearby within-city-limits location and "fix it up" ( Rebuilding Rapture is a major 'theme' in this game ). The more you add to it, the more useful it gets, and that includes the 'wiring'.
Improvements :
* Proper heavy wire
* Breaker boxes so shorts/surges will not burn the place down or damage equipment 
* Fixing any leaks anywhere near anything electrical ( probably want to do this first )
* More/better Lights
* Lots of outlets for various skill-usable machinery
* Communication tie-ins - Phone, TV, Radio, etc...
I've seen Minecraft, and the Wiring game interface would be an abstraction like that, except a little more '2D' -- As it is stuff under floors/behind walls ( plumbing would be similar ). You would plan what changes you want to make ( using the spiffy interface ) and then your in-game Lackeys/hired-help would carry out the changes as tasks over time and when materials become available. ( Other 'fix up' tasks are similarly driven ).
No doubt, there would be locations out in the 'Ruins' where you temporarily have to repair stuff to get past an obstacle or as part of the Mission ( equivalent to a minor puzzle ) which would employ similar interfaces.
In that case its 'quick and dirty' salvage and repairs.
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Residence Ratings Class 0 1 2 3 4... (housing/apartment complexes) :
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Players will be rebuilding Rapture and part will be the apartment blocks and high-rises containing places that NPCs and players will live. Players and NPCs will have different jobs and will be paid the more skilled they are, and will seek better accommodations that they can afford. There are a wide range of potential accommodations with varying quality and desirable attributes ( some of which are listed below ). Residences will have to be rebuilt to the various level standards to meet the classifications. The better the quality the higher the rent will be.
Levels :
0 - Institutioanl accomodations (Dole system and various flophouses)
1 - Ordinary accomodations
2 - Better accomodations
3 - Deluxe accomodations
4 - Ritzy accomodations
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Features ('quality' level (digit) of residence containing feature) :
Consistent Air and Heating (ambient) 0+ ( a basic minimum for ALL residences )
Single dwelling (shared at low end 0) 1+ ( institutional residences are usually 'barracks' style )
Minimum ceiling height -- 8ft - 1 / 10ft - 2 / 12ft - 3+
Space per person (total floor space) 0 10x10 1 20x10 2 20x20 3 20x40 4 more
Decorations and Atmosphere 3+
....Plants/Trees/Planters
....Art
....Decore
....Fountains
....Lighting
....No utilities visible (pipes machinery ducts) vents are decorative...
Safety 0+
security 1+
Concierge 3 doorman ? 4 (what's the difference??)
Metro Access ( distance 2 or in-house station 3+ )
State of repair:
....Bombed out (Splicer style - nostalgic)
....Grubby
....Clean/functional
....Pristine and ............
Wall types:
....Bare concrete
....Wallboard
....Wood paneling
....Marble
Unit Facilities:
....No bare concrete walls 1+
....Sink, Hot water supplied (in unit) 1+
....Locks on Doors 1+ ones that work 2+
....Carpets/tiles 2+
....Communications hookups
.......Wall Radio 1 2
.......Phone Option 2+
.......TV 1+
....Kitchen hotplate 1 (oven fridge sinks stove) 2 deluxe staff kitchen facilities (ie- stuff in Mercury suites)
....Bathroom (in-unit 1+ or shared facilities 0)
....Bedrooms 2 3 4(closets the size of bedrooms)
....Fireplace 3
....Extra Rooms Library/Dining Room/Living Room/Wet bar/Solar 3 4
....Individual thermostat 2+
....Bath 2+
....Wine Cellar 4
....Split level 4
....Mailbox (mailbox service 2) Pneumo in block 3+
....Laundry shared 2 in-unit 3+
....Private Swiming pool and Sauna 4
....Garbage chutes in-unit 2+
....Thicker noise-blocking walls 2 3 4
....Security systems 3+
Working Elevators 3+
Views (window in unit 2+) good view/landscaped outside 3+
Some apartment blocks had Swimming pools available to the residents. 3+
Pets Allowed No- 0 1 Yes- 2 3 4
Neighborhood Quality (proximity factors):
....Parks +
....Museums +
....Constable Station +
....Metro/Atlantic Express Station +
....Tattoo parlours -
....Restaurants good/bad +/-
....Bars/Nightclubs -/+
....Flop House/Opium Den -/-
....Slaughterhouse -
....Institutional Housing -
....City Asylum -
....City Jail -
....Built on Ancient Indian Burial Ground ---
....Checkpoint nearby leading to 'The Wild' -
....Nearby Building is Tilting --
....Right next to Pumping Station (noise) -
....Resident Ghosts ?
....Rats ( that scare away the cats ) -
Note - Penthouses don't count as 'Apartments' ( and can go off the scale as to 'quality' and 'features' )
The Higher the rating the more the rent can be ( if the standards are met )
Complaints of 'standards NOT being met' are handled by the city Housing Inspectors.
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Need That BS2 Multi-Player Apartment
Player_Apartment Available as a 'step up' achievement for advancing MMORPG Players :
That Apartment's Bathysphere has to be shared between the 3 apartments ( or more if more apartments are beyond it ). So where do you park any 'private' Bathyspheres or maybe that one ISN'T private ( it is actually equivalent to a taxi ).
The Apartment building complex (to be practical) would have Bathysphere water tubes at Rapture pressure ( to access all the Apartment docks - dozens of units ) and then a central shared airlock system ( the really expensive/complex part ).
It was never made clear where the Apartment was located, but with (the front part of) the airplane falling into it, it might be somewhere near the Welcome Center district (near the Lighthouse). It is certainly in an affluent area. I could see it built into the Mt Ryan mountain-side, built in tiered steps - each step tier having a view of the city and open water above. Each tier would be several apartment groupings wide.
There are lots of contours in the cityscape's terrain where similar 'deluxe' units might be built. A variation might be a funicular (in tunnel) connecting the stepped apartment tiers to a Trolley Transit line ( down at the 600 foot depth 'Street' level ).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcIziEOhehc
A good example of Player's imagination which could be tapped into for this MMORPG ...
 Rented Storage :
When you just have too much stuff and not enough Space ...
A business.
Security concerns as usual in the real world.
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An 'Automatic Gentleman' for Bioshock :
* Not a SteamPunky robot with clawlike metal hands that can go berserk and murder you in your sleep, but a self organizing wardrobe ( was that one we had in the MP Apartment ?? )
* Handy game interface with sets of clothing 'outfits' you can organize and define. Could include tools and equipment sets as well.
* Change from your Business Clothing to your Adventuring garb with one command ... A MUST for any busy Citizen of New Rapture. ( The more sophisticated game mechanics has NPCs react to inappropriate behaviors and clothing -- you can go to a business meeting dressed like a clown, but don't expect them to want to do business with you. )
* Lazy Susan style Tie Rack and Cufflink Tray
* Built in Vacuum System in the deluxe version.
Pretenses and posturing for Prestige make a comeback with New Raptures return to 'normalcy'.
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Dehumidifiers As a Popular Consumer Product ... :
Musty smell would be a problem even if you could control the 'fishy' smell. Mildew would be common. Molds can actually be a health hazard. So getting an appropriate humidity level to maintain a comfortable environment would be desirable for those who could afford it.
Can you imagine what those parts of Rapture in BS1/BS2 which had been previously flooded with seawater would smell like ? Think of 'tidepool' smell except in a place the wind doesn't constantly waft away the stink ... Vinegar to clean that ? Now imagine the smell of THAT itself in an enclosed space.
Fans for moving air around... 
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A Water Purifier Would Likewise Be Something Desirable :
Drinking Water is only a small fraction of water use, and having drinking-water quality across the whole system (from the source) would be prohibitive. Other uses might not be particular about 'quality' ( ex- one would be for agriculture). Upscale locales would have local filtration systems for the fresh water coming from Hephaestus. Bottled water from the Surface ( or some unlikely local 'spring', AS ADVERTISED ) would be a luxury item largely unaffordable by most inhabitants.
Iron/steel water pipes still get rusty over time ( copper pipes used in the better neighborhoods ).
The fresh water would also be utilized for 'hydronics' ( steam and hot water heating systems ) - taking heat off geothermally heated salt water from Hephaestus ( which gets distributed about the city ). Those ( within a building or complex ) are usually a closed system, and utilize fresh water to prevent mineralization problems in the machinery.
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Noise :
The Addition of sound-proofing for buildings was typically a desired improvement - with all that machinery throbbing night and day, vibrating through the solid structure.
Sound pollution might be a significant issue. Likewise something to be avoided 'at cost'.
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Many of the above things would probably be retrofitted as the issues became more apparent in certain locations ( Remember the item about 'leaks' with the Wales Bros, and comments about that by McDonagh ). Rich people could pay, lesser folk might have to 'live with it' in more than a few places. 
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Roto-Rooter In Rapture :
Plumbing is a useful BASIC Player Skill.
Some places out in the Ruins are so Drippy that typically you will be wanting a waterproof tent if you have to hang around ( Some Residences before they get 'fixed up' have a similar issue ). Sewage accumulations are even more bothersome ( Smells In Rapture ). Portable Water Pumps are handy tools to have ( and an assortment of tubes/hoses ). 
Less desirable 'Residences' are adjacent (or downstream) of a leaky external walls (was always a problem).
Clearing/Hooking up the drains ( which lead down to the Sump Pumps ) is required to get rid of the water effectively. Behind the walls ( and the nice interior decorations ) were the drip barriers, which now through lack of maintenance are not too effective. ( Diagram ) No doubt, one or more Mini-Game will be created around semi-realistic Plumbing activities.
The ole drain 'snake' ( a long flexible wire springy tool ) is a popular item used to unplug the fouled drainages ( leading eventually to those basement/foundation (utility) levels with their 'Sewer' conduits ).
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Los Angeles - Two "Hotels" Atlantic and Pacific. In actuality, Apartment Buildings were for a long time had the label "Hotel" and on old maps of Los Angeles you would find hundreds of such buildings on City Maps.
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Rapture - When the Toilets Cease To Function :
Imagine what the Players will face in Closed areas where the 'fumes' will generally fail to dissipate ( no open air ).
Worse than our 'Modern Cities' where the bums have been allowed to take over and results of their unsanitary antics are everywhere ( fragrant ordure, urine and garbage ).
One of the important accouterments of the Player may be a Gas Mask - Not for poisonous gas, but for the smell ...
A 'decorative'/cosmetic Mask overlay on this would be likely
Flies and Spiders become frequently observed fauna.
Working 'Plumbing' - A Player Residence necessity ...
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