Useful porches - decoration and self-expression

Useful porches - decoration and self-expression
This idea/suggestion is Open. You can respond to ask questions or discuss the idea and either vote it up or down if you believe it should or should not be implemented, respectively. Popular suggestions and ideas will be considered by the development team to become reality in-game.
Proposal
Allow the placing of objects on porches, steps, and patios of player structures by admins. Currently mayors can place some outdoor decorations, such as streetlamps, on the stoops of player houses but this proposal is to allow homeowners and admins to place objects that are normally only inside the home, on the outdoor surfaces of player structures.
Justification
Decoration and self-expression of the player community.
Motivation
I just want to see houses decorated for the holidays, don't you?
This PV is simple in concept:
Allow players to place objects that are normally only inside their homes, on the outdoor surfaces of their houses. This would give the player community a new way to express themselves, open the server up to new event types and competitions, and allow cities to customize decorations in a way they previously couldn't.

Other than the technical challenges to implement this, I'm wondering if there could be any downsides.
What happens to items on the porch when a structure is packed up? I picture some sort of a "porch chest" on the wall in the house that has its own item count (10-20?) and objects end up there when a structure is packed up, and objects on the porch add to the item count of the locker.
Maybe some sort of low item limit would have to be put in place to account for loading areas with a lot of small houses close together.
 

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Reactions: Mandee and Banth
Firstly I love the idea, would be great to see this on porches and balconies.

Balconies would certainly be easier imo, as they're not accessible unless you're in the house to begin with. The porch might be a little more challenging.

I think for this to work there might have to be fixed, pre-designated locations where you can place objects...think SWTOR decoration placement if you're familiar. So from the terminal you might "load" an object into a certain position on the porch which creates a mirror of the object, rather than the object being actually there. There should definitely be some logic like "you cannot pack up this house with items on the porch" to avoid that issue.
 
Firstly I love the idea, would be great to see this on porches and balconies.

Balconies would certainly be easier imo, as they're not accessible unless you're in the house to begin with. The porch might be a little more challenging.

I think for this to work there might have to be fixed, pre-designated locations where you can place objects...think SWTOR decoration placement if you're familiar. So from the terminal you might "load" an object into a certain position on the porch which creates a mirror of the object, rather than the object being actually there. There should definitely be some logic like "you cannot pack up this house with items on the porch" to avoid that issue.
Yeah if that was the only way to do it, but it would lose a lot of the customization.

I wonder if the locker could just be a list in the house terminal (similar to vendor inventory), and objects are placed in there.
Players then use a slash command on the porch to drop the item (a popup of the list lets them choose which) and the game checks that the player is standing in a suitable location. A similar check would be done when using the decorate move/rotate commands. The game already recognizes ground for these stoops as mayors can place small decorations on them and they don't fall through to the dirt. The check might have to be just a check straight down below the object so players could still raise them (a pumpkin on a table, or a web by the door).
Houses could have a pre-determined outdoor item count (Small Tatooine: 4, Medium Tatooine: 6, Large Tatooine: 8, Guildhalls: 10) and maybe even upgradable for a fee.