Please Remove Housing Timers During the Covid-19 Epidemic

[Unaki]

I'm honestly confused, why would they suspend it if you're quarantined in doors with your pc?

If the request is because of financial reasons, you have more important things to worry about than a video game. Plus it would be the same if someone lost their job any other time due to outsourcing (which is huge) or anything else...exceptions won't be made.

The only thing I can possibly think of is some one being hospitalized but then that can be made for people with cancer or something any other time of the year.

I think stuff like this should only be requested or put on hold when abrupt acts of nature happen, Earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, etc. Anything else is just silly and you have more important things to worry about.

This game costs money to play. It requires a monthly subscription and people are quite literally becoming unemployed en masse due to business closures. Its all fine right now this early on but since this is a worldwide pandemic its about to get way worse as the economy strains and collapses and businesses completely shut their doors. People are going to cut costs and in a month without a paycheck that $13 is going to hit the wallet really hard so the game is going to be the first thing affected players cut because its a cost they can control. How is a worldwide pandemic that is bringing the civilized world to its knees not on par with a tornado uprooting a hundred houses or so? How is a virus that is causing hospitals to overflow with hundreds of thousands of extremely sick patients and killing unknown amounts of people not a valid reason?

We had a whole 6 months of a pause for an earthquake that affected one tiny region in the US and only had a major impact on maybe 100,000 individuals. How is that a greater problem than millions of people suddenly being out of a job due to a massive viral outbreak that is literally killing people across the globe in great numbers? This is the absolute perfect time to suspend demolition of a virtual piece of property so that the countless players who no longer have a source of income can focus on keeping their lights on and their families fed for a few months.

[Aniew]

While it's true there aren't any sizable disruptions to internet connectivity as far as I'm aware, the sheer scale and severity of this situation is disrupting more people's lives than many natural disasters have. Many players will have already lost their jobs or will be losing their jobs soon, grieving loved ones, and otherwise preoccupied with a dramatic change in their lives. I think it would be a kind gesture to delay the timers for just until there is more stability in infected areas.

[Meowho]

Why do people keep saying "you should have more important things to worry about"?
That's the whole point. It's for this reason that people shouldn't be penalised for not being able to subscribe.
And since when was a global pandemic not an act of nature?

Fyi: don't have a house.

But not being "penalized" for not being able to subscribe goes beyond stuff like this. Should people that lose their jobs for one reason or another not be "penalized"? It's not even being penalized it's you're quarantined in your home with your PC. If you lost your job then you just can't afford it any more. This is how the real world works, you pay for things you can afford.

A pandemic like this is not an act of nature, this is an act of people. Acts of nature is weather related....hence the name.

This game costs money to play. It requires a monthly subscription and people are quite literally becoming unemployed en masse due to business closures.

If you can't afford the sub then you can't afford the sub. Do you want the game to go free to play? Ask for that then (I personally don't care about free to play but a lot of people here do) instead of being straight up ridiculous.

"You should cater to me because I lost my job"...you're crazy plenty of people have lost their jobs before this and will lose their jobs after this. Just before this Wayfair and a popular bank (I forgot the name) laid off hundreds to thousands of people...if they play xiv should we suspend stuff for them too? Even outside of this?

[Celestene]

It isn't just bills not being paid or games being shut off, when someone is in the hospital every day because their spouse is etc. I see this daily. It is a merciful thing they should do.

[Penthea]

"You should cater to me because I lost my job"...you're crazy plenty of people have lost their jobs before this and will lose their jobs after this. Just before this Wayfair and a popular bank (I forgot the name) laid off hundreds to thousands of people...if they play xiv should we suspend stuff for them too? Even outside of this?

This is the first time we have seen a global crisis of this magnitude make so many sick and lose their jobs in such a short space of time. And things are still getting worse.

You are frankly being very ignorant to compare the current situation with how people generally lost their jobs before. I'm astonished that you cannot understand that this isn't simply a case of people losing jobs. This is about people completely losing the means to sustain living expenses for potentially months because they can't just go out and find another job like before. Not just because the pandemic makes it risky, but also because in many cases the work just isn't there anymore due to many places closing.

A pandemic like this is not an act of nature, this is an act of people. Acts of nature is weather related....hence the name.

The virus itself is naturally occurring. It's not man-made. Sure the spread of it is made easier by our technology, but the virus itself didn't come out of a lab.

I can't understand the reasoning behind "it's not a weather related disaster therefore demolition shouldn't be paused". Why are weather related disasters taken more seriously? Especially when you consider they typically affect only one part of the world, while the corona virus is quite literally a world-wide issue. Surely something that affects several times more people should be taken even more seriously?

Also earthquakes aren't weather and SE turned off demolition for those :P

[Theodric]

The vast majority of players posting on this forum are from English speaking countries. Many of those self-same countries are taking bold steps to ensure that people are not left without food, water and shelter.

If the situation is truly so bleak for some of you then that suggests to me that you should be taking your leave of the game entirely to ensure that every last penny can be put towards finding a new place to live in the real world. I don't say that to be callous, I say it because FFXIV is just a game at the end of the day and should absolutely be discarded if things in the real world get too dire for any given player.

[Penthea]

I don't say that to be callous, I say it because FFXIV is just a game at the end of the day and should absolutely be discarded if things in the real world get too dire for any given player.

It is pretty callous to hide behind the appearance of encouraging responsibility to discourage SE helping anyone negatively affected by the pandemic.

[Theodric]

It is pretty callous to hide behind the appearance of encouraging responsibility to discourage SE helping anyone negatively affected by the pandemic.

You assume incorrectly regarding my intentions. Hysteria and panic is making the situation far worse than it needs to be in the real world and that applies to online services as well.

As mentioned earlier on in the thread, I own a house in-game. Two, technically, if we count my FC house.

I'm absolutely fine with losing them if I don't log in within the next 45 days. I'd take comfort in knowing that even if I lost them, other players could find some joy in finally acquiring their dream home for themselves.

If the demolition timer is suspended, however, then the majority of players - those who do not own a home - would be unable to acquire a home for themselves for what could very well be a very long amount of time.

[NessaWyvern]

A pandemic like this is not an act of nature, this is an act of people. Acts of nature is weather related....hence the name.

What if I told you that weather events have been getting more severe, and that climate change due to increased carbon emissions due to humans is largely to blame?
So (excluding earthquakes), there's a chance that some of the natural disasters that occurred, that they paused housing timers for, may have also been man-made.

And then there's the technicality, that many of these viruses are naturally occurring in wild animal populations (COVID-19 being one of them), before they jump to humans.

[Lauront]

Hugely nuanced and debatable topic tbh fam, regardless of what you told her.