Suspend housing demolition due to COVID-19

[NessaWyvern]

Even as someone who owns a house myself...I'd rather not see the housing demolition timer paused yet again. A minority of players actually own a house in this game. The majority of players do not. I'm not fond of the idea of extending the 'lockout' on houses when it punishes the majority.

I’ve been waiting to get a large for 4 years, but I do not want to get one if it meant I got it just because someone lost their job from a global virus that’s killing people.
“Hi! That used to be my house, but then my life got ruined by covid-19” It just wouldn’t sit right with me.
I’d much rather get one due to a player just moving on to a different game, or getting bored of FF14.

besides, no doubt people's internet will be impacted. You think maintenance workers would leave their homes, and do maintenance in at-risk areas, when there's a virus outbreak? You think all the people who take calls for internet assistance would still be there in the office when everybody has been ordered not to go to work, and to stay at home?

[VenKitsune]

As i said in the other thread - No.

They've only done it previously due to EARTHQUAKES or TSUNAMI's, or in otherwords disasters that directly demolishes homes, and so it'd be just another cherry atop the cake if your ingame house got demolished ASWELL because your actual house and computer is rubble. It'd be in bad taste. Does the current crisis rock the ground, send giant waves towards you or otherwise directly level your actual house? If no, then its not needed, they dont suspend demolishment because people cant get access to the game because if that was the case they'd suspend demolishment during 24 hour maintenance cycles.
If anything, more people are playing than normal right now due to self-isolation and if you really get hospitalised i think you have other things to worry about then your ingame house that ultimately has little functions.

What next? You tell SE support you're hospitalised for ANY reason and they gladly refund you a months sub money? Come on, dont let hysteria and entitlement cloud logic.

[Vahlnir]

As i said in the other thread - No.

They've only done it previously due to EARTHQUAKES or TSUNAMI's, or in otherwords disasters that directly demolishes homes, and so it'd be just another cherry atop the cake if your ingame house got demolished ASWELL because your actual house and computer is rubble. It'd be in bad taste. Does the current crisis rock the ground, send giant waves towards you or otherwise directly level your actual house? If no, then its not needed, they dont suspend demolishment because people cant get access to the game because if that was the case they'd suspend demolishment during 24 hour maintenance cycles.
If anything, more people are playing than normal right now due to self-isolation and if you really get hospitalised i think you have other things to worry about then your ingame house that ultimately has little functions.

What next? You tell SE support you're hospitalised for ANY reason and they gladly refund you a months sub money? Come on, dont let hysteria and entitlement cloud logic.

Your first mistake was comparing an earthquake or tsunami to a GLOBAL pandemic. Pandemics are quite serious themselves depending on the severity. Considering that this has hit worldwide and not just one or two regions, is rocking the global economy and is keeping people indoors away from each other and out of work, which means some people have 0 income right now, I'd say it's a pretty big deal. Homes aren't being razed and cities aren't being submerged, but people are still being affected by this in a big way. It just isn't the same ways that an earthquake or tsunami would. And before you say "just stay home, you'll play a lot anyway!" or "you would have bigger concerns than an in game house!"...oh wait, you already said that. Well then. You need to consider that this affects people in other ways and they are no less devastating. You are right, people should have bigger concerns if money has become tight, and that is the ENTIRE point of this request. I swear, you people just don't get it. Gone talkin' to a wall I guess.

[Theodric]

It's a game at the end of the day. An optional luxury product. If I wasn't unable to log on for 45 days for whatever reason and ended up losing my in-game house I'd just shrug and move on with my life.

We'll see how things progress in the coming days and weeks - but from what I gather some countries are already taking steps to ensure that people aren't left without food, water, shelter and money even if they're stuck at home.

If things get worse and further measures have to be taken, then a virtual house in an online game will be among the least of people's worries.

[Reinha]

Even as someone who owns a house myself...I'd rather not see the housing demolition timer paused yet again. A minority of players actually own a house in this game. The majority of players do not. I'm not fond of the idea of extending the 'lockout' on houses when it punishes the majority.

Finally, an argument against this which is actually staying on topic.

It's true that the housing demolition does stop people getting houses from inactive players. I am a big defender of the demolition system myself. However, we are about to get a whole new housing district in Ishgard which adds a ridiculous amount of houses in the game. A few months of not getting automatically demolished houses is a drop in the ocean.

[Rasikko]

I’ve been waiting to get a large for 4 years, but I do not want to get one if it meant I got it just because someone lost their job from a global virus that’s killing people.

Unless friends of previous owner, or the owner themselves post here and say otherwise, the circumstances of which you acquire the plot will not be known. It could be that the person had died from the virus and that's sadly a very real possibility, and may have already happened.

[Jojoya]

It's not the risk of death that is going to effect most people, it's losing their jobs and their income.
Even in cases where the state is supplementing them, it's not going to be enough.
Here in the UK the government are covering 80% of someones income, but that 80% is only going to cover essentials, rent mortgage and bills, most peoples expendable income is less than 10% of their wage.
Then there's the self employed who will get even less.

It costs SE nothing to suspend demolition.

Fyi: I dont have a house.

Other posters have been right - those who are looking at financial problems due to business closures should be worrying about their real life homes and situations, not a virtual house in a video game. They should be analyzing their expenditures and cutting costs where necessary to get thru this period, then form better spending and saving habits for the future.

If people are in as dire straights as some claim, they won't be returning to this game for months. They're going to be stuck paying off the debt they're accumulating. They won't have the money available to pay a sub.

Those who are able to play shouldn't be locked out of the opportunity to own a house for the sake of people who won't be returning to play for a long time if ever.

Yes, I have a house. I lost my first house due to real life back when SB was released. But you know what? Dealing with the real life stuff was more important so losing the house didn't matter. Once I came back to the game, I had to wait for the 4.2 wards to be added before I could own a house again. Not a big deal.

I'm probably going to lose my house again later this year due to a new real life situation (not related to the pandemic). I'm not going to sweat it when it happens. I know when I'm able to return I'll eventually be able to get a house again and in the meantime, someone else who has wanted to own a house will have their chance.

Get your life priorities straight people. If all you can think about is a house in a game, it's no wonder you're in real life financial trouble right now.

[Alleo]

No real need to start a new thread on this btw
If you are unable to logon because you are hospitalised then losing a pixel house is not really going to be on your list of priorities. If you are self isolating then you have even more time to access the game than before. They suspended the timer in instances of major infrastructure damage.

I mean if we use that argument then they should never suspend the housing timer because no matter what happens the real life should always be more important thus people should just accept that they will lose their pixels. Yet they have used that more than enough (especially for their japanese servers..) when some things were going down...

But I guess its easier to punish people that have done nothing wrong and take away their ingame house so that others have it (until they too lose it for something..) instead of being angry towards SE a huge compay that decided to not provide us with instanced houses..

[Edax]

I've noticed working from home because I'm subject to the 14 day travel quarantine, the internet has been quite flaky and has gone down an unusual amount of times. If the various state lockdowns results in the internet being overloaded, there could be cause to suspend the housing demolition.

[Aniise]

Other posters have been right - those who are looking at financial problems due to business closures should be worrying about their real life homes and situations, not a virtual house in a video game. They should be analyzing their expenditures and cutting costs where necessary to get thru this period, then form better spending and saving habits for the future.

Okay, so let's get this straight; what about the times housing demolition was suspended due to earthquakes etc? I will take a wild guess and say that the people affected by this also had a lot more to worry about than their ingame houses....

It's exactly BECAUSE there are other things to worry about that the demolition timer is halted in those cases. Because the people affected in those situations have more important things to think about. That is the whole reason they even do it at times like this.

I mean if we use that argument then they should never suspend the housing timer because no matter what happens the real life should always be more important thus people should just accept that they will lose their pixels. Yet they have used that more than enough (especially for their japanese servers..) when some things were going down...

But I guess its easier to punish people that have done nothing wrong and take away their ingame house so that others have it (until they too lose it for something..) instead of being angry towards SE a huge compay that decided to not provide us with instanced houses..

<-- This so much.

Also guys, showing a little bit of empathy for others in situations like this would not hurt you. Really..if you are not affected at all by this situation, count yourself as extremely lucky, but don't forget about the people that are affected by the situation at hand.