[urgent] this site really is actually dying

[Simmy]

100% agree. i had my age in my bio but was asked to remove it. maybe the discord should be 16+? idk, totally just throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks. i know this site is family friendly but it really caters to the younger side of its audience and leaves pretty much nothing for the adults which really sucks. i don’t really know what else to say that i haven’t already, just that it can be a pain to be an adult on this site sometimes lol

I agree with this,
logically I'm thinking that CS is childfriendly due to COPPA, but the minimum age to sign up for discord is 13? I understand there are some kids that would bypass the rule but it seems like a lot of restriction for the discord, where people who are certainly over the age of 13 are the ones using it the most.

[Moiraine]

I play another pet site, Gothicat World*, which is very like CS but has a number of features that CS doesn't have and has kept me coming back for years despite never using the forums at all, so I thought I'd quickly highlight a few features:

- Interactive elements to the pets: click buttons to brush/feed/play etc. There's no consequence if you don't do this (pets don't starve etc)
- Inventory and item shop for brushes/food/medicine etc
- Each pet has a profile where you can write little stories or bios about them
- Sending your pets on explorations that can sometimes turn up items/etc
- Pets can get sick/injured/etc and require medicine to treat
- Daily login rewards. There's no consequence if you miss a day
- A system of creating hybrid pets that are totally optional and don't count towards a complete pet collection (so, no need to collect every last one, but you can have unique pets to your own tastes)
- Fairly regular events and games, including a yearly community game that emphasises working with other users/teammates

I'm obviously not advocating copying another site word-for-word, but perhaps these can be inspirations to make CS a bit more interesting and active, requiring users to spend a little more time here per day. It would require revamping CS's pet system entirely and making them more like virtual pets rather than just little pictures, but I think that would really increase the site's status as a game rather than just collecting. Personally, I definitely regard my CS pets as little pictures and my GW pets as actual virtual pets. Gotta play up people's emotional connections to their pets- making them think of them as actual pets and not just trading cards might change the trading system too.

*yes, totally giving a referral link in case anyone wants to try it lol

[Reiemye]

I'm not really active on the forums and just came back from a hiatus, and since I'm very active on Discord I wanted to join the CS Discord.

I have a link to my Listography in my bio, and my age is in said Listo (I'm an adult). They asked me to remove it and like ????? I left immediately because it wasn't even in my bio it was on a separate site?? Tbh I don't even understand how asking me, as an adult, to remove my age would protect anyone, especially since, as people said, Discord is 13+ anyway (and if it's to protect me by making my identification harder, I feel like my job, which isn't common, and my nationality would be better to remove than my age, though I woudn't want to remove them either).

As for what CS is, I just feel it's natural that it would become less popular as time advances. I personally like the slow nature of it, as I just come in the morning to see which of my pets grew, and then busy myself elsewhere (be it my hobbies or my job).

[Lanayru]

As an avid Discord user - CS discords MUST follow the on-site rules to be allowed to be linked publically/advertised here. I dunno why needing to remove irl photos or ages is surprising when you can't have that info on-site either?

Unfortunately people flocking to Discord is kind of unsurprising - the forum format for discussion has been getting less and less popular over the years and I don't think that's Discord's fault. People like being able to carry conversations in real time which is much harder to do on the forums :L

grammar edits dont mind me

[The_Cannie]

I just came back from a long time (last time I was here was in 2017) and I was surprised by how much the game...didn't change at all.
It's a bit strange, I was expecting big changes in 5 years. I also find it really difficult to progress with my collection, so I'm actually getting quite frustrated.

I don't know if this is the place to make "suggestions" but I find that some things could greatly improve the game:
- Sorting: players should be able to sort their pets by date, name, collection (that would make groups look much more neater), ...
- Groups: would be better to have sub-groups inside bigger groups, this would help players a lot sorting, in particular players that aim to complete collections
- Re-releases: special events with big re-release from older years would be great, if not newer players will never be able to collect the majority of the pets, leading to them getting frustrated and probably leave in a short time. Also a lot of old pets are just left to take dust in accounts that are not playing anymore
- Hoarding: should be put some sort of limit to hoarding. It makes the game very unpleasant for players that are unable to collect because houndreds of the same pets are hoarded in few accounts

I hope my suggestions will be at least seed by whom it may concern

[Purgatory K9]

I'm gonna chime in on the last post, in the comment about discord taking away discussion. I have a discord, but my pfp is of me. And when I joined the discord I was asked if it was a celebrity, in my pic. I said no ..why? They told me that if it isn't a celebrity, then I need to change it or get off the discord. I'm an adult, I don't want my photo to be of something stupid, it should be me if that's what I want. But because I don't want something different in my pfp, I'm not on the discord. And somehow, now most all discussion on CS is discord? It's weird seeing people say "oh yeah, the FTT will likely never respond to you, just post it on the discord, it's much faster/easier/more responsive" and that's odd to me. You never used to need to have other apps or sites just to get a FTT answer, or talk about events, or anything. But now it seems basically required, like it backs you into the corner. I know it isn't necessary, but it feels like you're left out if you aren't a part of the discord. And there's so many discords for CS I don't even know which one is the actual one. Idk, to me it feels odd, like we aren't supposed to use CS, as its own forum, when that's what it was originally meant for

100% agree. i had my age in my bio but was asked to remove it. maybe the discord should be 16+? idk, totally just throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks. i know this site is family friendly but it really caters to the younger side of its audience and leaves pretty much nothing for the adults which really sucks. i don’t really know what else to say that i haven’t already, just that it can be a pain to be an adult on this site sometimes lol

I'd just like to add that the reason the Discord is like this is due to the fact it's linked to CS; so it has to abide by CS rules. In the CS rules it states you cannot show your face or talk about your age.

[Reiemye]

s an avid Discord user - CS discords MUST follow the on-site rules to be allowed to be linked publically/advertised here. I dunno why needing to remove irl photos or ages is surprising when you can't have that info on-site either?

Oh it's not surprising, I just don't see the point, be it here or on Discord or anywhere else. I don't mind not putting any info on a forum where I don't socialize, and going on the CS Discord would mean completely rehauling my internet profile, even including sites that aren't Discord and just no lmao, I won't do that. I just won't go on the Discord server, it's whatever, though my opinion is that I don't see the point in classifying "age" as personal information not to be shared, and not my nationality and job (though imo none of these should be forbidden to share).

[Purgatory K9]

-snip-
though my opinion is that I don't see the point in classifying "age" as personal information not to be shared, and not my nationality and job (though imo none of these should be forbidden to share).

The reason why this is a rule is to help protect minors. Sadly, anywhere on the internet isn't safe including CS; you never know who's a predator, so allowing an age to be identified could be really bad.

A predator could lie about their age or a predator could possibly prey on someone who says they're under the age of 18.

[Lanayru]

-snip-
though my opinion is that I don't see the point in classifying "age" as personal information not to be shared, and not my nationality and job (though imo none of these should be forbidden to share).

The reason why this is a rule is to help protect minors. Sadly, anywhere on the internet isn't safe including CS; you never know who's a predator, so allowing an age to be identified could be really bad.

A predator could lie about their age or a predator could possibly prey on someone who says they're under the age of 18.

Yeah, as much as I think it's a bit silly that grown adults cannot say their age it's kind of a necessary rule - minors got no business posting their age online and you can't really forbid one group but allow the other :-/

[- Alice -]

So I don't really chime into these discussions but wanted to give my two cents! I feel like the site for the most part is dying- its been around for years now and most of its original fan base that grew up with this are adults- kids nowadays don't play games like this for the most part when they have flashy games on their phone they can interact with. If I talked to my younger brother he wouldn't even know what a forum meant. What I am trying to say is that chicken smoothie hasn't really evolved with the times in the younger generation eyes it might be seen as a bit of a dinosaur- especially as there's nothing much to really do other then trade people or draw or roleplay. Theres no interaction with the pets such as other sites- flight rising, dappervolk and most pet sim games and I feel this might be a failing point.

Another point to bring up is that it doesn't feel like the sites being worked on or improved- I hate to say it but its always a point that needs to bring up is that staff mostly the creators, coders to us users kinda feels like that they have just given up on the site. I understand they have made some new implements such as the monthly store items as well as the mid monthly update [which seems to be very late] but apart from that most ideas or suggestions are just ignored / explained away. It kind of feels like the lead staff want the site to die? idk maybe thats just me being too dramatic here.

I can't really offer many solutions other then maybe implementing mini games that could give you some free item [that you can only get via playing them] like from the internet event. Possibly advertising chickensmoothie - I have never seen an ad for it ever. And implementing possible community games/ events like the digsite event from flight rising. I feel that would be a great way to get users more interested in the site.

Final point; If any of this has been said before I apologise I was just throwing some ideas that are in my head around! additionally this isn't meant to call out or be offensive to staff I know you guys work your butts off but its just some observation!