Please Remove Housing Timers During the Covid-19 Epidemic

[SturmChurro]

15 bucks won't mean much if you end up in the position of struggling to pay rent because you cannot work due to the virus.

At that point you earned your subscription, and can save your virtual house! Even if you lose your real one!

[RezPls]

I'm never opposed to implementing a stop on the timers for any reason. We shouldn't have them to begin with, but we also shouldn't have limited housing to begin with. Man, this is a vicious cycle.

Yes, and we're talking about the current cycle that sucks but there is no reason for SE to stop the timers.
They literally have it as 45 days so that you will have and active sub for every minor content patch.

[TheMightyMollusk]

It's worse for the US because the US was slow on the uptake on even testing for it to begin with. This is why the cases rose so quickly, because it was just outright dismissed.

Doesn't help that our healthcare system is a joke and worker protection is nonexistent. Some people can't afford to get tested, and some can't afford to take the time out of work to recover.

[Vahlnir]

Doesn't help that our healthcare system is a joke and worker protection is nonexistent. Some people can't afford to get tested, and some can't afford to take the time out of work to recover.

It also doesn't help that the virus has likely been all around us for months before it was even reported. Some have likely gotten sick and recovered (or not in some cases) and no one thought it was anything more than cold and flu things. It is hard to fight something that no one knew was there until it was wayyyy too late in the game (thanks China!). Anything countries/states do now is far too little too late, but I guess something is better than nothing at all.

[QT_Melon]

Doesn't help that our healthcare system is a joke and worker protection is nonexistent. Some people can't afford to get tested, and some can't afford to take the time out of work to recover.

Along with what someone said about not knowing about the virus until it was too late.

Because the United States has been extremely sluggish in testing patients for the coronavirus, the official tally of 604 likely represents a fraction of the real caseload. But even if we take this number at face value, it suggests that we should prepare to have up to 10 times as many cases a week from today, and up to 100 times as many cases two weeks from today.

But in cases of Italy which is known for their care system this didn't stop the fatality rate (among other things).

Meanwhile, the news from Italy, another country with a highly developed medical system, has so far been shockingly bad. In the affluent region of Lombardy, for example, there have been 7,375 confirmed cases of the virus as of Sunday. Of these patients, 622 had recovered, 366 had died, and the majority were still sick. Even under the highly implausible assumption that all of the still-sick make a full recovery, this would suggest a case fatality rate of 5 percent—significantly higher, not lower, than in China.

Either way, regardless if the Fatality rate of the flu is lower fataly and "old, weak, compromised immune systems" are more susceptible so what?

That's like saying no one should take the flu shot because it doesn't affect anyone and you're likely to die in a car accident.

This fails even more so because there's no known cure and we're not certain who has it and could be a carrier. There's also permanent damage that can happen even if you don't die from it.

The sky is not falling, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take observation of your surroundings and act accordingly and not dismiss this issue.

That said, reiterating again, I'm not of current mind to suspend housing over COVID 19. Right now the game runs and the current treatment is isolation from others (which means you'll be likely staying home), and unless SE had to turn off the servers or something due to the pandemic there's also no reason to ask for extra game days. That's absolutely silly.

[Ryaz]

You shouldn't be buying more than 2 weeks supply of food. Are people buying several months worth of stuff? That's just bad planning..

Preparation is good. Staying away from crowds as much as possible is good. Overreacting is not good.


Signed, someone in redmond dealing with all of this

Yeah, the media has people treating it like its another Black Death that will wipe out half of earths population. Its ridiculous the panic being caused. Panic and mass hysteria are never positive.

[EaMett]

Without having done in-depth reading (I don't have time to research right now) I was going from what I read this morning.

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-...tions/12042318



As I understand it, the normal flu (also a coronavirus) can have similarly severe effects, we just have more immunity and vaccines.

Perhaps the rate of severe cases is different. As I said, do your research but from reliable sources.

The flu is an Orthomyxoviridae where as coronavirus is a Coronaviridae/Orthocoronavirinae. They are different. Because both are respiratory tract illnesses they share some (not all) symptoms and a lot of people have been using the flu (that many of us are familiar with) as a means of comparison. But in reality we should be referring to the previous cases of MERS/SARS which were coronaviruses (as is the common cold although not a good comparison point). But since not many people would automatically know what that means they went with the flu.

The death rate for the coronavirus might shift a bit over the next few weeks but it's something like 3.4% currently so that would be 34 times deadlier than the flu that kills an average of 60k people a year in the USA (as per the CDC numbers). It's rate of transmission (R0) also seems to be about double that of the common flu (2.28 vs 1.3 - probably due to lack of immunity, but also from the fact the virus can stay active on surfaces for extended periods of time). So all in all it's a much more serious threat if left unchecked (would probably result in upwards of 2M deaths given current stats in the USA). Hence why every country is going on lockdown currently.
Furthermore, because it spreads exponentially, even cases that would otherwise survive with medical assistance may very well die from lack of said assistance like is the case of Italy currently. Where the hospitals can't handle the demand and war triage is being used (aka people who are more likely to die are given a lower priority than people who are more likely to survive, because if you only have one free ventilator you're better off giving it to someone you know it'll help live rather than someone who has only a 10-20% chance of survival and risking both patients dying. Yet sadly both could potentially have survived)

These numbers, although official, are probably a slight over-estimation of reality since there are certainly many mild cases that aren't tested and don't count towards the total (although this would also imply that the R0 is higher than the official numbers). It's still significantly dangerous enough that you would want to be extra careful as a society. With that said, the USA was infected same time as korea and we still don't have any testing and the little we have is not free ($3k). This should change tomorrow as they try to pass a new bill iirc. We also don't have sick leave so people will go into work with it if only showing mild symptoms. All in all I expect mortality rate and contamination rates in the USA to be much higher than in other first world countries. The numbers are only currently low because of lack of testing, there are already many infected people from all walks of life (athletes, politicians, average joes) with no connections, so you know the country in-between is already heavily carrying the disease.

[Destati]

If you lose your house, you lose it. You can always get another one down the road.

Sure, if I lose my house I can simply walk up to the placard on an empty plot and purchase a new one - oh, wait.

[wereotter]

I'm never opposed to implementing a stop on the timers for any reason. We shouldn't have them to begin with, but we also shouldn't have limited housing to begin with. Man, this is a vicious cycle.

We actually do need the timer.

Imagine if there were people who got houses in ARR, quit playing all the way back then, canceled their accounts, but still own those houses that they never relinquished before they quit playing. There would be even less supply because those people will exist, and given enough time, most housing will end up falling into the hands of people who haven't played or logged on in years.

You can argue that the amount of time isn't long enough, but there does need to be a point at which if you haven't logged on and used your house, it's taken away so it can be recycled to an active player or free company.

[Rasikko]

Doesn't help that our healthcare system is a joke and worker protection is nonexistent. Some people can't afford to get tested, and some can't afford to take the time out of work to recover.

Your post needs to be sticked. It's the harsh reality of working in the US.. I posted this bit at another forum as a bit of a joke, but unfortunately as a 19yr veteran of this company, I'm sorry to say, I've seen this happen to people who get the flu and other debilitating things:

I just feel for kroger employees. Managers ain't gonna wanna hear crap like "Sorry I can't work because I got the coronavirus". They gonna want you to bring your butt in anyway and throw crap to the shelf + work overtime.

I will have to return to the US soon, and it's the harsh working life that is the only reason I'm not thrilled to go back. In Finland, if you get sick, you actually get treated like a human and can stay home.