I want to gift more holidays!

[Fuzzbucket]

As someone said - random gifting is effectively covered by the AP. This way eggs may randomly go to people who don't actually give a toss, and accept them anyway, while those who are actually prepared to seek them out have no chance. Dropping lovely eggs in the AP IS gifting, and it is also pretty random, so I think that REALLY covers what is needed.

 

Why change it - it isn't broken. I could see the motivation behind the initial idea - though I was still agin it - where the OP wanted to gift to people she knew or who she knew wanted something as well as keeping one for herself - but the direction we have hit now means the AP is a BETTER way to make sure eggs go to those who want them most.

[Fiona]

There are different problems with that idea though. For one thing, unless it's required you aren't going to get that many people participating. I know I wouldn't if opting out was what would keep me from getting any of the random eggs. I want the ones I pick out, not whatever random egg shows up making me take the time to check its lineage, hit the reject button. It's a waste of my time. Plus I'd rather send my extras to the ap so that everyone would have a chance to get them. Since what I ap is really good stuff, I like the idea that someone's day is going to be brighter because they clicked on a random egg and got a pretty 2nd gen. Maybe a 2nd gen shadow walker from spriter's alts.

 

There are some other things for people to try who have crappy internet connections and want nice holiday eggs. There's a thread for gifting holiday eggs, plus you could post trades offering things for holiday eggs or put something in your sig that you're seeking nicely lineaged holiday eggs. Or hunt for others sigs who say they gift and ask them. Since hunting with speedy clicks isn't an option people have to get a little creative about getting the eggs they want.

[Obscure_Trash]

I really, really need users to stop telling each other what they are allowed to post. If a post breaks board rules, then please report it. Otherwise, everyone is allowed to voice their opinion. A simple yes/no is fine in suggestions, although it is appreciated if you mention why you are supporting or not the idea. Community brainstorming is also a nice thing, but not always possible or necessary. But all these posts arguing about what users are allowed to post is only managing to fill the thread with spam - that is not related to the current discussion and doesn't belong here.

 

If users want to discuss posting rules of suggestions, they can bring the convo up in forum feedback: http://forums.dragcave.net/index.php?showtopic=108234

[Obscure_Trash]

I'm not particularly for nor against this idea.

 

Thoughts I had upon reading this (not all connected):

It's kind of funny that when teleport was being introduced, there was a popular attitude/concern that nothing good would ever be found in the AP and now that teleport is out and established, some users are afraid of putting things into the AP because the good clickers with fast computers are most likely to get the good stuff and that there's not a lot of good stuff in the AP anyway. x3

 

Multiers and traders could 'abuse' this (in quotes because multiers are abusing just by having multiple accounts already), but we do also have tons of generous users on site and I'm sure it would be used to gift plenty.

Also multiers and traders are probably already dipping into the AP and getting eggs first, so perhaps this option would allow them to breed and keep their own eggs and stay out of the AP, letting others have a better chance at catching? It's really super hard to actually predict these things.

 

Random gifts have lots of issues.

-If it's not opt in, then it could lock people with eggs they don't want while they're in the middle of hunting.

-Even opt in, this doesn't guarantee that gifts will go to who 'most needs' them (however that is determined) - and I think putting in something that would take this into account is too much work just for a couple days out of the year. Opt in could still lock people at random times and may not be the best thing still; I suppose that would be a personal risk people are agreeing to take, though.

 

I did have a suggestion perhaps that one egg would have to be put into a teleport, but I think this is just complicating things too much and it wouldn't do anything to stop multiers or trading 'abuse'. So if this was done, my preference would be to just allow regular trading with them. Just keep it simple, nothing too new or fancy.

 

So yeah. I don't particularly support nor disagree with this suggestion, although my preference would be 'no'. We can already teleport one dragon to gift and I do think that is a fine amount.

[Fuzzbucket]

I would still like someone to explain exactly how random gifting differs from dropping an egg to the AP for a random player to pick up....

[Obscure_Trash]

I would still like someone to explain exactly how random gifting differs from dropping an egg to the AP for a random player to pick up....

I think the idea behind random gifting has always been that there's a chance it will go to someone who struggles to hunt/catch nice things and that appeals to people.

[Fuzzbucket]

I think the idea behind random gifting has always been that there's a chance it will go to someone who struggles to hunt/catch nice things and that appeals to people.

OK - but it might equally well go to someone who doesn't care... Where at least in the AP you know someone wanted it enough to pick it up....

[skauble]

I would still like someone to explain exactly how random gifting differs from dropping an egg to the AP for a random player to pick up....

Even though I'm still not sure I would support a change, I get what AnanoKimi is saying. The AP is random gifting, but it's random gifting that still becomes a race. That race is now increased because of the limit change.

 

Personally, I think that all of the eggs being randomly gifted is a bad idea. I think that AP hunting is an important part of the game that shouldn't be made secondary in this.

 

Having said that, I think this could possibly work like this -

 

When you breed, you pick the egg you want to keep and then it says below, "would you like to send an egg to a random user". It seems to me that it may be possible to bring some of the coding over from the Valentine's Day gifting set up which allows us to randomly gift things like the flowers.

 

People would have X amount of time to accept it up before it went to the AP. That can be a positive because it will get people to check in more with the site, but also a negative if it results in less AP hunting.

 

To compensate for the eggs that are kept, TJ can bump up the amount that are bred. I have been breeding 2 2nd gen Hollies for a few years and I don't remember many (if any) 4 egg clutches. Now that people can hold more, maybe more breedings can max out. So if a dragon usually breeds 3 eggs and then they breed 4 because the egg numbers are bumped up, then the same amount fall to the AP as do now (more, actually, because some people won't accept the gifts).

 

Assuming that the players would be able to absorb the increase, that solves the problem that AnanoKimi brought up of people who have problems with the racing part of the game without actually damaging the racing part.

 

It, however, does not address the original idea of being able to gift an extra egg directly to another user, but I don't think that's really a great thing to allow players to do anyway.

[irercha]

Your chances to catch something are still greater if there's more being dumped in the AP.

True, but holidays appear in the ap just after they're bred. I said I like the 12 wait time idea, not the whole system of randomly sending people all bred eggs except one.

And I like the wait period for one egg because it might make the eggs from one breeding appear in the ap at different time. I suppose someone is going to say, that it's not a good idea, because it allows people to hunt for duplicate and trade them - and I see the point here - but I'd still like to see it.

As for the random gifting idea itself - like some people commenting earlier I don't see the difference between sending random people teleports and sending eggs to the ap. It's only the wait period which speaks to me. If it's for one egg, then why not. For more or for all bred - I'm against, unless the time to pick up an egg is low enough to benefit only those who are online atm (but don't stand much chances in the ap due to bad internet connection) - a few hours, not longer.

Btw: does anybody know why holidays appear in the ap right after they're bred, not like normal eggs at about 5 days?

Edited August 17, 2014 by irercha

[CNR4806]

I think the idea behind random gifting has always been that there's a chance it will go to someone who struggles to hunt/catch nice things and that appeals to people.

And the people who struggles to hunt/catch struggles even more because the amount of eggs that go to the AP decreases, both in terms of long-term amount and the amount of eggs AP'ed in one batch (which is kind of important, as you have a better chance of getting something when there are 3 or more eggs showing up at once than when there's just 1).

 

Btw: does anybody know why holidays appear in the ap right after they're bred, not like normal eggs at about 5 days?

Holiday eggs/hatchlings have a higher priority to show up on the AP.

Edited August 17, 2014 by CNR4806

[AnanoKimi]

Even though I'm still not sure I would support a change, I get what AnanoKimi is saying. The AP is random gifting, but it's random gifting that still becomes a race. That race is now increased because of the limit change.

 

Personally, I think that all of the eggs being randomly gifted is a bad idea. I think that AP hunting is an important part of the game that shouldn't be made secondary in this.

 

Having said that, I think this could possibly work like this -

 

When you breed, you pick the egg you want to keep and then it says below, "would you like to send an egg to a random user". It seems to me that it may be possible to bring some of the coding over from the Valentine's Day gifting set up which allows us to randomly gift things like the flowers.

 

People would have X amount of time to accept it up before it went to the AP. That can be a positive because it will get people to check in more with the site, but also a negative if it results in less AP hunting.

 

To compensate for the eggs that are kept, TJ can bump up the amount that are bred. I have been breeding 2 2nd gen Hollies for a few years and I don't remember many (if any) 4 egg clutches. Now that people can hold more, maybe more breedings can max out. So if a dragon usually breeds 3 eggs and then they breed 4 because the egg numbers are bumped up, then the same amount fall to the AP as do now (more, actually, because some people won't accept the gifts).

 

Assuming that the players would be able to absorb the increase, that solves the problem that AnanoKimi brought up of people who have problems with the racing part of the game without actually damaging the racing part.

 

It, however, does not address the original idea of being able to gift an extra egg directly to another user, but I don't think that's really a great thing to allow players to do anyway.

I like this really. it allows those unable to race as said to get a chance at something, while allowing those who enjoy the race to go sit and refresh as long as they like.

[Guillotine]

I'd only accept this if it were one egg that would automatically be dumped to the AP after a certain amount of time, and even then only if the number of bred eggs were bumped up. I can see why this idea would appeal, but for the most part I dislike it.

[Fuzzbucket]

True, but holidays appear in the ap just after they're bred. I said I like the 12 wait time idea, not the whole system of randomly sending people all bred eggs except one.

And I like the wait period for one egg because it might make the eggs from one breeding appear in the ap at different time. I suppose someone is going to say, that it's not a good idea, because it allows people to hunt for duplicate and trade them - and I see the point here - but I'd still like to see it.

As for the random gifting idea itself - like some people commenting earlier I don't see the difference between sending random people teleports and sending eggs to the ap. It's only the wait period which speaks to me. If it's for one egg, then why not. For more or for all bred - I'm against, unless the time to pick up an egg is low enough to benefit only those who are online atm (but don't stand much chances in the ap due to bad internet connection) - a few hours, not longer.

Btw: does anybody know why holidays appear in the ap right after they're bred, not like normal eggs at about 5 days?

AS long as we can still only control one egg, we CAN hold that on scroll and dump it later. Controlling TWO or more I am not happy with.

[georgexu94]

Despite my loving your idea, (It's cute and beautiful.) I would have to say no.

 

People, some at least, may find a loophole and hoard holidays for themselves. Some, like me, may be tempted.

[kerrikins]

We used to basically have something like this when you could give the code to someone and have them spam the 'get' page. It just lead to the best lineages and eggs being circulated among a small subset of users and their friends (though of course there were some generous people who gifted beyond that) so for this reason I am against this.

[Jazeki]

 

- The giftee will have the option to accept the gift or refuse. If the giftee refuse the egg, the  egg will be automatically to the AP, it won't be possible to set a new transfer.

- if the person doesn't have a giftee in mind, the egg will go to a random person who must have logged in at least 6 months (not an inactive user) and any user can choose if wants to recieve random gifts or not (an option in the control panel).

-  24 hours after gifted if the giftee (random or selected) don't accept the egg, it gets auto-AP'd

 

 

Thank you for all ideas so far, keep them coming!

This year is the first year that I will be gifting/trading away (mostly gifting) all of my holiday offspring. Starting with Halloween, since it's the first holiday, I have 49 people to breed offspring for right now. When I close the Halloween list this week, I'll have possibly 56 breeding requests to move through. Most are gifts to new players who will be experiencing their first holidays on DC. While I'd love to be able to control half of the eggs in my clutch, it will slow down my breeding.

 

With the kept egg for gifting, if each dragon produces two eggs, I'll have 56 extra Halloween eggs to worry about gifting away. This is all well and good, but it takes up egg space. I actually had to turn down a gift offer for a Halloween baby because I only have so many slots to work with. You may say that's my fault for taking so many requests, but I think that it is fair that the extra babies go to other people or automatically to the AP instead. There they will go to users that want them for whatever reason. Even if a person chooses to gift his or her extra kept egg, they are still controlling what happens to it, which isn't right. The AP eggs are fair game for everyone, regardless of skill. The eggs on a user's scroll are not.

 

I don't support this because it gives the breeder too much control over his or her holiday offspring, but I will address the suggestions on the front page.

 

I think that having the ability to accept or refuse the gift is fine. I think that it is okay for the egg to go to a "random user", but the user should be active within a shorter time period (two weeks to a month) as these are holiday dragons that are only available within a certain breeding period. There should be some sort of notification at the start of breeding season about the possibility of receiving a gift.

 

I also think that the "random users" should actually be a pool of those who actually want to be gifted a dragon. I am not sure how TJ could code this (and it might be too hard to do so), but it would emphasize the gifting aspect instead of accidentally gifting more trading fodder. Perhaps a way to sign up via DC like TJ allowed for beta testing?

 

I agree to auto-APing after 24 hours. I also want to suggest that users have the ability to "turn off" the ability to receive gifts until they are ready. This way, eggs are less likely to sit in limbo before they are gifted or sent to the AP. I know I appreciate gifts, but I'd like to start receiving them after I have finished everything that I need to do scroll wise.

 

I also want to emphasize I am still very much in support of leaving everything as-is and using the transfer feature of teleport on the forums to maintain random gifting to all of DC if tossing/breeding to the AP isn't your thing.

 

TL; DR: There isn't an easy way to become the Oprah of DC when it comes to gifting away holidays regardless of how many annotations to the first post are made.

 

"You get a holiday dragon! And you get a holiday dragon! Look on your scrolls, because EVERYONE GETS A HOLIDAY DRAGON."

Edited August 31, 2014 by Jazeki