Housing Lottery Suggestion

[Zhalar]

Here's an idea I thought of to try to make getting a housing plot less strenuous (because players shouldn't have to endure repetitive stress injuries related to hours of constant clicking on placards) and hopefully more equitable.

1. A plot becomes available.
2. A player with the available funds goes to the placard and clicks on it to purchase the plot. They must have the funds in their inventory to buy it and the money goes into escrow while they are entered into the lottery for that plot.
3. The player must remain in that housing ward for the duration of the plot timer. Leaving the housing ward removes players from the lottery (and returns their funds to them from escrow).
4. A lottery winner is randomly chosen.
5. The lottery winner gets a PROMINENT message on their screen that they have won the plot and they have a limited time (i.e. 60 seconds) to accept.
6. If the lottery winner does NOT accept, they are removed and a new lottery winner is chosen. This process continues until a winner accepts the plot.
7. All persons who did not win the plot are returned their money out of escrow.

Relocation is still entirely possible for all plots.

Perhaps there is also the possibility of giving the losers of the lottery a small, hidden buff which applies toward the next time they enter a plot lottery and it is cumulative. So with each loss, their chance of winning increases until they finally win and then the buff resets back to zero, putting them back on equal footing with everyone else once more.

[ItMe]

Sounds fair to me.
I especially like the idea of a secret cumulative buff. That's a good way to cull the frustration of always losing.

[Kenky]

So what you're saying is, instead of actively clicking the placard (And ultimately, having some personal affect to getting the house they want), you want to completely remove that, give it to an AI that could just as easily make sure you never get a house from a probability standpoint..

Not to mention, if "putting money down" was all that was needed, then congrats. You have made it so the Bots always win.

The bots don't get tired. The bots don't get bored. They don't lose connection suddenly due to an internet dip.
They would be there for the entire duration, meaning the % chance of getting the plot continues to increase while actual players (the people that'd use the plots!) lose out. Sure, now and again a player would beat the bot. But that would be astronomically few and far between.

I'm not saying the system isn't without merit. I mean I know a few people that would love to not hurt their wrists spamming the placard. But it has another pitfall that, personally, I don't know if I prefer it.

[KayRadley]

Oh, bully.

This thread.

AGAIN.

[JamieRose]

Sounds far better than the current system, which is why it will never be implemented.

[Canadane]

Everyone wants to say it sounds better, but it realistically lowers your chances of getting a house. I understand that isn't the goal of the idea but it would only further frustrate people.

[DarkMasamune]

I'm not a fan of the idea. I've seen it being mentioned here and there but I'm not a fan at all.

I wish housing was available for everyone, but betting it on a lottery system dosen't sound like a solution to me.

[JamieRose]

Everyone wants to say it sounds better, but it realistically lowers your chances of getting a house. I understand that isn't the goal of the idea but it would only further frustrate people.

And the current system isn't super frustrating as is?

[HyoMinPark]

Here's an idea I thought of to try to make getting a housing plot less strenuous (because players shouldn't have to endure repetitive stress injuries related to hours of constant clicking on placards) and hopefully more equitable.

1. A plot becomes available.
2. A player with the available funds goes to the placard and clicks on it to purchase the plot. They must have the funds in their inventory to buy it and the money goes into escrow while they are entered into the lottery for that plot.
3. The player must remain in that housing ward for the duration of the plot timer. Leaving the housing ward removes players from the lottery (and returns their funds to them from escrow).
4. A lottery winner is randomly chosen.
5. The lottery winner gets a PROMINENT message on their screen that they have won the plot and they have a limited time (i.e. 60 seconds) to accept.
6. If the lottery winner does NOT accept, they are removed and a new lottery winner is chosen. This process continues until a winner accepts the plot.
7. All persons who did not win the plot are returned their money out of escrow.

Relocation is still entirely possible for all plots.

Perhaps there is also the possibility of giving the losers of the lottery a small, hidden buff which applies toward the next time they enter a plot lottery and it is cumulative. So with each loss, their chance of winning increases until they finally win and then the buff resets back to zero, putting them back on equal footing with everyone else once more.

I personally don’t mind a lottery system (can’t really be worse that what we have, imo—and SE will never do instanced housing, so I’ve given up on that), but giving a player only 60 seconds to accept would only increase the already staggering amount of frustration that this housing system already creates. Consider people that may have to work or go to school that can’t always be at their PC or console waiting for an acceptance notification. Increasing that to at least a couple hours would be better. Wouldn’t completely mitigate scenarios where people are in school 8 hours a day or work 8 hours a day, but it’s much better than only being given a minute to accept a win.

Plus, think about if you’d gotten up to go to the bathroom and come back to see that you missed a 60-second pop-up about a house. People already sacrifice sleep and other basic necessities to spam-click placards. I don’t think this would be mitigated by such a short acceptance timer.

[KayRadley]

And the current system isn't super frustrating as is?

Your chances of getting a house with a lottery system will not improve.

Just do yourself a favor and get an apartment.