Does anyone else feel like Demand is killing CS?

[ariadne]

The "Dragon Cat PPS is not worth lists" part of the thread really sticks with me. I offered a mainlist omgsr for the PPS in someone's auction; they don't seem that impressed. I'd love to own a Drink Me but the demand is depressing. Maybe it's just me but I feel like CS would benefit from more transparent rarities. The rarity update was a good step, but people still don't really pay attention to it.

[skyline]

The "Dragon Cat PPS is not worth lists" part of the thread really sticks with me. I offered a mainlist omgsr for the PPS in someone's auction; they don't seem that impressed. I'd love to own a Drink Me but the demand is depressing. Maybe it's just me but I feel like CS would benefit from more transparent rarities. The rarity update was a good step, but people still don't really pay attention to it.

i think the rarity update in fact, made some of it a bit worse. store pets going omgsr is obviously going to make their demand skyrocket, even stores that didn't, or haven't turned yet, really made people realize all store pets are pretty much destined to go purple someday. you can't really blame them for that though. !! and definitely not saying it "shouldn't have happened" or something like that because that is ridiculous, it surely needed to happen and i'm happy that it did. just pointing that out in case anyone took it wrong.

i'm not totally sure what you mean by transparent rarities, but i think a lot of people treated it as a normal rarity update. not quite latching on to the part where it made rarity more accurate, and it really seems like a good majority of people didn't really care. as much as it has been said, demand and such won't change over night. just gotta give it some time. trading and values change drastically each year.

[ariadne]

I mean that we really don't know how close or far two commons are in rarity. A 2015 pet has the same common tag as a 2019 pet for example. People really have no choice but to fill that gap in knowledge with demand based guesses.
I remember at some point Tess said that they weren't going to release an official ranking of pet rarities which I feel would be the only way to combat outrageous demand effectively.
The truth of the matter is that if you or I don't give them a list for their Dragon Cat the next person will.
On the subject of the store pets, I frankly disagree with them never being rereleased. Like you said, that guarantees that over time they will all be unobtainable.

[Feather <3]

The Dogtag and July PPS are two that come to my mind. The Dogtag used to go for much more compared to what it does today, and the July PPS was pretty high up on the list when it was first created. They're still worth a lot, but they aren't really special compared to other pets that go for the same amount.

And last but not least, I'd argue the Sunjewel took a huge fall. It never actually got moved down the list or anything, but back in the early years of the site it was THE big achievement to own a sunjewel. It was expensive, it was popular, everyone dreamt of owning one eventually.
Nowadays it pretty much just exists out there. Everyone knows it's worth a lot, but you see few people actively looking for one or calling it their dreamie. The sunback is much more popular.

Oh that's interesting, I didn't know the higher list pets had that much fluctuation. Actually, I suppose I have noticed the Sunjewel demand not being as wild as it was back then, now that you mention it!

the highest I saw it go for was a mid-september from the now-retired list. and when the pet got its rarity tag, it was an uncommon. it turned rare in the 2019 rarity overhaul but at the time people were furious.

Yikes. I was not around for this, that must have been quite a roller coaster... And re: the Medieval Faire dog too, it seems like there's definitely a pattern where a really high demand pet creates a bubble before it kind of "settles down" in terms of actual rarity and demand.


I wonder if there are a few different factors here:

1. Misconception about scarcity = big bubbles that die quickly.
Pretty self explanatory, also probably pretty upsetting to players who get on the wrong side of this or are taken for a ride.

2. General tastes changing on high value pets = long cycles of ups and downs.
Like the Sunjewel, July PPS, Timberwolf, Malk Mutant, etc... this might be true of lower rarity pets too but gets really pronounced because a fluctuation in market for a very "pricey" pet is just on a larger scale. This seems like a potentially natural and healthy part of the game.

3. Store pets that can never be re-released climbing in value = ???
I wonder if there are examples of store pets that have also had any decreases in demands after they've risen. Does anyone know?
Lots of what I've heard on this thread are stories of how much the Dragon PPS is worth, how much the Corgis are worth, the Skelebun and Cerberus, etc. Do you all think this trend is one that is actually different at its core than #2? Or would you expect the same ups/downs of shifting preferences to apply in most cases, and bring the demand down for some of these pets eventually (or maybe it's already happened for some)? If it actually is fundamentally different for store pets than other ex-lists, is this thread more of a reaction to this particular category of demand rather than the other two?

Heh, thanks for entertaining my original question, really enjoyed reading the answers. :D

[Seasonal]

3. Store pets that can never be re-released climbing in value = ???
I wonder if there are examples of store pets that have also had any decreases in demands after they've risen. Does anyone know?
Lots of what I've heard on this thread are stories of how much the Dragon PPS is worth, how much the Corgis are worth, the Skelebun and Cerberus, etc. Do you all think this trend is one that is actually different at its core than #2? Or would you expect the same ups/downs of shifting preferences to apply in most cases, and bring the demand down for some of these pets eventually (or maybe it's already happened for some)? If it actually is fundamentally different for store pets than other ex-lists, is this thread more of a reaction to this particular category of demand rather than the other two?

To be honest, I can't recall a time where the Skelebun and Cerberus lost value, but I could be totally wrong. I don't think the Skelebun ever had any special demand associated with it until its rarity change and the general increase in value of older store pets. I remember that Malk pets gained a lot of popularity after she retired her linearts, which made people really want both Cerbs. The Skelebun wasn't a favorite of many people from what I recall - bunnies just weren't that popular - but ironically this is what makes it so rare now. More people wanted a 3-headed dog than a bunny, so there are more Cerbs than Skelebuns. People only want the Skelebun now because they've realized its fate.

That being said, I don't think that the Skelebun/Cerberus and Corgis/Dragoncat PPS are comparable in this way. The old store pets are not just worth a lot because of demand; there just weren't a lot of people who bought them. They were a bit expensive for just one pet, and even many active players (such as myself) were either too young to spend money on a virtual game, or didn't want to spend their real life money on what is essentially pixels on a screen. I think that with the recent changes in the world and virtual things becoming way more prevalent, this mentality has shifted, but back in 2010 I don't think that many people were keen on spending real money on something they didn't perceive as real. Plus, I'm not sure that in 2010 people expected CS to stay around for a very long time like it has. Today's CS economy is much different; you don't have to spend real money to get C$. There's tons of C$ floating around that can be traded for relatively easily. Getting 70 C$ every two months is very doable for most people.

Compared to the corgi set and the dragon set, a lot more of them were bought. Yes, they will never be re-released, so they will always theoretically climb in value very slowly over time. But, I don't think they would become unattainable in the same way that the old store pets will; it would take many, many years for that to happen, and realistically I don't think CS will be around long enough to see that happen. I would guess that there are less than 1,000 of each of the old store pets whereas there are probably thousands upon thousands of those newer sets. I think their demand has risen because so many people are hopeful that they will become super rare, but it's just not going to happen.

So yes, the Skelebun and Cerberus and all those older store pets have had a fluctuating demand, but I think now we are at the point where we have realized that they are close to being the rarest pets on site, and everyone wants to get them while they still can, fearing the day that every old store pet finds their forever home. I think their demand stems from users knowing that they won't be re-released. People are hopeful that newer store pets will climb in rarity in the same way. However, there are just too many people on CS now compared to 8-10 years ago, so while they will slowly gain value over time, it will never be to the same degree that the old store pets have.

[taurus ;]

The "Dragon Cat PPS is not worth lists" part of the thread really sticks with me. I offered a mainlist omgsr for the PPS in someone's auction; they don't seem that impressed. I'd love to own a Drink Me but the demand is depressing. Maybe it's just me but I feel like CS would benefit from more transparent rarities. The rarity update was a good step, but people still don't really pay attention to it.

jeez, you're serious???!!! what'd exactly you offer for it??? but still, it's arguable that that particular pet has better demand than some of the OMGSRs. rats and fruits in particular though. so yeah, demand really overpowers rarity, but i can see too sometimes.

[Shinryu]

i saw the rares list was discontinued and i was like alright!
no worries.
however, when it comes to trading, i wish it was back.
i traded for an august pps and i gave around 40 pets for it.
majority of them were very rare. i knew this pet had
demand, and it was a huge dreamie of mine! i love her a lot.
however, the person only accepted it cause of the
quantity, but said it wasn't exactly fair for them?? i was like,
what??? i dont understand haha.

Mhh, to be fair here, the August PPS has been going for these kinds of prices before the list retirement already.
That was one of the issues many people voiced - that users were already not following list placements any more for certain pets that were deemed 'high demand', so that ultimately there was a good chunk of pets, on and off the list, that didn't even go for their value as suggested by the list.
The August PPS is very cute and very rare, so it's kinda always been going for a lot, and it's not getting any better the older the pet gets.^^

[maisie+flokez]

I wonder if there are a few different factors here:

1. Misconception about scarcity = big bubbles that die quickly.
Pretty self explanatory, also probably pretty upsetting to players who get on the wrong side of this or are taken for a ride.

2. General tastes changing on high value pets = long cycles of ups and downs.
Like the Sunjewel, July PPS, Timberwolf, Malk Mutant, etc... this might be true of lower rarity pets too but gets really pronounced because a fluctuation in market for a very "pricey" pet is just on a larger scale. This seems like a potentially natural and healthy part of the game.

3. Store pets that can never be re-released climbing in value = ???
I wonder if there are examples of store pets that have also had any decreases in demands after they've risen. Does anyone know?
Lots of what I've heard on this thread are stories of how much the Dragon PPS is worth, how much the Corgis are worth, the Skelebun and Cerberus, etc. Do you all think this trend is one that is actually different at its core than #2? Or would you expect the same ups/downs of shifting preferences to apply in most cases, and bring the demand down for some of these pets eventually (or maybe it's already happened for some)? If it actually is fundamentally different for store pets than other ex-lists, is this thread more of a reaction to this particular category of demand rather than the other two?

Heh, thanks for entertaining my original question, really enjoyed reading the answers.

The Raven has lost some market value recently, there was a sudden MASSIVE rush for them, lots of players were auctioning them and they were going for overpays at auction, so I saw quite a few trades offering 2+ nons-worth, but it seems to have settled down now that there's less demand spiking the value, so it's going for around 1.5 nons again - store pet values do fluctuate quickly though because there's ALWAYS players who know they'll become much harder to find, so will overpay for them when they see an opportunity to get one. But the value of the Cerberus/Skelebun seems to be steadier, it's only really rising from players going "I traded 3.5 nons, so I want 3.5-4 nons", but is holding steadier at the moment. But I agree that this different category of demand has a lot to do with players frustrations around demand culture on CS as you're right, natural demand usually fluctuates and settles after a period of time.

[Aziraphale]

Just out of curiosity, has there ever been a drop in the UR Tiger's and Joker's demand?
I don't see them listed as dreamies as often as back in 2013-2015, but maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places.

[amarok.]

Just out of curiosity, has there ever been a drop in the UR Tiger's and Joker's demand?
I don't see them listed as dreamies as often as back in 2013-2015, but maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places.

The joker has always fluctuated a lot from what I remember. The UR Tiger has always had really good demand though.