In the Karamelle Update, KI changed it so you have to now visit both the inside and outside of someone's house in Castle Tours, as well as wait a little before rating the house. I don't think the timer is a problem, but we shouldn't have to visit both the inside and outside of someone's house in order to rate it. This change just makes it more difficult to rate the houses of people who create their own custom housing projects.
Castle decorating evolved over the years into where people prefer to construct their own houses from scratch, and since we need lots of space to do so, we basically have no choice but to build our projects floating in the sky away from the house and landmass KI developers designed. We basically put a teleporter right next to the Spiral Door to take you up to the floating house area we constructed, and block off the entrances to the inside of the house because there's literally nothing to see there. We want players to look at our housing projects we made floating off in the sky; we don't want people going inside the house, because it's a waste of time since there's literally nothing there.
I made a massive floating city at my Avalon Castle Plot, and I have a portal that takes you up to it right next to the Spiral Door. I blocked off the entrance to get inside the house since I don't want people getting distracted there; I just want people to take my portal and explore the floating city I built. However, now people literally can't rate my house unless I let them enter the inside of the house, which is so pointless since there's nothing to even see there. I have many friends who all love house decorating and also build their own custom housing projects, and they all think it's pointless to force people to go inside their houses when the main attraction is literally in the outside.
Can the rating system in Castle Tours be changed so we don't have to visit both the inside and outside of a house in order to rate it? We don't care about the timer since it gives people time to explore our houses, but forcing people to go inside is pointless and a waste of time.
being an avid house decorator as well as a top rated designer and having heard this from a few players... i keep asking why this is a problem. if you can't or just won't decorate the inside, then just do a little. make a small walled room just inside the door with a teleporter and a sign to get people to go to what you have built.
for myself, i tend to sometimes not decorate the inside, haha, but i go outside the inside and build something, my death house, on my gosh. i did that and decorated the inside of the house too and needed MORE room to do what i wanted, so i expanded and used parts of three other houses. so the inside of my death house is decorated and outside the inside is a floating maze of castle floors, which expands to the inside outside of my red barn farm. the maze leads to a haunted forest in my wyrd house which is outside the outside :p the maze also leads to a haunted library (in my battle mage keep), a tomb (in my battle mage keep) and an Oni summoning chamber (built on the inside outside of my red barn with aztecan castle blocks). so just keep building :)
I've been to houses on the tour where the player has actually blocked the visitor from the inside; and once from even leaving the spiral door and examining the outside of a castle. Not to mention those castles with only pets & mounts on the outside and inside with no attempt at decorating (and you honestly expect me to give a rating?) I think we should have an option to not rate a castle/house before moving on. (There used to be a "rate later" option is this still in effect?)
Brahmshadow, thanks for raising this issue. I can't find the thread now but several decorating enthusiasts have already requested that KI drop the requirement to view both inside and outside a house before rating it--it was immediately apparent to us that this was a problem. May have been on test realm forum which I don't see now.
For those of you who don't understand why this is a problem, perhaps you can just accept that many "avid decorators" and "top rated designers" feel that it is indeed a problem. Yes, we have now all spent time designing "port boxes" to get someone inside in a way that they could not access the rest of the house, just so that their ratings button would light up. In order to do this, I had to remove a decor item from the exterior, because I generally don't consider a house to be done until it's full on items and I put a lot of thought into every single item. I also had to remove plants from my interior gardens to make item space for the indoor port boxes. The portals don't fit into my decor, they don't make sense with the themes of my house, and they detract from the overall experience of my house. Just a big port sitting in front of a house when I took great pains to block off the front door, and it has to be conspicuous so people will see it but it looks totally out of place. If we install a port box, it's obvious that there is nothing for the player to see inside. Just like, say....if we blocked off the entry to the house. So what is gained by this port box charade?
And that isn't nearly the worst of it. Some of us are designing houses with sophisticated castle magic systems and the problem is we have no good way to save the castle magic state that people achieve if they go inside the house. Imagine for instance that you are playing a game or following a storyline and all your progress gets lost if you go inside the house as KI insists you must. In a house like this, the house entry must be blocked off so that the castle magic state is not lost. Yet the player must enter the house. This is a significant design problem which I have not yet solved for my current project. Sure, I can solve it by walling off the entry area, forcing players immediately into the house and then back out. This would destroy the elements I've already designed for the first area and wreck that first view I want to give. Yes, there are ways to solve it but they are clunky and why should we need to do these gymnastics anyhow?
I don't see any logical reason why a 50 item dorm can stand alone and be rated but a 250+ item house exterior is not allowed to be rated as its own art. You can't force players to give fair ratings and forcing people to go inside the house is causing more problems than it is fixing.
Brahmshadow, thanks for raising this issue. I can't find the thread now but several decorating enthusiasts have already requested that KI drop the requirement to view both inside and outside a house before rating it--it was immediately apparent to us that this was a problem. May have been on test realm forum which I don't see now.
For those of you who don't understand why this is a problem, perhaps you can just accept that many "avid decorators" and "top rated designers" feel that it is indeed a problem. Yes, we have now all spent time designing "port boxes" to get someone inside in a way that they could not access the rest of the house, just so that their ratings button would light up. In order to do this, I had to remove a decor item from the exterior, because I generally don't consider a house to be done until it's full on items and I put a lot of thought into every single item. I also had to remove plants from my interior gardens to make item space for the indoor port boxes. The portals don't fit into my decor, they don't make sense with the themes of my house, and they detract from the overall experience of my house. Just a big port sitting in front of a house when I took great pains to block off the front door, and it has to be conspicuous so people will see it but it looks totally out of place. If we install a port box, it's obvious that there is nothing for the player to see inside. Just like, say....if we blocked off the entry to the house. So what is gained by this port box charade?
And that isn't nearly the worst of it. Some of us are designing houses with sophisticated castle magic systems and the problem is we have no good way to save the castle magic state that people achieve if they go inside the house. Imagine for instance that you are playing a game or following a storyline and all your progress gets lost if you go inside the house as KI insists you must. In a house like this, the house entry must be blocked off so that the castle magic state is not lost. Yet the player must enter the house. This is a significant design problem which I have not yet solved for my current project. Sure, I can solve it by walling off the entry area, forcing players immediately into the house and then back out. This would destroy the elements I've already designed for the first area and wreck that first view I want to give. Yes, there are ways to solve it but they are clunky and why should we need to do these gymnastics anyhow?
I don't see any logical reason why a 50 item dorm can stand alone and be rated but a 250+ item house exterior is not allowed to be rated as its own art. You can't force players to give fair ratings and forcing people to go inside the house is causing more problems than it is fixing.
i cannot help but think this was more directed at me, than KI. but that is Ok.
you are right, i do not understand why this is an issue. i have tried to see it, but just cannot and reading your post makes me even more confused. mainly because you said you do not consider a house to be done unless its full of items and you put in a lot of thought into every single item. and that is great except for one thing. its only half the house. you want people to see your house and vote for it, but you only decorated half the house for them and still want them to vote. i do the inside and outside of the house, because, well, thats the whole house. you only do half the house and want the same consideration. and i am not even upset. i gave one idea on how to get players inside the house that doesnt take much to do so you can get that full consideration. i was trying to help.
castle magic states.. hmm... well, lets start with this, players were doing this sort of thing, only decorating the outside, before castle magic was even added. and, it doesnt take long for the state to get back to what it is supposed to be. unless you are talking about some kind of "trail", where you have to go here and do this lever, to get to the next area you set up to do this and move on. but even then, just get them inside the house at the end. of course, those kinds of things get on players nerves and they are more likely to leave than stay to vote.
you cannot really compare a dorm to a house. they were not part of the housing tour and were not going to but players wanted them to be. they wanted to show off their dorms and after they added apartments, they decided to add them. dorms are in their own category and cannot be put into a different one unless you add a gauntlet, then they are automatically added to the gauntlet category. i know, i did that with one of mine, i added 2 gauntlets to it and decorated it, even going outside for more decorating. its did pretty well, all things considered. but they cannot be in any other category, so they are limited in that way. that cannot get you any other category badge.
but the whole reason they did this, wasn't to force players to be fair in their voting, thats impossible. it was to try to put a limit on cheating. you talked about upvoting, but that isnt the only thing. and personally, i do not care about players who upvote their own house, get their extra wizards to do it, get friends to do it. that really doesnt bother me a whole lot. because it is almost impossible to even make the list without it. you need 11 or 12 good votes before you will even be put on the list. you can have 10 visits and they all rate you a 4 and you will not be on the list. you have to have 11 or 12 visits first. i havent really figured out which yet. i am pretty sure its 11 though. and after years of testing, not voting for my own house. almost all of your votes are on that first day. you might get 1 or 2 visits the rest of the month. so that means you need 10 or 11 visits that first day. and after years, the most i ever got on that first day was 9. the average was 4.
but no, upvoting doesnt bother me. what bothers me, is the downvoting. thats just mean and incredibly selfish. and some of the players at the top, do this, just so they can be at the top. they are more into the prize of being first, than actually wanting to share their house with other players. gauntlet house owners used to be the worst (or best, depending on your point of view) at this. but now, with the category separation, i have noticed it is happening more and more in other categories. i have seen this happen to my own houses. it only takes one or two downvotes. ive seen my house drop and gone and checked number of visits and i will have 1 or 2 new visits. now you might be thinking i am arrogant to think someone might not give me a 4. but thats not it, my house wouldnt drop 5 or more spots from a 3 vote. these are 1 votes. and i am arrogant enough to know, my houses wouldnt get a 1 vote
now, you said you have gardens inside your house. does that mean its a red barn farm? you decorated the outside but kept the inside of your house for gardening? not a bad idea and it worked before this change. you dont have to use the teleport to get it, just let them go in through the front door and wall that off with an under construction sign. doesnt take much. two castle walls and a sign, thats three items. so just 2 seeds and 2 plots or pots. you can put wallpaper up and flooring just for the foyer around the bank, they do not take up space.
but having said that, i wonder if your house is the one i have seen 3 different times in the "new today" section. is it done up in an oriental fashion, with wooden walkways over ponds, with bamboo that moves to get to the other areas. and it has this really nice dock with very nicely done ships? it goes up to the door but you cannot get into the house? is that your house? i would of given that house 4 stars even if the inside wasnt decorated. i always felt sad that this person kept adding to the tour but would never get voted. i favorited that house so i can check on it and see if they change it so you can go inside.
i cannot help but think this was more directed at me, than KI. but that is Ok.
you are right, i do not understand why this is an issue. i have tried to see it, but just cannot and reading your post makes me even more confused. mainly because you said you do not consider a house to be done unless its full of items and you put in a lot of thought into every single item. and that is great except for one thing. its only half the house. you want people to see your house and vote for it, but you only decorated half the house for them and still want them to vote. i do the inside and outside of the house, because, well, thats the whole house. you only do half the house and want the same consideration. and i am not even upset. i gave one idea on how to get players inside the house that doesnt take much to do so you can get that full consideration. i was trying to help.
castle magic states.. hmm... well, lets start with this, players were doing this sort of thing, only decorating the outside, before castle magic was even added. and, it doesnt take long for the state to get back to what it is supposed to be. unless you are talking about some kind of "trail", where you have to go here and do this lever, to get to the next area you set up to do this and move on. but even then, just get them inside the house at the end. of course, those kinds of things get on players nerves and they are more likely to leave than stay to vote.
you cannot really compare a dorm to a house. they were not part of the housing tour and were not going to but players wanted them to be. they wanted to show off their dorms and after they added apartments, they decided to add them. dorms are in their own category and cannot be put into a different one unless you add a gauntlet, then they are automatically added to the gauntlet category. i know, i did that with one of mine, i added 2 gauntlets to it and decorated it, even going outside for more decorating. its did pretty well, all things considered. but they cannot be in any other category, so they are limited in that way. that cannot get you any other category badge.
but the whole reason they did this, wasn't to force players to be fair in their voting, thats impossible. it was to try to put a limit on cheating. you talked about upvoting, but that isnt the only thing. and personally, i do not care about players who upvote their own house, get their extra wizards to do it, get friends to do it. that really doesnt bother me a whole lot. because it is almost impossible to even make the list without it. you need 11 or 12 good votes before you will even be put on the list. you can have 10 visits and they all rate you a 4 and you will not be on the list. you have to have 11 or 12 visits first. i havent really figured out which yet. i am pretty sure its 11 though. and after years of testing, not voting for my own house. almost all of your votes are on that first day. you might get 1 or 2 visits the rest of the month. so that means you need 10 or 11 visits that first day. and after years, the most i ever got on that first day was 9. the average was 4.
but no, upvoting doesnt bother me. what bothers me, is the downvoting. thats just mean and incredibly selfish. and some of the players at the top, do this, just so they can be at the top. they are more into the prize of being first, than actually wanting to share their house with other players. gauntlet house owners used to be the worst (or best, depending on your point of view) at this. but now, with the category separation, i have noticed it is happening more and more in other categories. i have seen this happen to my own houses. it only takes one or two downvotes. ive seen my house drop and gone and checked number of visits and i will have 1 or 2 new visits. now you might be thinking i am arrogant to think someone might not give me a 4. but thats not it, my house wouldnt drop 5 or more spots from a 3 vote. these are 1 votes. and i am arrogant enough to know, my houses wouldnt get a 1 vote
now, you said you have gardens inside your house. does that mean its a red barn farm? you decorated the outside but kept the inside of your house for gardening? not a bad idea and it worked before this change. you dont have to use the teleport to get it, just let them go in through the front door and wall that off with an under construction sign. doesnt take much. two castle walls and a sign, thats three items. so just 2 seeds and 2 plots or pots. you can put wallpaper up and flooring just for the foyer around the bank, they do not take up space.
but having said that, i wonder if your house is the one i have seen 3 different times in the "new today" section. is it done up in an oriental fashion, with wooden walkways over ponds, with bamboo that moves to get to the other areas. and it has this really nice dock with very nicely done ships? it goes up to the door but you cannot get into the house? is that your house? i would of given that house 4 stars even if the inside wasnt decorated. i always felt sad that this person kept adding to the tour but would never get voted. i favorited that house so i can check on it and see if they change it so you can go inside.
I'll try to explain it another way. I always create blueprints of my house projects on my iPad before I actually begin construction, and I spend a lot of time thinking about where I want each item placed and for what purpose it will serve. I always have the housing limit in the back of my mind, and I make notes on stuff that I definitely want included in the house, and of things that would be nice to include but only if there's still space left over. I don't have any space to make a path through a blockade to take you inside the house, or to just include a teleporter to take you inside. I know it's just one item that I could remove from somewhere else, but every item in my house is important to me and I don't want to tarnish that section of the house in order to include a meaningless portal to take you inside.
As for why I don't want to build anything inside, the primary reason is that most houses do not have a skybox in the inside. There's just the black void, which is an AWFUL backdrop for any house project I want to build there. It just looks so horribly ugly if there's no sky present. The other biggest reason is that I don't even want to decorate the inside anyway, just because of the limitations that KI themselves include in the houses they design. I don't want to be limited to a room of a house that they create; I want to create my OWN house from scratch. Doing so requires me to build the house floating off in the distance, which again just looks ugly against the black backdrop. The only houses that have a massive plot of land available for construction (and a skybox in the inside!) are the four arcane bundle ones and the Avalon Castle Plot -- all of which cost real money unfortunately. Many of my friends are forced to stick with other houses that can be purchased with gold, but those houses usually don't have a skybox in the inside; they are thus forced to only build on the outside.
I am kind of getting off tangent to what the thread originally is for, but I think a really good solution to this problem is just to allow us to change the skybox of our houses. I know KI said that the houses themselves are designed with a certain lighting tone that fits the skybox, but no avid house decorator cares about this! We like to construct stuff far away in the sky from the actual house, so we won't ever see how the change in skybox affects the portions of the house that KI developed!
I am not a well known or avid decorator like some of those posting here, but I can see a point from both sides. I can completely understand a decorator who spends a lot of time decorating outside of the normal areas adding magic and wanting a visitor to focus on their focal point of the space but understand having some sort of way to assure a visitor spends time looking at a space long enough to hopefully leave a fair rating is necessary too. I think Caitlyn brought up the biggest concern I have which is more so about the rating system altogether. Is it really accurate and ever really fairly rated. An old game I used to play had a rating system also and had to be done away with due to the very things Caitlyn mentioned, the upvoting and down rating from alternate accounts, deliberate sabotage and ratings based on how many alternate accounts or how many friends one had to vote for them. I am certain this definitely happens on this game too. So many times I have seen a near empty space on the list with just some pets or random furniture thrown around, a new house just released in a brand new bundle with high ratings on page 1, nearly empty. Sure I can understand wanting to get a new space on the list quickly to show it to those wanting to see it if they were interested in possibly purchasing one, but why not spend the time adding decor to the space? Certainly a home like this doesn’t justify a high rating, simply because it is new and there was no special focal point to see. This is what I was appalled to see after I purchased the same Fairytale bundle and spent just a few days completely filling the house inside and out with use of bric brac potions and still needed more space to accommodate all the separate homes it had because I wanted to complete it with every finishing detail. All the effort I put into my own space was nearly left unseen and couldn’t stand a chance against the upvoting of the other empty spaces and after all, there were only a few available. I’m sure I’m not alone.
I don’t know if I am like other visitors that rate houses passing time or wanting to see a new house or get some ideas, but if there isn’t much effort in decorating or items there, I don’t expect myself to leave a good rating or bother looking any further. I am not a down rater either to sabotage one’s space. Certainly not being able to rate a house in that instance wouldn’t bother me. I want to truly remain fair and leave a rating for those that put in the effort and fully decorate their space. I have also seen a lot of effort from those that do put all of their time and effort decorating one area of space where we normally can’t go. I also have thought a couple were so wonderful I favorited them but was also hugely disappointed that I couldn’t visit most of or the entire space because it was just so good! One of these took advantage of the large body we couldn’t get to that had a realistic looking dock, a moving ship and magic. Such talent but my appreciation was partially lost unless I could venture off to see more of that person’s spaces but sadly I would find myself in hope one would be completed and still be disappointed. Each portal took me to more spaces with focal points in empty houses or spaces under construction. Shame. I want to see more!
I think we need to change how ratings are done completely to try to eliminate the abuse that exists and allow other homes we never got a chance to see have an equal opportunity. Many times it is the same homes and people that seem to make the list and though its all in the eye of the beholder, I think we all can say that not all are that good to justify the ratings that they receive while others make us go wow. Who are the upvoters/haters of competitors and who has the valid number of votes and ratings? One will never know, or do we? I just think its sad that there are many that work so hard and not be able to make the list even once. Perhaps we can base listings on popularity of visits, keep changing out listings daily by new entries, something that doesn’t involve star ratings or thumbs up/down, but thats me. The entire house tours and ratings system is flawed. The delays or only allowing a visitor rating after a space has been seen inside and out isn’t doing it. The same result happens.
Perhaps we can also add a category specifically for these type of spaces that have only their one focal point and be able to be “rated”, viewed the same as the other spaces while still assuring what is intended to be seen is seen and not a big disappointment to others that visit and hope to see a completely furnished and decorated space.
One house I listed on the first day of the spiral scene has a house entrance that is not completely obvious. That house has been highly rated in the past and I have received many compliments on it. It got 8 ratings. Another house I listed is decorated only on the inside but has a port leading directly inside from the world gate. That house got 35 ratings. It's clear to me that the first house is losing a lot of ratings due to the policy that players have to enter the house to rate it.
I have no idea how to fix this issue for the first house. I can't push people inside the house when they arrive without wrecking the concept of that house. It takes a few minutes for most people to find the entry and I don't think most people are inclined to spend that long exploring a house especially with this event--they want to move on and earn points. I'd rather they be allowed to rate it without finding the inside than not at all.
Some of my friends feel strongly that requiring raters to enter the house is a big problem, for reasons already discussed in this thread. Some who do more conventional indoor and outdoor decor like the idea of raters being forced to go inside the house so it all is seen. Well, potentially seen, personally I'm skeptical that this policy is making ratings more fair--people can certainly enter houses without paying much attention to what's in them.
My hope is that KI can accommodate the opinions and needs of all decorators and allow us to select how we'd like our house to be rated rather than imposing a one size fits all policy that for some of us is causing more problems than it solves.
The way it stands right now, rating stars are lit when you go inside. So blocking at the world gate, I don't get it. Standing looking at green tree trunks. Is this a statement? You dont want visitors?There are some hard working decorators. I am a newbee to rating, visiting, I like it. There are creative, talented people and then there are the ones who, after reading these posts, don't want you to rate. Maybe K I could figure out a way to give them their wish. For the people who would like to see entire house,.then have a listings, or category outside, / inside houses and rate those. I wish there was a way to skip, houses that dont want visitors. So many, the majority work so hard, many months and even years. Awesome job. Thanks for sharing your homes.
Sassy rocker chick, you raised a lot of good points.
Yes, there is a problem with junk houses being listed and appearing on the leaderboard. Yes, the housing leaderboard has brought out the worst in some players. Yes, it's frustrating to see meh or downright bad houses on the leaderboards when struggling to get a much better house recognized. Yes, maybe the leaderboards should showcase more player work than the same (many) houses from the same few people all the time. There certainly are ways to make the house ratings more fair and less easily abused.
Rating the junk houses is a huge waste of time and makes housing tours a lot less enjoyable. Some of the houses are posted just for friends or atls to access conveniently. I have previously asked KI to give an option to make the competition portion of housing tours an opt-in option, with the default listing being just for friends to see and I am asking again, KI. If you want all the new players getting involved in housing via the spiral scene to enjoy the experience, then don't serve them dead couch potatoes to view. I'd also like to see the item minimum raised. I think the overall quality of the ratings would go up if people were not having to waste so much of their time and effort rating junk and mostly empty houses and could focus more on assessing good ones.
I would very much like to see a way for people to share their work without needing to get a house on the leaderboard. I'd love to see KI make a decorator board where anyone could simply list houses they would like to share that could be accessed by all. We would all need to have some kind of unique id for it but I'm sure a solution to that can be found.
One house I listed on the first day of the spiral scene has a house entrance that is not completely obvious. That house has been highly rated in the past and I have received many compliments on it. It got 8 ratings. Another house I listed is decorated only on the inside but has a port leading directly inside from the world gate. That house got 35 ratings. It's clear to me that the first house is losing a lot of ratings due to the policy that players have to enter the house to rate it.
I have no idea how to fix this issue for the first house. I can't push people inside the house when they arrive without wrecking the concept of that house. It takes a few minutes for most people to find the entry and I don't think most people are inclined to spend that long exploring a house especially with this event--they want to move on and earn points. I'd rather they be allowed to rate it without finding the inside than not at all.
Some of my friends feel strongly that requiring raters to enter the house is a big problem, for reasons already discussed in this thread. Some who do more conventional indoor and outdoor decor like the idea of raters being forced to go inside the house so it all is seen. Well, potentially seen, personally I'm skeptical that this policy is making ratings more fair--people can certainly enter houses without paying much attention to what's in them.
My hope is that KI can accommodate the opinions and needs of all decorators and allow us to select how we'd like our house to be rated rather than imposing a one size fits all policy that for some of us is causing more problems than it solves.
8 ratings and 35 ratings? are you talking about the number of visits to your house? number of visits do not equal ratings, its just how many players came to your house and "double" visits from the same wizard only count as one visit.
this is what i know from years of watching the housing tour and putting houses on it. you need 11 visits to your house that give you a good rating in order to show up on the leaderboard. you get 10 visits and all rate your house a 4, you do not go on the list, you need 11.
the random visiting algorithm is flawed just like all RNGs. it will "favorite" one house and "hate" another.
on average though, if there is nothing going on to make players go do the housing tour, the average number of visits to a house in a 2 month period is 8 visits, with 5 to 7 of those visits occurring the first day. since the changes to housing, this having to go inside and out, the badges, this has gone up considerably. the rise in number of visits after the first day has gone up considerably, but also has downvoting. i have gotten a few houses into the top 20, 2 being in the top 10, the first day. after that first day, i would get 1 visit to a house and it drops 20 or more spots. and that kept happening most especially to my gauntlet house. 1 visit, drop 15-20 spots. thats not a number 3 vote or a even a 2 vote, that is a 1 star vote. that was down voting from someone else with a gauntlet house. now maybe you are thinking, my house isnt that good. it was the number one house the most of the month of december. i have every gauntlet, its an RBF and all the gauntlets are in the front. easy to see and easy to find. it is decorated as well. ive got 9 koi mounts actually swimming in the pond, ive got a loading dock underneath the house. and lots more outside. you go inside, the front area (i did this for christmas) has a spinning skating rink, that i made big with castle magic. the left room is a christmas party area and going to the basement is a tiki bar, stage and dance floor. and below that, outside of the inside is an underground dancefloor, right below the one in the tiki bar. we serve root beer :p to the right of the main room is the kitchen, nicely done (but i have seen others that are better), up stairs i have a celestial bedroom, a krok bedroom and a zafaria bedroom. i only say this because i do not think anyone would be so inclined to give it a 1 or even a 2 on a visit to vote for houses.
it went to number one after the last housing update that gave us badges, so i was the first one to get the top decorator badge. (sorry, i like bragging about that :p ) everything i just said happened after i readded the houses after they ran out of time. the house that was at number one when the changes were made, didnt get the top decorator badge. i know because that was my house too. i made a post about it. it was my death girl's death house all done up for halloween, with a maze, a haunted forest, a haunted library, a tomb and an oni summoning room. and that was all outside the inside with the use of 3 other houses for more space. i think i said that in this thread already. its my absolute best house.
anyway, back to the downvoting. you can pick a specific category to do your random visits so it was easier to focus on downvoting gauntlet houses for who ever did it (i have a good idea). doing categories on random visits i believe was a bad idea. the limit on the number of houses you can vote on in a day doesnt help with this either as you can just not vote till you find one you want to down vote. my gauntlet house dropped below my other 3 houses on the list when it was above them. all are still in the top 100 but none above 40 anymore. last i checked, my rbf was around 75. the thing i find the funniest is that my death girls dorm, which is in the gauntlet category because it has two gauntlets, is above my rbf :p my heavenly palace, which is technically just decorated, is actually above them all in the top 100.
the big drops came in the 2 to 3 days after they made it to the top, then it stabilized, became more "normal", going up or down 1 or 2 spots a day for like a month now.
ive been thinking of removing them and putting them back on to see what happens.
i havent thought of anything except removing categories from random that could help, not really. but i do believe that this last update was a step in the right direction. and i have only said all this to emphasize the point that things need to be done and this change was a step in the right direction.
i do understand the point of the one who started this thread, what i dont understand is why it sounds like he thinks all avid decorators feel this way. even before this change, more than 95% of houses on the tour were decorated inside and out. i personally do not like running into a house on the tour where i cannot go inside.
I understand the issue and I've been considering how we can let the owning player decide that only the outside of a house needs to be rated.
I'm not sure when I'll be able to work on a solution. I'm pretty busy with things for the Spring Update so a solution may have to wait until later in the year.
