From what I gather, most people are in favor of providing relief for players that have been affected by the pandemic. I echo that sentiment.
At the same time, a lot of players are feeling the increased pain of trying to buy a first house with demolitions turned off.
First off, I think suspending demolitions was a good first quick response, and I absolutely support that the decision was made.
Moving forward, a current problem with suspended demolitions is that is also freezes up plots that would have otherwise gone on the market from players who have left the game, regardless of the pandemic.
On that note, I wanted to propose the idea of providing housing vouchers instead of suspending demolitions.
How it would work:
Upon demolition of your house you would be granted a housing voucher good for some determined amount of time. Let's say a year for the purpose of the example.
(I know SE can make it any length cause I still had veterans rewards in my mailbox 5 years after I left and returned to the game)
When re-activating your account you can either redeem your voucher for 80% of the gil of your house (same as what you would have received in a normal demolition)
Or, you can use that voucher to immediately transfer into a new house, with the voucher covering 100% of your old property value.
Sure it's less than ideal but...
Yes, it would be less than ideal having to reset your furniture, and it would suck having to move to a different plot.
But let's be honest, the greatest pain of trying to buy a house is sitting at that plot waiting for invisible timers to pop. Clicking, clicking, and clicking. So in that sense it would still provide a very meaningful amount of relief.
On the flip side it would alleviate some of the pain that current players are experiencing with trying to buy into their first house.
It would also address the problem of players who naturally leave the game not freezing up plots that current players can't buy into.
It seems like a reasonable compromise that both provides relief to players affected by the pandemic and doesn't kick them to the curb, at the same time provides more opportunity for existing players frustrated with not being able to buy a house.
Continue reading...
At the same time, a lot of players are feeling the increased pain of trying to buy a first house with demolitions turned off.
First off, I think suspending demolitions was a good first quick response, and I absolutely support that the decision was made.
Moving forward, a current problem with suspended demolitions is that is also freezes up plots that would have otherwise gone on the market from players who have left the game, regardless of the pandemic.
On that note, I wanted to propose the idea of providing housing vouchers instead of suspending demolitions.
How it would work:
Upon demolition of your house you would be granted a housing voucher good for some determined amount of time. Let's say a year for the purpose of the example.
(I know SE can make it any length cause I still had veterans rewards in my mailbox 5 years after I left and returned to the game)
When re-activating your account you can either redeem your voucher for 80% of the gil of your house (same as what you would have received in a normal demolition)
Or, you can use that voucher to immediately transfer into a new house, with the voucher covering 100% of your old property value.
Sure it's less than ideal but...
Yes, it would be less than ideal having to reset your furniture, and it would suck having to move to a different plot.
But let's be honest, the greatest pain of trying to buy a house is sitting at that plot waiting for invisible timers to pop. Clicking, clicking, and clicking. So in that sense it would still provide a very meaningful amount of relief.
On the flip side it would alleviate some of the pain that current players are experiencing with trying to buy into their first house.
It would also address the problem of players who naturally leave the game not freezing up plots that current players can't buy into.
It seems like a reasonable compromise that both provides relief to players affected by the pandemic and doesn't kick them to the curb, at the same time provides more opportunity for existing players frustrated with not being able to buy a house.
Continue reading...