LOTRO housing is ghastly to get to, as all the housing neighourhoods are stuck miles away from anywhere else, requiring at the very least a horse ride from the nearest town. As a result, as soon as you get a house (only one per account per server) you also get a skill that allows your toons to teleport there once an hour. It's all very, VERY pretty but only useful as storage. No crafting and minimal display. Plus you have to pay rent so if you go AFK for more than 6 weeks you get locked out. There are various items available (from vendors, crafting, festivals, quests and raids) that you can use to personalise your house, but there is really no reason to go there other than to get something out of storage or for roleplay. (Oh, and to use my keg that teleports me to random destinations in Moria when I use it, I love that one.)

I suppose the problem of game housing is why the Sims franchise is so appealing. Even without the good gameplay of Sims 2, Sims 3 offers players the opportunity of creating anything from a customised house to an entire seamless neighbourhood and there are lots of people who play it just for that.

I don't play very often but when I do I always find myself doing extensive housing alterations. The sims always seem to end up with sprawling basements for partying or crafting or storing all their looted Egyptian relics.