I finally checked Steam as to when I started playing: Dec 2, 2011. The day after 1.1 first launched. I thought I was way later than that, so count me pleasantly nostalgic from 8.5 years of memories!
The reason I'm so against the unhappiness mechanic is because I have been developing my way of digging for that time, my way of fighting, and my way of building. It's not the best, but it's mine. Having more creative ways of doing it getting a reward is fine, welcome even. Getting even a 1% penalty for "playing the game wrong" after 8 years... It's a sandbox game. How you build is up to you, by definition.
If I can keep my un-creative 250-block tall monolithic tower, just by changing who is in what room, I'll be happy. I'm not particularly attached to the order of the bedrooms, after all. But I have 8 years of memories with the layout, so punishing that would feel like they are telling me to grow artistic sense, or leave.
I have been playing on Steam since August 27, 2013, and on Console/Mobile for about a year and a half before that. I too have developed my own ways of doing things after playing this game for over four thousand three hundred hours. My ways are not the best either, but they are functionally practical. Getting a 1% (or even 10%) penalty for ""playing the game wrong"" (it's not playing the game wrong, it's mistreating the NPCs inside the game) after 8 years is a wonderful change. Yes, how you build is up to you. You can literally build your NPC towers and be just fine, except you will have unhappy NPCs because you're giving them poor living conditions. If you want to put in the tiniest bit of effort to make your NPCs happier with better living conditions (that, for the thousandth time, have ZERO relation to your artistic capabilities), then you will get lower prices.
The requirements to get happy NPCs are as follows
Do not overcrowd them (we do not know what this means or what it takes to make an NPC unhappy with it)
Do not place them next to NPCs they do not like (we do not know the radius in which an NPC will be unhappy from a disliked neighbor)
Do not place them in a biome which they do not like (we do not know what NPCs will like what biome, nor how many biomes an NPC will like)
There are three basic requirements to getting a maxed out happy NPC.
...
So anyways let's look at housing requirements, yeah?
Must have a light source.
Must have a chair.
Must have a table.
Must have a 2x3 area unobstructed by foreground blocks that may not be directly adjacent to either of the 2 side walls of the house.
Must have one solid, non-platform block for the NPC to stand on at night.
Must have at least one entrance.
Must have background walls.
Must not be too small (over 60 total tiles).
Must not be too large (less than 750 tiles).
Must not be located within a Crimson or Corruption biome.
So if you think having a happy NPC is punishing to those with certain playstyles, what about players who just want to build an NPC prison out of 2x3 houses with no furniture? Is the game punishing certain player's playstyles by having so many housing restrictions? What about players who want to make an absolutely massive room with tons of detail and furniture and things to do for an NPC that's over 750 blocks? Is the game punishing them by not allowing an NPC to reside there? Is the game punishing people who want to have their NPCs live in an Evil Biome? Is this punishing people who want to make a large open cave with no door as a house for their demolitionist? What about people who hate their Angler and want to shove him into a tiny trashcan house? What about people who want to give the Dryad a big open nature reserve house but can't because they have no walls? Is the game actively punishing them for straight up preventing their creation from being titled a house until they fulfill every single requirement of a house?
Of course it isn't punishing them! It's simple game mechanics so that there is balance! Yes, housing requirements makes certain house styles completely impossible, but people like it since it's balanced and makes sense and easy to work around! What's wrong with having a slight increase in price for not fulfilling a single one of the requirements for this new mechanic? It's surely much less of a punishment than "Your NPCs literally cannot live here if a single one of these requirements is not met." There is literally nothing to complain about. You're literally being given TELEPORTERS pre-hardmode without having to do any wiring which takes forever, just for meeting 3 basic requirements. Don't want to meet them? Just enjoy your slightly increased prices and be glad the game still allows you to play just fine with your playstyle, because you literally can do so just fine. You act as if ReLogic just made up this concept with absolutely no planning and no concern for the fact that 30,000,000 people have bought their game. They're going to make it just fine, and if it really truly somehow does end up being unbalanced, the community will tell them "Hey, this is a little unbalanced in our opinions" and they'll be like "Okay, let's ramp it down a little bit" because theyre RELOGIC. And if the community likes it and you do not, you can just get a mod since the game has
official tmodloader support from the steam workshop.
You've been able to adapt to having to meet all 10 housing requirements in order to make your houses, I PROMISE you that you'll be able to manage adapting to 3 (not even required) conditions to make an NPC happy.