Cities And Housing Archive

Think it had something to do with allowing players who had quit to come back and have stuff still. That way they would not whine about having to start all over again.

Just my 2 credits

It was partially to help those who have cancelled retain their belongings after an extended absence, but it was also done as an aid to regular players who might forget to check on maintenance. It's easy to get caught up in playing the game and occassionally forget how long it's been since you last checked on a building maintenance. Things also come up in RL that can unexpectedly prevent you from getting in-game.

The old notification system did not work properly and did not send out messages in a timely manner. There were also glitches in the system where it wouldn't always register a payment made. My personal experience with this was when I put 20k in each of my factories right after moving them to a new location only to receive a notice about a week later that it was at 1% condition and would be destroyed when it would reach 0...a day late, too. There was no record of the payment made and nothing could be retrieved by a CSR.

To cut down on incidents like this--because my example is only one of many--they changed the system as a convenience to players. The notification works properly and the condemned status prevents things from disappearing immediately in the case of an extended absence. The problem with the system, though, is that there is no time limit on how long it can sit in this kind of state. That's when you start seeing the structures that were left behind by cancelled accounts burning endlessly.

Condemned structures sitting for months and months is one of the Politician top issues. It's also being worked on. The new system is a positive change in theory, it just needs to know when to give up.