Sell Chicken Smoothie (Poll Has Been Reset!)

[darkspawn]

@Obsessed

Not quoted because our posts combined are very long lol!

I definitely agree with everything you have said. Especially with everything you mentioned about the struggle of noobs. I have a family member who is a newer player, and while they have a complete understanding of the game and its rules, they are pretty much having to live off of the generousity of older players so that they can trade more than once a day. New users are 100% at a huge disadvantage to older players, and it is extremely hard to trade as a new player. The most they can do is wait, spending months gathering trade fodder to obtain their first rares, only for an oldie to ask for all their overpay to give them a basic pet. I understand that this is the point of the game, but I can see how discouraging this can be after a little while. I wish there was a way to help our noobies flourish, but I can't think of anything other than shoving more pets back into the economy, but then again this might only benefit the older players again.

Truthfully, Dec 18th and the Pound just isn't enough to counteract this.

[rycbar]

@Obsessed

Not quoted because our posts combined are very long lol!

I definitely agree with everything you have said. Especially with everything you mentioned about the struggle of noobs. I have a family member who is a newer player, and while they have a complete understanding of the game and its rules, they are pretty much having to live off of the generousity of older players so that they can trade more than once a day. New users are 100% at a huge disadvantage to older players, and it is extremely hard to trade as a new player. The most they can do is wait, spending months gathering trade fodder to obtain their first rares, only for an oldie to ask for all their overpay to give them a basic pet. I understand that this is the point of the game, but I can see how discouraging this can be after a little while. I wish there was a way to help our noobies flourish, but I can't think of anything other than shoving more pets back into the economy, but then again this might only benefit the older players again.

Truthfully, Dec 18th and the Pound just isn't enough to counteract this.

I’d never really thought about that too much. I remember when I first joined and all I had were the recent monthlies to trade. Sometimes just to get one common-uncommon pet that caught my fancy, I would trade away entire unknown rarity litters. I ended up getting past this stage pretty rapidly though once I bought my first store pets. I used my pocket money to buy multiples of the 2015 unicorn storepets to use as “trading fodder”, but not everyone can do that. I didn’t have anything in between the recent common monthlies and the recent very rare store pets in value, so for every trade I either had to part with nearly my entire collection of commons, or trade away a very rare. I ended up doing some very unfair trades where I would offer my storepets for a few uncommons or a rare from the previous year. I look back at some of those trades now and wonder what I was thinking. Only recently do I really feel like I’m not a “noob” anymore- leaving and coming back several years later is one way to up your pets value
I’ve also inexplicably started getting better things from the pound than I used to, and I won a giveaway for the first time!

[yharnam boy]

-snip-

Thanks for your post, I fully agree with all you said.
I was also an adult already when I joined here and have no "childhood nostalgia" with this site, it was always simply a relaxing spot for me. Too much change to how it works would probably drive me away instead of keeping me here. I have ADHD and aspergers (among a few other things), and I understand the stimulation issue, but I do many things at once and don't just focus on CS.

[ElementalInsanity]

Personally, I don't really agree with some recent posts and I want to explain why. My understanding of this thread's goals is to ask for:
- more communication
- quality of life updates
- revamped rules
- implementing highly regarded user suggestions for improvements to the existing game
and other similar changes that may add to CS's model, but not fundamentally change it. This is what I want, personally, and what I know I and others are working on.

Yeah this I believe is what this thread was meant for and the part I agree with. Majorly with the more communication and QOL/other suggestions implemented.
I don’t want CS to change fundamentally and gameplay wise. I’d go to a new site if I wanted a whole different gameplay that wasn’t super casual, and there’s plenty out there.
There’s also plenty games I left because too much went on; the whole casual experience of adopts here is what’s kept me around for 12 years.

[queenhoneybee]

on top of that, let's not forget that you 'cant have 'adult' in your signature' but i see it ALL of the time in signatures that belong to well known players, and that's not even something ive ever understood. being an adult means you are 18 or older, we have a forum that is literally called "Adults Discussion 18+" so why can't i put that in my signature?

You can't put ANY age in your signature.
That's a fairly new rule, but anyone can post in the 18+ forum no matter their age.
You can however list your zodiac animal and it's pretty easy to guess exact age with that since there's a 12 year gap between them.

first off, i have searched through with the search function, but haven't found anything regarding this exact topic point. if this has been resolved/answered afterall, please feel free to ignore.

that is precisely what i was just about to point out.
if a person mentions in their profile that they are, say, 21 years old, that's a forbidden thing to do and they receive a board warning.
but leaving a chinese zodiac in their signature is ?? okay ?? even encouraged during chinese new year ??
all it takes is a quick "year of the rabbit" google search and voilá, the person can either be (given that it's 2020 rn), 9 years old (which... i don't think is allowed on cs? or at least shouldn't be? idk--), 21, 33 or older.
so then, why is "i'm x years old/i'm x+ years old" not allowed, but chinese zodiacs are?
thanks for any feedback! personaly, i don't think CS should be outright sold, but drastic improvements are a must.

[MuddyPawprints]

on top of that, let's not forget that you 'cant have 'adult' in your signature' but i see it ALL of the time in signatures that belong to well known players, and that's not even something ive ever understood. being an adult means you are 18 or older, we have a forum that is literally called "Adults Discussion 18+" so why can't i put that in my signature?

You can't put ANY age in your signature.
That's a fairly new rule, but anyone can post in the 18+ forum no matter their age.
You can however list your zodiac animal and it's pretty easy to guess exact age with that since there's a 12 year gap between them.

first off, i have searched through with the search function, but haven't found anything regarding this exact topic point. if this has been resolved/answered afterall, please feel free to ignore.

that is precisely what i was just about to point out.
if a person mentions in their profile that they are, say, 21 years old, that's a forbidden thing to do and they receive a board warning.
but leaving a chinese zodiac in their signature is ?? okay ?? even encouraged during chinese new year ??
all it takes is a quick "year of the rabbit" google search and voilá, the person can either be (given that it's 2020 rn), 9 years old (which... i don't think is allowed on cs? or at least shouldn't be? idk--), 21, 33 or older.
so then, why is "i'm x years old/i'm x+ years old" not allowed, but chinese zodiacs are?
thanks for any feedback! personaly, i don't think CS should be outright sold, but drastic improvements are a must.

you can have adult in your sig

Forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&t=4384071&p=131236619&hilit=adult#p131236595

[nickjr]

Re: zodiac

See here, last 2 pages
Forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3743459

Really wish staff could reverse their verdict on zodiac animals I understand that you can figure out basically anyone’s age if you look hard enough at their post history, especially if they’ve been on CS long enough, but the Chinese zodiacs make it 100x easier and doesn’t even require extensive post history... It only requires one post that indicates a period of life, no need to filter through posts to see when someone stopped talking about X and started talking about Y or wait for years for that to happen or anything.

This should probably be in a diff topic idk

On phone in bed sorry for scatteredness

[Lemon Tea Rain]

They also have a skinny dipping joke on their shop page? (store/category.php?id=9) It reads: "Going swimming? We pulled some spare swimming gear from Avian's closet so there's no excuse for skinny dipping!" and thus how I learned what that word is, Maybe It's just me, but I don't think parents would want their little kids to learn the words 'skinny dipping', and you know what if a kid saw that store item in cs, googled skinny dipping and saw something.. uh... bad?

I kind of have to disagree with this bit of your post because for one, I don't think skinny-dipping is a particularly bad word to know? It's not inappropriate, it's just a word to describe a way of swimming. Plus, (hopefully, anyway) children's parents should have put the proper filters on their kid's web to prevent any inappropriate content popping up. I might be a little biased because I personally learnt about the word skinny dipping in a children's book when I was younger, and it kinda just feels like a word you're bound to come across eventually to me. But that's just how I think, I think that one's probably more matter of opinion than fact.

[Obsessed]

I also agree with Lacuna. While mini games and more major things could be added to CS, I don't know if I would like it. CS is very simple and that actually is what made me stay, because I figured out where everything was. I get lost in games like FR and DV sometimes, because I easily forget where things are.

I almost feel as if we've hit our goal. We've gotten mid-month updates now (we'll see how those go). We've gotten the revamped rules thread, that is a WIP. Staff have promised more communication, which I've already seen. I'm not sure as far as the site suggestions go, how long it will take for them to be implemented, but it would be cool to get more of those added.

I agree completely.
For one, mini-games aren't a quick fix to revitalizing the site, and might ultimately impede other progress if the staff had to focus on that. I love that CS has an extremely easy to navigate format. The function of the tabs makes navigating super fast! I get lost in the Oekaki and Forums sometimes because they're so large and there's so many subtopics, but overall I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I can always use bookmarks, the search feature, or CTRL+F to get to where I want.
Second, seeing signs of progress has been very exciting. Two of this thread's most important goals for me, personally, that Lacuna pointed out are: "quality of life updates" and "implementing highly regarded user suggestions for improvements to the existing game". Recent updates and hearing from the staff (!!) have provided evidence that there are definitive efforts being taken in the direction of improving CS for users and I couldn't be happier.

[Tailish]

boo
State of the Debate III: The Return of the Queen?
Covering pages 44-64
Unfortunately the answer is no, but I promise good stuff has happened
part I • part II

1. Chronological

17. ZEL posts

• ZEL is a general helper who has been with the site all the way since 2008
• They expand upon a previous post of Burrito Bunny's to explain why they'd rather stay a general helper than be a moderator, as well as offering their support for the thread

18. The Summer Event announcement is posted with one of Lacuna's pets, prompting users to wonder why it's not one of Tess'

• Traditionally, events are announced using Tess' custom pets Avian and Totoro as mascots
• ZEL and Lacuna explain that the reason is Lacuna's major involvement with event preparations, and that admins did post the announcement
• It is pointed out that without this information, it's easy for users to continue assuming that Tess is absentee, but also that the site doesn't revolve around this thread

19. This sparks a discussion on why Tess hasn't posted yet

• Tess, as the founder of the site, is seen by users as the person ultimately in charge
• Many users are dissappointed or annoyed at the lack of posts from either Tess or Sorren Fey
• However, others point out that Tess may be waiting for the thread to cool down, and that they would rather have a carefully thought out post than a rushed one. Also, we always have to remember the human
• I personally have been holding out for Tess to post so I could use this LOTR pun in the title but uhhh

20. Some users feel their financial investment (in the form of C$) is no longer worth it

• Users mention that as well as the concerns already brought up, there is little to do with C$
• This has also been mentioned earlier in the thread.

21. There is still some rumbling about moderation, as well as the rules

• alexandria posted a good overview of how all over the place the rules currently are
• • Furthermore, some users find current moderation practices unclear or unfair
  • However, it's noted that the previous mentions of privacy issues are still relevant. ZEL explains why mods can't always publicly explain or defend their actions
  • Lacuna also gives a little more explanation about why Show us that you care was locked
  • Also, the rule update is actively being worked on to make the rules clearer and easier to find

22. The Summer Event begins!

• At this point the thread slows down significantly, since everyone is busy picking up trash

23. The new "Recent Oekaki' gallery is announced
this is a hidden easter egg. very easter, much egg
24. In the August 1st news post, it is announced that there will be a mid-month update with some insight into behind-the-scenes stuff!

• This is met with general enthusiasm
• We can expect the update to come around the 15th, give or take a few days

25. A continuously recurring topic is what kind of gameplay changes CS should undergo

• The majority of people argue that CS is unique for being low-stress and very calm, and the gameplay shouldn't undergo any changes. Rather, the focus should lay on implementing suggestions, quality-of-life updates, issue fixes, as well as improving the rules and communication
• Some people want more mini-events or perhaps mini-games, which would add on to the current CS experience but not majorly change it. However, others feel that constant events would get too overwhelming. It would also mean more work for staff. There is a dedicated suggestion for the mini-events
• Very few people are interested in seeing major updates to the gameplay to make it more similar to sites like FlightRising, Aywas, or Dappervolk. Most others argue that this would be a fundamental change to the site that wouldn't work with the thousands of pets many users have

26. Moderator applications are opened for the first time since June last year

• There are both Global Moderator and Oekaki Moderator positions open!

27. It's World Elephant Day, and in celebration there's an amazing free item set by Anouki!

• This is also met with excitement, both because the items are super cute, and because the spontaneous event is nice
• Although there's been no announcement on this thread or the dedicated suggestion, this is very similar to the mini-events and additional interaction proposed and supported by many users

2. In summary
Over the course of the last few weeks, several changes and updates have shown that staff is actively taking into account the concerns raised and suggestions made in this thread. The rules update seems to be coming at us full steam, and we can expect a mid-month update within the next week! Furthermore, staff have remained active on the thread to answer questions and continue the conversation, which is great!

Since the thread has been heard and reacted to, there are fewer new suggestions and concerns posted here (but for that there's been an uptick in "proper" suggestions in the board!). However, many themes keep recurring: the issues with suggestions, quality of life updates, moderation, the rules, and communication are most frequent. Some (or perhaps most?) of these are actively being worked on by staff. Others are thorny problems that will probably require continuous attention. Over the coming weeks and months it will be important to see how consistent these new efforts are to improve things. While it is amazing that staff have come out and responded (ignoring the admittedly rather glaring exceptions), what really matters is what happens next. The progress that is being made looks good right now, and all the indications are it will stay that way!

Last: I would like to submit a formal request for a MASSIVE shoutout to Lacuna, Seasonal, ZEL, and Burrito Bunny, as well as popping star, rockruff, Nick, Simon, and everyone else who posted, for having actively worked with and contributed to the thread. Y'all rock. Thanks for hearing us. Thanks for caring.

Woookay it is way too hot where i live so i'm going to drink some iced tea now. i think this might be the last one of these summaries, since the thread has slowed down a lot and they're getting rather long anyways, so thanks for suffering through these endlessly long posts <3 also, go adopt the elephant items. they really are super cute.
may edit for spelling/clarity tomorrow
absolutely shameless self promotion for my suggestion to increase the contrast of the highlight on trade pages