Feb 27
Luxury goods and Entertainment
Things you buy and "consume" to get longer term buffs. These could be simple XP, but it could also be used to separate movement speed and carry weight/calorie reduction to players without taking up the cosmetic slots. (Sole inlays and back support for example)
These items would be things like toys (made by tailor and wood professions), newspapers, books, magazines (paper milling), hobby/sports equipment (nearly every job), model cars/ships/planes (all material professions), marbles (mason), legally distinct Lego, Takeout meals, spices, drinks, tiny decorations and ornaments and whatever else you can think of. Another thing could be entertainment places where you need to be and they need to be "fuelled" and active to get a bonus, Carussels, Bumper Cars, "Discos", or parks with running fountains.
Now to one of the possible ways it could work. For simplicities sake just as an EXP system in this example.
Every unique luxury consumable would fill its associated need categorie(s) a certain amount with diminishing returns (like food variety, but more extreme to not give poorer players even more of an disadvantage) so people will want to have some luxuries going at all times, but you will need a lot of ressources to pull ahead of others.
I think this will be a good way to give more professions something to do over the whole game, be a less time intensive ressource sink than building a house 3 times
And please make one of the items a ship in a bottle.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk and listening to my hogwash!
Pending
I think I should add to this that I dont want these things purely for the fun of it (though bumper cars would be pretty fun just for the sake of it). Eco currently has a lack of goals apart from the meteor. By giving players an entertainment need that they can fulfill in places with other players (like the community eating in the Cozy Update) it focuses a greater sense of community and gets people to talk with each other, helping strengthen the communal bonds of a server. It also enables players to spend ressources on community projects. Amusement Parks, Nature retreats, Bars and Discos are all expamples of buildings and community hubs that would be places that could exist with an entertainment/luxury system and be not just for show, but have an actual impact on players and by that alleviate the lone focus on the meteor a bit.