@perceptivePanda
It's not a binary decision like that - one day wake up and say - this sucks, I"m leaving.
It's a slow gradual decline that culminates in frustration that you made a fundamental mistake and fixing it is not possible. That creates multiple "decision points" in the game - spend less time, spend less money, have less interest, and move on when you finally "snap" from 1, 2 or all of those. Boom!
Why do you think there is so much going on concurrently in FoE?
If you'e not here, you can't spend money, and they don't have a chance to even entice you.
The goal of adding the ability to move land squares around to support city growth, aside from the proselytizing that's going on here, has another quiet basis - reduce or remove impediments to gameplay for the "on the fence" weekend warriors. If you're not convinced, look at your hood each 2 weeks, and I'll tell you flat out - it's a shade of it's former self - even 1 year ago. Lot's of tumbleweed cities - which is a VOTE on the game's cost, time and interest level.
People are already leaving the game, and while I don't have quantitative numbers to prove it, the qualitative texture of gameplay now vs 2 years ago, is definitely palpable.
The augmented energy in the game's interest and investment that came from the world's Covid hibernation is now gone, and that is darn apparent.
Retaining marginal gaming patron opportunities is well worth corporate evaluation of an idea that appeals to a vast majority of people. If game die-hards don't want to take advantage of it due to adherence to some fundamental doctrine of gameplay that's sacrosant, they don't have to participate, but I bet many of them will, if given the opportunity.