SUGGESTION: In-game Demolition and Reclamation Notifications

[Razla]

I'm really surprised at how seemingly hostile some of the replies have been. I don't feel I made an unreasonable suggestion (in-game notification for an in-game event) but it's been compared to requesting a notification on not capping tombs, or even requesting a phone call.

As of right now, the way demolition is treated in-game feels very... dissonant with how big of a hit losing a house has the potential to be (in terms of time/gil investment, possible inability to get a replacement house due to server demand, loss of exclusive/breakable items, nostalgia, etc).

The timer in the menu is irrelevant once the house and (I'm assuming) reclamation period is gone. Whether or not the player logs in an hour after the reclamation deadline, a few months later, or a year later, all record of their ever having a house is gone from the game. As though they never had one in the first place. As if the demolition wasn't (potentially) a devastating loss to the player and was so insignificant and unimportant that the demolition is never directly acknowledged or mentioned in-game beyond a temporary countdown hidden in the menu.

What do I mean? There's a huge difference between logging into the game, regardless of how long you were gone, and either seeing a pop-up notification or a new inbox message with the following:

"Your cottage/house/mansion at Plot X, Ward X in the Mists was demolished on 09 May 2018 at 2:00 AM PDT. You have until 15 June 2018 to reclaim 80% of the initial purchase price as well as any retrievable items from the Housing Caretaker. If you do not reclaim your gil and items within this time, they will be deleted and cannot be retrieved."

....and logging in and seeing absolutely nothing about it. Even if it's far past the deadline, having a notification on login or an inbox message does the following:

1) Acknowledgement/confirmation that the demolition did in fact occur.
2) Indicate that it was considered important enough to warrant a pop-up notification or message in-game.
3) Serve as an in-game record of it taking place (vs it being as though you never had a house to begin with).

It felt very weird to have lost the house (purchased on or prior to April 30th, 2016), my original Eastern Cherry Trees, original Flames of Passion, crafted items, other seasonal exclusives, over 2 years worth of changes/updates, everything in it it and the game treating it ("House? What house? You had a house?") as though nothing happened.

[MsQi]

how about remove demolition?

[Kurando]

If not a pop-up, even in-game mail would be nice. Especially since it's an in-game event, it's a little weird to only have potentially unreliable notifications outside of the game (email going to spam, inbox flooded, email never received, etc. etc).

To be fair, that's really the customers responsibility to ensure they are getting any notifications through correctly (by email). Just like with any ongoing service you might pay for in the world (not just MMOs), you are expected to have up to date contact information with the company should the customer need to be updated on anything. Yeah things happen sometimes emails can take a while to come though or get lost in a bundle of others you aren't able to read yet, but with most email services there are ways to flag important mail our create rules to ensure you see them. Alternatively making an alternative email contact just for SE could help but they definitely do notify you giving plenty of time to act.

On reading the email it does say that you can keep track of demolition using the in-game Timer menu, so technically that should be more than enough to do something about your housing. Having a login message isn't going to help much if you aren't logging in to begin with (whether real life priorities or not).

[InkstainedGwyn]

To be fair, that's really the customers responsibility to ensure they are getting any notifications through correctly (by email).

It's also SE's responsibility to make sure they're sending the emails. My emails don't go to my spam (I've checked.) I've gotten other emails from them. But when my house went into (planned) demolition, I got one email, the day before. Not the 15-day warning, ever. The 3-day warning came at 1 day. That's not my fault, that's SE's fault, even if it's just faulty automation.

[Razla]

To be fair, that's really the customers responsibility to ensure they are getting any notifications through correctly (by email).

On reading the email it does say that you can keep track of demolition using the in-game Timer menu, so technically that should be more than enough to do something about your housing. Having a login message isn't going to help much if you aren't logging in to begin with (whether real life priorities or not).

Emails are nice, but again, as an in-game event, it's strange there isn't an equivalent in-game notification. We get notifications when our stuff sells on the marketboard - those are comparatively minor events compared with losing a multi-milllion gil cottage/house/mansion. Having to go looking for a timer is not the same as having a message pop-up saying I'm about to or have already lost my house.

(On a sidenote: I don't typically check my timers and had no idea there was a demolition timer until after the fact.)

[Kurando]

I also received the emails about the demolition timer plenty of time in advance and was notified correctly on what I should do and how I can keep track of it to resolve the problem. So we seem to have conflicting experiences, I don't think it's faulty... but regardless, as a home owner you should be well aware of the demolition effect anyway. Going in to your house just once a month is enough to reset the timer, that's all it takes just a few minutes, SE doesn't play the game for you.

[NotOliverB]

Game already notifies you, what else do people want... a phone call from the company?

[Razla]

Game already notifies you, what else do people want... a phone call from the company?

How is being notified in-game about something happening in-game extraneous? That can't even be compared to a phone call.

[NotOliverB]

How is being notified in-game about something happening in-game extraneous? That can't even be compared to a phone call.

The game tells you about the 45 days. Lodestone tells you about the 45 days. Your timers menu warns you. You get warnings through emails. Is that not enough?

[Razla]

The game tells you about the 45 days.

Where?

Lodestone tells you about the 45 days.

Don't know anything about this. This is also outside of the game.

Your timers menu warns you.

I had no idea there was a demolition timer in the menu. These past few months, I didn't have any reason to check the Timers menu because I have not been doing anything I needed to track. That said, you'd have go looking for it - that is not a notification or a warning. That's something you have to go looking for.

You get warnings through emails. Is that not enough?

No. And here's why:

1) If a game is going to notify you about something happening to you in-game, the primary notification is going to be in-game BY DEFAULT. Take a step back, and consider something else. Let's say you are playing a game involved with defending fortresses. Instead of telling you in-game, while you are logged in, that the enemies are smashing Fortress 3 so that you can go defend it, the game sends you an email about it. That would be ludicrous.

I don't know if you read the content above, but my SO brought the demolition up with his MMO-playing coworkers. Here's what he messaged me: "first thing out of their mouths was basically, 'no notification on login? wtf?'

In this case, the primary and only notification (and we're talking straight up contacting you about it), is by email, which is OUTSIDE of the game.

2) The lack of dependability of email. As I brought up before, it could go to spam, it could be buried in a heavy load of incoming mail, or it could have never come through in the first place. One of my friends never got the email, and I have seen other people posting about similar experiences. That being said, why would the sole, actual notification be only by email (outside of the game) and not also upon logging in or even real-time in-game?

3) We get notifications about our stuff selling on the marketboard. Relatively minor and insignificant events. Why does it seem so unreasonable to get a pop-up notification about something major - i.e. that your house is going to or has been demolished?