ANSWERED:Paid Perks

[lightningsky]

Nobody is keeping a dragon species from you. You just haven't had the luck to get a CB Shimmer or the time to catch DB metals. However, just like everyone else, you can get those dragons through the AP on the site. Dragon species behind a paywall is completely different.

How exactly are these things different?

 

A CB Prize Dragon earned by luck is no different then

A Dragon bought with real money -

 

Because both CBs of these dragons are exclusive to certain users by luck or money.

 

Can someone point out the difference to me??

[Fuzzbucket]

How exactly are these things different?

 

A CB Prize Dragon earned by luck is no different then

A Dragon bought with real money -

 

Because both CBs of these dragons are exclusive to certain users by luck or money.

 

Can someone point out the difference to me??

Everyone can have luck - it's a level playing field.

 

Not everyone can have money.

 

The dragons may be identical - but there is a fairer chance of any individual being able to get one if they cannot be bought. and what would buying them do for ratios ? (I have NO idea, I hasten to add - but I imagine there would be a LOT more CB prizes out there if they could be bought. And many of those grouped on a few scrolls.)

[Twyro]

How exactly are these things different?

 

A CB Prize Dragon earned by luck is no different then

A Dragon bought with real money -

 

Because both CBs of these dragons are exclusive to certain users by luck or money.

 

Can someone point out the difference to me??

Yes. Either luck or money. But, why? This is a game of virtual creatures where dragons are raised for fun and play, not special benefits. Raffles exist every year and your chances to get lucky as any other raffle winner before you is the same every year. Entirely random. But, should anyone suffer to have a certain creature so much to pay for one? I think it's pointless. There are much smarter, more useful and more necessary things to spend money on in real life, and dragons made in photoshop as parts of an online game are nowhere close those things. I think that spending money on dragons is completely pointless and unnecessary. No offense to anyone.

Edited August 3, 2015 by *Silver Fox*

[BlitzDrake]

Personally I think that the game is as good as it is and that there is no need for introducing perks for paying users to the site. First of all, this is a game. A game of dragons made in pixels that people shouldn't make any fuss about, especially to pay for them. And we are playing it to have fun, not to compete. If you want to get a dragon of a specific gender, just influence it to increase its chances, why pay to change the gender of an already existing dragon? If the influence fails, get another one. You will come across its substitute eventually. Not at once and maybe not so easily, but you will, the same way you earned the first one. The reason this game and its concept are loved by the users so much is that it's all the matter of good will, some persistence and a little bit of luck and that we all have equal chances. Why should you pay to get an almandine or CB gold if you can catch it on your own someday? Or trade for one? Or ask a kind person who is a bit luckier at coming across them to do you a favor and try to make up for it by giving them something in return? All that - free of charge.

If another dragon breed is released for paying users only (such as, one caveborn egg on this breed costs $2.99) and other users see it on that person's scroll, someone jealous would definitely try viewbombing it to death (let me remind you, even in this game as it is we have that), OR the paying users would use the 2nd gen offspring of that pay-only breed to ask for nearly impossible requests for trades (such as multiple CB metallics or neglected dragons). There goes something else.

What I mentioned are probably some ideas on what those perks to pay for would be, and in my personal opinion they have more downsides than positive things. This game makes me happy, and this imaginary world makes me happy, as well as everybody in it, and I'd love it to stay that way. A place where I can raise my dragons with you all and be happy for it. Why throw in money when money ruined so many more serious things in people's lives?

This.

 

Plus that's the fun of this game. Its a challenge to get certain things. If we weren't challenged and just had things handed to us...well...what's the fun in that? Just because you don't get what you want doesn't necessarily mean the game needs to be improved (but the biomes should have something done about them) just to accommodate. They're RARE for a reason. They're meant to be hard to get. That's part of the game. Almost all games present a challenge of some sort. When you get it you feel proud about it. Contrary to if you buy it...well..what's the fun in that? There was no challenge. No competition.

It doesn't matter if you've been here since 2008 or now, everyone still is after rares. That's part of the game.

 

Oh yeah and viewbombing. If you thought viewbombing was bad now, imagine viewbombing when you spent legit money on pixels.

 

If we want things implemented...make a suggestions thread. Yeah a lot of suggestions haven't happened yet but you never know.

Why introduce money when we haven't needed it before?

 

If and only if there was a incave store, it should be a in game currency. Nobody spends legit money, everyone can earn it via the mini game suggestion I added a bit back.

The only thing I'd support buying is the mini holiday events/stories, skins, things that don't effect in game. OR a MAXIMUM cap of 2 Halloween dragons of each breed. You get a pair of em, and they are only around during October so it still sticks to the theme and no weird out of season eggs. And it gives you a fair amount of time to get the required points

 

Also about the extra egg slot, there was a suggestion for this somewhere. Like, for each year you can earn another right? Well, I see that as fair. Youre being rewarded for your time in DC.

[Fuzzbucket]

The only thing I'd support buying is the mini holiday events/stories, skins, things that don't effect in game.

YES the mini games. I SO want to play with my fort (though I guess I'd have no-one to play it WITH )

[Shokomon]

How exactly are these things different?

 

A CB Prize Dragon earned by luck is no different then

A Dragon bought with real money -

 

Because both CBs of these dragons are exclusive to certain users by luck or money.

 

Can someone point out the difference to me??

Because luck is something that is completely uncontrollable. Say, I'm lucky to day and get a CB Gold, if we have the same internet speed, and click speed, then you have just as much of a chance grabbing a CB Gold tomorrow, and so does everyone else. Internet standards and biological conditions that inhibit clicking are things you come in with to the game. No one can help or control that. The game itself, however, should be a fair playing field outside of those factors.

 

- Everyone faces the same ratios.

- Everyone faces the same biomes.

- Everyone has the same egg slots, hatchling slots, actions, and kill slots.

- Everyone can get trophies that raise the number of egg and hatchling slots you get.

- Everyone faces the same conditions inside the game.

 

Once a paid perk like a Pay-Only Dragon, gets introduced, an uncontrollable factor that wasn't there before suddenly has bearing on whether you can play the game.

 

- Everyone can catch an egg from the Cave biomes; factors that the game cannot control only have indirect effects on your chances. You have bad internet; that's not the game fault, and you can't blame the game for giving you a hard time with catching eggs because you have bad internet.

- Say there is a Pay only Dragon. Everyone has access to it, but not everyone can buy because limited monetary funds & internalized priorities, uncontrollable factors outside the game.

- Suddenly, there is a disparity between people who can pay and people who cannot that wasn't there before, and it's completely artificial to the game. You can blame the game for introducing a perk that leaves an option of the game (getting the Pay-only Dragon) inaccessible to you or makes getting that option comparatively difficult if you cannot pay for it. That is unfair.

- If this was a game with paid perks from the get go, it would be different, because that disparity is expected and people who can and can't pay enter that game understanding that difference from the beginning.

- DC, however, is a free game with the goal of collecting sprites. There are people play it because you can can do everything for free. If introducing a perk that makes it easier to get something or do something for a fee, then suddenly the playing field changes to where money gives you an easier time at the game, where it didn't before.

- It's not fair to the people whose funds are limited or have more emergent or prioritized things to pay for to have the disadvantage a game that didn't have such situation before and was equal for everyone within the game.

 

That's why getting a dragon by money is different from luck. Luck is completely uncontrollable to everyone. Random chance is equal for everyone. Money is not equal for everyone, and changes the chances of doing anything within the game by something the game cannot control.

 

Which is again, why I am against paid perks that affect gameplay.

[Tawanda001]

This would basically make it paying for an alt <insert breed> that is functionally similar to an alt sweetling, especially the part that I put on bold.

 

This site is about collecting sprites, and from this perspective your suggestion is not all that different from a paywall breed.

I don't think costumes would be bad, even if you could see them on another person's scroll. Unlike true alts it's not something that's going to transfer to the other persons scroll so there's no real benefit to having one, other than 'it looks nice'. It's not really functional from that standpoint.

I'd trade for a red dorsal or an alt sweetling offspring because of what I could use it for on my scroll. Making a trade based on a costume that won't leave the owners scroll, not so much.

[RecycledHeart]

~Removed~ Edited August 3, 2015 by SockPuppet Strangler

[Shokomon]

Poll 1: Click me

[Note: This is "What do you think about paid perks" Poll]

Poll 2: Click me

[Note" This is "Would you pay for paid perks" Poll]

 

You should be able to select multiple options.

You should also be able to leave the results page open and it should update in real time. ^^

[Edited by Shokomon]

Reblogging Polls because I like polls.

[Guillotine]

Exactly. Having things that massively affect gameplay (exclusive dragons, rares/prizes, egg slots, bonus incubates, etc.) would be a major detriment to the many, many players who can't afford even that slight payment*, while things that are handy but not going to majorly affect overall gameplay (i.e. (extra?) scroll name changes, adult Influence, a pretty badge, maaaaybe a super cheap old-school Cave biome at most extreme?) would get a bit more income for the site without screwing over players who can't pay.

 

Incidentally, I don't go to Chicken Smoothie precisely because of the Pay to Play aspect. Same with a lot of sites with sprites/pets you need to pay for. I just don't like that kind of gameplay.

 

*This is fairly common; a lot of people have budgets so limited that they can't afford to spend it on a game because they need it for food, shelter, gas, or medical expenses. And that's just the adult portion of the site; underage members probably won't be able to pay simply because they're unlikely to have an income.

 

The fact that this game is entirely free and has no major paywalls is a large part of its appeal.

[JavaTigress]

Personally I think that the game is as good as it is and that there is no need for introducing perks for paying users to the site. First of all, this is a game. A game of dragons made in pixels that people shouldn't make any fuss about, especially to pay for them. And we are playing it to have fun, not to compete. If you want to get a dragon of a specific gender, just influence it to increase its chances, why pay to change the gender of an already existing dragon? If the influence fails, get another one. You will come across its substitute eventually. Not at once and maybe not so easily, but you will, the same way you earned the first one. The reason this game and its concept are loved by the users so much is that it's all the matter of good will, some persistence and a little bit of luck and that we all have equal chances. Why should you pay to get an almandine or CB gold if you can catch it on your own someday? Or trade for one? Or ask a kind person who is a bit luckier at coming across them to do you a favor and try to make up for it by giving them something in return? All that - free of charge.

If another dragon breed is released for paying users only (such as, one caveborn egg on this breed costs $2.99) and other users see it on that person's scroll, someone jealous would definitely try viewbombing it to death (let me remind you, even in this game as it is we have that), OR the paying users would use the 2nd gen offspring of that pay-only breed to ask for nearly impossible requests for trades (such as multiple CB metallics or neglected dragons). There goes something else.

What I mentioned are probably some ideas on what those perks to pay for would be, and in my personal opinion they have more downsides than positive things. This game makes me happy, and this imaginary world makes me happy, as well as everybody in it, and I'd love it to stay that way. A place where I can raise my dragons with you all and be happy for it. Why throw in money when money ruined so many more serious things in people's lives?

This is actually an EXCELENT point as regards paying for dragons.

 

I hadn't THOUGHT about the viewbombing aspect of it, especially if the dragon were pay only. As it is we have enough view bombing going on due to jealousy...and if the dragon in question were ONLY available to those willing to pay for it, I can see it becoming an instant target. And, bad as it is to lose a dragon to bombing that you hunted/tradedor bred... Iam sure it would be far, FAR worse to lose a dragon that you had actually paid for. in fact, if it got bad enough, it MIGHT even causet he whole thing to be not worth the trouble.If no one buys because the eggs get bombed, well... it would spoil the purposeof trying to sell them in the firstplace. I know TJ has the power to make a dragon immune to sickness, which I believe he uses on prizes cus they inevitably get uber-viewed... UNLESS something of that kind were implemented,I'd be sort of paranoid of anything I paid money for ( NOT TOO sure that I personally would).

Edited August 3, 2015 by Silverswift

[Thuban]

Since you asked:

 

I'll be using my example of Player $ and Player A, where Player $ and Player A both have the same trophy status, similar clicking speeds, and similar internet speeds, who are both in the Cave on the same day, at the same time. The only difference between the two is that Player $ has extra cash to spend, while Player A doesn't.

 

 

Lots to respond to here, please excuse the very likely horrible formatting that wil result

 

Re: Adult Gender Change

-I'm against this. I don't like it because Gendering is a part of the game's Luck-of-the-Draw factor. And while there is an in-game version of this (Pinks), it only affects eggs, and if you miss that opportunity (or don't collect Pinks), you are penalized to wait, and catch another egg or trade if the dragon doesn't gender right. This would add money as a factor.

- Assume Player A and Player $ make a mistake, and they let an un-Influenced egg grow up into an Adult, while they were busy with real life. It's the wrong gender.

- Player $ wouldn't have to catch eggs and wait for them to hatch, and gender. S/he could just change the Adult's gender right away by handing out cash. Player A would have to go through alternate loops like catching & influencing a new egg or trading the hatchling, which would take more time. There is a time-disadvantage to Player A.

- Honestly, there should be a hatchling gender switch BSA for ungendered hatchlings, but that's neither here nor there.

 

My view here is that I have had plenty of things misgender after using pinks. I have dragons that existed long before pinks were made to be special that i wanted to be a different gender. The reason I dont view this as being a huge negative, is purely because yes, that are options in game to affect NEW dragons that are growing up. There is nothing to target old things. I dont believe there is a need for BSAs for every single thing ever. Incubating eggs is great.. but its often the hatchy stage I would far prefer to grow faster. We dont have hatchy incubated, because "eggs already have it". It makes sense for eggs, and not hatchys.

 

Re: Scroll name changes:

- I've said before that I like the idea of this kind of perk.

- Player $ and Player A don't like their scroll name anymore. Player $ can afford to change it sooner than Player A. Both Player $ and A can still play the game with the same risks and benefits, and the name change of Player $ doesn't affect Player A other than mild confusion when Player A sees Player $'s scroll.

 

Yes, there should be an option to change it once for everyone. My son would prefer to use his gamer tag now, rather than his name as his scroll name. I think its silly, but its his scroll, not mine.

 

- Nope against this. While Trading, technically, is an extra-curricular activity on DC, many people involve it in their playstyles. This would make it easier to breed certain breeds or can skew breed ratio for other breeders, particularly one's trying to breed rares. The only way this wouldn't work would be if they had the same worth as Purple's Fertility. Then they wouldn't be worth buying. Unless you didn't have Purples or didn't collect them, which makes it even more unfair if you are in the aforementioned situation and didn't have money to obtain Fertility scrolls.

- Player $ and Player A are both trying to breed say Blacks for ALT-ing and Lineages. Player $ buys Fertility scroll, and has an easier time breeding Blacks. Player A cannot afford to buy a Fertility scroll and has a much harder time, resorting in trading and hunting to get Blacks. Another time-disadvantage. If enough Player $'s buy fertility scrolls, it becomes harder for Player A (and anyone else with no money to spare) to breed Blacks as others are being bred by Player $'s with Fertility scroll.

- If anything, this should be a free option, or the Fertility BSA should be allowed on other dragons (which is being contested along with other BSA's in the BSA section of Suggestions.)

 

The reason i suggested it as a paid option is because while TJ himself had pitched the idea to change up how fertility works, nothing has changed in that regard. I was a strong supporter of one gender of purples giving multi clutches, and the other increasing the chances of an egg. Because I am not huge on trading, and really prefer to just do my own thing. If I need a specific lineage, I will ask around. Those users who are trying to breed for a specific thing, are going to breed huge numbers of things regardless, in the effort to get that thing they want anyhow. Ratios are funny anyhow. I have been trying to breed a balloon from one pairing since the beginning of this year.. guess what, no balloons. Having a scroll that increases the chances of a multi clutch wil give me NO advantage, if the balloons are already not breeding. Oops, I wasted money playing the breeding ratio lottery, rather than doing it for free.

 

RE: Extra biome

- Already said why I'm against this (on Page 18). Basically, Player $ have an extra biome to hunt with different ratios and less competition, while Player A doesn't. (This is a problem of unequal opportunity and unequal access.)

 

My view on this one is that the blocker breeds would still be a huge problem, and that there are a lot of breeds that were meant to be in a specific biome that doesnt exist. Horse dragons, are one of those breeds that i believe were meant for grassland/savannah type areas, but instead were shoved into the biome that closest matched. Grassland biome would have all of the exact same dragons that are caught in cave, but th difference is that there would be no rares (in my example anyhow) dropping. Just a different arrangement of already catchable dragons, in all their cave blocking glory.

 

Re: Lures

- Nope. This makes it easier to catch certain breeds, thereby screwing the ratios for anyone who can't afford it. Even with the possibility of attracting "blockers," they would still have to give some benefit of bringing in valued breeds or they wouldn't be worth buying. Also, "blockers" change every once and awhile, so what lures would attract would change too.

- Player $ and A are both hunting for Xenos in the Hypothetical Cave. Player $ buys some Lures. Player A cannot afford a Lure. Player $ uses the Lures, and has an easier time getting a Xeno. Player A doesn't even see one in the span of time Player A gets one. Player A gets one much later due to high demand. There is an time-disadvantage and opportunity-disadvantage to Player A.

- Maybe if Lures could be obtained for free, I'd be more willing, but as it stands, nope.

 

I disagree. We have an insane amount of overlap between breeds sharing same fod preferences. A meat based lure, would attract EVERY breed that eats meat, not just the one breed you hope for. A fish based lure would attract only those breeds that rely on fish (which really, is no different than hunting the coast as is ) It wouldnt have a lasting effect, perhaps only 5 minutes or so of refreshing goodness. Knowing exactly what foods I needed to attract a balloon to my cave during that event, did absolutely nothing to get a balloon in my cave for the event.

 

I am a fan of providing ways to get the lures and scrolls I mentioned as free items occasionally, however, at this point in time, the only way to do that would to be to treat it like trick or treating, and just having things occasionally show up to be clicked on, which could interfere with hunting and other ay to day activities. I was avoiding mentioning that for now, due to the fact that there aren't options to support it, yet.

 

RE: Dragon Journals

- I'm okay with this one. Descriptions are a lot like names and don't affect game play. I would like an in-game way of obtaining the journal though. For all those who want to describe their dragons in more detail, but lack funds.

- Player $ and Player A both enjoy describing their dragons. Player $ buys a journal to add more detail about his/her dragons. Players A cannot, but can still describe dragons, and play other parts of the game with no difference in gameplay. Player $'s ability to describe his/her dragons more does not change Player A's ability to catch, raise, breed, or describe (or trade for those who do) nor does it confer a time difference between the two Players.

Yay, I got one right. As mentioned above, I would have no problem with them dropping randomly as a clickable, collectible item. If mechanics were built to do that...

 

Re: Time scrolls

- Nope. I'm against this. There is no in-game way of doing this outside of Pinks' BSA. (There really should be a hatchling Incubate BSA first, before I'd even consider this.) Those without money would have n way of doing anything similar, other than waiting for hatchlings to gender on their own or influencing them as eggs.

- Basically, this has the same issues as the Adult Influencing.

 

Yes, and once again, its something that has been requested for years, but not put into place in any capacity. Again, I don't think we are going to get BSA to cover everything ever that we need for our own specific playstyles. I prefer not to incubate eggs, since most weeks, I have very little time for this game, but hatchys, I watch closely. I have pitched many ideas over the years for how to get hatchy incubate, and have even created dragons specifically for that purpose, that are unlikely ever to be released here. I would rather see most of these options happen in game, rather than as a perk, however, I'm fine with perks, especialy if whatever the currency or perks are, do not really affect things in game and can be picked up by players who cant spend money on pixel games.

 

RE: Mass teleport/fogs

- Nope. Again. As much as I would like this, there is no in-game opportunity to do this, other than collecting more Magi dragons. And even if there was, this would give players with money the advantage of being able to clear their scrolls more quickly. It would, also, give people with money more opportunities to trade (and gift), while those without money will not have such opportunity. It'd be better if (as I mentioned with Fertility Scrolls) BSA could be shared with multiple dragons.

- Player A & Player $ both were lucky last year, and got many shiny rares. They have bred said rares, and now they wish to trade them (or gift) their shiny and rare-fail eggs. However, both have used up all their Magi Dragon Teleports in recent endeavors. Player $ buys some Teleport scrolls. Player A cannot afford to buy Teleport Scrolls.

- Player $ can now trade and gift his/her shiny eggs sooner than Player A, thus Player has can catch/breed eggs sooner, get more offers sooner, and/or free him/herself up for a release sooner. Player A must wait for his/her Teleports to reactivate, leaving Player A with the options of abandoning the eggs and losing any use of them for trading (or gifting) OR waiting out and risking the eggs growing up (and thus losing all trade, gift, or abandoning value).

- Player A end up with a time-disadvantage and opportunity-disadvantage compared to Player $.

 

Players can already move huge numbers of things quickly. I can empty a full lock into trading and gifting in about 5 minutes, without really trying if i cared to. The mechanics are still there for free players. Mass fog has been requested many many times by users, even back when I first joined in early 09. It hasn't happened. Im cool with a magic scroll for it. Mass teleport, honestly 4 things is too few for MOST of the random trades i do. I frequently will breed all of my second gen prizes, and end up with three teleports worth of shinies to gift away to various gifting groups and games as presents.

 

I would be absolutely fine with it attaching to magis that exist on your scroll, and having that as a limit to how many times it can be done. You want to teleport 12 things at once? Ok, its going o eat three magi worth of teleport magic. It would stop some abuse that way.

 

 

I dont let the fear of whats going to happen to ratios, or trading keep me from exploring potential useful ideas. I have dragons that could provide most of the types of things I want, sitting around collecting dust, or currently being remade, in the efforts of getting those abilities out there to the rest of you. Because I know my art isn't up to par with what is generally used here, I'm fine with finding other ways to get them to happen, even if they aren't MY ideal way of doing it. If one of the artists liked a mechanic of mine, for their dragon, I would gladly hand it over, since their art is likely to be released (like my egg freezing option...). I am confident that TJ will get everything balanced out over time, so that this game wouldnt go "have to pay to win". There might be some bumpy patches in the process, but hes been good about trying to find ways to make things more fair over time.

[tjekan]

@ tjekan - TJ said - he is just interested to see what people WOULD pay for, not that he plans to start up a payment system.

Ok, but I don't know why he would be interested in knowing that unless he was considering doing it, and I don't know why he would be considering doing it if he says he doesn't care about increasing his revenue. What OTHER purpose would paid perks have, beyond increasing his revenue?

 

People have mentioned a lot of perks they'd like to have and articulated why, and that's cool, but other than fundraising, what possible benefit would there be to restricting such perks to only paying customers? To the contrary, it seems like if something such as adult dragon gender changes or scroll name changes were going to be implemented, it would be much more beneficial to make the option available to everyone.

 

This is a very strange topic, IMHO. There would need to be some kind of actual reason to implement a paid-perks structure. If that reason is not money, then what on earth could it be?

[cyradis4]

Ok, but I don't know why he would be interested in knowing that unless he was considering doing it, and I don't know why he would be considering doing it if he says he doesn't care about increasing his revenue. What OTHER purpose would paid perks have, beyond increasing his revenue?

 

People have mentioned a lot of perks they'd like to have and articulated why, and that's cool, but other than fundraising, what possible benefit would there be to restricting such perks to only paying customers? To the contrary, it seems like if something such as adult dragon gender changes or scroll name changes were going to be implemented, it would be much more beneficial to make the option available to everyone.

 

This is a very strange topic, IMHO. There would need to be some kind of actual reason to implement a paid-perks structure. If that reason is not money, then what on earth could it be?

The original post of TJ's was in response to the "gender switch as paid perk" thread.... And the hurricane of "NOOOOOOs!" it elicited. I think TJ is probably just curious about why people were so negative about it.

 

Myself, I'm not going to bother stating my views again.

 

Cheers!

C4.

[AnanoKimi]

I will repeat my self that A won by luck dragon is not a purchased dragon. A dragon that is purchased requires money and a transaction. There is no random aspect, it is all controlled and you get what you want by offering money. A Prize dragon win in a raffle is not paid for, there is no controlled aspect, and it is completely random as to who gets it or not. Thats like saying asking to be shot by someone is the same as getting randomly shot by a random person shooting everywhere. Its not the same.

 

Again, a lot of the logic for wanting paid perks for a game that is free seems so flawed:

 

"To help the site survive"

 

The site will die regardless of whether you put money into it or not. You could pay $5k a month and if TJ gets tired of DC and shuts it down he will. There is no gurantee that having paid perks and you paying as much as possible for them will keep DC afloat. If TJ doesnt want to keep it online, he wont. No need to guilt him into keeping DC online because "users paid you for stuff, the least you could do is keep it online."

 

"More coders to help with updates."

 

If TJ wanted more people to help with coding, he would have done that. There are many users here whom I've seen through out the years offer to help, and I emphasize help not get hired to code. If TJ truly wanted the help he would ask for it, offer positions, or take up those who want to help. If he hasnt its his reason and his reason alone. If you can code, email him and offer your services and see what he says.

 

"More money would give TJ incentive to work on the site more"

 

Dude has a job, if you can find out what his job is paying him and then ensure that DC can produce twice that revenue, then go for it. Otherwise the money that might come from here might not be enough for a guy to quit investing time into his job and instead invest it on a pixel dragon hobby site. Remeber kids, this site is a hobby not a job for him. Regardless of whether or not this site makes money, his real job, bills, food, etc will all take priority over this site any day and as such updates will happen a bit slowly. There is no guarantee that paid perks will make TJ want to work on a hobby more over his job or life.

 

"Well paid perks will be a great way to repay TJ for his hard work"

 

Have you not seen the donation button? It exists you know. If you want to show TJ your gratitude by throwing money at him then click it and throw money at him. No need to introduce some concept that no one wants and would kill the genuinely free to play feel of the game. Or hey did you know that DC sell merchandise? You could go buy a nice mug, or nice shirt and support TJ as well as show him your thanks in the purchase of some DC merch.

 

"Well I want to get things I can't get normally because I cant hunt/have bad reflexes/have a slow connection"

 

Uhm... there is a friggin suggestion to implement a no cost store in which your every day game actions will earn you points to spend on possibly any dragon you might want except CB alts and CB hybrids. If your issue is inability to hunt, go support it, PM TJ about how you feel that idea might benefit everyone, email him to maybe bring his attention to the suggestion so he can work with us some more in maybe getting it implemented, thats a much better alternative. As I said before, if you want to play a game where your money gets you everything you want and puts you ahead of the game from everyone who cannot pay, go play one of those games. DC is not one of those games.

 

 

All the suggestions like name change, egg slots, sorting options, minigames, etc, all of those could be made free. Maybe the mini games at a small price because those were one time things, but having the ability to have access to them with a one time purchase would be cool. Everything else could be made free. There is really absolutely no need and absolutely no benefit in adding paid perks. None. At all. So no paid perks.

Edited August 3, 2015 by AnanoKimi

[Fuzzbucket]

The original post of TJ's was in response to the "gender switch as paid perk" thread.... And the hurricane of "NOOOOOOs!" it elicited. I think TJ is probably just curious about why people were so negative about it.

 

Myself, I'm not going to bother stating my views again.

 

Cheers!

C4.

This. He said in the other thread:

 

I'm going to play devil's advocate here, not because I care about adding paid perks, but because I'm genuinely curious about how people feel about this subject.

 

How (in)significant does something have to be before it falls under being "pay to win?" Consider this thread: what benefit does changing an adult dragon's gender confer? Given that you can already influence, its only use is that it allows one to make the gender decision later on, or correct for a failed influence (which, when you consider that there's a 50% chance the egg is already the gender you want, influence is pretty unlikely to fail). So, is bypassing that failure chance "pay to win?" What are you really "winning" that other people aren't?

 

What about something that doesn't affect your dragons? For example, if someone could pay money to change their account's username (the payment acting as some sort of a barrier to discourage "abusing" the feature). Is that "pay to win?" Is that giving some people a material advantage over others?

 

Now, what about a "paid currency" system (that is, you can either earn some "currency" through playing the game, or buy some directly)? Now, there is no feature that can only be accessed through money; the only gain is that you trade money for time saved. Is that still "pay to win?" Is that still the "worst way to go?"

 

I ask these things because there seems to be a complete and utter aversion to money whatsoever; an assumption that "pay to win" is the inevitable outcome, but I've seen plenty of successful free-to-play models that don't shaft people without money, so there seems to be a gap in understanding somewhere.

 

He is curious. I was, too - when this thread started. Now I'm just fed up with it all !

[Stormcaller]

There's an old saying that IMHO applies here:

 

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

 

Dragon Cave surely isn't broken.

[SullenCat]

After reading this thread notbambi and sullencat, you have very very different opinions than me. One reason that I keep seeing pop up mainly in your posts is that why should we take advantage of tj by not paying????!!!111!!

 

no just stop. No one is taking advantage of tj. He is doing this of his own goddamn free will. So using that as is reason isn't valid. Tj doesn't need money which he himself has stated several times.

 

 

No stupid special biome for paying users. It's unfair and can you imagine all the ducking drama it's gonna cause.

 

Buying cb rares. No that's a cop out. The only way to make it fair is that those dragons don't affect the ratios, aren't tradeable and their offspring aren't tradeable. Because the only reason you want the cb rares is just to have them on your scroll right? So who cares if you can't trade them or their offspring.

 

No buying cb prizes. WINNERS WON THEM IN A FREE RANDOM RAFFLE. Tough luck if you didn't win because there's always next year.

 

No paid perks with either real or virtual money that affect actual gameplay.

 

 

And no I'm not really sorry if I come off as rude or offensive because I've seen too many other players get dissed or tried to get guilt tripped by you (general you) with "oh noez don't take advantage of poor little tj."

I've no idea why you decided to go for personal attack, in particular because it is not even accurate. I can easily thinking of phrases by others like "asking TJ to give you unpaid labor" but for some reason you decided that I was an easy target.

Furthermore, I've no idea who gives you the right to tell me and the other person that you targeted to stop. If my posts were out of line, you could have just reported them.And for what concerns your behavior, you already accurately described it.

 

[TJ09]

Alas, I don't think this topic has been productive as I hoped. I made my post purely out of academic motivations (I wanted to know the reasoning behind peoples' positions on F2P, and where people were willing to draw the lines). What I instead have found has been a lot of discussion of fringe, auxiliary topics (e.g. debate on whether or not I/the site need more money); a lot of people who have seen F2P done so badly elsewhere that they're unwilling to even entertain the possibility that it can be done in a balanced manner. The negativity and opposition is not entirely unexpected, however. Given that even in successful F2P models, only a small percent of people actually pay, I'd expect most people to be against something that they know they'll never make use of.

 

Rest assured, Dragon Cave is unlikely to add paid perks any time in the near/forseeable future, and even if I were to, I'd err on the side of making them not worth the money over performing a quick cash grab. As above, my motivation for this discussion was curiosity, not greed.

 

I don't see much more coming out of this thread, and it seems to have taken over the suggestions section (there have been remarkably fewer active threads in this forum since the discussion started), so I'm gonna close this now.