WHY PEOPLE ARE QUITTING CS- A Discussion

[misty1100]

I've been playing Chicken Smoothie since 2009, only taking a break in 2013-2014, then coming back regularly for monthly releases and events

I don't have the value system memorized and it's crazy how heated some people get over it. I would love an easier way of keeping track of things than just the List

In all honesty... I feel like CS has accumulated a much... worse. userbase than they had in the past. People are very annoying, immature, and drama hungry on here. I typically don't post on the forums at all unless it's for trades

[Venøm]

Thank you Lacuna for taking the time to write out such a thorough respectful response. I've had a recent bad experience with staff in DMs and was reading some of the other posts mentioning stuff too and was starting to get worried about things, but seeing that has helped. Thank you for taking your time and putting together a detailed comment into everything and giving us a staff perspective.

[tiredddd]

I honestly believe, the biggest issue, and the one I’d like to focus on the most, is the lack of responses from the head admins (Tess, nick, etc)

[racoonie2004]

I dont mean to add to the rate that this chat speeds up but is someone making a google doc or something to help with getting some of this down yet?

[Loelya]

I honestly believe, the biggest issue, and the one I’d like to focus on the most, is the lack of responses from the head admins

in the least harsh way towards the admins as possible, I would like to agree.

[Purgatory K9]

I honestly believe, the biggest issue, and the one I’d like to focus on the most, is the lack of responses from the head admins (Tess, nick, etc)

This was something that was brought up in the thread I've linked a few times here. It's almost as if Tess has disappeared. Nick, I know, works behind the scenes and is the site's ONLY coder (poor guy). x.x

[egginablanket]

Pretty much what everyone else has been saying, honestly.

I can imagine clicking onto this site could be overwhelming, especially for younger kids who haven't really seen "forum-based" social media before, let alone all the "rules of engagement" and trades.
The site was recommended to me by a friend in middle school, and I just randomly remembered about its existence years later and decided to join again, but really I don't see anything beyond rando-word-of-mouth "advertising". Not to say this is either good or bad, just that its definitely a reason we don't see many new players. Navigating this type of social media could also be very daunting, like I mention above. When i first joined as a kid, i had already experienced other forums, but if we consider other modern social media, such as TT or Instagram, this website is very, very different and not as easy to navigate (just clarifying I dont ever want this to change, but it is a reason for not having a lot of new users).

While my first goal is to collect every pet (set when I really first joined) I now know that this is impossible, and it makes me sad. Not sad enough to stop altogether for now, but it is really frustrating. New players really can't (imo) gain older pets. Unless you were here before 2014/2015 (or you are extravagantly lucky at the Pound) you are never going to get those pets unless you make massive trades (if you can gain them at all-- a lot of the time i've encountered pets older than a few years sitting in no-trade hoards). These trades just seem unfair to me in general, besides the fact that because of adopt limits, gaining the "inventory" to make an exchange that the Older Pet Owner deems acceptable takes a long time because a single older pet [seems] to be worth literally tens of pets. Basically, the pet-currency is super-duper inflated, and its essentially impossible for new players (or even just like, since i've joined players) to participate. Now, i've just accepted that I will never complete my goal.

I also just... don't really understand a lot of the nuances of trade rules (especially for items-->pets). I usually just accept because I want to collect a lot of pets but I don't really get a lot of the rules (If its not a straight-forward one-for-one offer). I'm a full adult who's been here for years and I just don't really understand all the ins-and-outs, and I feel like many long-term vets take advantage of players who don't know and newer players. Rarity and date compound in weird ways as the dates get further back-- like, a Rare from this year is not worth a rare from two years ago, etc. Since this site has existed since 2009... Its insurmountable and frequently just really nuanced (not to mention the changes from person to person).

[tiredddd]

I dont mean to add to the rate that this chat speeds up but is someone making a google doc or something to help with getting some of this down yet?

I will be adding some points and such later to my original post, if anyone would like to do a Google dock, or something of that sort, they are free to, and it would be a big help

[Ziggy Stardust]

I apologize if I contributed to the echo chamber; I was trying to type out thoughtful responses and by the time I was ready to post there were 20+ replies since, so it is quite possible I made myself redudant.

I think that CS' refusal to delete old accounts is one of the best features on this site. When I first joined I hated it; I thought it was a waste and unfair that those hard-to-get pets were locked away in an account that hadn't been touched in 5 years.
And then I fell off CS. For five years. And unlike my other virtual pet sites, I was able to log in and see all my precious pets, right where I left them! Not every user will come back, that's true. But for those like me, being able to come back to those pets I adopted over 10 years ago is really rare and special.
I also would like to say, that despite the amount of disagreeing statements, I have felt that everyone has responded respectfully to me and I really appreciate it. Thank you for hearing me out :^)

[Ryugetsu]

Thank you Lacuna, so much, for the response! It's really nice to know we're being heard. I think these answers you've given us are massively helpful.

I do still think there are other issues that haven't been addressed, however, namely ones brought up at the beginning of the thread like security and adding another coder. Personally, I would still like more transparency/announcements from higher staff in a place that's easy for users to see, similarly to the announcements on the front page - even if it's just a summary of your day. It wouldn't have to be every day, either, just whenever. I think it would help for players to feel more of a connection to staff.

This thread did pick up and go kind of off the rails pretty quickly though, hahah.