User Generated Other-Writable-Things-Besides-Books?

I'm still loving the idea of the books. The reason I love EverQuest II so much more than any other game, especially children's games like World of Warcraft, is that it has so much to do besides simply leveling up and fighting. It also has more ways to level up and fight, but that's besides the point.

Housing and guild castles are one of the major features that attracts me to EverQuest II. Sure, it's completely cosmetic to collect the heads of monsters to display as trophies in your hall, but it's FUN. It doesn't help you level up to decorate your home as a storefront to sell goods in game, but it's FUN. User writable books give us even more ways to share our combined creativity with one another in game.

But as always, as players, we're never satisfied are we? Here's what I'd like to see next:

- use the system to create user writable signs

Hey, our guild castle is BIG and I get lost all the time. And I always forget where people put all the stuff. The signs don't need to store as much text as the books; it would be ideal if they displayed their contents in a popup (like existing signs in game do) when you hover over them.

And this would be useful for those players who have been using the housing system to create "museums" and "bars" in game. The museums would tell you what is in the display cases. The bars might leave "menus" lying around (Sauteed Froglok Legs with Thyme for only 5g? Heck, yeah!).

Plus since carpenters would probably make the signs, it would allow the system to benefit artisans other than sages.

- allow multiple people to edit a "book" (or similar object, such as a noticeboard)

If multiple people could edit a noticeboard, it would be great for allowing the guild a place to share notes, post messages asynchronously to one another (in game, instead of in a shoutbox on a webpage outside of the game).

- have other forms of alternate appearances, such as posters, a stack of papers, etc.

It would allow people some flexibility to build some pretty neat things, like leaving creating in-game mysteries with books, signs, posters, and other objects left around to provide clues for the puzzle.

- restrict the reader based on language

Because my Dark Elf doesn't want any of the lesser races to read her journal.

- restrict the reader based on a password

Not necessarily for privacy reasons, either. I'm envisioning user created games where you need to figure out the mystery word to unlock the next clue.