WHY PEOPLE ARE QUITTING CS- A Discussion

[felid]

I’ve hardly had any time for online games like this. I’ve just been really busy so I rarely have time for CS, even including a lot of the events. Even for the summer event I only have time to log in once or so per day.

[twilispark]

I hope CS gets some sort of revival. This site and the people who love it deserve that much.

i deeply agree w this

[LittleMaple]

-snipped-
The issue is that I don’t think staff has the funds or time for that rn. Looking back at the issues the last time they did merch

What issues were there? /genq i didnt even know they had merch. Astounded rn

Mainly stuff with manufacturing costs vs sales and shipping

Oh that makes sense! Ty!

[Infailia]

Another thing about the site being friend oriented is that it's very difficult to get the pets you want. This isn't actually an issue controllable by the admins, but I know for a fact that there are users that have been playing for a while and haven't come close to their goals because other players aren't willing to trade away pets or even help explain what was wrong with a trade after it's cancelled. I've struggled with it myself and have kind of just given up trying to collect pets with complicated values.

Yes! I have been saying this the past few events. I don't pay attention really to token versus free pets. If I have a duplicate and you need it....and you offer any item on my wishlist you got it. If you offer me a free for a token...you got it since hello...there is no way to get more of those so to me free is better than token....but soo many people are sooo worried about their pet being "more valuable" than yours. Dude you have a duplicate I have something in your wishlist...its ridiculous. I don't think I have ever cancelled a trade sent to me by someone else. Clearly they needed or wanted it bad enough to take a few minutes to send the trade...I have it so why not? At the end of the day I get to mark something off my wishlist.

That's what I've been thinking! The free pets should really be worth more than token pets, since you can only adopt them one time! Honestly, I don't even know how the rarities don't end up lining up that way.

Just adding in that the reason free pets are generally more common than token ones is that people adopt them even if they aren't a fan of the design because it costs nothing while if someone isn't a fan of a token pet design, they stay away from it, thus lessening the amount of those available.

[Lex.]

The issue is that I don’t think staff has the funds or time for that rn. Looking back at the issues the last time they did merch

What if they started a Patreon for ChickenSmoothie? I feel like they'd be able to maybe get the funds to make things like that for their user base.

the patreon would need benefits, ie: stamps, maybe a badge to show you're a patreon member, and other things like that
??

If they did this, any pets or items people get from it have to be non-tradeable or it will not sit well with the community.
It creates a pay to win feel.

[hellevi]

How far does it go though?

there are definitely limitations when it comes to how many clicks away personal information can be found that dictate how we will moderate it. but at the same time, if moderators are able to find information such as location, etc, then anyone else on the internet can as well. as it was mentioned earlier, we don't list the personal information that we find to hold it over your heads, but instead to really push the idea that "hey! some random person on the internet found this!" we don't purposely go digging for this type of info, but oftentimes come across it because in reality, 2 or 3 or even 4 clicks is really not that far.

[Xesei]

It took me a long time to consider posting this after reading about 50 pages in because I am considered a staff and I worry my post will be taken wrongly. I'd like to make it clear that everything in this message is of my opinion, nothing I say is official. Please do not under any circumstance use my post here as proof that staff can/cannot do x. I am also trying to read the new pages as I type.

I'm not quoting the older topics 'cause I can't find the page of the person who brought it up (50 pages is a lot!).

About Trading
I do find it a struggle to get older pets, the rarity of pets are ageing at an escalating pace as more accounts become inactive; it feels like an exponential battle against time and your only few leverage is to take advantage of people who overpay for certain event pets (aka banner pets) or use C$ to buy limited store items. I'm not an aggressive collector so I'm not stressed about obtaining pets in my wishlist but it is a bummer that old pets are impossible. Despite CS intending to be a chill game it does feel like you have to play the trading market aggressively.

The idea of rerelasing more older pets like in July definitely feels like it'll help a bit, gives players a little more trading power to get closer to their goals. We get 3 in december, another 2-3 in July will not be a big deal- the player base population is smaller than like 4 years worth of rare/really rare/omgsr pets, the rarity issue would not be impacted much.

I really like Ravens-Folklore's idea about declining trade.

About Usernames & inactive accounts
I'm glad CS does not remove old accounts, if not I'd not be here. I joined in 2009 and left shortly after because I was young and did not understand how the game worked and lost My TD White Malk Dragon to a ninja-- okay I probably rage quit lol but I came back in 2018, nearly 9 years later. I was really surprised my account was still around and was actually really happy about it, so I'm grateful that not deleting accounts is something the staff is firm about. Had my account really be deleted I wouldn't have bothered coming back which would have sucked 'cause CS fits really easily in my life schedule and I like looking forward to something every month.

Casual chat
Apparently a long time ago there was a live chat. Just for anyone curious

Activity Rewards
Personally I'm alright with daily log in, but not sure if I want to log in 7 days in a row to get a pet; maybe log in everyday on the chance of getting an uncommon pet? I say uncommon because if it'd rare some may get frustrated if they miss that day they may have lost that chance of a rare pet and its needless frustration. C$ is probably not a good idea with the inflation we have.

Community submitted store items

To clear up any misconceptions, CS artist is a volunteer position to allow artists freedom to create when they are able/want to. There is no regular salary/wage, and therefore the position is considered unpaid. Artists receive compensation in C$ when their free pets and items are released. Store pets and items are subject to additional agreements and compensation.

I ain't too sure about how they'll do this compensation to players especially if the designs have to be reviewed & approved before releasing. I can only think of is something like FR Skins /LW CAs where you buy a token via C$ and get your design approved - but the items probably shouldn't be sold for C$; this would only make C$ inflation worse.

Personally I'm kinda one foot in and out of the item suggestions, a lot of ideas I'd like to do but no idea which. I'm more motivated to do it when given a directive to actually do the thing. If CS had a token to order an item design I'd do it (I work faster when doing smaller design sets), I don't mind but I dislike potential of the person who ordered to receive multiple copies & selling it at exorbitant prices. It'll just become another rarity issue.

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Oh hey a staff posted, I'm not too worried about voicing myself now :> but if I'm out of topic pls yeet my message

I do want to say the same thing as Lacuna, the staff is listening and they're trying with whatever tools they got. I can't say what, when, and how -- even though I'd really like to-- but really I feel that they do want what's best for CS.

Personally, I'd like greater transparency - or at the very least an update log on the front page (like FR) for any staff to keep the community updated instead of having to go into each thread to inform them & locking it only for it to sink out of page 1. I noticed quite a number of players seem to have to rely on other players trawling through the thread to get the info.

I haven't felt like giving up as Lacuna have yet even when the security incident really made me extremely stressed, I hope I'd not feel it anytime soon either. This site is chill and simple, I think it's neat and I'd like it to not putter out anytime soon.

Honestly love the activity ideas! Rewards for being an active logger or actively being on the site. I know C$ has had inflation problems but in other sites I see a lot of currency sinks that could easily be implemented here. I know the main focus is pets but honestly the rewards and pets could be connected in fixing the pricing worth of c$. Could hit all the areas of activity, inflation, and pet system. Got carried away but I love this response! Hits all the right places~

[Venøm]

I'd say that plushies are a good idea because who doesn't love plushies, but this also opens up trading for real life items related to CS, which of course conflicts with the releasing of private information aspect and the amount of children playing. I think this would really only be the case if the plushies were limited release ones though and not forever available.

My opinion on the bonking for external sites is to give users a message (not warning) to ask to take down the link because of such and such. If they refuse to comply despite being aware of the violations, then you can give them the appropriate punishment. Most people I'm sure are completely unaware of these links in links in links or didn't know about the depth of the amount of restriction on CS.

[Nedbit]

The issue is that I don’t think staff has the funds or time for that rn. Looking back at the issues the last time they did merch

What if they started a Patreon for ChickenSmoothie? I feel like they'd be able to maybe get the funds to make things like that for their user base.

Or even one of those gofundme or starter up projects? Something where people could donate and get rewards of merchandise back! That way, it would be able to show interest, and they could start slow!
Definitely moving straight to plushies and shirts and what not would NOT be very smart, it would be nice to start small though! Maybe with stickers and pins, like they have in the past, but it’s kind of a “if we raise THIS MUCH, pin merchandise is unlocked!” And so forth! Shipping would definitely be a complex matter, but starting small and building up is always the way to go! Maybe, (and I’m just spit-balling here) there are some VERY talented artists on this site, maybe this could be a community based project? Have someone who is experienced in this expertise try it out, test the waters and overall interest?

[blues clues]

The issue is that I don’t think staff has the funds or time for that rn. Looking back at the issues the last time they did merch

What if they started a Patreon for ChickenSmoothie? I feel like they'd be able to maybe get the funds to make things like that for their user base.

the patreon would need benefits, ie: stamps, maybe a badge to show you're a patreon member, and other things like that
??

If they did this, any pets or items people get from it have to be non-tradeable or it will not sit well with the community.
It creates a pay to win feel.[/quote]

totally understand that, it would need to be things that can't gain monetary traction like that