[urgent] this site really is actually dying

[Nexius]

-snip-

that's my worry as well. the only currency here is pay-to-get and it wouldn't be too good to sink currency paid with irl money into something you have a very low chance to get in a lottery.

In any game that has an economy (which is basically any game - economy doesn't always mean money), an effective currency sink is a must. Without it inflation runs rampant and new users get driven away because it's so hard for them to get a toe-hold in the economy; essentially they are unable to get anything worthwhile and so what's the point of playing?

Yes, it is a paid currency, but there needs to be a more effective way to get rid of it than the store. As it currently stands, inflation is a very real issue on this site because the store prices are not well balanced when compared to the price of C$. It simply doesn't work as a sink. A lottery would be perfect, it could run daily/weekly and the entry fee wouldn't be that high (I'm thinking 10C$ (which equates to about $0.50-0.60). I'd have to do some math to get a balanced number). This amount wouldn't be a huge loss, and it would make winning the prize feel great because you got way more worth for your C$.

Lotterys are a very common currency sink because they work. If it were to be implemented here, the total amount of C$ on the site would lower, the economy would become more stable, and those pets/items you want would be more achievable - especially for new players.

no, i completely understand you, the inflation here bothers me too. some pets cost over a hundred dollars despite being just a bunch of pixels that aren't even good looking, but lotteries are a form of gambling and there's still money lost. if there was another currency received for the website things, which i do not see happening as besides adopting pets and participating in the forums there's nothing to do which would give you the currency. i'm not sure what the laws are in new zealand (where tess and nick are from), but websites where the majority of it's users are kids shouldn't have gambling on them. the 10c$ you mentioned might not be a lot for you, but not everyone can afford to spend money on pixel pets, as well as it being expensive in other currencies than usd.
again, i understand you, the inflation and pet prices here are very unreasonable, but the law should be considered too.
edit- regardless of what the law is in new zealand, the lottery would most likely have to be blocked in multiple countries.

I totally agree that while a lottery seems like a good idea on the surface (controlled and limited rerelease of old store pets and a C$ sink all in one), using a currency that costs real money like C$ could cause trouble legally if its considered gambling and I don't think it's reasonable to implement here. Other sites like Flight Rising have a lottery and it works specifically because it requires gold which is currency that cannot be purchased with real money and instead is acquired through daily tasks, selling dragons and minigames. For a lottery to work on CS it would need a whole separate non-paid-for currency but I just don't think that's possible or would be a good idea as it would require majorly changing the website and the nature of CS.

[halcyoncreature]

I started gathering ideas from every page, got to about 15 and gave up since most were the same. If I missed any, feel free to let me know. I added all that I saw, even ones I don't think are great.

CS Official Discord

This is an idea I had personally, while it's not amazing, it would help the lack of communication on CS. An issue was stated a few times, some users believe that the forums are dying due to the rise of discord, I'm not here to say whether or not that is true. However, if that is the case, then embrace change and make an official discord. This would be moderated by a separate team than the staff.

Mini-games

Mini-games was the idea suggested the most, I believe. We already have the coding for minigames, like the duck racing from the Jungle Event. All CS has to do is make a lil tab for it and boom. Rewards were kind of all over the place, some mentioned C$, store pets, items, valuable pets, etc. There was also a suggestion about possibly creating food/medicine for your pets to need, kind of like FR. I don't personally like that idea because I never remember to feed my dragons on FR and I feel like it would be the same for a lot of users. CS should still be the casual game it is, and adding something like that would take it away.

Rework Species Lines

This would be a complete rework of all of the lines, I believe. I somewhat agree, but honestly we have so many varieties of line edits and linework, that I feel like this is more of a big task than it's worth.

Slower Cooldown for L&F

This user was unhappy with how long the L&F stayed open. I can understand their frustration, but as some have stated, it's based on how many items got released that opening, not a specific time.

More Coders

I made this suggestion. I feel like there is a distinct distrust in CS users. Tess/Nick would rather keep old, inactive staff on their team than to open their horizons to the hundreds of CS players would who want to volunteer to help CS. This includes coders, but also includes artists and general staff. Hell, I would be an archivist because it's such a weird thing I would enjoy.

More Items/Pets in Store

Yes, recently, we've been getting more items released in the store, but it should be double, if not triple the amount. For example, all of the gemstones should be available every day of the year. Every month/every two months, there should be more items added and stay in store. I feel like to help, store pets should be released every month as well.

More Reasons to Buy C$

Aside from items and store pets every two months, there is nothing to do with C$ other than try and trade it. Oh, but if you try and trade it, good luck figuring out what everyone values it at. However, if there were more thing to do with it, there would be less overall, which is a good thing. Some ideas I had were, a custom stamp for a certain amount of C$. I've heard of custom stamps for staff, but we're the ones spending money, why can't we have some? Same for custom pets and items as well.

More Staff Interaction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what I feel is the most important. I do not care if nothing else changes, but if we get more active staff and more inactive staff to step down, this site will do better. More engagement from the staff. I hardly ever see any of them actually post, other than this month due to the staff litter. This means more interactions doing normal user things. Trading, making oekaki art or art in general, having an adoption center, etc. I think, truly, the most interactive staff member I've seen is Seasonal. I see Seasonal maybe once a week max, usually once every 2-4 weeks. (That is, aside from issuing warnings and such). This also includes you general helpers too. You have a physical role on CS, now is the time to stand up to your actual role in the community.

Merch

I know CS is struggling with money. It's a given. You don't pay any staff and there's not much reason to buy C$ when there's so much of it. However, everyone loves merch. Everyone loves to show their support for things. Buttons, hoodies, tshirts, hats, etc. This way you could also think about hiring, yes hiring, another coder. Or even staff!

Response to Tickets

I mainly want to talk about the lack of response when dealing with tickets. Just in the past few weeks, I have had more responses to tickets, however, that is not always the case. I remember back in the day, I used to get a response to a ticket in.. a couple of days? Even if it were bugs and such, it wouldn't be over a few weeks. I myself have experience this and I know others have as well, some tickets are just left to rot. There isn't a system to double check and make sure they're solved. That's something that could come into play, literally just asking, "was this solved?" before it's closed or moved on or whatever. The other thing about this is, I've heard it, seen it and dealt with some nasty/rude responses from staff. I am not going to name names, nor will I ever, but for a kids site, some staff are way too harsh. It has made users turn away when faced with a problem.

Official CS Guide

I think this is a very good idea, making an official guides to guides. I know there's a lot of pinned guides in the forums, but making a list of them all in a thread, it would be so easy to link, especially to newbies. Also making a guide for the lingo as well.

Valuable/Store Pets Rereleased (again)

One of the other largest complaints was the fact that, especially older store pets, are somewhat unachievable. Some pets have flew past the point where most players would be able to pay. So, a lot give up. A solution that was given was to release store pets and more valuable pets. I don't like this idea, especially with store pets. I think maybe something along the lines of every five years, each player gets a random store pet. This way it's not every year but not a decade in between.

Lore

Lore was suggested a couple of times I believe, and while we have it for the events, it feels repetitive and targeted towards the younger audience. I sometimes feel as if I'm reading the Dora the Explorer script, no offense.

More Small Events

I think this is a really cool idea, I remember a few years back for Chinese New Year, when they had the little thing, you could look up the animal year you were and it had a little message and design. That was really nice!

Second Currency

I don't have the answer on what you could do with this second currency, but it's helpful since C$ is bought with real money, this one wouldn't be the case. It could be called Chicken Coins or something,, (I give CS full access to use that name)

Character Shops

I think this could be a fun idea of getting users to spend C$ during events. Have characters sell new items! It would be really cool if it were the outfit they were wearing or something.

More Change

This kind of ties back to my "more coders" suggestion. There hasn't been a ton of change to CS since it started. We got a few themes here and there, a little more features but it overall is still the same. I love CS but I feel like we could get more of these bigger features quicker if we had a team dedicated to doing so. Tess and Nick have the people they need at their fingertips. Several users know coding or and know how to help.

Trading Rule, Site-Wide

I don't necessarily like this rule, because having CS official values for pets and items would absolutely suck. The community as a whole has pretty much already done this, unwritten rules. While some don't agree, that's what you have when you have a lot of people.

Target Older Players

I'm not sure how this could be implemented but I agree. Minigames would be a part of that, I think. Just adding more things for non-casual players to do.

CS App/Mobile Friendly

I definitely have to agree, even the "mobile" version of the site, is not mobile friendly. It's chunky and hard to navigate smoothly. An app could be cool, but again, you need coders for that.

Daily Log-In Reward

A daily log-in reward could be cool! It gives users a reason to log in every day. While, I don't agree with the reward being C$, I think it could be cool for it to be pets or items. This is where the second currency could come into play as well.

CS Membership

I'm not sure exactly what this could look like, I know on AJ for a while, you would get gifted a new item every month if you were a member. There were enough members that there were a lot of the items, but not enough to take the value.

Recipes

A few suggested like what FR and DV have, where you can craft things. This would be cool if you could win the ingredients from the minigames and daily login and then craft items. This would help rereleasing items.

Bullying/Scamming

This one was mentioned a lot. I know I feel like there's so much crudity and drama offsite and there's little to try and prevent or attack that. Even on site, it's so common. I feel it from staff sometimes too.

Birthday Reward

I think this is a very cute idea! Some sort of reward for playing CS on your birthday. I can imagine a cake themed litter.

Free Rares to New Players

I really don't like this idea. There are a ton of ways to get rare+ pets, even free ones, CS doesn't need to provide them. Let's say everyone got a very rare when they joined. How long would that very rare keep it's rarity when everyone has one?

Daily Tasks

I think this one could be cool as well and include the secondary currency. Things like, comment on a post, complete a trade, etc.

Just responding to let you know that this list is great and i appreciate you putting it together !! it helps a lot, i'm sure anyone who hasnt been on this thread from the start would appreciate it

[Purgatory K9]

-snip-

Mini-games

-snip-
There was also a suggestion about possibly creating food/medicine for your pets to need, kind of like FR. I don't personally like that idea because I never remember to feed my dragons on FR and I feel like it would be the same for a lot of users. CS should still be the casual game it is, and adding something like that would take it away.

Rework Species Lines

This would be a complete rework of all of the lines, I believe. I somewhat agree, but honestly we have so many varieties of line edits and linework, that I feel like this is more of a big task than it's worth.

Slower Cooldown for L&F

This user was unhappy with how long the L&F stayed open. I can understand their frustration, but as some have stated, it's based on how many items got released that opening, not a specific time.

More Coders

-snip-
This includes coders, but also includes artists and general staff.

More Items/Pets in Store

Yes, recently, we've been getting more items released in the store, but it should be double, if not triple the amount. -snip- I feel like to help, store pets should be released every month as well.

More Reasons to Buy C$

-snip-
there is nothing to do with C$ other than try and trade it. -snip- Some ideas I had were, a custom stamp for a certain amount of C$. I've heard of custom stamps for staff, but we're the ones spending money, why can't we have some? Same for custom pets and items as well.

More Staff Interaction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-this whole paragraph snip but I agree-

Merch

I know CS is struggling with money. It's a given. You don't pay any staff and there's not much reason to buy C$ when there's so much of it. However, everyone loves merch. Everyone loves to show their support for things. Buttons, hoodies, tshirts, hats, etc. This way you could also think about hiring, yes hiring, another coder. Or even staff!

Valuable/Store Pets Rereleased (again)

One of the other largest complaints was the fact that, especially older store pets, are somewhat unachievable. Some pets have flew past the point where most players would be able to pay. So, a lot give up. A solution that was given was to release store pets and more valuable pets. I don't like this idea, especially with store pets. I think maybe something along the lines of every five years, each player gets a random store pet. This way it's not every year but not a decade in between.

Lore

Lore was suggested a couple of times I believe, and while we have it for the events, it feels repetitive and targeted towards the younger audience. I sometimes feel as if I'm reading the Dora the Explorer script, no offense.

Second Currency

I don't have the answer on what you could do with this second currency, but it's helpful since C$ is bought with real money, this one wouldn't be the case. It could be called Chicken Coins or something,, (I give CS full access to use that name)

Character Shops

I think this could be a fun idea of getting users to spend C$ during events. Have characters sell new items! It would be really cool if it were the outfit they were wearing or something.

Trading Rule, Site-Wide

I don't necessarily like this rule, because having CS official values for pets and items would absolutely suck. The community as a whole has pretty much already done this, unwritten rules. While some don't agree, that's what you have when you have a lot of people.

CS App/Mobile Friendly

I definitely have to agree, even the "mobile" version of the site, is not mobile friendly. It's chunky and hard to navigate smoothly. An app could be cool, but again, you need coders for that.

Daily Log-In Reward

A daily log-in reward could be cool! It gives users a reason to log in every day. While, I don't agree with the reward being C$, I think it could be cool for it to be pets or items. This is where the second currency could come into play as well.

CS Membership

I'm not sure exactly what this could look like, I know on AJ for a while, you would get gifted a new item every month if you were a member. There were enough members that there were a lot of the items, but not enough to take the value.

Birthday Reward

I think this is a very cute idea! Some sort of reward for playing CS on your birthday. I can imagine a cake themed litter.

Daily Tasks

I think this one could be cool as well and include the secondary currency. Things like, comment on a post, complete a trade, etc.

Note: I snipped a lot of this out so it won't be as long when I reply. I read everything and I mostly agree with what you have said! I just wanted to reply to the ones I've highlighted.

All of the ones I've highlighted I feel like wouldn't be obtainable if we don't get more coding staff--because most of that requires more coding; thus, more work...is Nick willing to do that? I mean that in the nicest way possible.

The trading rule thing I'm kind of iffy on, it really depends on what you'd want changed because I feel like that could get too strict and discourage more players from trading.

I also agree that rereleasing staff pets are definitely not a good idea but maybe having a raffle with said new second currency or even C$ would be a great way to obtain the older staff pets! Some of these older staff pets aren't obtainable to most users, like the skelebun--that one circulates between probably 10 players all together lol. Perhaps 100 C$ thrown in, you get a small chance of a store pet, if not, you get maybe some other small item or pet; that way it's not a full loss if you don't win the store pet.

I would love, love daily tasks! I play Howrse and absolutely love having a couple daily tasks for the second currency.

[Loelya]

Daily tasks are one of the only things that I would personally feel completely opposed to myself. :0 not to be contrary or argumentative though, just my two cents. ^^

[yharnam boy]

Daily tasks are one of the only things that I would personally feel completely opposed to myself. :0 not to be contrary or argumentative though, just my two cents. ^^

same, it would make me feel stressed and pressured.

[Lanayru]

Daily tasks are one of the only things that I would personally feel completely opposed to myself. :0 not to be contrary or argumentative though, just my two cents. ^^

Do you mind explaining why? I'm just curious ^^ It would be something completely optional and beneficial to the daily players to give them something to do

I can't speak for Loelya but since I do agree w/ shem here I'm gonna elaborate my thought process! I've played on a lot of pet sites and the reason CS stands out as one of the few is the lack of that "oh GOD I gotta log on to do my dailies or my streak breaks" feeling most sites with daily tasks have. It's easy to say "but it's optional!" but for a lot of players the stress to consistently keep it up is still there ;v;

[shinx.]

Daily tasks are one of the only things that I would personally feel completely opposed to myself. :0 not to be contrary or argumentative though, just my two cents. ^^

just throwing in my two cents where i explain things badly :') but i'd also like to agree with this but i think it may depend on what the daily tasks actually were(?)

i play genshin impact myself which has things like daily commissions and limited time events and as much as i love the game, i do often go through phases of feeling like the game is becoming more of a chore than something i play for fun. you can easily tell others not to prioritise the game and if you're feeling burnt out to just take a break, which i do agree people should do, but in my case i always have a fear of missing out with the game due to the limited time events as there's many limited rewards or story lines included in said events and the daily commissions have free in-game currency that is already relatively hard to come by, especially late game, that i feel a fear of missing out if i don't go on to complete the tasks.

i think the daily tasks could be a slippery slope since most of the people on the game are probably here due to the relaxed nature of it and also the fact that the game has been like this for over a decade, and suddenly kind of making people feel pressure to log on could destroy some of the fanbase, especially as i imagine a lot of the people who play are probably busy with education or work, but it could also bring new players.
i think if daily tasks were to be added, there'd need to be a big talk over the possible tasks there'd be and the possible rewards, especially because chicken smoothie has never had daily tasks.

i don't know if this made sense and sorry for my ramblings ahroelkms

[Loelya]

Daily tasks are one of the only things that I would personally feel completely opposed to myself. :0 not to be contrary or argumentative though, just my two cents. ^^

just throwing in my two cents where i explain things badly :') but i'd also like to agree with this but i think it may depend on what the daily tasks actually were(?)

i play genshin impact myself which has things like daily commissions and limited time events and as much as i love the game, i do often go through phases of feeling like the game is becoming more of a chore than something i play for fun. you can easily tell others not to prioritise the game and if you're feeling burnt out to just take a break, which i do agree people should do, but in my case i always have a fear of missing out with the game due to the limited time events as there's many limited rewards or story lines included in said events and the daily commissions have free in-game currency that is already relatively hard to come by, especially late game, that i feel a fear of missing out if i don't go on to complete the tasks.

i think the daily tasks could be a slippery slope since most of the people on the game are probably here due to the relaxed nature of it and also the fact that the game has been like this for over a decade, and suddenly kind of making people feel pressure to log on could destroy some of the fanbase, especially as i imagine a lot of the people who play are probably busy with education or work, but it could also bring new players.
i think if daily tasks were to be added, there'd need to be a big talk over the possible tasks there'd be and the possible rewards, especially because chicken smoothie has never had daily tasks.

i don't know if this made sense and sorry for my ramblings ahroelkms

Completely agree with all of this! I think daily tasks inherently create FOMO and that CS by its nature retains most of the players it does by having a much more relaxed play style. I think there are definitely things that could be introduced to raise engagement without creating daily tasks of any kind.

[huskyhiccups]

On the topic of daily/weekly tasks or rewards:
It was mentioned before somewhere (probably a few times, but I didn't see it recently)
I wouldn't want the timer/counter to reset if I miss a day, but I would love it if it just paused and then next time I logged in, I could pick up where I left off (let's say I was on a.. 20 day streak and missed 3 days, the next time I log in I would go to 21)
Those who are opposing it, would that be a good compromise? :0

EDIT: I would also love to see referral rewards. I know we have a "CS Fan!" stamp already, but maybe something like "Devoted CS fan!" for 5+ referrals? Or maybe some exclusive items? I don't think pets would be a good option for referrals because I could see people making alts to abuse this and get the pets quicker.

Additionally, on the topic of stamps, I'd love an exclusive stamp for those of us who have actually purchased C$. I'd personally like something more playful such as "I helped pay for the CS servers to stay up!" (would have to be shortened for a stamp I'm sure LOL) Or just "I donated to CS!" would be cool? :D

[yharnam boy]

On the topic of daily/weekly tasks or rewards:
It was mentioned before somewhere (probably a few times, but I didn't see it recently)
I wouldn't want the timer/counter to reset if I miss a day, but I would love it if it just paused and then next time I logged in, I could pick up where I left off (let's say I was on a.. 20 day streak and missed 3 days, the next time I log in I would go to 21)

Those who are opposing it, would that be a good compromise? :0

that would be better at least. i'm generally not a fan of daily tasks though, especially not if its stuff that's actually time consuming and/or tedious in any way.