Notice Regarding Trading Harassment

[Tehpikachu]

My scroll is very much open, I'm surprised no one has asked for anything. But maybe it's because I'm relatively quiet here.

[Fuzzbucket]

No one is saying she cannot post such a thing, not at all that is entirely up to her and I have to COMPLETELY disagree and be rather astounded that you would consider a polite statement of opinion like that harassment. This is where we come acropper here, people throwing around accusations of harrassment freely, that are plain nonsense. What you are saying is that I have to agree with the public post she made or I am harassing her and I am not allowed to reference of mention aforementioned post.....

You really think stating 'you cannot have this...ever!' will not ruffle a few feathers and get people upset. People are understandable upset and it would have been perhaps wiser if such a statement had not been publically made, that is ALL I am saying.

What I mean is that when people start saying you cannot do as you want with your own dragons and you "should" play it another way, that IS harassment. It's part of the guilt-tripping thing that many people have cited in this thread AS harassment.

 

I'd rather see it stated in public when a user will and will not breed, myself. Then no-one will send even a polite PM asking for something that will not happen. But to each his own.

 

I AM speaking for myself. I thought that was clear in my post, my mistake.

You said "I would give anything to be in their shoes, we ALL would."

 

Not true. That's all. No huge deal.

I don't particularily like what you are inferring here, but to let you know I have given away 12 CB Blacks, 8 CB Winters, 8 CB Blusangs eggs and hatchies, 6 CB Ice eggs and hatchies, a CB Thunder hatchy and more in the past month in the departure thread and the Lotto.

 

I love gifting and have never ever expected anything in  return, I was using that one glomp as an example of why I find it completely justifed for prize winners to be a bit suspicious and nothing more. How you managed to twist my words into a complaint about glomping is beyond me.

As to the glomping - all I meant was a general thing that a LOT of glomping happens, and perhaps that more would be nice, rather than gifting with ulterior motives (and some people DO have ulterior motives.) I rather like the idea of anonymous gifting that has been suggested here.

 

Nothing personal to that one at all (in fact, when I saw your post, I decided I would LIKE to glomp you - but when I looked at your wishlist - I can't match anything on it. I was sad but.... If you would like anything bred from my scroll - ask )

 

And it's normal for the winners to want to express their excitement without having to worry about listening to the 'woe is me' from people who claim that they're entire year/life/existence is now ruined because of the winner's good fortune and the fact that THEY weren't as fortunate, and shriek about the unfairness of it all from the rooftops.

This. It is sad that if I ever DID win, I would hesitate to post about it and hope people would be happy for me. As I genuinely AM for ALL the shimmerwinners (what a LOVELY word )

 

Of course I always try to be polite with everyone I get in touch with, but the lines above mean that, to be honest, if a person I wrote to thinks that I am not worth talking to for any reason, I would highly appreciate it if they simply told me, "You know, I do not want to talk to you because of this and that." Yes, that hurts, too, especially if you considered that person a friend for example, but it is much better than PMing them and getting cold silence in return. THIS is the worst thing. To me, of course.

Sure. I answer even really rude PMs. But saying "I don't want to talk about this any more" doesn't stop some people. THEN what does one do ?

[Vhale]

Gifting is awesome and a fun thing to do. But if there weren't a few people abusing it as a means of leverage then we wouldn't have had to change the teleport message on one-way transfers like we did a while back. But we did have to make it clear that it was a one way trade where the recipient owed the person initiating it nothing in return.

 

It would be neat if Dragon cave had some kind of anonymous wishlist feature that you could check to see if you could fulfill it. But that sounds like a whole new site page and lots of coding

[Starscream]

My intent was not to frighten people . Just express how "gifts" are often used

 

 

[PointOfOrigin]

I really wouldn't like for this thread to be closed. It's better that we discuss this here then to allow it to spill in other parts of forum And if we don't discuss this till the end, it will be brought up time and time again.

 

Now, as far as gifting goes... I glomp. I've gifted CB Blacks because I've noticed people don't have them, I've gifted low gen golds to people that I've notices as being active and participating. I even at one point gifted newbies after they posted in a new member section (stopped doing that after a big number of them just took hatchlings/eggs and never responded. Now, I stick to active forum members). Generally, if I can fulfill somebody's wish why wouldn't I do it? I don't care if it's a mod, spriter, general member or a prize winner. They like getting gifts as much as the rest of us do. That's why I don't think people should be afraid of sending gifts their way or just generally avoid them. The big number of them does the same things we do - and that includes gifting. That's a big part of the game. Excluding them in a way because they have something you don't is kind of unfair. Especially since gifting is a big part of community.

 

However, the things that happened when the winners just revealed themselves were suspicious. And I'm not talking about simple, be good gifts. I'm talking about several metallics and CB uncommons from just one person. Dunno, but for me, gifts like that do seem to carry some implications. And yes, if gifters think that gives them some rights, I'm all for blocking them (actually, I would have enjoyed to see that). People are usually able to see when somebody is sincere or fake, even in writing. And while some gifts back then have been sincere, the other ones definitely had some motives behind them. That's just the way life is. It's up to the winners to recognize, or decide which gifts are real and which ones are fake. And it's up to them to decide what to do with them. Little, spiteful me would probably accept them and then block those people once they came demanding something.

[SolarCat]

or they say bad things about you and how greedy you are (though going by what it seems the other prize holders demanded now I don't blame them actually)

I'd just like to say that I know of at least two prize winners who I know for a fact are not demanding an arm and a leg for 2nd gen offspring, so while it may be commonplace to demand high prices, it's not across the board. Some people are offering spots to those who ask politely, with a simple "We'll figure out the details later, but I'm thinking a couple bred common hatchlings, I don't really care about lineage..."

 

Not directed at you, Mysfytt, by the way... It's just that this section of your post made a convenient jumping point to bring a bit more of a positive direction to the thread.

 

It is common sense that if you announce that you are a prize winner, you WILL get people asking or offspring. That if you are found out to be a prize winner then you WILL get people asking, it goes with the territory. So, sorry, but no I don't feel sorry for the prize winners, I would give anything to be in their shoes, we ALL would.

 

Just saying that this is why I don't really want to win the lottery. Sure, every once in awhile I'll buy a ticket, but to be honest, right now I know who my friends are.

 

The shimmerscales are so beautiful and one of the very best drawn and coloured sprites on the site, imho. It would have been so much nicer to have had them released as another rare. There are so few rares on the site. But what is done is done and done with the best of intensions behind it.

 

Personally I like Jewel the best, and I'll never have a Shimmerscale of that color on my scroll because it's an artist-only alt. The others are pretty, but I think the shading they were meant to be was the prettiest, and I'll confess I also wish they were released as a regular breed. That said, I'm happy they were released at all, and I'm looking forward to obtaining one for my scroll eventually. I just... I think the alt coloration is absolutely gorgeous.

 

 

 

Speaking of which, I'll confess I've just had a thought...

 

What if, for the next raffle, things are done a bit differently? We have multiple colorations of the same breed as well, so... What if a rare was released in-cave, in "cave colors". Anyone could get a CB of this particular coloration. The raffle winners would then obtain a different coloration of the same breed - an "alt," if you will, except unlike the artists' alts this alt would breed true to its coloration?

The prize dragons would probably be more difficult to breed, considering they'd probably feed into the same ratio as the cave-released rare, which would keep the alt colorations more valuable than the default coloration, but it would still be a dragon that everyone had a chance to obtain (and thus hopefully reduce the amount of harassment, too).

And of course the artists can and should receive their own special artists' alt, as well, which would keep with the artist alt coloration rules and breed one of the prize alt colorations rather than the in-cave or artist color.

 

Just a thought, trying to strike the issue down the middle and make both sides happy, and my comments on Mysfytt's alt coloration made me think of it.

 

EDIT: Adding a link to the suggestions thread I reposted this in:

http://forums.dragcave.net/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=147170

Edited February 21, 2013 by SolarCat

[Vhale]

@SolarCat

 

I've had the same thought myself but wasn't sure if it was worth mentioning. So thanks for bringing idea up. I have to agree though, the shading on Jewel is <3

[AngelKitty]

What if a rare was released in-cave, in "cave colors". Anyone could get a CB of this particular coloration. The raffle winners would then obtain a different coloration of the same breed - an "alt," if you will, except unlike the artists' alts this alt would breed true to its coloration?

The prize dragons would probably be more difficult to breed, considering they'd probably feed into the same ratio as the cave-released rare, which would keep the alt colorations more valuable than the default coloration, but it would still be a dragon that everyone had a chance to obtain (and thus hopefully reduce the amount of harassment, too).

And of course the artists can and should receive their own special artists' alt, as well, which would keep with the artist alt coloration rules and breed one of the prize alt colorations rather than the in-cave or artist color.

 

I love you, this is like the best idea ever. It would also alleviate the six-month ruination of the trading market that happens when a new prize is released. :S

[Amazon_warrior]

What if, for the next raffle, things are done a bit differently? We have multiple colorations of the same breed as well, so... What if a rare was released in-cave, in "cave colors". Anyone could get a CB of this particular coloration. The raffle winners would then obtain a different coloration of the same breed - an "alt," if you will, except unlike the artists' alts this alt would breed true to its coloration?

The prize dragons would probably be more difficult to breed, considering they'd probably feed into the same ratio as the cave-released rare, which would keep the alt colorations more valuable than the default coloration, but it would still be a dragon that everyone had a chance to obtain (and thus hopefully reduce the amount of harassment, too).

And of course the artists can and should receive their own special artists' alt, as well, which would keep with the artist alt coloration rules and breed one of the prize alt colorations rather than the in-cave or artist color.

 

Just a thought, trying to strike the issue down the middle and make both sides happy, and my comments on Mysfytt's alt coloration made me think of it.

That's a genius idea!

[Fuzzbucket]

That's a genius idea!

It is indeed - but maybe needs its own thread ?

[Amazon_warrior]

It is indeed - but maybe needs its own thread ?

Probably - but don't look at me, I quit making suggestions here.

[SolarCat]

It is indeed - but maybe needs its own thread ?

Now that I know it's a decent idea, I'm doing just that.

 

Will edit this post with a link when I'm done.

 

EDIT: Linky: http://forums.dragcave.net/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=147170

 

And now this thread can stay on topic with trade harassment, and the Shimmerscale conversations can take a proactive turn.

Edited February 21, 2013 by SolarCat

[Tabitah]

What if, for the next raffle, things are done a bit differently? We have multiple colorations of the same breed as well, so... What if a rare was released in-cave, in "cave colors". Anyone could get a CB of this particular coloration. The raffle winners would then obtain a different coloration of the same breed - an "alt," if you will, except unlike the artists' alts this alt would breed true to its coloration?

The prize dragons would probably be more difficult to breed, considering they'd probably feed into the same ratio as the cave-released rare, which would keep the alt colorations more valuable than the default coloration, but it would still be a dragon that everyone had a chance to obtain (and thus hopefully reduce the amount of harassment, too).

And of course the artists can and should receive their own special artists' alt, as well, which would keep with the artist alt coloration rules and breed one of the prize alt colorations rather than the in-cave or artist color.

 

Just a thought, trying to strike the issue down the middle and make both sides happy, and my comments on Mysfytt's alt coloration made me think of it.

Wow, what a nice idea, go quickly open a new suggestion thread!

[WraithZephyr]

Then there is the other side where now people are 'bad mouthing' me because I refuse to share the 2nd gens other than the ones I am gifting to the other artists,

It is a shame that they would bad mouth you. I honestly ENJOYED seeing how you decided to handle your 2nd gens. Knowing that you were only gifting those out to people you wanted to gift to and opening trading to 3rd gens should have ended the matter there.

 

[RainDear]

I have some of each color Tinsel on my scroll. Of course for the most part their lineages aren't something most players want, which is probably a good thing, as I am not really an active breeder, anyway. I don't have to stalk Prize winners, because I know that at some point, I will see Shimmers in the AP and get all I want there. Yes, in a while, I might manage to come up with something I can trade for a 4th or 5th gen Shimmer, at which point I may try to trade for one, but I'm not in a rush.

 

If I see someone with a wish in their signature that I may be able to fill, I will try to breed and make their wish come true. I love it when that works and I can send an egg their way. I don't really look at most people's scrolls any more, but I do look at signatures. If I were to happen to do this type of gift to a CB Prize/Tinsel owner, it's likely, unless something were in their signature, that I wouldn't even be aware of it.

 

I don't think anyone here considers a pm from a member asking a question or asking for an egg to be harassment. It is when someone asks, is told no, pms again and again and again, getting more and more demanding and rude. That is what is being called harassment, and the point at which moderators would like to be informed so they can help. When they get blocked, they email, when they pursue you on chat, when they become an intrusion into your life-that is also what is being called harassment. That is my view.

 

If I get a pm whose tone is rude and demanding, I see no necessity for me to respond to it. I feel well within my rights to delete it unanswered and block the sender. I also refuse to talk to door to door salesmen and telemarketers. I didn't invite them or call them so I don't owe them anything. That's my viewpoint.

 

I have had a few pms requesting or offering to trade for offspring of my dragons. I welcome these requests, as long as they are polite and not demanding. I generally try to breed for and fulfill them, but I reserve the right to decide based on my own criteria whether I will deal with them or not. That is my view.

 

Of course, I believe myself to be a typical DC player. I know not everyone is just like me, but I think most are. But, then I think most people think that most people are like them (hope that sentence makes sense-I know what I mean).

[tjekan]

It's worth pointing out that while most of the PM harassment may be targeted at prize winners, most of the extra ambient trading aggression and elitism that seems to follow the release of new prizes is NOT coming from them. Two years ago, it was mostly coming from high-level players who did not win prizes and suddenly felt themselves falling behind, or something like that. There were a number of people competing for low-gen descendants in such a mercenary way that I just stayed off the forums entirely for several months. It was to the point where you'd offer a nice 2nd-gen silver metallic on somebody's 2nd-gen gold metallic and they'd yell at you because a silver was worth less than a gold and if you weren't going to offer something of equal or greater value to stop wasting their time, because they had very important tinsel IOUs to fill. Then they'd go add that to their trade post in capital letters. Ugly times. Invoking mods to reduce PM harassment of prize winners is a good idea, but we could ALL, even those of us who are not harassers, help reduce the pressure on them simply by being a little less manic and aggressive in the trade forum and a little more tolerant about trade offers we don't care for. I saw a trade post in there yesterday that said something like "PM offers, but no stupid ones" which reminded me uncomfortably of the bad old "STOP SENDING ME RETARDED OFFERS" days. If people really want to help prize winners not get spammed and harassed so much, maintaining a more genial trading environment would probably actually help. I'm just saying. "No thank you" really does not take very long to type.

Edited February 21, 2013 by tjekan

[Tawanda001]

I don't care if it's a mod, spriter, general member or a prize winner. They like getting gifts as much as the rest of us do. That's why I don't think people should be afraid of sending gifts their way or just generally avoid them. The big number of them does the same things we do - and that includes gifting. That's a big part of the game. Excluding them in a way because they have something you don't is kind of unfair. Especially since gifting is a big part of community.

 

This, a hundred times over! Along with the things a lot of other people have said about the fun of gifting.

 

I am really going to try to not let this thread make me feel bad about gifting people that have nice things on their scrolls. Just because someone has tinsels or metals or whatever and can trade for pretty much anything they ever wanted, doesn't mean they don't get as much of a fuzzy feeling over a gift as the next person.

 

I hope that this thread doesn't cause people to start questioning the motives of everyone that gifts. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. But I suppose if getting a gift makes someone uncomfortable the easiest way to handle it it to just send along a polite 'Thanks, but no thanks'.

 

I am torn on anonymous gifting. I sometimes feel a little uncomfortable offering a gift, because I wonder if it's nice enough, or wonder if someone will think I'm trying to suck up, so in those instances, maybe? OTOH I'd feel sad that I might need to hide behind anonymity for fear that my gift might be interpreted as something it's not.

 

PS, about the 2nd gen thing. I do think for a lot of people it is about status, or trade value, but for some of us it's more about breeding options. Easier to make a variety of lineages with those than with third gens. Saying this as someone with no 2nd gen prizes of any sort, and darn few 2g fails either, but I do have some 2g thuweds and I love that I can choose between doing stairs, or spirals, or even gens. Not that this has anything to do with the topic as a whole but I did want to mention it.

[Hellen]

Okay, just tossing in my two cents

 

 

People on the IRC know me to be an excessive GW hoarder.

I have several hundrets of them.

And I do NOT hand the 2nd gens out for free.

 

 

I had one user, who started becoming "uncomfortable" towards me, after I refused their offer to trade with me, an egg I had no interest in for eggs from pairings I hadn´t even bred yet.

I declined, saying those eggs would not leave my scroll, due to them being the pairings first eggs, and because I had no interest in the other´s offer.

 

They tried to get me to trade with them, and after a while I simply did not respond anymore.

 

It´s not only about the prizes, and whilst those are one of the reasons as to why this thread has to come up, it´s the day to day trading situations too, that is being talked about here.

 

I would love to say, no one on this forum doesn´t envy another in a way, but ... honestly, that´s part of the game.

The grass is always greener on the neighbours frontyard.

 

Back to the topic.

 

Willfull interactions also mean, others cannot dictate how I play my scroll (as long as I am not going against the rules, of course).

 

If I want to kill tinsels, why not? NO one is suffering from that.

If I want to catch ALL THE GWS!, why not? It´s a collecting game after all.

If I do not want to trade with a person, or for the price they are offering me, who is stopping me from doing so?

 

 

No one.

Because it´s my scroll, with my name, with my password and with MY time and MY work in it.

 

(Telling others how to hand out their prizes falls under that too. What if a person freezes theirs/kill it, only gift out offspring to a few people? It´s THEIRS. Not yours. You cannot tell your neighbour how to cut his hair, either.

Not going against you, Groxywoxy *smooches*.)

Edited February 21, 2013 by Hellen

[WraithZephyr]

Now, as far as gifting goes... I glomp. I've gifted CB Blacks because I've noticed people don't have them, I've gifted low gen golds to people that I've notices as being active and participating. I even at one point gifted newbies after they posted in a new member section (stopped doing that after a big number of them just took hatchlings/eggs and never responded. Now, I stick to active forum members). Generally, if I can fulfill somebody's wish why wouldn't I do it? I don't care if it's a mod, spriter, general member or a prize winner. They like getting gifts as much as the rest of us do. That's why I don't think people should be afraid of sending gifts their way or just generally avoid them. The big number of them does the same things we do - and that includes gifting. That's a big part of the game. Excluding them in a way because they have something you don't is kind of unfair. Especially since gifting is a big part of community.

Glomping is nice and fun, but has its drawbacks since it requires people to check PMs on a regular basis and far too often you never get a response. I have gifting lists, but I think people are sometimes too shy to ask to be on it especially for a metallic. I occasionally trade golds, but the majority of them I just give away to people on the GGG thread where they go to people who don't have any at all or only have 1 so far and there is no complicated scheme for getting on the list.

 

Trade values are just too cut throat these days. The market will crash before long. Inflation has already taken a foot hold in the dragon world. I could not even get a bite on a trade for a huge group of nicely lined gold dragons (all low-mid gen) - except from scammers. So looks like almost all of those golds will be given away to people that will appreciate them more.

[Anniepimm]

I give to others but i never ask for anything in return,

I don't mind giving to anyone as long as they respect me and my babies,

I have not had any bad PM's as yet "touch wood" all the people i have gifted to have been lovely people all i ask is for patience and respect

 

It's just a game people! one to enjoy, not to be hassled every time you switch on..

Lets all chill out and start respecting others love of the Cave

 

 

[Fiona]

Personally I hope that there is no raffle next year. Then we won't have such a divide in the players with 'haves' and 'have nots and can never get' and it won't bring out the worst in people

I would like to just respond to this sentiment. Not personally directed, but the idea that the raffles created the "have and have not" division in the players. In point of fact, the raffles add to the people who have, because the person with the slowest internet connection, or is completely new here, can be one of the lucky people who have a cb prize.

 

The "haves" have existed since the game began. It used to be only the people with fast fingers and fast connections. They got all the shiny cb metals. When bright pinks and frills were retired a new kind of "have" was created. Those people who had been here long enough that they own those breeds, especially cb of them, are a "have" and can trade offspring from them for nice stuff. CB Holly owners are "haves." Since the practice of giving a special recolor to the sprite artists who create the holiday dragons started, there is a new sort of "have" - those sprite artists who have created your holiday dragons. People who have learned to make NDs are "haves." There are always those who have more "DC wealth" than others. Eliminating the raffle wouldn't solve anything. One of the best moves I think TJ did this year was double the number of winners.

 

Honestly, the only "harassing" PMs I've ever gotten were before the tinsels were released, from a couple people who saw I had golds and wanted me to breed them some, just because they wanted them. (I know that I've been fortunate in this regard.) No, I don't have a CB Prize, but I do have spriter's alt Shadows. People have been very polite when they ask if I'll breed or trade.

 

Now, as for harassing PMs in general, Human Nature is what it is. People see you have something nice that they want? They are going to tend to feel jealous. Less mature people don't hesitate to let you know they are jealous. Greedy people won't hesitate to let you know that you have something they want, and they think you should give it to them.

 

For the most part, I think this forum is populated by very nice people. Most of them wouldn't think of expressing jealousy or telling you they're entitled to your eggs just because they want them. This is true even though we have a significant number of younger players. That is commendable maturity and friendliness for a forum. It's unfortunate that there are a few bad apples in the forum barrel, which made this thread a good idea. People need to know they have avenues if they are being harassed.

 

People also need to be reminded sometimes that though an important part of this game is community participation, dragon owners still have the right to make whatever choices they want for their own dragons. Breed only for friends? Yes, that is their right. Not breed at all? That is also their right. I've been hearing a lot of comments lately about choices people make, whether with prizes, or cb holidays, or whatever else, about how those choices affect the community. There has been some sentiment expressed that it's somehow wrong to not "give back" by sharing offspring of rarer dragons in the community. I completely disagree with that stand. It's not selfish to freeze a prize or anything else. It's not selfish to never breed and trade or gift the eggs. It's just choices. Community pressure should never be a reason to do or not do something with ones own dragons.

[Fuzzbucket]

*applauds*

 

GREAT post.

[Amaterasu-sama]

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm finding myself supporting the no raffle idea. What I'd rather see is better events or none at all, because the way they are now just doesn't do it for me.

I really enjoyed the vday event, everyone was happy and sharing things and talking eagerly about new dragons. But this raffle stuff kind of put a black blob over over whole Xmas and new year celebrations, at least for me. The whole drama has been going on and on, and if this is how every raffle is going to be, I'll just go into hibernation each time such pointless "fun" events are introduced. And I wasn't even upset a bit about losing, it's the general sentiment flooding the forum about these raffles that is upsetting me. So to say the truth without any suger coating - I'm frankly quite tired of this raffle thingy and the aftermath of it. You can't blame either side, and it seems the problem is more with the way these raffles were conducted rather than people going out of hand. Because many people are already frustrated with rare hoarding (again, this has to do with how many people see how the cave functions somewhat unfairly towards people with poor connections/low online time etc), add to that the frustration of being a loser, it's a perfect recipe for disaster.

Considering the size of this game, the prizes are too little to strike any kind of balance in a timely fashion. I mean, cmon, does anyone really want to wait months to collect offspring of a prize? Many people have history of playing 3-4 months max and then going inactive, many people on DC even now probably don't even know these dragons exist and don't care either. I think a collectible site is better off playing around with rarities of dragon breeds rather than making a dragon "exclusive" by only giving it to some users only. I'd have said this even if I had been a winner. I've simply lost interest in these prize dragons even before they hit the trades. And I think is a serious waste of artist's work when a dragon that could have otherwise been properly appreciated by a huge lot of people just becomes fodder for controversies, heartburn and much grumbling among players. Perhaps after already witnessing previous years' fiasco including this one, admins can take into account all pros and cons and come up with a different style of event that makes at least a lot of people happy, if not everyone, and not cause so much bad blood among everyone.

Game wise also it seems odd to me a kind of dragon exists who only belongs to a certain owner. What's the logic behind that? (genuine query, not mocking) If it was in any other natural location it would make sense for anyone to find it, not taking into account the rarity, but point being they should be able to find it somewhere in cave. Prize dragons seem a bit out of place with their current descriptions with very little insight on how and why they exist in first place.

 

Anyway that's just my two cents. This was my first time participating in raffle and all I can say is I won't do it again. I didn't mind not winning at all, it's the aftermath of the event since past so many days and how winners/non-winners are behaving that has put me completely off these events.

[KrystalSharz]

For all those going through this: Hang in there! You don't have to feel harassed anymore. Things will work out.

[Dubious]

Maybe I am missing something here, but I have NEVER seen anyone tell another person what they can or cannot do with their dragons or pressure in any way. I certainly hope that certain posts, including my own are not construed in such a manner, because that is just NOT what is being said.

 

I can see why folks are reluctant to post a contrary view to the mainstream one here, because it gets blown completely out of proportion. Words are put in peoples mouths that are just not and were never there. Pitch forks are raised in preparation for any contrary view, regardless of whether it is logical or not. People are told that this is what they were saying and this is what they believe, and it couldn't be further from the truth of what they were actually posting. Poor Grox was harassed (yes I did just use that word) off the thread completely. I suppose the topic of the thread has folks angry and looking for an enemy to 'smite' and any contrary views are it, regardless of what those views actually are. Just a speculation.

 

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm finding myself supporting the no raffle idea. What I'd rather see is better events or none at all, because the way they are now just doesn't do it for me.

I really enjoyed the vday event, everyone was happy and sharing things and talking eagerly about new dragons. But this raffle stuff kind of put a black blob over over whole Xmas and new year celebrations, at least for me. The whole drama has been going on and on, and if this is how every raffle is going to be, I'll just go into hibernation each time such pointless "fun" events are introduced. And I wasn't even upset a bit about losing, it's the general sentiment flooding the forum about these raffles that is upsetting me. So to say the truth without any suger coating - I'm frankly quite tired of this raffle thingy and the aftermath of it. You can't blame either side, and it seems the problem is more with the way these raffles were conducted rather than people going out of hand. Because many people are already frustrated with rare hoarding (again, this has to do with how many people see how the cave functions somewhat unfairly towards people with poor connections/low online time etc), add to that the frustration of being a loser, it's a perfect recipe for disaster.

Considering the size of this game, the prizes are too little to strike any kind of balance in a timely fashion. I mean, cmon, does anyone really want to wait months to collect offspring of a prize? Many people have history of playing 3-4 months max and then going inactive, many people on DC even now probably don't even know these dragons exist and don't care either. I think a collectible site is better off playing around with rarities of dragon breeds rather than making a dragon "exclusive" by only giving it to some users only. I'd have said this even if I had been a winner. I've simply lost interest in these prize dragons even before they hit the trades. And I think is a serious waste of artist's work when a dragon that could have otherwise been properly appreciated by a huge lot of people just becomes fodder for controversies, heartburn and much grumbling among players. Perhaps after already witnessing previous years' fiasco including this one, admins can take into account all pros and cons and come up with a different style of event that makes at least a lot of people happy, if not everyone, and not cause so much bad blood among everyone.

Game wise also it seems odd to me a kind of dragon exists who only belongs to a certain owner. What's the logic behind that? (genuine query, not mocking) If it was in any other natural location it would make sense for anyone to find it, not taking into account the rarity, but point being they should be able to find it somewhere in cave. Prize dragons seem a bit out of place with their current descriptions with very little insight on how and why they exist in first place.

 

Anyway that's just my two cents. This was my first time participating in raffle and all I can say is I won't do it again. I didn't mind not winning at all, it's the aftermath of the event since past so many days and how winners/non-winners are behaving that has put me completely off these events.

I completely agree and as I stated in a thread ages ago, I will not be participating in any more raffles either.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Dubious