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### Topic

#### Magic Rock & Botler Redundancy with Proposed Consolidation Solution

I'm honestly not seeing the point of having two home-street "spirits."
When the Magic Rock lived in our game window all the time, he was a constant presence with a quest-managing and feedback providing purpose. Now, he lives on our home street/back yard, and seems very tied to those places. He manages cultivation and expansion. He keeps track of visitors' use of resources on the street.
But we also have botlers. And they live on our home streets. They handle mail and messages and presents. Why? Why couldn't the Magic Rock do that?
The botlers arrived at no cost to us, just like the MR. All of their functions are things that the MR could perform and vice versa. The division of labor seems arbitrary and pointless. This seems like an unnecessary multiplication of entities. It lacks elegance. (Like the mood mechanic, it seems redundant and—even worse—vestigial and uninteresting.)
So, I propose that we combine the function of these two entities and have a Home Street Spirit. There's no reason why they couldn't be customizable (hey, they could even look like botlers!). They would handle concierge/communication, cultivation/expansion, and street management functions.
Why not start off them off with a basic look and then provide for the application of imagination to customize them? Perhaps imagination could also allow for extra-special-powers upgrades for the Home Street Spirit, such as gift-giving, vending, or auto-harvesting and planting.
I recognize that a great deal of effort has already gone into these two game mechanics, but I truly believe that a combined Home Street Spirit would be more useful and appealing, as well as easier to understand.

Posted 6 months ago by Pascale | Permalink

### Replies

- They could be our vending SDB's?
  Maybe they should be repaired for maintenance, so it would serve active players. I guess the vendor would be able to sell a certain amount of units, and then if someone were to go on a hiatus, 'TS' wouldn't have to worry about vendors running on streets of inactive players. (And would not have to worry about players who haven't crafted or opened the box containing their vendor)
  Posted 6 months ago by Rook | Permalink
- The advent of SBDs as vending units doesn't make the merging of MR and botler functions into a Home Street Spirit less compellling, imo.
  Posted 6 months ago by Pascale | Permalink
- they're not redundant, they both have jobs!
  Posted 6 months ago by shhexy corin | Permalink
- @shhexy :) British v. American use of the term "redundant."
  Posted 6 months ago by Pascale | Permalink
- Well... it is a little unnecessary to have two when one would suffice. I agree wholeheartedly with the Street Spirit idea. A Home Street Spirit can even manifest itself to look like a butler or a rock if the user chooses so. The only difference I can see is the jobs, which can be merged, and how the MRs are invisible to visitors.
  Posted 5 months ago by KitkatCat | Permalink
- I like them both, but hmm. Butler in front yard, magic rock in back?
  Posted 5 months ago by diaveborn ♥ | Permalink
- Agree with all, but I already love my butler and even though magic rock can be annoying I think I would miss him.
  Posted 5 months ago by Capt. S.T. Weasley | Permalink