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#### Significant goal(s) that are similar to what buying a house used to be

I love the new housing. I think it's great that new players have a starter house. However, the introduction of the new housing has removed something that may have been important -- a significant goal that:
1. can be achieved with reasonable effort
2. is not tied to specific skills
3. is readily visible to other players once achieved
4. provides benefits for gameplay once achieved
5. includes choices with personality or narrative potential
Thinking back, I remember the happiness and sense of accomplishment I had when my young character purchased her first house, a tree house in Aranna. Then came the elation of moving my more mature character to sweet cottage in Groddle Meadow.
I'm not nostalgic for the old housing. What I'm nostalgic for is this: Both houses were goals I worked towards over time. Having these longer-term goals made my immediate actions more meaningful -- the harvests I collected, the chickens I squeezed, and the currants I earned were all steps towards a goal that had lasting visibility and significance. Unlike a one-time level-up screen, the house was something I saw each time I came into the game. It told me and it told others I'd reached a significant milestone in the game. It also involved a range of choices that were easy to understand and simple to explain (i.e. "she's a bog dweller" "he has a tree house near rook country"), and these choices could be used to help convey the personality or backstory of a character. This is what I miss.
It's probably not a good idea to take away something that players already have, such as houses and butlers. While towers might fill a role similar to that of the former houses, at present they are too generic on the outside and too variable on the inside to replicate the former effects of choosing a geographical region and style of house. Also, tower ownership does not have the same kind of quick visibility to other players (i.e. prominence on profile page) as did former home ownership.
There are ways towers could be changed, and there are ways new game elements (e.g. craftybots) could be designed to re-create the kind of significant goal that buying a house used to be. As usual, god is in the details.

Posted 4 months ago by Splendora | Permalink

### Replies

- I too worry that new players have nothing that will give them the excitement I had when I bought my first home and the subsequent moves. Towers only fulfill that to some small extent. I was actually disappointed when the original cost of nearly 200,000 iMg was capped at 20,000 iMg
  I was also excited when I earnt emblems , but everyone buys them now. Even Icons are bought and not earned.
  So I totally agree with Splendora, significant goals that are expensive in iMg and/or currant and/or materials and/or time are badly needed
  PS if I had been involved in the design decisions I would have given everyone a plot and a tent. And then they could have worked towards the house
  Posted 4 months ago by IrenicRhonda | Permalink
- I'd have made people pay iMG for the butlers too.
  Posted 4 months ago by Pascale | Permalink
- I think higher level players have less perspective on how big a goal some of the things in game already are. While for someone at 45+, the iMG and materials for just the initial tower may seem like nothing, it's actually pretty huge for even those of us in the mid-20s. Anyone who didn't get one million+ iMG in the changeover probably has to, like me, save up for that 20k to initiate the project. And 16 segments is nothing to scoff at, especially if you don't have the million currants many higher level players seem to have. Just like my street is not fully imagined out because I have to make choices about whether to buy an upgrade, or expand my street, or cultivate something.
  As to "everyone" buying emblems...I certainly don't. I have recently made my first icon, and I'm a long way away from a second.
  Posted 4 months ago by Faranae | Permalink
- The 20k for me as a new player is huge and a big step in my mind of being rich. I've only got around 400 energy and still learning the game.
  It's a huge step for a player. I'd have like to bought my own home but the drawback there is only I can see it. I can make a huge tower and decorate it so anyone can see it.
  Posted 4 months ago by Aefyn | Permalink
- Yeah, the house purchase was a big thing as a young, struggling Glitch.
  The inability to move from one house in one region to another house in another region, with all its charms and quirks is a big loss from the game. Changing street scenery doesn't come close to replicating that experience.
  Posted 4 months ago by Mablem Tiipot | Permalink
- Except from 2., you can get much of what you mention by extending your tower. I'm now at the last floor, and once you start calculating how many materials are actually needed, that one does become a goal in its own right that is rather larger than the house buy was. I've been on that floor for days now.
  Posted 4 months ago by Not a Princess | Permalink