Is anyone feeling the CS Spark Fade?

[WhiskeyFox]

Hey, so I've been part of the CS community for almost 7 years now, and I absolutely adore this game, but the past few months it has been feeling like the CS spark has just been fading,

And I do appreciate and can't thank the admins enough for this amazing game, I just feel like the community has became a little unwelcoming unlike it was back in the day. Yes we still have plenty of some of the most amazing and generous CS players, but I've been encountering an issue where people just now come off borderline rude, especially when it comes to trading.

As a collector I've had a blast collecting all of the new and old outcomes, I enjoyed the events so much but now it's just getting more and more difficult to push on. And I just wanted to know your thoughts about this?

Especially in these difficult times CS was my only source of entertainment and I would hate to lose that.

[Skye Selkie]

Yes, ever since the list was discontinued it feels like there is so much greed in how people are highly valuing their own pets but not other people's. It makes trading such a pain and honestly sometimes I'm scared to send/receive/accept high value trades because everything has changed so much.

We could see a little bit of that before the list was discontinued (i.e raven dog, shima etc.) but now a patchwork that never had demand (until people started realising all old storepets are 'more valuable') is worth 1.5 nons??

While I am half glad the list is gone (I think it should have never been in place ever), because it was such an integral guide so many people used as the gospel, we definitely need something in place of it because now I feel someone is going to try and rip me off and I'd have no idea.

There also just seems to be a general lack of respect for other users as well. I don't know how to explain it but I had several people send me trades that broke my trade rules so I canceled only for a couple them to message me back and call /me/ rude.

It's honestly disappointing because before my hiatus CS was such a fun site then I took 4 years (XoX) away and now I'm back because I have all this free time but I'm not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. I was so excited to come back to it.

[°W°]

I have joined like 2 months ago so no

[marty]

I honestly am kinda disappointed that there has been a bunch of lion/malk monthly adopts way back in the days in the archive but recently there has been no malk or lion monthly adopts and malk pets and lions are some of my favorite pets sooo

[ILoveYou3000]

I used to have an old account before I lost my login to I created a new one and I would have to agree, over the years respect for others has completely vanished and when you decline trades people message you calling you rude and when you tell them why, for example breaking your trading rules then get all nasty and it's just- that's not how things were before.

And without the list people tend to value their rares and higher but then don't even bother evening trades out.

For example;
They'll want a rare+ from you and want it for uncommons and below, which isn't fair to you and when you point it out they always say "you are so greedy"

[minoosh]

I understand what you mean. Its very hard for me to trade for high value pets or pets that are pretty because some people value them insanely high ㅠ.ㅠ Ive been here for 7 years as well so there is definitely a change between before and now. I also wished some people trade rules weren’t extremely long. I understand you want to establish clear rules but i dont want to read an essay x.x Long trade rules just aint it for me

[Opalserpent]

I only joined a few months ago but that's one of the reasons trading scares me because I'm afraid to decline a trade and get called smth nasty and I'm also afraid to accept trades without extensively consulting the fair trade thread after someone traded me a vr and a rare from 2019 for a dec 18 sunjewel. I didn't even really understand the importance of December 18 and certainly didn't know how much a sunjewel was worth and I'm so disappointed that someone actually took advantage of my inexperience w/cs like that,,, I'm glad the site used to be a kinder place. If only I had joined then, maybe my experience wouldn't have been so stressful.

[hypnowave]

here's my $0.02: as someone who's been on CS for almost 9 years now (i was rightfully banned in 2014 for being a multi-accounting kiddo who thought he was smart, lmao), i can honestly say that rude players have been a thing since 2011 and even before that. generally, most of the things i've seen listen above have been there from the start: long trading rules, rude traders being greedy, and lack of respect for other users. they're not new problems in my experience.

i honestly feel like the core mechanics of CS are the problem. there's no way to re-release old store pets because the site feels like it would be disingenuous towards those who paid for their C$, leading to pets like the skelebun that are practically unobtainable. the rest of the pets at least have a re-release system, but their values are largely unknown to the player, and users are left having to determine the values of their pets even if they have the same rarity. this started with the list, but definitely did not end when the list was discontinued.

there's very little you can do with the actual pets beyond dressing them up and making scenes with them; it really depends on what types of pet simulators a user prefers, but for many, i think we'd prefer something a bit more interactive. this game is just stonks 2020 (and if you like that, then good for you! i'm just saying it's not for everyone, haha).

although i still stay on this site, it's for the art and closed species community and have pretty much quit trading. that being said, i feel like if a site has more appeal within its userbase and the talent it has, it kind of goes to show how unappealing the core mechanics are.

[uro]

I only joined a few months ago but that's one of the reasons trading scares me because I'm afraid to decline a trade and get called smth nasty and I'm also afraid to accept trades without extensively consulting the fair trade thread after someone traded me a vr and a rare from 2019 for a dec 18 sunjewel. I didn't even really understand the importance of December 18 and certainly didn't know how much a sunjewel was worth and I'm so disappointed that someone actually took advantage of my inexperience w/cs like that,,, I'm glad the site used to be a kinder place. If only I had joined then, maybe my experience wouldn't have been so stressful.

this topic will probably be locked soon bc mods dont like when anyone even speak or think about something negative, but i'm so sorry that happened to you. It happened to me when i first joined, i got the Ur peach and didnt know the worth and someone traded me bulk normal common pets and I accepted. It still makes me cringe today. Although despite the dec 18 madness and the few greedy people who specifically take advantage of people who dont know of the cs worth, I think Cs in general is filled with wonderful people. Everytime i come back to this game I am greeted with a lot of kindess, people randomly gift so much, and have such kind manners, and scamming barely happens in comparison to other games (cough cough animal jam smh...) but yeah imo i always return to this game and I really love its community. I don't think I'll ever lose the spark even when im old and wrinkly.

[ILoveYou3000]

this topic will probably be locked soon bc mods dont like when anyone even speak or think about something negative, but i'm so sorry that happened to you. It happened to me when i first joined, i got the Ur peach and didnt know the worth and someone traded me bulk normal common pets and I accepted. It still makes me cringe today. Although despite the dec 18 madness and the few greedy people who specifically take advantage of people who dont know of the cs worth, I think Cs in general is filled with wonderful people. Everytime i come back to this game I am greeted with a lot of kindess, people randomly gift so much, and have such kind manners, and scamming barely happens in comparison to other games (cough cough animal jam smh...) but yeah imo i always return to this game and I really love its community. I don't think I'll ever lose the spark even when im old and wrinkly.

I'll agree with you about some people being nice, I've had people wishlist bomb me before, not knowing who I am with rares and such and today someone helped me with my Zodiac Dog collection when they didn't have to but they did.
So there is still some nice people on the site but over the course of the years I feel like more and more people are taking advantage of new users because I remember one year on my old account someone took advantage of me on December 18th, as I had no clue what the big hype was until February the next year and literally never felt so down because someone took advantage of me as I was new, literally only one or two months into the game when it happened back on my old account.
But for the most part the community is full of nice people, just gotta watch out for the 5% who will take advantage of ya.