SUGGESTION: In-game Demolition and Reclamation Notifications

[SendohJin]

the game does give you a notice however. It's in the timers tab on the second page. people may not know about the second page but it is there. FC things like the workshop progress and airship/submarine ventures are located there as well.

that's the problem, it should be a log-in message in addition to that. the timer should also have that new item marking that the menu has when it updates so people would know to look too.

[Jojoya]

that's the problem, it should be a log-in message in addition to that. the timer should also have that new item marking that the menu has when it updates so people would know to look too.

Most demos are because someone isn't even logging in to play, not because they are playing stopped visiting their house. A log in message won't help those players.

If someone is logging in and their house still gets demo'd, then they weren't using the house in the first place and it should be freed up for someone who will use it.

how about remove demolition?

Then players without housing would never be able to get it because people who stopped playing the game would own most of it. The only time a house would become available is if the owner transfers to a different world.

It is not a herculean effort for people to step inside their houses once every 45 days to avoid auto-demo. If it is a problem for someone, they should stick to an apartment since those don't get demo'd. With 100 slots to place items and another 100 for storage, there's plenty of room for someone to store the seasonal event items they've farmed without any worry they'll lose them.

[Rymm]

With 100 slots to place items and another 100 for storage, there's plenty of room for someone to store the seasonal event items they've farmed without any worry they'll lose them.

While I agree with just about everything you said, I just wanted to point out that a lot of the seasonal items are yard pieces. I've personally never tried to, but I don't think you can store yard items in the indoor storage space that an apartment provides. Otherwise, yes, if someone is logging in but can't make the time to stop by their house once in more than a month, then I agree it should go to someone who would actually use it.

I know stuff comes up sometimes but, aside from emergencies, there are steps you can take to prepare for such a thing. I just got back from a three month trip to the States. I knew I was going to be gone for longer than the demo timer would allow but that I would also be back to playing the game as soon as I returned, so I took steps to prevent losing my home. I know getting demo'ed sucks (happened to me in the past) but if housing is such a priority for you, you need to make an effort to keep it. It's coldhearted but that old quote seems applicable: "Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine."

I do think that the "30 days before your stuff is deleted" timer is complete bullsh*t though. The "unused" house is freed up for other people so there is absolutely no reason not to keep the demo'ed stuff in storage for a longer period, if not indefinitely. It isn't actually physically rendered in the game world anymore, so how much memory could it possibly be taking up? That part of the whole demo process always struck me as unnecessarily punitive.

Edit:
I just wanted to make it clear that I've got nothing against the OP's suggestion of adding in-game notification. I just feel like no matter what SE does to notify people, there are still those who will miss it and then complain that they lost their house. If they add an in-game notification like the OP wants then it's only a matter of time until someone pops up saying that the text scrolled by too fast, or there was no confirmation checkbox to close the window and they didn't read it, etc. You can't force people to pay attention. At what point has SE fulfilled their due diligence?

[Razla]

Edit:
I just wanted to make it clear that I've got nothing against the OP's suggestion of adding in-game notification. I just feel like no matter what SE does to notify people, there are still those who will miss it and then complain that they lost their house. If they add an in-game notification like the OP wants then it's only a matter of time until someone pops up saying that the text scrolled by too fast, or there was no confirmation checkbox to close the window and they didn't read it, etc. You can't force people to pay attention. At what point has SE fulfilled their due diligence?

An in-game event having an in-game notification seems more like a given or even the bare minimum (missing feature vs requested add-on). It would have made more sense for them to have started off with an in-game notification and have added email later to catch the people who were no longer subscribed. (To draw a loose comparison: it would be weird to get email notifications about selling marketboard items instead of getting them in-game.)

When my SO brought up the demolition at work with his coworkers, (non-FFXIV MMO players, mainly WOWers I think), they were flabbergasted that the only notification was outside of the game.

[Rymm]

It would have made more sense for them to have started off with an in-game notification and have added email later to catch the people who were no longer subscribed.

I know it's merely academic at this point, seeing as we can't go back in time and all, but I can't agree with this statement. Email (when it actually freaking works, get on that SE!) reaches both people who are subbed and those who are not. An in-game notice would only hit the subbed players who logged on during the time-frame. This setup would have really screwed over unsubbed players and those who just didn't log in, whereas the emails give everyone a fair chance.

Like I said, I've no problem with an in-game notice. But there will still be people who miss it and still be people who will complain they weren't notified. Only way to make it 100% foolproof is if SE sends a rep to your front door to grab you by the shoulders and shout it into your face.

[Razla]

I know it's merely academic at this point, seeing as we can't go back in time and all, but I can't agree with this statement. Email (when it actually freaking works, get on that SE!) reaches both people who are subbed and those who are not. An in-game notice would only hit the subbed players who logged on during the time-frame. This setup would have really screwed over unsubbed players and those who just didn't log in, whereas the emails give everyone a fair chance.

Eek. Let me clarify this: I do not advocate scrapping email for in-game notifications - I think both are necessary.

Because this is a game, by default, major notifications about something happening to your character are supposed to be in-game at the bare minimum. Since there is the added complication of people unsubbing, the emails are necessary.

I was not saying they should have done in-game notifications to the exclusion of email - instead, why weren't the in-game notifications automatic/default along with the email? Since the bare minimum of notifications would be in-game, how did they skip from this straight to email?

When you take a step back, it sounds really bizarre for there to only be an outside-the-game notification for a major in-game event. This is why when my SO's MMO-playing coworkers heard about the incident, they said: "no notification on login? wtf?"

The lack of in-game notifications seems more like a missing regular feature rather than being an extra. Games (are supposed to) tell you in-game that something is happening to your character.

Like I said, I've no problem with an in-game notice. But there will still be people who miss it and still be people who will complain they weren't notified. Only way to make it 100% foolproof is if SE sends a rep to your front door to grab you by the shoulders and shout it into your face.

The problem is that there is no in-game notification at all, and as a game, it should have been a given/default if they were going to do notifications at all. This is a completely ordinary, regular thing that is currently missing.

One way to get around the "I didn't see it" is the pop-up they now do with KOs where you have to click and hold to confirm your response so you don't accidentally Return. And if you want to be extra sure, a nice big window with a caption in big red font. And you can't do anything until you close it.

[Razla]

Most demos are because someone isn't even logging in to play, not because they are playing stopped visiting their house. A log in message won't help those players.

At least two of my friends were logging in almost daily and lost their houses to demolition. One is a Playstation player and never got an email, but did get his gil back. The other, I'm not sure of the details. Both were most likely hardcore raiding at the time and probably distracted (i.e. outside of long raid hours, they probably logged in, got their tomes, and logged out). It may not be the majority, but it does happen.

It still wouldn't be bad to have an in-game notification in addition to the email. We get notifications for very minor things like selling things on the marketboard, and now it seems we get a pop-up notification upon log-in for achievements that are close to completion. A pop-up notification with a housing status or housing warning seems rather normal, if not the minimum, in comparison.

If someone is logging in and their house still gets demo'd, then they weren't using the house in the first place and it should be freed up for someone who will use it.

I don't disagree with this. I probably deserved to lose the house at this point. The gil refund would have been nice, but it's the item loss that really hurts. If I didn't know the house was gone, I wouldn't know to go reclaim it.

It is not a herculean effort for people to step inside their houses once every 45 days to avoid auto-demo. If it is a problem for someone, they should stick to an apartment since those don't get demo'd. With 100 slots to place items and another 100 for storage, there's plenty of room for someone to store the seasonal event items they've farmed without any worry they'll lose them.

The regret is real.

[SendohJin]

Most demos are because someone isn't even logging in to play, not because they are playing stopped visiting their house. A log in message won't help those players.

It can help if the shared tenants get that notice.

If someone is logging in and their house still gets demo'd, then they weren't using the house in the first place and it should be freed up for someone who will use it.

My friend had this trigger cause they didn't go inside the house. They teleport to their own house and garden basically every day, they just didn't go inside for like 2 weeks.

[MsQi]

Then players without housing would never be able to get it because people who stopped playing the game would own most of it. The only time a house would become available is if the owner transfers to a different world.

The implication would be to move away from the current archaic system.

[Razla]

I'm really surprised at how seemingly hostile some of the replies have been. I don't feel I made an unreasonable suggestion (in-game notification for an in-game event) but it's been compared to requesting a notification on not capping tombs, or even requesting a phone call.

As of right now, the way demolition is treated in-game feels very... dissonant with how big of a hit losing a house has the potential to be (in terms of time/gil investment, possible inability to get a replacement house due to server demand, loss of exclusive/breakable items, nostalgia, etc).

The timer in the menu is irrelevant once the house and (I'm assuming) reclamation period is gone. Whether or not the player logs in an hour after the reclamation deadline, a few months later, or a year later, all record of their ever having a house is gone from the game. As though they never had one in the first place. As if the demolition wasn't (potentially) a devastating loss to the player and was so insignificant and unimportant that the demolition is never directly acknowledged or mentioned in-game beyond a temporary countdown hidden in the menu.

What do I mean? There's a huge difference between logging into the game, regardless of how long you were gone, and either seeing a pop-up notification or a new inbox message with the following:

"Your cottage/house/mansion at Plot X, Ward X in the Mists was demolished on 09 May 2018 at 2:00 AM PDT. You have until 15 June 2018 to reclaim 80% of the initial purchase price as well as any retrievable items from the Housing Caretaker. If you do not reclaim your gil and items within this time, they will be deleted and cannot be retrieved."

....and logging in and seeing absolutely nothing about it. Even if it's far past the deadline, having a notification on login or an inbox message does the following:

1) Acknowledgement/confirmation that the demolition did in fact occur.
2) Indicate that it was considered important enough to warrant a pop-up notification or message in-game.
3) Serve as an in-game record of it taking place (vs it being as though you never had a house to begin with).

It felt very weird to have lost the house (purchased on or prior to April 30th, 2016), my original Eastern Cherry Trees, original Flames of Passion, crafted items, other seasonal exclusives, over 2 years worth of changes/updates, everything in it it and the game treating it ("House? What house? You had a house?") as though nothing happened.