WHY PEOPLE ARE QUITTING CS- A Discussion

[pompompurin.]

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Speaking of, has anyone suggested drawing contests...? Whoever wins gets their item/pet actually implemented in the game for others to use!

i really like this idea!!!

[tirocat]

I usually lurk but I'd also like to share my thoughts and how I agree with lots of the things being said. I don't know if this has been mentioned and this may seem like more of a minor thing but I don't like how some topics & discussions are solely on the Adults 18+ discussion thread - queer teens exist, teens with mental disabilities exist. I'm aware of the stickied topic of 'Younger people wanting advice from adults' but it still doesn't sit right with me. What's the point when everyone can see those topics anyways? Doesn't it also just simply depend on the maturity of a person?

It's also confusing imo to have a forum to be named "Adults Discussion 18+", when it's not exactly being monitored? As in anyone can post since I doubt they do age checks on non COPPA players/I can't find any rules against teens posting on this forum - I know the name should be enough...but some of the topics aren't topics that shouldn't be limited to 18+ users? Which is what I think could come off as confusing & unwelcoming as it implies that LGBTQ+ & mental health issues are only adult problems! Which is simply untrue but the stigma can still be there - it's like someone being told that they're "too young to be depressed" which isolates people and deters people from speaking up further.

So I suggest that forum be renamed or another created where teens have a space to discuss and relate to eachother. (Sorry if this seems too off-topic I just wanted to include this since it illustrates how the site is being handled)

(reviving this) a teen space wouldn't be possible for CS because of how strict they are on age-related business, especially for minors, but it would be beneficial to have some clarification (on the board itself) on how 18+ the 18+ boards are. are teenagers allowed to post on the LGBTQ+, period talk, mental illness, etc. threads or not? the reason i mention this is because some of the best discussion threads on CS are located on the 18+ section, which claims to harbour discussions for adult issues, but most threads on there are arguably not exclusively adult topics. having these threads locked to just one age group might discourage a lot of the newer/younger users on here from engaging with what would otherwise be a supporting community.

The CS cake contest was so fun looking back and I wish it had another run, or that there were more contest like this one with physical CS-themed prizes to win!

I'd also love for something like the Cake Contest to happen again! I'd definitely participate!
Speaking of, has anyone suggested drawing contests...? Whoever wins gets their item/pet actually implemented in the game for others to use!

+1 this is a fun idea (though do you mean regular drawings that are CS-related or creating pets as a competition?)

[ghostmaker]

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excuse me if i'm wrong, but where exactly is faithydash saying that inappropriate content should be allowed on site...? i see no mention of any inappropriate content in their message at all, i don't think they're advocating that there should be links to inappropriate content on this site. /gen

I removed it intentionally out of my belief that I honestly don't think it should've been said on the site whatsoever, but there was a point made in the original post about how they found it unfair that an account with inappropriate content is blacklisted on CS.

[macintalk]

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excuse me if i'm wrong, but where exactly is faithydash saying that inappropriate content should be allowed on site...? i see no mention of any inappropriate content in their message at all, i don't think they're advocating that there should be links to inappropriate content on this site. /gen

I removed it intentionally out of my belief that I honestly don't think it should've been said on the site whatsoever, but there was a point made about how they found it unfair that an account with inappropriate content is blacklisted on CS.

ohh, yikes. sorry, i hadn't seen the original post and assumed it was a full quote, yeah, i totally don't agree with that at all. thank you for clarifying :)

[ShadowKatto]

+1 this is a fun idea (though do you mean regular drawings that are CS-related or creating pets as a competition?)

Creating pets as a competition

[Ziggy Stardust]

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Now I’ll be careful about this next one. The rules on about personal information, like age, birthdate, full names, etc. Nowdays people are getting more comfortable and want to make friends outside of CS and online games, so they’ll automatically ask for ages, names, their birthday (to send gifts etc) but yet we can’t link to any sites (Carrd for example) that have a DNI list, or with information that people should know even during the most simplistic conversations. A lot of people ask me for information for a clarification and everything, but being unable to do that made things difficult. I had my carrd linked to my profile description once but a mod (won’t disclose name/username) told me I had to remove it because I had a DNI list (which is very vital these days, I didn’t put names, just basic things I don’t want to associate with, nothing bad. Besides blacklisting is weird in the circumstances of games, personal opinion though), a ao3 account that has ‘smut works’ on it (but I feel like what I do on my own time outside of the site shouldn’t be mentioned, it’s quite unfair in that regard) and my instagram having my last name in it. Correct me if wrong, but lying about your name or even your age is quite an offence and I’d rather people know my real name then call me by my usernames (though at this point, for the games, I don’t mind ofc), but I digress. I feel like we shouldn’t have to hide our true selves and what makes us uncomfy on CS, like I mentioned, when meeting new people nowdays (from my experiences) people will always ask for your age at the very least.

People can disagree (like I said before) and I’m fine with that, but I just feel that we as the players should at least have a bit more freedom to express ourselves, I understand with the kids and everything, but maybe if you’re gonna have a game with both minors and adults sharing it, least make spaces to divide the two away from each other.

That’s all I have to say, but what do you guys think?

I have to strongly disagree while hopefully reading your post right. For as long as I've been able to use the internet, it has ALWAYS been the most important rule to never give out your real name, age, or any personal info really... It is not a matter of "hiding our true selves" but more practicing online safety. I have been on plenty of kid-based games and websites when I was little and there were plenty of adults with bad intentions trying to get this exact info out of you...

Plus, even if only like, adults on here were allowed to share that info, it makes kids feel more comfortable sharing it elsewhere which is obviously dangerous. It's better to not allow it at all.

(also, I see now that this post was replied to already while I was typing! I agree with ghostmaker!)

^^ I completely agree with BabyBlue. User safety, especially on a children's site, is more important than whether or not you feel like you are having to hide who you are. Also, you can tell users your first name, just not your full name. You can also tell users your birthday, just not your birth year. And yes, having link that can expose children to smut is absolutely inappropriate on this site.
This is not a site supposed to cater to both minors and adults, it is a children's site that allows adult users.

[Lanayru]

If I may pivot to a different topic for a bit I want to kind of resurface what was mentioned briefly 10+ pages ago: CS as a site doesn't really have any good avenues for casual chatter at the moment which makes it harder to engage with the actual community. I personally don't RP or partake in closed species and while I like to post in the event threads every now and then there's no... "casual chitchat" thread. I understand part of this is inherently unavoidable just due to the way forums are, but I think allowing some lighter, more casual general talk -style threads would potentially help retain more active forum users.

I feel it's partially why Discord appeals to so many users - there they don't have to worry about whether their posts have enough substance to contribute because the conversation is much more casual and less confined to a specific topic. I know staff has expressed disinterest at an official Discord server or other chatrooms due to moderating issues, so maybe more casual chatter threads could be a good compromise? :]

I am a bit curious on what type of threads exactly you are wanting to see? Just a thread where you can post literally anything would very very quickly dissolve into spam which is why we don't allow typical 'general chat' threads. But if you want to like, talk about something specific there are usually threads for this. Like if you wanted to post about how you had a bad day or share pictures of your pet cause they were being cute, what music you are listening to, a game you are enjoying etc. there are threads for that.

I guess the way I see it is that a thread that allows anything just turns into spam but there is plenty of room to talk about those individual things on their own threads, assuming they are appropriate for CS.

Genuinely just a casual "everything goes" thread honestly. More in-depth discussion can and should be directed to appropriate threads, but it's incredibly hard to keep up casual convo (which will naturally shift in topic) in the extremely specific threads without being warned for being off topic. Sometimes it kind of feels like I don't have anywhere to actually connect with other CS users on the site, just places to discuss a certain topic with strangers. Sometimes I also feel like I'm interrupting or derailing conversation in these specific threads by having a specific aspect of the topic I want to discuss which discourages me from interacting more.

I try to avoid referring to Flight Rising since at the end of the day it is a whole different site but I do like how they handle their General Discussion forum. Instead of having a big "Gaming megathread" where all general gaming talk is directed users are allowed to create their own, more specific smaller-scale threads ("hardest video game boss youve fought" and "Recommend me PS4/Switch Games?" as two examples on the first page right now). This could also be a nice option for CS - a board that allows smaller more specific threads even if they have overlapping overall topics with others.

I hope this makes sense, it's getting a bit late so I'm happy to reword parts if anything was left unclear lol

[sayaka maizono]

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All of the things you mentioned being blacklisted by CS/removed by mods seem perfectly reasonable to me. There is genuinely no reason why there should be links to inappropriate content anywhere on a site with thousands of minors on it, and the fact that it's even being mentioned right now is frankly baffling to me. As an adult, you should be able to understand why even the risk of exposing kids to that is enough to keep that off the site, and I don't see why being asked to remove it is an issue. It's OUR job as adults to be consciously aware of what we might expose underage users to, and it's our responsibility to be smart enough to monitor it, instead of having to be told by mods that something isn't appropriate for the site.

I'm honestly appalled at the way some adult users in general (not targeted at the user above) are acting in regards to what content should be allowed on the site. CS has never been intended for adults & the fact that so many users are pushing for certain guidelines that would put minors at risk is alarming. Adult users should be mature enough to understand that we have never been the target audience on CS.

excuse me if i'm wrong, but where exactly is faithydash saying that inappropriate content should be allowed on site...? i see no mention of any inappropriate content in their message at all, i don't think they're advocating that there should be links to inappropriate content on this site. /gen

not to call people out when it's besides the point of this thread, but faithydash has their deviantart (that openly has nsfw content on it + links to other sites with nsfw content) linked on their profile. it's not that far of a stretch to assume that's what they're getting at

[Lacuna]

Just popping in really quickly because I have a lot to do today and can't spend too much time reading through more of this thread (I already spent about an hour)--but the "Adults" discussion board just separates discussions children might not enjoy. It says in the board description that all content must remain child friendly (aka follow CS rules) and the first thread pinned on the board is a thread that actively invites younger members to post. If you can see a thread on CS you are allowed post on it. If you check out what's going on in there, there are many discussions that are obviously fine for teens to post in if they so desire. It's just that most non-adults probably aren't interested in discussing their careers or buying a house or something.

[Angelicangel252]

i mentioned this on another forum similar to this, but i’d love to hear everyone’s opinions!!

as a compromise for the folks that want rereleased store pets and the folks that don’t, i think store pet 2nd gens would be fantastic!! imagine a raven dog x liontail litter, or a punk dog x marionette litter. i’d give anything to see some store pet 2nd gens :3

As for those who DO want the re-release of store pets, I think a single paid for with c$ December 18th box could be a decent enough solution. Wouldn't dilute the rarities too much, just enough to encourage more collecting, if anything.