The Demolition Timers Need to Be Clearer for Peace of Mind

[Luna-M]

If you think you lost your house due to a bug, file a bug report; encourage anyone claiming it happened to them to do the same. It's the only way anything (that's actually broken) can get fixed. Crying about it on reddit, or even the official forums, does no good whatsoever and is little more than a plea for attention.

This should be a PSA. So many cry wolf about losing their house yet we only seen 1..1 report so far and that seemingly was user error. Yet we've had probably 20-30+ people claiming to lost their house yet don't file reports. Yeah sorry I don't really believe anyone that makes these claims anymore.

[nranola]

Those who don't bother to check the timers at all will of course not be able to make use of this, but those who do will be able to track their demolition timers more effectively. It can only do good to put this in the game.

[Luna-M]

Those who don't bother to check the timers at all will of course not be able to make use of this, but those who do will be able to track their demolition timers more effectively. It can only do good to put this in the game.

It be a QoL for sure but I don't think there is or should be a prioritized QoL.

[Vexander]

They should just modify the timer to only begin when a Subscription has ended. If the player has an active subscription I don't see why the Timer should be activated in the first place.

[Penthea]

If you think you lost your house due to a bug, file a bug report; encourage anyone claiming it happened to them to do the same. It's the only way anything (that's actually broken) can get fixed. Crying about it on reddit, or even the official forums, does no good whatsoever and is little more than a plea for attention.

You make it sound like trying to bring attention to people possibly losing their houses due to a bug is a bad thing. Also bug reports don't give back lost homes. Houses are a very limited resource. It's a major hit if you lose one.

As for the crying, if you are a regular on reddit you would know that "crying" there sometimes brings enough attention for SE to take action. A player lost their house after they got scammed by other players who claimed to want to trade homes. The post got so much attention that SE bent the rules and gave that player their house back.

I admit I am a tad sceptical about people losing their houses due to a bug but at the same time it's been known for many months that the email system warning about demolition often doesn't work correctly. Sometimes players don't get the emails, and I read about one player who got an email about a fc house for a fc they have never even been in. Given that this issue has not yet been fixed, the recent surge of players claiming their houses were demolished due to a bug worries me.

They should just modify the timer to only begin when a Subscription has ended. If the player has an active subscription I don't see why the Timer should be activated in the first place.

I get why it isn't like this. It would mean a player who doesn't even play a character with a house keeps their house, and SE would prefer players to have some measure of interaction with their houses to keep them. I'd happily settle for the timer being increased to 60 days, to match the time cards. As it is now the timer doesn't match any sub format, which is awkward for players.

Something else I should have put in my first post, which I will after this, is that it's very misleading to have the timer invisible. I can't even begin to count how many times I have told people that the timer is intentionally invisible until the house is close to demolition. If there's no timer displayed a player could think they're looking in the wrong window, their ui is bugged or that there is no timer at all.

[Rymm]

How is "enter your house at least once every 45 days or have it demolished" convoluted?

Perhaps convoluted is too strong a word. Though, to be fair, I was referring to the entirety of the housing rule set (you know, the one SE recently chose to create a three-page guide to adequately explain,) not just this particular one. That being said, I never had difficulty with the rules because I actually bothered to research them before I bought a plot. The amount of players who don't seem to understand (largely because they just can't be bothered) is downright mind boggling.

The rest of your post is pretty much summed up by the last line of my very post you quoted- You can't force people to pay attention.

You make it sound like trying to bring attention to people possibly losing their houses due to a bug is a bad thing. Also bug reports don't give back lost homes. Houses are a very limited resource. It's a major hit if you lose one.

A bad thing? I can agree that bringing attention to it is not "bad" on its own. The problem arises when people see this type of rumor and repeat/repost it in such a way that is either ambiguous in nature or outright states it as a fact, when it has not been substantiated in any way. That's when the aforementioned confused players who lost their houses for not following the rules, but don't realize that, see the posts and think they are the victim of a bug. A Chicken Little "the sky is falling" situation ensues where more and more people parrot the bug rumor without bothering to substantiate it which continues to lead to more confused players and more needlessly worried homeowners.

By all means, warn people that there is a potential bug. But please, make it abundantly clear that it is, in fact, only a potential bug. And as I said before, try to get anyone you see making these claims to file a bug report. If, heaven forbid, it turns out to be true, that's the only way it's going to get fixed.

[Claviusnex]

I think the demolition timer should always be displayed however I haven't see a problem with how it works. I also think they should send in-game notices to the house owner's Moogle mail when they do the e-mail to cover all the bases. I am giving up my house to drop my subscription and the timer showed up at 15 days left and I have received a 10 day notice in my e-mail. All working as expected as near as I can tell.

[Penthea]

A bad thing? I can agree that bringing attention to it is not "bad" on its own. The problem arises when people see this type of rumor and repeat/repost it in such a way that is either ambiguous in nature or outright states it as a fact, when it has not been substantiated in any way.

I did not state it as a fact, at least this was not my intention. My intention was to say that the demolition timers should be permanently visible for peace of mind, and later I also recalled and edited my first post saying that it's misleading to have them hidden. I fail to see the gain in having them hidden other than the confusion and irritation of players.

Also you completely ignored that I mentioned an issue regarding emails that has been going on for many months now. Not everyone who claimed to not receive emails lost their house, so they weren't all making up stories in the hope SE would believe them and give them their house back. Never mind that player who got an email for a fc house for a fc he has never been in. Do you not find it alarming that the email system appears to not be consistently working, and that it has been like this for such a long time? It is for this reason that the rumours surrounding malfunctioning demolition timers worries me.

If there was nothing but the demolition rumours I'd have a stance similar to yours. But that's not how it is, unfortunately.

[Rymm]

Also you completely ignored that I mentioned an issue regarding emails that has been going on for many months now.

The email bug is such a well-known issue I honestly didn't feel the need to cover it in my response, I apologize if that caused confusion. If you look at my posting history, it's well established that I'm not only aware of the that particular bug, but strongly voice the opinion that it is something that SE desperately needs to address. So you'll get no argument from me on that front.

That being said, the email bug has little and less to do with the "malfunctioning demo timer" you mentioned in your OP. That is the specific unsubstantiated rumor that caused a small panic on reddit and the OF a few weeks ago and that was the one I was pointing out needs to be clearly explained as a possible but not proven bug. The issue isn't that you stated it as fact, but that your OP was ambiguous enough that someone with little to no knowledge of the situation could read it, misunderstand, then go off and propagate the rumor in such a way that presents it as fact. And that's when things start to snowball.

[Penthea]

The email bug is such a well-known issue I honestly didn't feel the need to cover it in my response, I apologize if that caused confusion. If you look at my posting history, it's well established that I'm not only aware of the that particular bug, but strongly voice the opinion that it is something that SE desperately needs to address. So you'll get no argument from me on that front.

That being said, the email bug has little and less to do with the "malfunctioning demo timer" you mentioned in your OP.

While that is true, my worry is about SE's current stance on having the entire housing system working as intended. The fact that the email bug is still not fixed is alarming on its own. Now we have these rumours about malfunctioning demolition timers. And again, like the emails, not everyone who is saying their demolition timer bugged has lost their house.

The issue isn't that you stated it as fact, but that your OP was ambiguous enough that someone with little to no knowledge of the situation could read it, misunderstand, then go off and propagate the rumor in such a way that presents it as fact. And that's when things start to snowball.

Fair enough I'll edit my post to include the word rumour. But honestly I assumed any player who is curious enough would try to find the post I referred to in reddit.