So I set up a home street. When I get visitors...
- they take herbs from the community garden I put out and don't replant (as I expected)
- they wear out my patches, rocks, and gardens; I will have to use my own resources to restore them
- they would take collectors and feeders if I left them out
- they would hog-tie and carry piggies away if I set them out
- they take pretty much anything else that isn't nailed down (including my pumpkin pies from my Zille-o-lanterns)
- when I visit other streets icons are always begging for currants; people use them up and don't tithe
It's a nice fantasy that people will selflessly put out trees and resources for other players, but games don't work that way. Actions that are rewarded are the ones MMO players tend to do. Some players enjoy altruism but for most maintaining a community tree that wears out and turns out to be a net resource drain is not something that will stay interesting for long. Even worse, if you don't play for a while you will probably come back to the game to a home street that's worn out and full of nothing but projects. Really, where is the incentive to put ANYTHING in your street rather than your backyard where you get the full benefit of the resources/imagination needed to build and maintain it?
There need to be concrete incentives to put resources on your street. Maybe imagination is given to the homeowner whenever someone uses a resource? Problem is, I doubt there will be support of infinitely expanding streets and homes so there will come a point when more imagination is not useful. Maybe visitors shouldn't cause wear and tear on resources? Maybe resources in the home street could be immune to wear and tear, or be much sturdier? Perhaps the projects on player streets could go towards the badges and randomly give pieces of street trophies - then players would actively look for home streets to restore.
I'm not sure of the answer but I wanted to get this out there while we are still in beta because I see trouble ahead.