Two reasons why an eviction system is INEVITABLE.

[Madjames]

Something strange is afoot at the circle K.

I fixed it sorry

[Madjames]

1. They're taking an extended vacation without Internet access
-I took 30-60 day family vacations. My friend always logged in to make sure my house was refreshed. This had to be done ONCE or TWICE while I as on my vacation. If they tie it to your sub only and you continue to pay for it (Which is what I recommend SE do, then you will never lose your hosue as long as you keep your subscription going)

2. They're called to duty in military service with no Internet access (or laptop/system to log in)
-I was in the military. I almost ALWAYS had internet access and when I didn't, my family or friends would be there to log in for me to make sure I didn't lose my house. Again if it as tied to your sub being current, active, and you kept paying, then you could take as much time as you want from the game as long as you keep your sub going. I have been doing it now for 18 years STRAIGHT without missing one sub payment so do not give me this crap of (WAHHH life happens I cant afford $15 a month, or in my case $30 a month) If you can not afford that little amount then you have much more stuff to worry about in your life then playing a video game.

3. They've serving a couple of months in jail (for "reasons")
-You do not need to be playing a video game, you need work out your life first and should not be worrying about it.

4. They've been in an accident and have been in the hospital for a month or two
-Have your family or friends log in for you, OR keep your sub going if it is tied to that so this will not be an issue.

5. They've suffered some medical problem which kept them away from logging in
-See number 4. Also, if I have this happen IRL and I stop paying, I lose my house. No mortgage payment or property taxes my house is gone. It should work this way in this game for such as limited feature.

My recommendation is that SE should tie our homes to our SUBSCRIPTION. Housing should be for paying customers only anyway. I kept my sub going even when I would be gone for 30-60 days or when I was in the military. That is what is needed to get all of these inactive people who are NOT supporting the game to give us paying customers back a feature that should be for paying customers only in the first place. This is how housing works IRL and how it should here as well. I may seem harsh but this is a subscription based game here. If I just STOP paying my cell phone bill or cable bill, I lose it and EVERYTHING with it. I also may lose whatever discounted price I had for this and would NOT get it back if I resubscribed (This happened to me once, I canceled my cell phone and when I got back to them, I had to pay an extra $20 a month for the same thing I had 6 months ago because my discounted price was voided for me being gone for so long. Will never make that decision again lol)

[saberchic]

I agree Madjames in that it should be based on subscriptions.

If the player's sub has lapsed and they do not renew within a certain amount of time (say 60 or 90 days just to be safe), then their stuff should be moved to the Calamity vendor where they can get it should they decide to come back to the game. I really wish SE hadn't backed down from their stance about relinquishing property.

While the relinquishing system would not solve the bigger problem of the housing shortage, it would alleviate the issue a bit as there would at least be some sort of turnover of unused spaces.

[Causality]

If you can't be bothered to log in for 30 day, sorry, but that is ample time to log in JUST ONCE to keep your house under your onwership.

Not necessarily. There are real world factors to consider. School and college work, Jobs that prevent time to log into a video game, Family Obligations, Military deployment, Jury Sequestering and the like. There are also issues in which a person's internet can be rendered gone for a time through no fault of their own. I once went several weeks without internet because the provider was upgrading its infrastructure. Another time my nephew thought the modem would make a good Frisbee.

You may not understand until you find yourself in such a situation where life takes over.

A paid subscription is that, a paid subscription. It is not a matter of the frequency of the log ins. What matters is the continued renewal of the fee. As long as the Subscription fee is paid, the account is active regardless of the frequency of log in.

As long as the fee is paid. The house is theirs.

Now if they let the Subscription Lapse for more than 30 days, then yes I agree the house should be confiscated.

[Aeyis]

The best part is they were ready to implement this as a thing a couple patches ago. The timer was 30 days for the auto-relinquish, I believe, and a vocal minority of the forums freaked out, so they pulled back.

Probably the minority that actually owned a house themselves.

Now if they let the Subscription Lapse for more than 30 days, then yes I agree the house should be confiscated.

Just for reference. Compared to your 30 days, how much time do you think it would take to get enough gil for a house?

[Zorlinta]

Just for reference. Compared to your 30 days, how much time do you think it would take to get enough gil for a house?

For a small house in my server and with the price halved by the timer... took me 3 weeks of hard work and selling all my stored precious quest jewels rewards. Also took a small loan from fc friends to can buy the build permisson wich i paid after one week more of work.

[Espritduo]

To anyone who thinks the housing issue is only a large server problem, and the smaller servers are just swimming in empty plots...that is not true at all. I'm on Mateus, one of the smallest servers around. The current housing situation, which I just took a gander at, is this:

Mist - only 12 plots left in total, none Small.
Gridania - only 36 plots left, none Small.
Ul'dah - 86 plots left, but again, none Small.

Out of 1440 plots, there are only 134 plots left, all either Mediums or a few Large here and there. Many of the openings in the original wards are from players and FC's that left the server. We are as unpopulated as you can get, and we are still sitting at over 90% capacity with no Small's for people who don't have 10mil to throw down. I would guess, based on my own housing ward and others I have run through, that at least a third of these houses, especially Smalls, are abandoned. In my own ward, 14/30 houses I know for certain are owned by defunct FC's and long-gone players that have not seen any activity in months.

[Saerydoth]

How about they provide a secure way to sell a plot to another player? Right now, you just have to abandon the plot, and then it's first come first serve. There's no way to sell it.

Also, I think housing needs to be expanded to about 4x what it currently is, server upgrades or not. Right now housing is just completely out of reach for most players and it shouldn't be.

[Kataz]

My 2 cents - Instead of going after player owned homes, SE should focus on dead FC housing.

A player can have any number of reasons discussed here to be absent for a prolonged period of time. Losing their personal house as a result is silly. You'd get a player who previously showed dedication and earned their own house suddenly homeless and probably in the same boat as everyone else who is homeless due to a lack of lots. With the added insult of basically losing a several million gil investment since SE does not think relinquishing land warrants any sort of refund.

An FC has several tools built in to make the FC losing the house more fair in a way. An FC house that is abandoned has the FC chest that the housing items can be dumped into. If there isn't enough space for all of the housing items, maybe make something like a calamity scavenger tab in the FC chest that exists for as long as housing items are in it, withdraw only and no depositing. If SE ever decide to reimburse some or all of the purchase price of a lot, that gil can be dumped into the FC chest as well. A dead FC can be easier to identify too. Implement some sort of FC tax based on company seals. Make it something trivial like 100 a month. Some FC's will take time, but eventually a dead FC will no longer be able to pay that trivial tax, and maybe then the FC would get its land taken away or preferably disbanded.

[Madjames]

Tie housing to your subscription. I have been paying for my own sub for 18 years straight now. I have never had it lapse.

There are plenty of people who have let it lapse and let their house sit abandoned. Those non-paying customers should have their land taken away and given to us paying subscribers end of story. Not ONE good reason has been given as to why this should not happen.

If a 12 year old kid can pay his subscription every month for the next 18 YEARS STRAIGHT of his life (My sub is $30 a month now not $15 like it was in wow or $10 in Ultima Online) then anyone else can. I have no sympathy for anyone saying that they cant afford this small amount every month. If you cant then you have much more bigger things to worry about in your life then a video game and a virtual house which should be for paying customers only anyway.