Nicol Bolas
Terrarian
You say it is a one sided choice because the other side is just "dumb". This is not an argument, explain why it is dumb. I personally would be willing to pay more to have all my NPCs in one place because it can save time. Also, don't make blanket claims about all of Terraria players. Remember, the poll currently favors keeping the system.
First, I didn't make a claim about "all of Terraria players". I said, "everyone who is against happiness". That claim is based on the multitude of discussions about it on these forums.
As for why it is dumb, that's basic human nature. Human beings will, generally speaking, optimize the fun out of a game if that option is presented to them. They will play in a boring, uninteresting way if it gives them an advantage. So if it is between player convenience and gameplay benefit, they will choose the latter far more often than the former.
The old system was even more restricting, forcing you to place all your NPCs near each other, lest you have to walk for 5 minutes each time you want to trade with the arms dealer. How is this not restricting?
And yes, the restrictions the old system impose do make sense, just as is makes sense for the NPCs to charge higher prices because you treat them poorly.
The difference between these is which mechanics are arbitrarily imposed by the system and which are natural outgrowths of basic rules of the gamespace.
Having to walk 5 minutes to trade with the Arms Dealer is a natural, expected consequence of you putting the Arms Dealer 5 minutes of travel time away from you. That is not an arbitrary rule imposed upon you by the game; it's a thing you did to yourself knowing full well what the consequences would be.
NPCs charging higher prices because they don't want to be anywhere near more than one other person is not a natural, expected consequence of anything about how human beings act around one another. Nobody looked at Terraria 1.3.5 and said, "hey, those NPCs ought to be charging people more money!".
That's an arbitrary rule imposed upon you by the game.
One of these is a restriction based on the physics of the game space; the other is a restriction based on an arbitrary rule that says you'll get punished for doing that.
It's the difference between "running a marathon is hard" and "running around the block is hard because someone shattered my kneecaps".
A decision that doesn't make much of a difference isn't interesting, and thus not fun. Can't we all agree on that point?
How do you define "make a difference"?
To some people, putting NPCs farther apart "makes a difference" compared to putting them closer together. To others, it makes a difference to move them closer together.
Yes, this is a big benefit, but having a monlithic, cheap, easy-to-defend base with all you're stuff in one central location is too.
Easy to defend from what? Nobody attacks your base; even invasions happen in the middle of the map, which may not be where your base is.
If you're talking about defending them from infections, that's just doing standard biome quarantines against infections. Any "damage" they cause is temporary anyway; you can just move the NPCs elsewhere while you repair the situation.