WHY PEOPLE ARE QUITTING CS- A Discussion

[blues clues]

Just wanted to add in this post from the thread I linked a couple pages back. Lacuna mentioned that they are taking some of the ideas from that thread into thoughts.

i'll sift through this rn!! thank u

[bark]

Actually a limit on having extremely rare pets would help battle the circulation issue. Stopping players from having more than say 3 of the same super rare pet would help stop inflation from people hoarding.

Also suggesting a set of nick store pets with all profits going directly to Nick!

Unfortunately this wouldn't be possible. It would also count for rare doubles you may have and make trading for pets more difficult D:

[ARACHNOPHOBI4]

i like the idea of a login reward but how would that work for people that stay eternally logged in like me? :0 just wondering haha!

I think as long as you appear on a rollover it counts would work

[-icarus-]

reading all this and getting flashbacks to 3 years and literally a month ago... like, these things still shouldn't be an issue :[

anyways, we wanted to throw our 2 cents in rq. there's a ton of good ideas here - ones that have been thrown around for months or years on end included. The issue with this is that there's only one coder (an issue brought up every time this topic comes up). With even one more coder, one more active/willing to put time scrolling through the extensive suggestions forum, a lot of smaller issues could be solved. One more coder could add auto-updating archives that update an hour after rollover for monthly litters, or a system for adjusting sorting by archive.

we'll be back with more comments, but we wanted to just say this rn.

[onion]

i like the idea of a login reward but how would that work for people that stay eternally logged in like me? :0 just wondering haha!

just a wild guess, maybe just a login reward that resets every rollover, regardless if you stay logged in or not. i guess that idea makes sense aha, im pretty out if it so my apologies if it doesnt

no that totally makes sense! :D ty for answering so kindly! i do like that idea even a bit more now haah!

[Cygnetta]

Every time I see someone say their only goal is to have a complete CS collection, my soul dies a little bit LMAO

Tbh me too. Like I want to collect every (non-store) snake but that's bc I genuinely like the snake design. CS is supposed to be fun not stressful! It's v disheartening seeing a lot of people complain about not getting rares from a pound drop in the CS server I'm in. Y'all got a cool looking pet, why so down?

I support people having whatever goal they want, but I feel like people should be educated (not the right word maybe) on how hard a complete collection will be and be made aware of other more reachable goals they can also have. I've never had any goals besides individual pets on my WL, so I don't share the frustration of not being able to collect all of something, but lately I've felt that CS has grown into this game where people think they "have" to collect all of something to be playing the game right.

[bark]

Every time I see someone say their only goal is to have a complete CS collection, my soul dies a little bit LMAO

Tbh me too. Like I want to collect every (non-store) snake but that's bc I genuinely like the snake design. CS is supposed to be fun not stressful! It's v disheartening seeing a lot of people complain about not getting rares from a pound drop in the CS server I'm in. Y'all got a cool looking pet, why so down?

I support people having whatever goal they want, but I feel like people should be educated (not the right word maybe) on how hard a complete collection will be and be made aware of other more reachable goals they can also have. I've never had any goals besides individual pets on my WL, so I don't share the frustration of not being able to collect all of something, but lately I've felt that CS has grown into this game where people think they "have" to collect all of something to be playing the game right.

Yes this on knowing how hard it is to complete a collection. C: But it shouldn't be near impossible

[ShrimpDan]

When I joined in 2015, it was hard as a non-artist to get valuable pets I wanted. If I had joined now though, it would be near-impossible. I think the main issues are that old pets are getting rarer and also that players are getting more intense and holding onto their things for art or offsite trades. A lot of what people said would help: more rereleases, giveaways, bigger pounds. I also think that there's a toxic culture of completionism and having to get OMGSRs.

I know economy isn't /everything/ and that you really shouldn't be playing pet sites to "win" them, but... the only real goals you can shoot for on CS ARE collection-related. For example, I'm intent on collecting every single Butterfly Wolf.

Quotes like this basically prove my point that some people on CS see no option but to collect, collect, collect. The CS community can get obsessed with OMGSR dreamies, full collections, and even having a bigger hoard than someone else. There's nothing wrong with these goals, but there is something wrong when you see them as the only way to play. There are many other ways of playing the game that are more reachable. You could just collect individual pets you like, like me, or you could collect pets around a certain theme without needing them "all". You could hoard common pets too if hoarding is your thing or focus on dressing up the pets you have. I disagree that the goal of this site "should" be to complete some kind of collection. Yes it's a collection game, but the only thing you really "have" to do when playing it is collect individual pets.
I do think that a type of "list" is necessary though. It's based on how rare pets actually are due to the best of our knowledge. Some VR's are truly a lot rarer than other VR's. So even though it might be hard to get some of them, it's not fair to just trade your more common VR for the less common one you want.

I am collecting pets I like, though. I just happen to really, really like every single Butterfly Wolf. They're easily my favorite species and there isn't a single one that I don't like on some level. I think it's a little strange to assume that I must... not enjoy what I'm collecting, just because I want all of them, lol. I'm also not a hoarder personally, this is about "one of each unique BW" thing.

Even by the argument of "just collect your favorites", that doesn't change the fact that a lot of people's favorites might not be attainable due to site inflation and how difficult it is to get trade-downs. As plenty of other people have mentioned, this site is a collection game at its core, and I think it's kind of ridiculous that some non-store pets are borderline impossible to obtain unless you get super lucky with Dec 18 which, arguably even that isn't quite enough anymore. Pound is also super skinny and usually empties within minutes unless you're up at unreasonable hours.

I also think you just misunderstood what I meant by "collection-related goals". Collection-related goals includes just collecting a small handful of pets that you happen to like! It's just that even that can be difficult to do without solely relying on giveaways or just getting lucky with the pound, which imo doesn't feel very rewarding. I was a huge Animal Jam kid and I really enjoy learning and growing within site economies, and I don't think it's a sign of toxicity for people to criticize how it's practically impossible to get some older pets on a site that revolves around pet collection. I also can't imagine how frustrating and inaccessible this site is to COPPA players who can't negotiate trades, don't understand rarity, and who just want a pretty PNG, but the trading market is so hostile and competitive that it leads to a lot of them losing interest.

[PuppyHowler]

Hello! Player since '11. I started off just stumbling across the site completely by accident. I did get some other people to play the game with me towards the beginning (I was in middle school when I started), but their interest just declined over time.

I haven't really made "friends" on CS, but I have found some people who I occasionally chat with when I have the time. Even then, it's solely through CS, not on other sites like Discord.

A large thing I see (which might be different for others) is more of a lack of new players. A good chunk of players that I see nowadays joined between 2017 and 2021. Older players, I think, tend to just get less and less time to interact with the game. Less time to collect tokens for events or to trade hard to find missing pets. I have had periods where I just completely forget about CS for a couple months or even years. Then again, I might be in a smaller minority of players who are just here to collect pets and play a few forum games, as opposed to players who actively want to find people to socialize with 🤷‍♀️.

Again, not saying others see the same thing, but it's just how I've personally experienced things.

I feel you on the "I'm just here for the pets" side of things. haven't sent a pm to anyone since my irl friends all dropped the site in like, 2009-2010 and don't post on basically anything (aside from like, this and that c$ post) but my trade and adoption threads. :p

trading stuff has just gotten insane lately (not even just store pets) though, i got left behind in "this is the new Real Trade Values And How Trading Works Now" shift post-rares list because college. im basically only here for my hoards anymore because at least i can actually trade for them... x-x

i'm a newish player, joined late 2021, and i get the issue with trading. i remember when i first started trading i was confused by the rules and how some people view the value of pets, still kind of am to this day. i remember wanting to trade with someone, it was a common pet for a common pet, but it got rejected because the pets weren't from the same year? idk maybe i'm just out of touch or something, either way it's honestly why i just have people come to me instead nowadays if they want to trade.

also side note but a small complaint of mine is this: submitting posts to forums is a bit tedious, i literally tried to post this three times and kept getting a response saying "At least one new post has been made to this topic. You may wish to review your post in light of this."
i don't know what this means, but it's weird to me that i can't post something just because someone else posted a second before me? i literally have to keep clicking the submit button over and over again in hopes to actually post something...

[cats135]

Hear me out. This is a collectors game. The goal shOuld be to...collect, and, realistically, complete a collection. But as stated here and in multiple similar threads...some pets are just...*impossible!*

The goal of this site is NOT to complete a collection. That would be impossible for all but a few players. The goal is whatever you want it to be. The only thing you "have" to do to be considered a player is collect a few individual pets. Personally I just collect outcomes I really like, and it has worked out great for me. I feel like there is a toxic culture of players thinking they HAVE to collect all of something or have to have a certain rarity. That's just not true. If you truly want to have a complete collection of all pets or a certain type, then go for it, but it is not the only way to play, and it's very restricting when people see it that way.

I understand! But I feel my point is more it shouldn't be impossible at *all* for even one person. If a single person out of thousands can't do it, then why advertise the site as a collectors site? No not everyone wants/hast to have every pet, but some pets shouldn't be *impossible* at all to get (And I'm not counting store or even OMGSRs). Average rares of high demand are often worth the same as a 2008/9 pet, and its just...difficult? Or it feels that way.

Still think this issue can be solved with more Dec 18th, mOre POUND OPENINGS, or that dice roll idea!