as stated "If your only objection is that INNO expects players to participate every day, when even INNO's Employees get vacation time, is not logical, are they required to take their laptops with them to do work each day of their vacation? I think not. Also, there are times in life when spending time playing a game is not a priority, as one can imagine over the last 2 years".
I understand your reasoning, but I think that's an entirely different point. Don't get me wrong; I'd love an away feature. But playing a free game that has certain rules and willingly accepting them is entirely different than a company expecting their employees to work on their vacation time, which would open up a whole can of worms with labor laws, overtime pay, etc, etc, etc.
As much as this would be great, I can see this from the other side, too. For example, yesterday I researched a tech that wanted so much marble that I went from nearly a million down to next to nothing. I can't play the spire until I build back up. I chose to research that tech, and I really had no choice if I wanted to progress. In Inno's reasoning, I'm sure they think that losing resources is part of the game.
Besides, when will Inno EVER agree to lock a player out of their game for 7 days, except in cases of abuse? ... That's 7 days where they can't advertise, can't get you to buy, etc. You may say, "Well, I would be on vacation! I wouldn't see those ads anyway!" But I look at it from Inno's pov and say "This guy wants to go on vacation. How can we get him to see our ads for the next 7 days? I know! Just make sure his goods decay so he keeps coming back on even while he's away. He might buy something."
The concept is wonderful... but every concept that moves forward has to answer the question: "Will this hurt Inno in any way whatsoever?" with a resounding NO. If you can think of a way where this helps Inno and doesn't hurt their bottom line in ANY possible way, then they might go for it. I don't see it happening here.