Dates don't matter that much campaign!

[forest.]

I do feel that one of the reasons the site is feeling stale are the fact that new pets are so undervalued.
We get a *lot* of new content if you think about it, and it's all beautiful art, but it's all seen as 'monthlies' or worse: 'event rares' (I bet the very rare space event rat is way harder to find than a lot of 09 rares but it's newish and a rat so nobody cares).

this is something that’s been bothering me for a while! so many of the new pets are incredibly beautiful, and hyper-fixating on rarity and date can really distract from that.

i hope this isn’t too off-topic, but would anyone be interested in a “common/recent pets appreciation thread”? i’ve thought about making one. i know it probably wouldn’t make a massive difference, but i think it’s important to show recent pets some love too and could hopefully help create more of a positive attitude towards recent pets.

[musicgurl333]

Hoarding absolutely helps the economy. I don't want a complete collection. I want thousands upon thousands of the same pets. And despite how many I own, people were still able to find thousands more easily for trade when I held a quantity auction a few months ago. No one goes looking for these pets and is unable to find them, despite the ridiculous number I have on my account. Besides that, because I don't collect everything, more monthly pets I don't end up keeping are put in circulation because I'm not required to collect the same way as everyone else.

I bring them up also because the way I trade for them matches the idea that rarities don't matter "that much." You can see this in my trade thread where I lump years together and don't make all year groups double the next one. I definitely think there are likely to be fewer older pets in circulation due to them finding permanent homes, and therefore I do value them more, but overall it's not exponential. I'm always happy to make swaps that are pets of similar-ish date and same rarity, as long as nothing is a particularly sought after outcome.

TLDR: Totally support the message of this thread!

I’m so glad you posted this, because I’ve been casually collecting some of your hoard pets, but I couldn’t remember who it was that collected them. Haha. And I agree that hoarding helps the economy. I *love* trading a quantity of pets for older rares. Honestly, that’s part of why my pet collection is what it is.

I do think it’s a bit different when people hoard a ton of old, extremely rare pets. Obviously it’s their right to do so, and people are free to play the game however they like. I realize they often trade fairly or overpay for their pets, which puts other rare pets into circulation. But I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a little disappointing to see someone with dozens of duplicates of a pet I’d love to have just one of, and knowing that they’ll probably never trade them.

I do feel that one of the reasons the site is feeling stale are the fact that new pets are so undervalued.
We get a *lot* of new content if you think about it, and it's all beautiful art, but it's all seen as 'monthlies' or worse: 'event rares' (I bet the very rare space event rat is way harder to find than a lot of 09 rares but it's newish and a rat so nobody cares).

this is something that’s been bothering me for a while! so many of the new pets are incredibly beautiful, and hyper-fixating on rarity and date can really distract from that.

i hope this isn’t too off-topic, but would anyone be interested in a “common/recent pets appreciation thread”? i’ve thought about making one. i know it probably wouldn’t make a massive difference, but i think it’s important to show recent pets some love too and could hopefully help create more of a positive attitude towards recent pets.

I’d definitely be interested in that! Right off the top of my head I can think of several common and under pets that I absolutely *love*.

[Poserpanda]

But why? If I may ask? I'm not looking to start an argument and I respect your opinion. And I'm really really pleased that you're being so kind about it and respect everyone's choice of how to play despite how it makes you feel, so thank you very much! This is why I'm interested in hearing more of it actually! But you didn't really respond to my other points
Like if nobody hoarded very common pets that they wouldn't have any trading value? I still believe trades such as these: trades/viewtrade.php?id=67813156&userid=815696&signature=zfZQg2BnK8T7roDIzWPSDg
are helpful to the economy? As well as the fact that hoarders might put non duplicates and rares and such up for trade like I do
I'm really just curious what you think

What I mean is what has been better described here:

TLDR: Totally support the message of this thread!
I do think it’s a bit different when people hoard a ton of old, extremely rare pets. Obviously it’s their right to do so, and people are free to play the game however they like. I realize they often trade fairly or overpay for their pets, which puts other rare pets into circulation. But I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a little disappointing to see someone with dozens of duplicates of a pet I’d love to have just one of, and knowing that they’ll probably never trade them.

Thank you for listening to me. I'm not always sure how everything works on this site, and seeing what you and musicgurl333 have posted, helps a lot.

[Libelle]

the august PPS was catastrophic to the economy when it was released because of it's "demand" and caused a lot of tension and anger

The biggest problem were the tons and tons of extra accounts created that month in order to get the August PPS through cheating the game.

I love getting rares in the monthly outcomes because they shake everything up and add some harmless chaos. Getting the axolotl PPS in March was fun and it's something novel because it doesn't happen that often.

I feel exactly the same! Personally, I like the extra challenge of trading for a rare monthly outcome. Moreover, it's a great opportunity for newer players to trade for an older rare.

Personally, I don't think dates matter anymore.

I think this is a really common idea that we've all subscribed to, but if you actually think about it, dates only make sense within the same rarity label. A 2008 VR is probably worth more than a 2020 VR, but we have no way of knowing that. Dates were really important when a majority of pets were uncommon, but the rarity updates have balanced out the rarity labels more evenly across the board. We know that a rare pet is more valuable than an uncommon pet regardless of the year it was released. And I definitely followed that "old pets are automatically worth more" mindset for years, but it just doesn't make sense!

I agree! Sadly, I have found that, when trading, most people still adhere to the "older pets are muuuuuch more valuable"-mindset. I am happy to accept trade offers with newer pets for my older pets, but almost always end up offering tons of more recent pets for older pets, thus overpaying significantly.

I do think it’s a bit different when people hoard a ton of old, extremely rare pets. Obviously it’s their right to do so, and people are free to play the game however they like. I realize they often trade fairly or overpay for their pets, which puts other rare pets into circulation. But I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a little disappointing to see someone with dozens of duplicates of a pet I’d love to have just one of, and knowing that they’ll probably never trade them.

Every couple of month, this argument pops up somewhere on this site. It is simply not true. There are so many pets out there on active accounts that one will never have any difficulties in finding a specific very rare or OMGSR pet for trade. By saying "they often trade fairly" you are hurting very rare and OMGSR hoarders. They always trade fairly and most of the time overpay. They put all the time, energy and trade fodder they have into hoarding a particular outcome. If you did the same, you would achieve your dream-pet goal, too. It's all about prioritising.

I am a hoarder as well. Except for store pets (which I bought with my own money), I do not have any very rare or OMGSR hoards. However, owning a hoard of my favourite very rare is one of my last remaining Chicken Smoothie goals. Once I have all of the pets I want for my personal collection (I am not aiming for a complete collection), I will work on achieving that goal.

[musicgurl333]

I do think it’s a bit different when people hoard a ton of old, extremely rare pets. Obviously it’s their right to do so, and people are free to play the game however they like. I realize they often trade fairly or overpay for their pets, which puts other rare pets into circulation. But I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a little disappointing to see someone with dozens of duplicates of a pet I’d love to have just one of, and knowing that they’ll probably never trade them.

Every couple of month, this argument pops up somewhere on this site. It is simply not true. There are so many pets out there on active accounts that one will never have any difficulties in finding a specific very rare or OMGSR pet for trade. By saying "they often trade fairly" you are hurting very rare and OMGSR hoarders. They always trade fairly and most of the time overpay. They put all the time, energy and trade fodder they have into hoarding a particular outcome. If you did the same, you would achieve your dream-pet goal, too. It's all about prioritising.

I am a hoarder as well. Except for store pets (which I bought with my own money), I do not have any very rare or OMGSR hoards. However, owning a hoard of my favourite very rare is one of my last remaining Chicken Smoothie goals. Once I have all of the pets I want for my personal collection (I am not aiming for a complete collection), I will work on achieving that goal.

Wow...you foe'd me because of that? I'm not sure how to respond. How does it hurt hoarders to say that they have the right to hoard whatever they want? How does it hurt them to say they often trade fairly or overpay? The only thing I said negative was that it was disappointing to see people with huge hoards of pets that I've been unable to find/trade for myself. Which is true. That's how I feel, and I don't think it's an uncommon sentiment. I' never said or implied that people shouldn't hoard rare pets though. It's not their responsibility to protect people from disappointment...that's just life.

There are so many pets out there on active accounts that one will never have any difficulties in finding a specific very rare or OMGSR pet for trade

That's just not true at all. If VR and OMGSR pets were easy to find, then they wouldn't be VR or OMGSR. Now, I'm not saying that's because of hoarding. Even if no one hoards them, they're still just extremely rare. But you'll never convince me that having big hoards of extremely rares pets doesn't make it harder for others to find them. However, as I already pointed out, hoarders are totally within their rights to do that, and I'm not saying it's wrong. It also puts other old rares into circulation when they trade for their hoard pets, which is helpful. I merely expressed my personal feelings at seeing people with large, very rare hoards.

They always trade fairly and most of the time overpay.

It's impossible to know this without monitoring every single trade that happens for a hoard pet. I know for a fact that some people with hoards have been gifted hoard pets. Now, the people who gifted them still had to trade to get those pets, so as far as the economy is concerned it's the same as if the hoarders traded for it themselves. But it also doesn't mean that the hoarders traded fairly for every single pet.

[Libelle]

How does it hurt them to say they often trade fairly or overpay?

"Often" implies that you believe there to be numerous times when they don't trade fairly. This is defamation ... and one of the reasons the Trade Rant Thread was discontinued.

There are so many pets out there on active accounts that one will never have any difficulties in finding a specific very rare or OMGSR pet for trade.

That's just not true at all. If VR and OMGSR pets were easy to find, then they wouldn't be VR or OMGSR.

Very Rare or OMGSR does not mean that those pets are extremely rare to spot (like an endangered species in the wild). You can find Very Rare and OMGSR pets any time by searching through The Very Rare and OMGSR Swap Thread, the CS Auctions board, trade groups, etc. The only things that will slow you down are lack of trade fodder and unwillingness of the owner to accept your offer. I must have searched for every single Very Rare and OMGSR pet on Chicken Smoothie at least once (often multiple times for Secret Santa Events, etc.), and I have never had any difficulties in finding someone to trade with.

But you'll never convince me that having big hoards of extremely rares pets doesn't make it harder for others to find them.

No, that is not the case (see above). We have that argument on the Hoarders Thread every few months when somebody pops in to say what they dislike about hoarding.

It's impossible to know this without monitoring every single trade that happens for a hoard pet. I know for a fact that some people with hoards have been gifted hoard pets. [...] But it also doesn't mean that the hoarders traded fairly for every single pet.

You weren't talking about gifts, you were talking about trades. Hoarders trade fairly or overpay.

[musicgurl333]

@Libelle I'm not looking to argue...I think I've made it pretty clear that I'm not against hoarders, although you seem determined to turn it into that. I don't want to keep repeating the same points over and over, so we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. Hopefully we can both agree to get back to the topic of years.

On that note, I'd really like to see how the pet counting experiment works with rares. However, since rares are harder to find, I think a bigger sample size than 20 will be needed. Personally, 20 is about the most that I'm willing to do at one time. But, I thought that if there were a few people who were interested to do this, we could each look at 10-20 accounts and put the data together.

The only thing I'm not quite sure about it how we avoid counting the same users twice. I think the easiest way would probably be for everyone to check 10-20 accounts independently, make a note of the username where they found the pets, and then we could eliminate duplicates. Alternatively, if there is one kind volunteer who would like to gather enough random usernames for everyone, then we could distribute them that way.

The other issue would be organizing the data. I'm thinking a Google doc would probably be best? I'm open to ideas.

As for the pets we count, feel free to make suggestions. My only suggestion would be to try to maintain as much consistency as possible...all same species, either all base line art or all line art edits, and either all event pets or no event pets. You get the idea. If anyone is interested in contributing, let me know! Alternatively, if there's someone with more time than me who wants to try this on their own and look at a bunch of accounts, well I certainly wouldn't complain.

[Zeena]

Wow ! I read through every reply on this thread because seeing all of y'all's thoughts and opinions was so interesting ! I am personally not much of a trader anymore . I stoped caring about trades maybe about 2015-2016 and started focusing more on the art and role playing side of the site . However, even with pets not being my main focus I have always held onto certain pets . Especially older ones that I enjoyed . Part of it being that "The List" was still a BIG thing when I was into trading . I have also held on to the belief that an older uncommon is worth much more than a newer, but I like this viewpoint that you have presented !!

Also, to talk about dates- have you ever noticed the distaste towards rares+ with a dec 18 date on them ?? Every year it rolls around I notice a ton of threads looking for "true date" pets and I even see some people who refuse to take in pets that are from dec 18 !! Just because they aren't originally from 2008,09,10 etc ! It's hard to think about how important that time stamp is to some people !

[Shian]

It's not 'insane'. It's going to a folder that's full of every CS dog ever, going to say, July 08 and see that you're missing one. But the archive says you have it! Where is it? It could be anywhere

That's why it's important to me. For people that just put dogs in folders by month, it does not matter as much, but for me, I need them with the littermates.

[Avrap]

I've been reading through the thread and soaking in everyone's thoughts.
When I first came in, I thought 'this is crazy, of course dates matter!' but after reading I completely agree! A mutual agreement about this would really help newer players get more invested.

Something that I would like to suggest about the 'tests' is perhaps doing one where you only looked through players who have been here since 2008-2011, 2012-2015, and 2016-2020 in seperate groups and compared the results. The ranges can vary but something like that could add a new perspective.