Ask the Staff!

[Shinryu]

To: Any of the Staff

Q: Do y'all do other online games together? I have seen posts about to guys playing Among Us, but do you play other games like Minecraft?

Any games you staff play? If so what’s your username?

The only other thing I've played together with the rest of CS staff would be cards against humanity.
But a different friend group of mine has a shared Minecraft server!

I don't usually play multiplayer games since I'm actually quite anxious about others judging me, haha. Sometimes I play League, but only with my friends and never with randoms. Anivia best birb.
And my boyfriend got me to try out Final Fantasy XIV, which I'm having a blast with so far. I feel a lot less intimidated with him playing by my side because it's hard to be scared when a seven foot tall lv 80 dragon man has your back :'D I'm playing a particularly tiny Miqo'te and we look hilarious together.

To: Anyone who's made a staff pet
What staff pet(if you have multiple) was your favorite and why?

Lumi is the one I'm most proud of because I think my colouring improved a lot on her from the previous cats.^^

to anyone: what do you want to be when you grow up, or what do you do? (ik you're adults, but you know what i mean!)and i know some of you have answered on your about me page, but i'm also wondering, was it the same thing you wanted to grow up to be when you were a kid?

When I was a little kid, I desperately wanted to be a "biologist" when I grew up. I would learn a little later on that I actually meant that I wanted to be a paleontologist, specifically.
I did not become a paleontologist.

I did go to university and studied English and Geoscience with the goal of becoming a teacher, but I got thoroughly disillusioned with the idea of making my mental health compatible with our education system. I like teaching people things. What I didn't like was the way schools worked, though, and I realized that I was booking a one-way ticket to burnout station.
So I dropped out and made another attempt at the first job I tried to get into after school.
It worked out, so now I'm a bookseller :)

I also work in a post office a few hours a week. I can't say I particularly enjoy it; it gets stressful and a lot of people aren't terribly nice to us.

[Desmond]

okay uhh since we're on the topic of animals, to any staff:

if you could be any living being (except for plants), what would you be and why?

Super obvious answer, but if I could choose, I'd be a killer whale. ID They're rather important to me.
If it was based on personality or something like that... There's a million options. I don't know.

~ For any of the staff members who participated in anything musical ~
Have you ever thought of pursuing a career somewhere in the musical department?

I started off playing the flute -- now I have a Bachelor's of Science in communications/Multimedia Production... and I specialize in audio production. So... yeah.
But I work at a bank, so that didn't get me very far, lol.

Any games you staff play? If so what’s your username?

Multiplayer-wise, I play Minecraft, Among Us, GTA, and Sea of Thieves, but I rarely play any of them outside my circle of friends, and if I do... it's either not for long, or I'm wildly paranoid for the entire duration.
This also means I'm not really inclined to give my username, either, sorry. ^^;;

to anyone: what do you want to be when you grow up, or what do you do? (ik you're adults, but you know what i mean!)and i know some of you have answered on your about me page, but i'm also wondering, was it the same thing you wanted to grow up to be when you were a kid?

I used to want be a vet. Then I learned how I react to needles and... well, that went out.
I would love to use my college degree and go into music production, but I also want to go back to school and get into marine biology... but ochem scares the daylights out of me because I am miserable with chemistry and good lord, those long molecule names. Dx

To: Anyone who's made a staff pet
What staff pet(if you have multiple) was your favorite and why?

The coloring on Aidan still floors me. I loved the palette that year.
I am also super proud of Lir's tail edit:

[*Plutonia*]

Are staff members supposed to keep a low profile? As if not revealing too much information or participating in forum games. Anywho, thanks for the reply and I'm wishing the whole team happy holidays! (:

(ANYONE can respond(

[Gloo Soda]

Are staff members supposed to keep a low profile? As if not revealing too much information or participating in forum games. Anywho, thanks for the reply and I'm wishing the whole team happy holidays! (:

(ANYONE can respond(

Nah, I participate in forum games all the time. I don't really play this game any different than I did before joining staff. I still participate in threads whenever I feel like :)

[Lufi]

To: Anyone
Because it's Christmas time again, I'm curious what you like the most. ^-^

Favorite Christmas movie?
Favorite Christmas song?
Favorite Christmas food/sweets?
Favorite Christmas tradition (yours or from abroad)?
What type of gift do you like best? (ex: clothes, electronics, books, etc)
What do you like on Christmas the most?
(for example: time spent with family, general pre-Christmas period, giving gifts, Christmas decorations, etc)

[Shinryu]

Are staff members supposed to keep a low profile? As if not revealing too much information or participating in forum games. Anywho, thanks for the reply and I'm wishing the whole team happy holidays! (:

(ANYONE can respond(

We're free to post on the forums for fun as much as anyone else^^

For information, there is very little that we can't tell users.
Examples that come to my mind would be that the artists and archivist know outcomes before they grow for the public, and that sometimes we test features before they're implemented for everyone else, like oekaki updates or the dress-up interface. That is stuff we have to keep under wraps.
But as far as game mechanics etc go, there's not really anything we know that user's can't.
...Aside from the Admins, of course, who do know a bunch of things that are secret to the players. But in that sense, we are players, too :'D

And of course, we have to abide by privacy rules; we can't just go around talking about what happens in tickets and reports, that's all confident. Moderation related issues are between staff and the user in question, and aren't shared with others.

I'd say 80% of my job as a helper is just having things memorized that you could find out on your own as well if you knew what to search for^^ The rules, guides, releases etc are all accessible to everyone, and you can find out a lot about site lore and tricks by searching the forums. It's just that especially for the latter it's not necessarily intuitive where to look, or even guessing that there's something to look for.
We don't have a magical database that users can't access, I just happen to be really good at remembering stuff and have been here for a very long time :]

To: Anyone
Because it's Christmas time again, I'm curious what you like the most. ^-^

Favorite Christmas movie?
Favorite Christmas song?
Favorite Christmas food/sweets?
Favorite Christmas tradition (yours or from abroad)?
What type of gift do you like best? (ex: clothes, electronics, books, etc)
What do you like on Christmas the most?
(for example: time spent with family, general pre-Christmas period, giving gifts, Christmas decorations, etc)

Movie: I rarely ever watch movies, so I don't have a fave Christmas movie.

Song: Jingle Bells, haha. I have this one stuck in my head so often, I started humming it at work in October already dgfjhggh.

Food: Either Spekulatius or Dominosteine!

Tradition: Christmas markets! Traditionally in Germany, Christmas markets host a lot of craft-based vendors, you get woodwork, clothes, candles, soaps, food, I just really like the atmosphere of it. And I really, really like Glühwein :'D

Type of gift: Books, books all the way! Or rather, gift cards for book stores. Because truth be told, people's accuracy at buying books I like has historically been more of a miss than a hit thing if I didn't give them wishlists. And because this way I can be sure they won't be bought through Amazon.

What do I like the most? The season, I guess. Like, weather-wise. I'm a big fan of snow and cold weather, so the majority of my "Christmas cheer" is honestly more based on that than the holiday. I don't actually terribly like half the things Christmas entails, like retail work busytime or being forced into family gatherings. But the season makes me feel more at peace.
I also like the discounted prices on foods that are "in season" hahaha.

[Raire]

To: Anyone
Because it's Christmas time again, I'm curious what you like the most. ^-^

Favorite Christmas movie?
Favorite Christmas song?
Favorite Christmas food/sweets?
Favorite Christmas tradition (yours or from abroad)?
What type of gift do you like best? (ex: clothes, electronics, books, etc)
What do you like on Christmas the most?
(for example: time spent with family, general pre-Christmas period, giving gifts, Christmas decorations, etc)

I'm not really a movie guy, but my favourite song would be Melanie Thornton - Wonderful dream.
Sweets I eat every year are filled gingerbread hearts, mini stollen without raisins (hard to find *lol*) and Baumkuchen. For the other answers, look at ZΕLs post *lol* It's so weird how similar we are regarding Christmas.
Please give us snow.

[Purgatory K9]

To any of the staff:
What’s your favorite “low demand” (example: rat) pet?

[Seasonal]

Are staff members supposed to keep a low profile? As if not revealing too much information or participating in forum games. Anywho, thanks for the reply and I'm wishing the whole team happy holidays! (:

(ANYONE can respond(

Nope! Obviously we have to stay hush-hush about the things we do behind the scenes, but we can post on everything and participate in the community as well. I don't like that some sites make their mods have "secret" accounts to play on. :c

Admittedly I don't post nearly as much as I used to some years ago. As I grow older and have more responsibilities, I have less time for CS than I did back in the day, so I try to finish my staff work before trading or reading the forums. I always like to post on the monthly and event discussion threads, though! Other than that I usually browse general discussion, the adults 18+ board, and animal chatter.

To: Anyone
Because it's Christmas time again, I'm curious what you like the most. ^-^

Favorite Christmas movie?
Favorite Christmas song?
Favorite Christmas food/sweets?
Favorite Christmas tradition (yours or from abroad)?
What type of gift do you like best? (ex: clothes, electronics, books, etc)
What do you like on Christmas the most?
(for example: time spent with family, general pre-Christmas period, giving gifts, Christmas decorations, etc)

The Grinch!
Mary Did You Know, preferably the Pentatonix version. (I'm not religious, I just really like it ^^)
My mom and I always make homemade chocolate covered pretzels and they are amazing.
My family doesn't really have any traditions, but I loved the days when my cousins would come over and we all opened presents together. We stopped doing that in our teens and I really miss it!
I love any and all gifts, I try to be super appreciative of anything I get. My favorite gifts are homemade items that I can tell the other person put a lot of thought into making, and I like to return the favor whenever possible.
My favorite part of Christmas is spending time with my family and decorating the whole house.

[Dia.]

To anyone: When you're not doing staff things, what CS boards do you browse the most?

Still the oekaki boards. ^^;

To: Any of the Staff

Q: Do y'all do other online games together? I have seen posts about to guys playing Among Us, but do you play other games like Minecraft?

We just started a CS staff Minecraft server! We've also played Cards Against Humanity and Jackbox games.
You can also count Animal Crossing and PokemonGo probably haha

Any games you staff play? If so what’s your username?

You can find me as Dia or becauseDia on other websites that I play, like Wolvden, Dappervolk, and FlightRising. Although I'm not all that active on other sites these days.
I also play Breath of the Wild, Planet Zoo, Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, the Sims, and occasionally I break out the oldies but goodies: Age of Mythology and Zoo Tycoon (1 and 2).

I loved the snake answers 😍
New question, does anyone have a star or constellation that's their favorite? Or that they feel a connection with?

Ursa major and ursa minor; classic lol
Mostly just because I can find them. ^^;

to anyone: what do you want to be when you grow up, or what do you do? (ik you're adults, but you know what i mean!)and i know some of you have answered on your about me page, but i'm also wondering, was it the same thing you wanted to grow up to be when you were a kid?

I'm currently in graduate school studying to become a genetic counselor. c: This has been the plan since kind of early in high school. When I was younger I wanted to be a large animal veterinarian, and before that I wanted to be a zoo keeper ^^

To: Anyone who's made a staff pet
What staff pet(if you have multiple) was your favorite and why?

My first staff pet, in 2016, has a special place in my heart since it was my first time participating. I also did the whole Hedgehog thing and I named him after my past hedgehog, Thea.

To: Anyone
Because it's Christmas time again, I'm curious what you like the most. ^-^

Favorite Christmas movie?
Favorite Christmas song?
Favorite Christmas food/sweets?
Favorite Christmas tradition (yours or from abroad)?
What type of gift do you like best? (ex: clothes, electronics, books, etc)
What do you like on Christmas the most?
(for example: time spent with family, general pre-Christmas period, giving gifts, Christmas decorations, etc)

Christmas movie: The Muppet Christmas Carol
Christmas Song: White Christmas
Food: The chocolate chip/pecan cookies my dad and I make
Tradition: Making cookies \o/
Gifts: The little things I get from people who really get me

I really like picking gifts for people and giving gifts. ^^ Otherwise I just like the chance to relax at home with my parents. Unfortunately I'm not home this year. :c

To any of the staff:
What’s your favorite “low demand” (example: rat) pet?

Are Tess horses considered low demand? I haven't tried to trade for them in a long time, since I completed that collection. But I really like them!