Auto-Demolition?

[BillyKaplan]

If your real house gets demolished because of a natural disaster, the LAST thing you should be worrying about is your video game house.

True, but it's a very good form of customer retention and basic sympathy. You've been through so much and you're trying to put your life together, the last thing you need is to go through a pixelated version of the same thing by discovering your virtual house is gone, too. That can easily get someone who finally logged back in after a long period to just log back out and never come back.
Flip it around - so much happened, you finally log back in and your house and all your stuff is there. That's a nice feeling.

[Nabril]

True, but it's a very good form of customer retention and basic sympathy. You've been through so much and you're trying to put your life together, the last thing you need is to go through a pixelated version of the same thing by discovering your virtual house is gone, too. That can easily get someone who finally logged back in after a long period to just log back out and never come back.
Flip it around - so much happened, you finally log back in and your house and all your stuff is there. That's a nice feeling.

Yes, but so many people can't get houses because there's been a storm somewhere. Customer service is a double-edged sword. Those that are paying their subs get a diminished gaming experience because a small portion of the non-paying subs may have been in a storm. Most of the inactive player base were never in a storm. They just quit playing. And we get to look at all these vacant houses that we can't buy.