People put in effort into those houses, it's trashy to see them go to waste. All because despite people saying "Oh you can just take a break", that's the achievement you lose. And getting a house back is beyond garbage.
First, the loss of a plot means you just wasted 3m+ you probably farmed for just like that.
Then you need to go all the way back to the start and compete with so many other players who want a house as well.
If you have anything larger than a Small, the loss is higher.
Plus, ok sure, you lost the house, but you resub and "you can just get another one". a) what, to lose it again, and b) what, and spend a decent portion of that time without the house?
Like, I agree. It's unhealthy to only remain in a game just because of a virtual house. It's even borderline pathetic really. But in the event I return to this game, there are things I'd like to do with my house. I'd rather keep it for the time I feel invested in the game, even if I decide to take a break. A break does not translate into a complete loss of interest for the game, and believing it does is easily ten times more pathetic and unhealthy.
What's actually unhealthy is the restriction being put in place, let's be honest. But that's a talk for another topic. Likely to be regurgitated and re-debated next time someone doesn't win the housing raffle and complains in the threads again. Likely with someone being like "It's a good thing we have this timer, because that frees up houses" instead of acknowledging we need a better design philosophy rather than repeating the same mistake over and over again.
Imagine if you spent all that time playing Pokémon, finished your pokédex, but then just because you didn't load the game in X time, you lost all that progress. Sure, you can just go back and do it all over again... but what's the point in that? You likely wouldn't want to do that again either. It's just a digital collection, who cares, right? Well, true, it's a digital achievement, it's as flimsy as it can get. But there's a principle for the consumer somewhere there, part of enjoying the game and the rewards/achievements that come with it, even if they're just personal. And a game not respecting that is just as backwards as caring too much about it, you know?