Losing Housing - Losing Characters

[Erydanus]

When the game shut down, many of us lost cherished bases we worked so hard to create. And just as many people are working to recreate their lost characters many of us are recreating our favorite bases or new versions of them.

 

Today I got a notice that my house in Final Fantasy XIV is getting auto-demolished in a week. They use a non-instanced system and eventually condemn and foreclose on your property if you don't login monthly. I actually quit playing almost more than a year ago but kept my sub up and logged in once a month just to preserve the little cottage I made. While you can't customize nearly as much as here the house represented as much effort to me as end game raiding gear to some people. Members of my guild helped me out by crafting pieces of furniture which usually took high levels of master crafting and rare materials to make. I worked hard finding just the right little bits to give it personality. So the house represented the same kind of love and effort a character would. I couldn't understand why I just kept "forgetting" to cancel that sub, but now that we're back in City and building bases it's suddenly so clear.

 

The base/housing is a character for the architect, just like a playable character.

 

It also puts something else in perspective. I had to quit playing City before the sunset, primarily because of computer issue. But there was an emotional factor too - around then there was a bit of supergroup drama that came out of nowhere. I'm not going to air detailed dirty laundry but the short of it is that someone got manipulative and was given permission to completely delete a base I had created for an alt supergroup. (The manipulative person just wanted to have a base to build and didn't like what I had done, I guess.) The SG co-leader later apologized as they realized that they had been misinformed and made a huge mistake. But the damage was done. The work I'd absolutely slaved over was erased in a fingersnap. And now I realize why it was so painful: it was no different than someone getting on my account and deleting a character. I was so angry and hurt and I never wanted to play with those people again. I knew that I felt robbed by the situation, but it wasn't until I was writing this all down I figured out the whole emotional context for having such a strong reaction.

 

Anyway, please pardon the rambling ... the point I wanted to make was that when the game Sunsetted everyone shared their grief at losing their characters but I bet a lot of us had an extra hurt that we maybe didn't share. And maybe, like me, you didn't even realize you were walking around with an extra dose of loss.

[Kheprera]

I have commented that my altitis involves base building. I build more than I play.

 

I have the equivalent of five bases being worked on three base plots. Plus individual apartments/homes of characters.

 

I have four actual characters.

 

Bases are love.

[Impish Kat]

Bases are an art form.

 

All art is personal in some way.

 

When we share our art, we share ourselves.

 

Therefore, it is painful when our art is not appreciated, or worse, destroyed by others.