[urgent] this site really is actually dying

[ButterflyChaser]

Yeah this September I already gave up on trying to complete my August collection. Just too much work posting, waiting, getting nothing, or trades wanting more valuable pets. If you don't trade ungrouped pets it is like forget it. Also wait too long for the month to finish and no one trades.

[incognito!]

On the same note, I think a big part of why trading is so hard is simply because so many years have passed. I’m sure when the rarity system was developed in 2008, nobody was thinking about how hard it would be to get a complete collection in 2022. I don’t really agree with how trading is treated now, and I do think that trying to keep going with the same model as when we had only 4 years’ worth of pets to contend with is making things far more difficult than they could be.

I still deeply enjoy this site and find most my joy in trading for common missed outcomes, and this is why.
There is like... no way to trade extremely rare pets anymore. When I joined in 2012, with a bit of luck from quitting users and the pound, I got pets that were hard to get then but IMPOSSIBLE to get these days. I never got an extremely rare pet from December 18th. But it was still fairly easy to trade and gets pets you want and sorta work your way up, as long as you invested time into the game. Now, trading is treated totally differently. And you're right, it's because theres a decade+ worth of pets!

In terms of overall comments, I don't think this site is dying, per se, it's just almost 15 years old and is an older style of game that, as others have said, doesn't give that "immediate gratification" a la Tiktok. People definitely still play it, but yes, there is a bottleneck in acquiring rare pets which makes it less fun for new users but unless you fundamentally change the game I'm not sure how to fix that.

[halloween3110]

I'm sorry For butting in again.

I do agree with may of the posters on this thread,

But I also think that we, the CS community, need to look within ourselves and try to become more empathetic to all other users ... integrate more ... send more gifts and chat to players through forums, messages and even trades.

We cant blame site rules or the mods, creators etc.

It really is up to us to change the perception of greediness!

Sorry, but not sorry

[rileypillow]

I'm sorry For butting in again.

I do agree with may of the posters on this thread,

But I also think that we, the CS community, need to look within ourselves and try to become more empathetic to all other users ... integrate more ... send more gifts and chat to players through forums, messages and even trades.

We cant blame site rules or the mods, creators etc.

It really is up to us to change the perception of greediness!

Sorry, but not sorry

Agree, many of the problems brought up are the fault of others and there is only so much the staff can do to help, even with trading. Perhaps a guide that explains pet worths clearly could be made with input from the community, I feel like part of the problem is people don’t always understand values which can turn an ordinary rare into something worth several very rares. It sounds like trading wasn’t this hard until the list was retired, from what I have read, and I believe that it’s retirement made values shoot up to impossibly high levels.

[winx]

I'm sorry For butting in again.

I do agree with may of the posters on this thread,

But I also think that we, the CS community, need to look within ourselves and try to become more empathetic to all other users ... integrate more ... send more gifts and chat to players through forums, messages and even trades.

We cant blame site rules or the mods, creators etc.

It really is up to us to change the perception of greediness!

Sorry, but not sorry

Agree, many of the problems brought up are the fault of others and there is only so much the staff can do to help, even with trading. Perhaps a guide that explains pet worths clearly could be made with input from the community, I feel like part of the problem is people don’t always understand values which can turn an ordinary rare into something worth several very rares. It sounds like trading wasn’t this hard until the list was retired, from what I have read, and I believe that it’s retirement made values shoot up to impossibly high levels.

The discontinued list was made with input from the community. However, that led to some pets being way overvalued and other pets extremely undervalued due to demand. Additionally, there were issues with the fact it was not updated properly nor particularly friendly to those who had a different opinion. The current list creates a basis that cannot be disputed -- when a pet turned very rare and OMGSR. A pet that turned very rare earlier than one pet would be worth more for instance. With that as a starting point, demand can build off of that. Another issue with the previous list was and is that demand is constantly fluctuating. It allowed individuals to continually overprice their pets to the point where they were raising the pets deemed "value" on the list. This is where the Successful Trades thread became relevant because it showed what a pet was consistently going for. Any pets valued above the "consistent" value would simply be anomalies and not the norm.

I believe the new list is inherently better because it is not based simply on the opinion of a select few. I say select few because more influential players would have more say, while the common player would simply be there for the ride. With the parallel of the new list and the successful trades thread, there is a basis and a record that everyone can contribute to and follow.

I came back from hiatus in October 2021. I had no idea what "non", "MA", etc. meant. I chose to take an hour out of my day to read through it and learn to ensure I wasn't making any critical mistakes. Being informed is the best way to avoid getting scammed in trades. Knowing resources to seek trade help is also critical if you're unsure where a pet's true value/demand falls. The only problem I see is that a user would have to be active in the forums to know about these resources. I see issues all the time where people post trades asking if it was fair after they accepted, only to find out from a responder that is was super unfair to them. I think quick links to these threads somewhere in the trade area would help to show people that there are resources out there to help them... the only problem is that the threads get remade after a certain number of posts, so it would be tedious to re-link it each time.

[Drive Like Jehu]

it's not just me, then? i'm not active on the forums at all (it looks like i am but i only use it to bump trade posts, mostly my own) and i just noticed it because i RARELY get trades. it's sad really because i'm trying to trade off my pets for FR

[+Vesper]

Its so heckin hard to trade for [[[URS!!!]]] that go for 2+ nons because of how in demand they are.
Like I just want a darn bee, which isn't even omgsr but still goes for 3 heckin nons!

It makes me real upset- I just want to trade but everyone values things differently and expect overpay for every single pet they have.

[barbwirebrat]

Its so heckin hard to trade for [[[URS!!!]]] that go for 2+ nons because of how in demand they are.
Like I just want a darn bee, which isn't even omgsr but still goes for 3 heckin nons!

It makes me real upset- I just want to trade but everyone values things differently and expect overpay for every single pet they have.

that’s one thing that’s always confused me about the new list. you’d think omgsr pets would automatically be worth more, so to have very rare pets outranking them makes the rarity system kind of obsolete.

[×Seven of Nine×]

Let's try to stay on topic you guys, the list is definitely a problem tho I do agree, but according to the votes on the list thread the majority of users that are actively on here use it and like it, so I don't think it's a source of the site dying.

I'd like to add that yes , the community is the problem, not the way the site is run necessarily.

The mods can only do so much. The rudeness, standoffish nature of users is OUR fault. This is what I want to focus on in the thread, reasons that are causing the site to die.
Stuff like the discords, where everyone is talking instead. Or that's what I hear. How many are even in that discord actively talking?

The communication or lack thereof is what got me to start this thread.

[Goldstarwolf]

My history and a problem
I joined December 2019. I’m not sure what kept me in the game, but I collected somehow. I don’t know how anymore. But I think it started with gifts c: And the fact I joined near the Dec 18 thing by coincidence, haha. I think it sorta shows my lack of memory is a sign the game hasn’t been too interesting to me. It was a very new experience though. Think a problem is what do we do on this game? Just collect? Kind of boring D: Needs a few more fun things. Many hiatuses. I’ve never come across bad people.

Why do I play now
Currently, I only now play to get better stuff to then trade for art, my passion, using my old accumulated stuff. I also trade for offsite. Flightrising is also very old (2014) but has a more effective user base. I think some aspects could be utilised?

Closed species (community)
I’m big into closed species on TH but not CS. Feels confusing, overwhelming and unwelcoming ig? Like how do I start understanding ? TH is easy to ask and randomly join. Same for lots of forum minigames (not like, “user above avatar: kiss, date, marry,” but like hunting stuff.)

I really agree with the Closed species, it really does somewhat feel unwelcoming thats why I haven't even tried to get into one...