• Canonically, the housing wards are reserved for adventurers only. Players acknowledge this by having some adventure-related component to their FC, regardless of how well-developed that component may be.
  
• Despite regular protests to the contrary in LFRP posts, people enjoy tavern and slice-of-life RP more than they claim, but also like adventure and action and whatnot. FCs can handle both of those things in-house without having to go to other FCs where people are weird and strange.
  
• It's a fairly common anime trope for a story to be centered around a mundane business acting as a front for a more adventuresome business - Sakura Taisen comes to mind, among others - and this MMO is populated by a larger-than-normal amount of weebs.
  

(09-03-2017, 03:59 PM)Casa Kai Wrote: This is just some observation but I want to know if others feel this way. Every FC I see these days now seem to ALL just be a restaurant being a front for criminal activity or some kind of trading business that is actually dealing in black market trading. I've had three people recently leave my FC and ALL three of them started a business that's actually a front for something else. Its gotten to the point where I roll my eyes when I run into them because I feel like there's more 'Front for something else FCs' then there are FCs that are just a real restaurant or business.

(09-03-2017, 08:28 PM)Lydia Lightfoot Wrote: Are they specifically saying it's a front, as in, a way to attempt concealing their shady dealings, or is it possibly just a feature of the FC?

I know of and have been involved in some where it's been the latter, including my current endeavor. Lydia's bistro is in the same building as the Reliquarian's Guild, but the bistro is technically an entirely separate enterprise (and to that end, nobody in the guild is expected to participate in anything bistro-related). The bistro just happens to be leasing the lower floor of the building, which Lydia figures is a good idea not just from the perspective of basically paying rent to herself (woo!) but also because it provides a handy point of respite for guild members and visitors who want a bite to eat and something to drink.

OOCly, most FCs recognize the value in having a "hang-out site between our adventures" (some, as others have said, seem more focused on the hang-out aspect than the adventure aspect, which is fine if it's what they like to do!).  While it's totally possible to use an existing site for that (and even one which isn't player-owned, such as the Carline Canopy), players like being able to put their decor touches on it. The only time it really becomes harmful, in my opinion, for an FC to have their own hang-out site like that, is if they find themselves rarely venturing to anywhere else to socialize casually. That may lead them quickly down Insular Avenue, which can stifle the FC when they inevitably have a drop-off in participants due to varying circumstances, and they suddenly realize they're not bringing in any newcomers to fill the voids.