Gardendiva3 said:

I'm still trying to figure out why I would want shards. Can't find anything that describes specifically what benefit shards are to the player. Also why send ships for a measly bag of pet food? I must be missing something here! I would rather sell my air ship items for coins as I am still a newbie. Lastly - what benefit are steering wheels? Thanks for all of your answers. Reb

Shards- I suppose one might call them another kind of currency. You pay for items in the game with them, just as you do with coin and Diamonds. It's just that the items are not "useful" as such, the furniture in the Private Rooms can be bought for shards, but the furniture itself has no practical use.

Also, many Achievements can be obtained by some form of using shards. The Furniture finder (or whatever it is called), and the ultimate one - where you need to find/get 50000 shards. And then there is the Trina quests, if you like doing them (terribly boring IMO so I don't usually do them). Some of her quests call for shards, others she wants Steering wheels.

Airship - some get airship items and sell directly for coin.

Some use the airship items to send the airship for coin -  pack the crates; get coin.  When you click "Send the airship" you also get steering wheels and  some stamps or pet food in addition.

Steering wheels is used by Trina - who knows why she wants them...

And the Airship is just one more "thing to do" in the game. One more type of challenge or quest.

Also, the Daily Quests (Gnome) sometimes require you to send airship. There are Achievements related to the Daily Quests, Trina, and the airship. Trina gives you the keys needed to open the private rooms and furniture. The Daily Quests change at new day, but Trina's quests don't change until you meet all the requirements which may include airships/wheels or shards. So if you don't do shards or airships, you can't open the private rooms. That means you can't do the seasonal event HOS.

You'll want shards in the future, that is if you hope to decorate your private rooms but more importantly, if you want to get any of the Achievements that require completing quests for Trina.  No rush, but you most likely will want shards if you stay with the game.

Here ya go...a little light reading. lol

MC Game Guide [midnightcastle 109.1] (delphiforums.com)