Housing demolition should be suspended due to Australian bushfires

[Chewy2nd]

How about not using a disaster going on in another part of the world as an excuse for you to have the demo timer on your house suspended?

SE can tell which players live in the affected areas. They will know how many of those players own houses in game, and how many of those players have suddenly stopped playing since the fires started. They will suspend the demo timers if they feel it is warranted, just as they have done for other disasters.

I also think you're going to be disappointed when you find out AUS players are playing primarily on the JP servers for better ping so any suspension of the demo timers is far more likely to occur on the JP servers, not the NA or EU servers.



Because such "kindnesses" usually turn out to have a selfish motive. The real kindness right now would be to donate to disaster relief organizations who are serving those displaced by the fires.

Maybe try talking to the NSW players actually living in the fire zones and get their opinions. We've got one in our FC. She started giving up updates about the fires back in October when they began to realize the fires weren't going to contained anytime soon. From what she's told us, most of the homes lost were in isolated rural areas that don't have reliable internet service. There may not even be any FFXIV players displaced by the fires because of that lack.

We can't know, but SE will. Trust them to make the decision if it's warranted as they have done for other disasters.

1) I already said they probably play on JP servers
2) I'm active every day, I have no demolition timer to worry about
3) I can't believe this I'm literally having to defend myself for making a suggestion that maybe they should suspend the timer

[LaylaTsarra]

3) I can't believe this I'm literally having to defend myself for making a suggestion that maybe they should suspend the timer

You need to make a suggestion that they stop requiring house entry to keep a house and use a paying sub as a reference for not losing a house. It's certainly NOT FAIR to all those who don't have homes to have the entire demo process suspended every time there is a natural disaster somewhere in the world. Enough if enough with this on and off suspension process it needs to stop. Seems to me the process is suspended more than it isn't.

[SDaemon]

You need to make a suggestion that they stop requiring house entry to keep a house and use a paying sub as a reference for not losing a house. It's certainly NOT FAIR to all those who don't have homes to have the entire demo process suspended every time there is a natural disaster somewhere in the world. Enough if enough with this on and off suspension process it needs to stop. Seems to me the process is suspended more that it isn't.

Your suggestion isn't really any more fair though. Paying a sub doesn't equate to actually using a personal house anymore than walking into it once every 45 days. Someone can simply buy a home, leave it completely ignored because they decide they no longer want it, continue to pay a sub and that plot will remain locked indefinitely from someone who might actually want to use it.

[Nestama]

It'd be nice of SE to do. These bushfires have been going on since September of last year and some towns have been completely destroyed.

[Gemina]

And where do they should stop? Let's be honest, this is one of these "What if the world would be perfect" things that are noble thoughts in itself, but absolutely unrealistic and just to farm upvotes in the end by showing fake online compassion for people you don't know and because it's big in the media.

The proportions of those fires are off the scale. Thousands of families. Not people. Families are homeless. And who knows how much damage has been done to their cultivation, vegetation, and wildlife. Not to mention that after the fires come the floods. Always seems to happen that way. Where I am from, our wildfires were followed by floods that we are still recovering from 10 years later; on a scale of damage nowhere near what's happening in Australia. They're in for some serious trouble.

... But yeah, let's use this opportunity to farm for upvotes.

What kind of despicable people do we think we are? Are you really that cynical, or just having a bad day? It should be ok for people to show their support without having their motives questioned, dude.

[ForteNightshade]

Your suggestion isn't really any more fair though. Paying a sub doesn't equate to actually using a personal house anymore than walking into it once every 45 days. Someone can simply buy a home, leave it completely ignored because they decide they no longer want it, continue to pay a sub and that plot will remain locked indefinitely from someone who might actually want to use it.

99% of people willing to pay for a sub just to keep their house will also log in, step in it once then log off for a month. The demolition system isn't intended to take houses away from players who use them infrequently. It's to ensure houses aren't permanently ghost owned by players who long quit the game.

[Vahlnir]

It'd be nice of SE to do. These bushfires have been going on since September of last year and some towns have been completely destroyed.

It's a shame how focused on minor issues (or non issues) various news sites are. I haven't even heard of these fires until like, yesterday. I'm not kidding either. Regardless, I do support this. It'd be a nice gesture on SE's part.

[Nestama]

It's a shame how focused on minor issues (or non issues) various news sites are. I haven't even heard of these fires until like, yesterday. I'm not kidding either. Regardless, I do support this. It'd be a nice gesture on SE's part.

Funnily enough, r/Australia is pretty much where I've been keeping up to date in regards to the bushfires. Sometimes The Guardian and ABC as well.

[SDaemon]

99% of people willing to pay for a sub just to keep their house will also log in, step in it once then log off for a month. The demolition system isn't intended to take houses away from players who use them infrequently. It's to ensure houses aren't permanently ghost owned by players who long quit the game.

The point wasn't players subbing purely to keep a house. The point was players being able to purchase a house and that plot being permanently taken regardless if they use that plot by virtue of them paying a sub, which they would most likely be keeping regardless of the housing if they enjoy the game. It won't make housing availability any more fair than the current timer system.

[Feronar]

Suspending it would be a nice thing to do, and their heart would be in the right place, but I think the main problem is the level of disruption it causes for everyone else. For now, they should probably go ahead and issue the pause, but in the future, what they should do is design and implement a system that allows auto-demolition pauses to be targeted based on a player's registered or geo-located address. For example, with the current bushfires, a pause could be issued on the NA and JP datacenters for all players registered in Australia.

The system could also allow pauses to be issued on state/province/prefecture level, or even a county/parish/borough/council level for more localized disasters or disruptions. For example, if the system were in place during hurricane Harvey in 2017, pauses would be issued for the US states of Texas and Louisiana, the Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo, as well as the Windward Islands, Suriname, Guyana, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, and the Cayman Islands.

Whole-DC long-term pauses (Like the way it works now) would only be issued for huge disasters that affect the entire region, or a very large portion of that region, i.e. the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.

This would have the additional benefit of allowing targeted pauses to be issued for relatively small-scale disasters that would previously not have been enough to warrant a whole-DC pause, such as a swarm of tornados affecting a couple counties in Kansas, thereby allowing players living there to benefit from pauses they would not have gotten before.