Hometown Question/Discussion

I hope not. That would be a huge slap in the face for the many who stayed and continued to work behind the scenes for the benefit the game, with no thought of reward. In my opinion it would be wrong to punish them because Portalarium made a mistake.

 

As far as the military comment goes - people are trying every way they now how to communicate with you - don't be overly critical... I wouldn't be, and I know a little about military service - just over 20 years of very personal experience - multiple back-to-back combat tours - disabled from combat injuries, yada yada yada... You're beating your drum about Hometown and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. It takes so much time and energy to get the town working... The short story is Hometown helps Portalarium showcase their goods - and it's something folks like doing. Before I volunteered my time to help out - I used Hometown as a resource to check out all the houses I had no access to because there weren't available lots for me to claim and place homes on. It's a win-win, and the volunteers give thousands of hours in volunteer work... yes thousands... imagine dozens of people all giving dozens of hours (some give hundreds of hours)... over and over and over again.

If you have time to play, then you have time to help. Swing by Hometown and help out - why don't you spend the next few days bringing stealables from around the map... it'll give you insight.

 

I feel that Hometown needs to go. It has been an incredible asset pre-release and has helped people to understand the game, but video tutorials and house tours can achieve all of this going forward.

I truly hope the people involved in Hometown do not quit when it is removed, as they are the type of selfless people that this game needs.

 

Where did I try to justify the demand for reward? You really need to read what I have said rather and reading what you want to read. All I said was, please don't hate the volunteers just because you hate the concept.

There are still bundles and upcoming add-on stuff that people may want to take a look at them before making purchases especially when soon there will be no more pre-wipe add-ons melting. It will be less work for staffs to handle support to melt and less hesitation in purchase and mitigate some buy remorse.

While there are other means that staffs can do to show these things without using Hometown such as improving the screenshots on the add-on store or throw items into sketch fabs, it is still more useful when a player can go to a single location to view items and different POT template (people can still upgrade the town after expiration, hence they can change the template on the form). Staffs can just gradually throw items in there, though. There are already POTs with different templates nested to Hometown, so no further works need unless they add more templates.

That being said, the volunteer program can be ended on the post-wipe to avoid further drama than we already have.

 

I dont think anyone is demanding anything, just defending the inherent byproduct of the system in place "currently".

And there will still be a need for hometown for all the add on store homes we have and are to come.
If they move towards sketchfabs/videos for everthing including interiors (alot of videos :/) then yes it would no longer truely be needed, but thats an effort solely on the devs and may come with time.

 

Objectively...

Where does Hometown fit into lore? I don't understand it's importance post wipe either. People should be encouraged to decorate their lots and the 200+ POTs that they own. Empty property has been more of an ongoing forum concern then a completed Hometown as far as I can tell.

Not a single fibre of me wants anyone to feel targeted with this post. Just asking a question.

 

As long as all the homes and basements are there, I personally don't care if they're decorated or not.

 

First off, Thank you everyone who put in their time and resources to make Hometown what it is. However, Hometown needs to go poof after final wipe.

Secondly, as a mother of a war veteran, I showed my son this tread and you guys have no clue how much y'all offended a RL war veteran. To compare a veteran who fought for a country and put his life on the line in real life, to a community of people PLAYING a computer game (decorating virtual housing) is very disturbing. This is not the same as comparing apples to oranges!! Volunteering to protect and server and keep you safe from any potential enemy is not the same as volunteering to decorated virtual housing. No it is not just fruit.

Edited

 

I apologized for offending your son. It is not my intent as I was hoping that we would have more humility for those who go above and beyond to volunteer for the common good. I'm disappointed that you would rather feel offended for a comparison veterans with gamer volunteers rather than being enraged at the group of people who sent your son and many others to war, which is also the same group of people who planned on cutting off veteran benefits. There are more disturbing things such as veterans having to wait for months to receive treatment from VA hospitals or even ended up being abandoned in the street. Those are things that I am upset more about, not about people discussing game feature and used the wrong comparison.

 

Well said !!! I was shocked and disgusted by the comparison. Thank your son for his service, many of us are truly grateful to him and his comrades. God bless him and your family.

 

Going above and beyond in a video game is not the same as going above and beyond in a real war. Gamers who volunteer to decorate virtual housing, their lives are not on the line. I am very proud of both my sons for volunteering. As for the ones who sent my son off to war. He volunteered and it was their duty and right to send him and he would go back in a heartbeat. Comparing one to the other is just disturbing and should have never been compared in the first place. As for the other stuff, its your right to be enraged. That is what my son fought for, your very freedom to think and say what you want.

 

So would I, you are playing a game......playing with pixels. People within the armed forces ensure that you have that freedom and some pay the ultimate price to ensure you get that freedom.

It disappoints me why you cannot understand how offensive and insulting your comment was. You put nothing at risk, you are doing something you enjoy.........maybe you should ask a soldier if he enjoys taking someones life and having to live with that.

A couple of days ago was the anniversary of the D-Day landings..........not only am I grateful for the very difficult decisions that were taken, but even more grateful for those who made the selfless sacrifice to secure freedom.

And you sit there comparing veterans to gamers who decorate a virtual town. If that's not bad enough you continue to try and defend what you said.

 

I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to even compare.

I am thankful for the armed for their service and sacrifice. But at the same time I believe there are better ways to support the veterans and armed forces other than looking down on other volunteers who are not risking enough in your eyes and being angry at those who made a mistake like me.

We need to be more proactive than that or otherwise, we would have these politicians tried to sneak legislations that would cut the benefits of those whom we all respect here (and it's already happened earlier this year).

Anyway, but that's a different topic from Hometown direction. I would hope that everyone will forgive me and go back to the original discussion.

 

Putting the original subject of hometown aside (because it has been derailed)

As a 8yr veteran who spent all that time in the Gulf.

I believe there's a lot of angry people here just looking to vent.

You totally missed the message and the key word.
VOLUNTEERS
people (my self inculded) volunteer there time no one asked for extras no one expects extras.
It's a effort to help others whethere you volunteer at a school, park, military, hospital, animal shelter, or others including a game. You do so for the community not for personal gain. And yes the shroud is a community game not just a them against us game.
Back to hometown
As stated by many, Hometown helps them make financial choices where and what to spend money on. If this game goes as far as we all hope there will always be new houses, items, town biomes, and others that can be shown off to help sell the game and keep it running.

If you read back the Developers are going to make adjustments so there are no extras. Also in the beginning of this there where some great ideas put out that I'm sure the Devs will look at. But now nothing said is helping.

If you guys love this game at the same level you bash it.
Then please give ideas that help.
This is a game of community this conversation has dissolved into a war of words.

P.S. I know many of you guys on both sides of the argument. Both sides have there rights and wrongs.
Only with a deep breath can we come together as a community to make this the great game we know it will be.

 

I waited a bit to think this over before I said anything. I thank those that have volunteered to decorate and craft items or donated things to make Hometown a nice place. It served it's purpose and I don't think anyone has a problem with Hometown being created. I have visited there multiple times, including twice in the past week or so. I like running through the new homes because it gives me a chance to check the homes out before I buy any on the add-on store. I have also been taking notes as to how I would decorate my own home since I am not very creative. It didn't matter about how much gold a volunteer received. It didn't matter how much experience a volunteer received. The only thing that mattered was quality Dev time was spent making those homes look so great. It only matters that the Devs spend time fixing the bugs, creating new scenes, new creatures, etc...

I hope Hometown is around after Final Wipe. Because if I purchase a home on the add-on store after Final Wipe, I can't melt it down and purchase a different one because I didn't like the home. Yes, I know that there will be others who purchase and decorate the same homes on the add-on store, but I don't want to run all over Novia to find the one I may be looking for. So I do hope its around when things are persistent.

However, I do agree with @E n v y here. It must not be any player involvement. PERIOD!!! If it's all done by the Dev's, then I am all for it. Yes, that means, a Dev must place it, decorate it, etc... Cannot have a player gain anything from this zone and no special treatment, no awards... Leave it for Portalarium to handle. If it cannot be maintained by Port, then do not add the town.

As for the rest of the posts, way off topic and needs to end. I appreciate all the military for everything they have done and still do for my freedom and liberty. I am also sorry someone would even compare anything a military serviceman/woman does or did in RL to a virtual world. But it has NOTHING TO DO WITH HOMETOWN. Move on people.

 

I really appreciate all the hard work that volunteers have put in to making Hometown such a wonderful showcase. Unfortunately there will always be those of a cynical nature who will question people's motives, despite a lack of evidence.

So, in order to avoid that, I'd like to suggest the following:

1. Post wipe, Hometown consists of biomes, undecorated houses and a selection of other items from the add-on store that can be displayed. No player volunteers required.
2. When "magic movers" technology is implemented (scheduled for some time after the final wipe), a competition is run for best decorated house, with a category for each different type of home. The winners have their homes cloned using magic movers technology and placed on display in Hometown.
3. As new homes are introduced they are first put on display in Hometown as empty homes, then two weeks after the homes first go on sale another competition is held to find the best decorated home to clone. This will provide an incentive for people to purchase early so they can enter the competition.
4. Prizes should be something that provides no in-game advantage. (Where I come from just winning would be prize enough, but I appreciate that different cultures have different expectations.)

 

With immersion being a constant topic I don't think Hometown has any place in a post final wipe environment. The confusion for new players going there alone and not having any idea what this place is should be reason enough.

It served its purpose but now I think we should let it go. If anything this is more reason for players to explore the world and other towns to see what the house they want looks like.

 

@Lord Dreamo,

Yea, I was going to say that I don't think it would fit in with the lore of the world... but was afraid people would jump on me for being the immersion police.

But its true... this is a game world, not a virtual chat room, not a product showcase. And I'm saying that not begrudging the fact that Portalarium has to sell a product. And I want them to be able to continue funding SotA. I'm just hoping in the end they find a more creative way, or more straightforward way, to do that.

 

So how do we show off new houses and biomes? Make videos?

 

@Womby,

There are probably a lot of ways. Players will be putting up housing in towns. There are ways to show off 3D aseets.

Though... come to think of it... if they still feel they need something like Hometown in the game, it would probably be better to create something that teleports people there, though, rather than having the actually town on the map. That way, you'd be able to go there from anywhere, and it wouldn't have to be explained. It would be like an easter egg within the game. They'd just need to figure out the means to teleport someone there and how to get it out.

Maybe even a / switch in the chatbox. /hometown ----> zapped to Hometown.