You got your Minecraft in my Rift!

The Storm Legion add-on is now live for Rift. The most relevant part of the update for Rift dilettantes like me who haven’t hit the level cap is the new set of skills for each character class. But the most intriguing part of the update is Rift’s new player housing. Developer Trion takes the mostly traditional approach of giving players instances that everyone can ignore. Voila, player housing! Because, short of selling virtual real estate (imagine what a nightmare this boondoggle is going to be), what else are you doing to do?

But the instances in Storm Legion aren’t just places where you drop your trophies. They’re the sites of building sets where you can arrange components you’ve unlocked or crafted. Use them to modify the location or create your own structures, a la Minecraft. For instance, Trion proudly showed us someone who had made an entire Viking ship, and another player who had built a mountain with a jumping puzzle, and another player’s magical resort. Players can visit these instance to admire each other’s handiwork (pictured). Naturally, you can “like” your favorite creations, visit the highest ranked creations, or just sample them at random.

Is there anything relevant to gameplay in the housing? Of course not. This is no more meaningful than coloring your armor. And as someone who’s diligently collecting dyes and parceling them out among his characters in Guild Wars 2, I can completely understand the appeal.