Go back to compensating on-site artists

[shawty-cs]

i don't see getting paid in virtual currency that is not of any use in the real world as a worthy or satisfactory form of compensation for creating designs that the site owners- indirectly or directly- profit off of financially. and again, making art/design work for a site that generates income, typically directly as a result of said designs, should not be considered "volunteer work" or a "volunteer position" - that's absurd, and it seems to be the main defense admins dish out. in my opinion, this information seriously doesn't make the situation any better, and it's vague information at that. i understand that artists agree to these terms at the start, but so many talented artists have left recently. wouldn't you think that'd be a cause for concern and possibly a good enough incentive to work on improving what you give your artists as payment?
and also, why has this been marked as resolved? what are the owners / admins really doing about this?

Tbh i don’t think they really care all that much about losing artist in the first place. hence why they marked “resolved” … i’m just guessing that once they lose an artist they open artist applications to find more artist to exploit for their site. maybe exploit is a strong word, but idk.

[makima]

support!! compensating artists with "exposure" doesn't mean much when artists are (mostly) limited to cs pet lines. artists deserve to be paid for their hard work.

[strawberrymwilk]

id say exploit is the right word. just because you can get artists to work for you w/o paying doesn't mean you should, and saying they know what they sign up for as if its not a kids site and younger people will apply (not realizing the issue)

it would be nice to see them be much more transparent about artists/helpers not being paid (especially when the site brings in money and there's no reason not to)

[Sixx O'Clock]

Definitely support. And about the whole issue around paying people who are under 18 RL currency, why couldn't they just restrict artist positions to 18+? Yeah it's a little "unfair" to younger artists, but at the same time, not paying artists for their work just adds on to the notion that being an artist isn't a "real job." And it's not like those younger artists couldn't just make adopts or art on the forums for C$ or pets/items. CS has been around for a long time, I find it extremely unlikely that they don't make enough revenue to pay artists, even if it's just a "pay per litter" situation.

[Larkspur1678]

Support

CS is no longer a small project just run by friends, it’s a profit-turning site with over 1 million accounts and thousands of active users. The pets/items are the backbone of the entire site and generate money for the owner(s) through store pets, events(finding banners brings in ad revenue), and even users buying C$ with the intent of trading it for non-store pets like monthly adopts and lists. C$ has fallen in value so much and can be used so limitedly that it really isn’t a fair payment anymore. If you’re using artists to make money, you need to give them some in return.

[useless witch]

i agree with compensating artists. no buts.
there's something about the owner(s) making money off other peoples art that rubs me the wrong way. (especially store pets.)

people buy c$ to buy pets more often than not and those pets are designed by volunteers.

hmm.

like yeah permission and all that but it feels scummy.

[Dezda]

Support 100%, although I believe artists should be 18+ and be compensated in real currency.

Otherwise, it kinda comes across as taking advantage of (mostly young) artists for free labor.

[Seasonal]

To clear up any misconceptions, CS artist is a volunteer position to allow artists freedom to create when they are able/want to. There is no regular salary/wage, and therefore the position is considered unpaid. Artists receive compensation in C$ when their free pets and items are released. Store pets and items are subject to additional agreements and compensation.

Quoting this from the last page since it seems to have been buried. As Simon's statement answers the concern that was raised in the original post, I'm going to lock this thread.

[Simon]

Chicken Smoothie isn't a large profit driven company, and our volunteer staff aren't employees. We are a group of individuals with a shared passion for art/adoptables/etc. who take time out of our every days lives to help create content and run this website. We historically didn't disclose information about C$ compensation because we didn't want that to be the focus of applications (as it is site currency, we still consider this a volunteer position). Non-admin staff are not at liberty to discuss details of compensation, so their answers may have appeared vague. All information about a particular CS role is shared with staff when they are hired.

To further clarify, store pets and item sets are fairly compensated beyond C$.