ANSWERED:Paid Perks

[JavaTigress]

I am not really in favor of paid-for perks for DC.

 

I know many other games have them and, to be honest, it always made me sad because I SELDOM could justify buying them with real money ( Game sites have been known to die and THEN you'd be out the money.).. and USUALLY it was INVARIABLY the nicest things that were for real-money sale.

 

My primary reason for opposing it, though, is what it would do to the climate on-site.

There is enough of 'have' and 'have not feeling on DC without having THAT to make it even worse.

 

The fact that there were no 'pay-for perks' on DC was one of the BIG reasons I appreciate this game.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Silverswift

[BlindWolf]

I'm strongly against paying money to get any advantage in the game. I don't care how 'small' you consider it, it's an unfair advantage to people with too much money and too little sense, and it hurts the game for the majority of players. DC being casual and easy to get into, without requiring in truth or in practice (as is the case with many other sites that SAY you can get things for free, which actually means you need extreme luck of months of work for minor benefit), is one of its main appeals in contrast to other, similar websites. Beyond that, these things never stay small. Greed is an appealing sin, and introducing money into the game itself will lead to more and more being locked behind money, in small steps, until the game has been entirely crippled by it.

[zaverxi]

I am against anything that would get people exclusive dragons, BSAs, or access to things before other people.

 

Paying for ad removal exists and I am perfectly ok with it. Changing your account name? Sure why not. Changing an adult dragon's gender? I can live with that.

 

Being able to trade adult dragons: NO.

Being able to 'buy' rare dragons: NO.

Being able to use BSAs that free users can't: NO.

Being able to reduce cooldowns further: NO.

Being able to get more eggslots: NO.

Getting access to new releases before others: NO.

Being able to vote on dragon ideas for release: NO.

Being able to buy raffle tickets for prize dragons: NO.

 

Nothing that changes gameplay should be buyable.

 

I'll probably never win a prize dragon myself but 'buying' one is extremely cheap and would cause so much of an uproar you wouldn't believe it. It would make raffles meaningless.

 

I'd rather win a raffle the normal way.

[Tish]

One of the main reasons I enjoy DC and have stayed for this long is because its free, all free with no pay perks. I wouldn't want to feel at a disadvantage because I can't pay it does take some of the fun away.

 

Also against any kind of in game currency and would hate if the site turned into something like that.

[Rally Vincent]

If TJ would charge money for certain parts of the game, they wouldn't be only players. They'd start to be customers, and as customers, they would have a different standing. Running DC as a business would come with obligations to some degree - it is not only a decision if there is some money to be made. The income would have to worth the extra trouble. I wonder if perks that don't impact gameplay itself would be worth it?

 

Paid content, even if not game changing, also inevitably is going to make customers' opinions and wishes weigh more than those of "free players". A business just naturally would have to weigh differently if they have paying customers. Who knows which impact a perceived two-class-society can have on a game?

 

I don't know how much of DCs appeal stems from the involvement of a large group of players. Lineage building often requires the help of other players. If paid perks decrease the player base, DC might lose some of its appeal that would make some players willing to pay for the perks in the first place. It is something to consider.

 

I wouldn't mind if players had game advantages as long as everything is achievable by free players as well. This means: no pay-only-breeds, no retiring breeds for free players, etc. If someone could buy gold eggs and paid eggs do not influence the ratios, I don't mind. I would't like it much, but as long as we all have access to everything without having to pay, I could live with it.

[Red2111]

There is enough of  'have' and 'have not feeling on DC without having THAT to make it even worse.

imo this is more of a personal problem for the individual rather than a problem with the site. and it shouldn't be a valid reason to discount an idea or improvement.

 

I'm strongly against paying money to get any advantage in the game. I don't care how 'small' you consider it, it's an unfair advantage to people with too much money and too little sense, and it hurts the game for the majority of players. DC being casual and easy to get into, without requiring in truth or in practice (as is the case with many other sites that SAY you can get things for free, which actually means you need extreme luck of months of work for minor benefit), is one of its main appeals in contrast to other, similar websites. Beyond that, these things never stay small. Greed is an appealing sin, and introducing money into the game itself will lead to more and more being locked behind money, in small steps, until the game has been entirely crippled by it.

bold - jealousy and envy are equally deadly and appealing sins and breed contemptuous statement like this. who are you to tell people or even berate people for how they spend their hard earned money?

 

its no more of an advantage than the person who sits at home all day and doesnt have a job and hunts hours on end in the cave ending up with more of the CB rares and CB hard to gets. sure, it would be easy for those of us to yell "unfair that the lazy bum who doesn't have a job has more time to play on the site than those of us with jobs and family" but you dont see any of us doing that now do you?

 

this aint an attack on you personally, its an attack on the out look of "you have more money than you need" and the feeling that people are entilited to dictate and comment on how others spend their hard earned cash; or even worse, redistribute it in the guise of "equality"

 

 

if someone wants to throw their spare cash at some pixelated art that holds no intrinsic value outside of a single website in a tiny corner of the interwebs, then why not let TJ and the artists profit from their frivalous spending of their money. people who get revenue from a source generally reinvest that revenue back into the thing thats getting them money. which means improvements for the site faster and probably more prettier sprites for us to collect and cooler features.

 

 

italics - this is a baseless assumption to make about TJ and the artists on this site imo. just because other sites have fallen a certain way is no reason to say "if we do X, then Y will happen because *points to other sites*"

 

TJ and the artists on here have done nothing at all to warrant that sort of baseless accusation of "eventuality" thrown on them. the sites almost 10 years old, as far as i know, the only pay for feature (advertisement removal) has been on the site for a few years now and hasn't increased in price yet. if TJ had the inention of going the way as other adoptable site have, he'd have done so already.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Red2111

[BlitzDrake]

I'm against paying "to get an advantage" (instead of pay to win) over other users. First off, those users that could "buy" a Cb gold or other rare breeds/pretty breeds would totally screw the ratios. Those of us that don't pay to get the advantage would have even harder time getting their golds to breed. Maybe even to the point where golds are bought so much, the only way to get one WOULD be to buy it.

 

As for trading. "Don't participate in it", really? Ok, most of us on here use the trade feature to trade what we don't want, for something we DO.

Or maybe not even golds. Pick your favorite breed. Now imagine someone just buying it. A lot. The ratios would screw up and hoarding our favorite breed would be harder.

I played Tale of dragons or whatever it's name was. The one that got shut down a while back. You could "donate" (read that as pay for) and get a "donation exclusive breed as thanks". And they had a currency system as well; click an dragon get a coin. And the items you could buy, the ones that were good, were ridiculous prices. 10,000 coins for one dragon egg. I spent 2 hours clicking things and got 400 coins.

 

Now take DC examples

 

Canopy. -5 coins? I dunno, how much is a coin worth? Let's say 5 coins =$1

Nebula - 20 coins

Blu sangs -50 coins

Coppers- 60 coins

Golds/silvers. 200 coins?

 

Also if we are/can spend real money, its only fair that the sprite of the dragon we are supporting this way gets paid for being so popular.

 

Go in and factor in popularity and then those will change a lot. More so on the dates and pseudo rares due to ratios screwing up.

Let's just imagine how spriters with less popular dragons would feel. They may not care, they may be so upset at this they just discontinue their "not so popular breed".

-reduce BSA CD times.

Gives those that pay advantage

 

- get a dead egg of the scroll.

THIS can be abused when it comes to breeding/lineage/gifting threads so bad. They won't give you eggs unless your scroll is clean of dead eggs. They do THIS to make sure their eggs go to good homes, not someone who wants to bite it, experiment it, and to make sure the user keeps an eye out for sickness, etc.

 

- reduce breeding CD (excluding Holidays).

Again, gives those that pay advantage

 

- getting the next trophy. NOOO. So much no to this. So hard. We have trophys for a REASON. Its like a status. Someone that has a bronze, a newbie, pays for a gold trophy, probably to get all the slots up. Getting a trophy is something you earn, as is the experience that comes with it. And don't even get me started on how multi scrollers would love this.

- max tickets allowed for the raffle without playing the mini game/event.

Again, player advantage. We play the mini game to EARN the ticket(s). If you can play the mini game and have the patience for it, you deserve a spot in the raffle. Paying for this is like those VIP tickets for rides at parks. All the ones that didn't pay have to wait 1-2 hours to ride in those insane lines.

 

 

I, to an extent care for trade values. If EVERYONE had a CB shimmer or Tinsel, then, well, no one would care about how low gen you have and pretty much just treat them as "meh ok, next trade offer". People see 2nd-4th gen and WANT them. While yes there is a class system with those that have CB Shimmers...well...I say good for those users. They got lucky. They won a PRIZE. A prize for having patience in a mini game. A prize for just being that lucky. I don't see it as " Oh elitist" I see it as "hey they got lucky, they didn't know they would win. They played a mini game for fun, hoping they would get lucky. Some did, some didn't".

 

 

 

I'm fine with the paying for no ads. Those that do want to support DC that way and not use ad block. It doesn't give them an advantage, it just helps DC instead.

 

I'd also be on board with new skins

Oh and paying a little to replay the holiday minigames

 

If making money on the site is an issue then I would go for adding new things to the store. Theres so many people and artists on DC that I'm positive there would be amazing art. And we could have their awesome art on our clothes and notebooks to boot.

*wishes there was a trio art piece so much

Edited July 31, 2015 by BlightWyvern

[zaverxi]

italics - this is a baseless assumption to make about TJ and the artists on this site imo. just because other sites have fallen a certain way is no reason to say "if we do X, then Y will happen because *points to other sites*"

It is not a baseless assumption to say that the site would go down that slippery slope because others did. I have seen it myself. Sites that WERE free, then suddenly deciding to add paid perks, simply made everyone who wanted to keep playing for free extremely unhappy... because they lost out due to the fact that they could no longer have the same play experience as those with money to waste.

 

Precedents are called such for a reason.

[Fiona]

As an artist for the site there are a couple points I'd like to speak to. Sinclair raised some interesting and valid points about appreciation for people's efforts. However, as an artist for the site I wanted to make sure people know that I do this as a hobby. If offered money for spriting as things currently stand I would say no. This is despite the fact that a few months ago we (my hubby and I) were drowning in debt due to my medical bills. And yes, this despite the fact that I know that the ad revenue collected by this site more than pays for the hosting costs.

 

Being paid to do art for the site would fundamentally change the relationship of the artists to the admin. I like the relationship we have now and wouldn't want it to become more like a job.

 

Some of the paid perks ideas being tosses around involve art for the site, such as making the holiday games available for download. For things like that I would expect TJ would offer us a cut, and for things like that I wouldn't say no. Those are outside of the game itself though.

 

One more comment, on a different note. TJ has shown a remarkable grasp of game mechanics and theory. I think he'll weigh carefully the possible long term effects of anything he might change from this discussion on the overall health of the game. I'm not worried the game will become "pay to win" because I don't think he'd ever move in that direction.

[RecycledHeart]

I agree. With paid perks eventually the site is going to focus more and more on the money items and trying to make the look as appealing as possible and neglect all the free stuff.

[Jazeki]

If TJ would charge money for certain parts of the game, they wouldn't be only players. They'd start to be customers, and as customers, they would have a different standing. Running DC as a business would come with obligations to some degree - it is not only a decision if there is some money to be made. The income would have to worth the extra trouble. I wonder if perks that don't impact gameplay itself would be worth it?

 

Paid content, even if not game changing, also inevitably is going to make customers' opinions and wishes weigh more than those of "free players". A business just naturally would have to weigh differently if they have paying customers. Who knows which impact a perceived two-class-society can have on a game?

 

I don't know how much of DCs appeal stems from the involvement of a large group of players. Lineage building often requires the help of other players. If paid perks decrease the player base, DC might lose some of its appeal that would make some players willing to pay for the perks in the first place. It is something to consider.

 

I wouldn't mind if players had game advantages as long as everything is achievable by free players as well. This means: no pay-only-breeds, no retiring breeds for free players, etc. If someone could buy gold eggs and paid eggs do not influence the ratios, I don't mind. I would't like it much, but as long as we all have access to everything without having to pay, I could live with it.

Though most sites pander to paying individuals with perks and everything else, TJ doesn't seem to want to do that and he seems genuinely interested in our opinions concerning paid features being added. This site , though we often choose not to admit it, is already a business. TJ makes money from it. There is a cafe press store. People can also donate money or purchase ad-free subscriptions. He also brings in money from the ads. The money all goes back to the site, but it's still money. In the real world, it would be a not-for-profit business.

 

TJ has also commissioned artists to do things for the site. That fancy new scroll background--paid for. It isn't right to expect all of the expenses of Dragon Cave to just fall on TJ's and other generous users's shoulders because you (general use here) want an equal playing field.

 

 

As for earnable and buyable in-game currency, it can work without having to spend any money. For the first few months of playing Chicken Smoothie, I got all of my Chicken Smoothie dollars from other users rather than from buying it. And when I did finally buy it, it was 20 dollars for 380 dollars of in game currency. And I still have most of it left over. For users worried about scams or anything else on the site, it's possible to report to the mods if there is a real problem. There are also more mods on Chicken Smoothie than here. Also, rarity is pretty clearly established on the site, so I think it does involve a bit of common sense to see when someone is trying to scam you. I think as people get used to using currency on DC if it was implemented, it should be easier to use.

[Fuzzbucket]

As an artist for the site there are a couple points I'd like to speak to. Sinclair raised some interesting and valid points about appreciation for people's efforts. However, as an artist for the site I wanted to make sure people know that I do this as a hobby. If offered money for spriting as things currently stand I would say no. This is despite the fact that a few months ago we (my hubby and I) were drowning in debt due to my medical bills. And yes, this despite the fact that I know that the ad revenue collected by this site more than pays for the hosting costs.

 

Being paid to do art for the site would fundamentally change the relationship of the artists to the admin. I like the relationship we have now and wouldn't want it to become more like a job.

 

Some of the paid perks ideas being tosses around involve art for the site, such as making the holiday games available for download. For things like that I would expect TJ would offer us a cut, and for things like that I wouldn't say no. Those are outside of the game itself though.

 

One more comment, on a different note. TJ has shown a remarkable grasp of game mechanics and theory. I think he'll weigh carefully the possible long term effects of anything he might change from this discussion on the overall health of the game. I'm not worried the game will become "pay to win" because I don't think he'd ever move in that direction.

Applauds wildly.

[Stromboli]

The the thing I'd be very against would be any kind of buyable dragons, particularly a purchase-only breed.

 

Features, I have no problem with. I actually like the idea of being able to change scrollnames and things like that. It'd be nice if there was a way to earn those things in-game, though, for the kids who can't pay real money for them to still be able to get them.

[Rally Vincent]

There is a cafe press store. People can also donate money or purchase ad-free subscriptions. He also brings in money from the ads. The money all goes back to the site, but it's still money. In the real world, it would be a not-for-profit business.

There is a difference, though, between ad revenue /donations and actually paying for in game perks. Someone else pays the site to display advertisement; basically, the site is the customer here. Donations are not given for a service in return, they are a one way transaction.

 

Ad removal is a paid feature, that is true. The feature resembles a donation, though, because one could have the same result with an adblocker (which is not disallowed on DC).

 

DC has revenue, sure, but it I see it more like different forms of donation (whether by allowing ads, paying for ad removal, or donating directly).

 

The store: well, one buys merchandise. Your customer rights are with the merchandise, not the development of the game. It'll be different if in-game content becomes the merchandise.

[Red2111]

  I'm against paying "to get an advantage" (instead of pay to win) over other users. First off, those users that could "buy" a Cb gold or other rare breeds/pretty breeds would totally screw the ratios. Those of us that don't pay to get the advantage would have even harder time getting their golds to breed. Maybe even to the point where golds are bought so much, the only way to get one WOULD be to buy it.

 

like has been suggested in the "Store" thread. 'bought' eggs shouldn't effect the ratios of eggs dropped int he cave, any more so than bred eggs effect the CB ratio right now.

 

that said, i dont support "RL money for eggs only" type thing. for an in game currency everyone can get without ponying up the do, yes (as well as a feature to pay for immediate gratification in the currency system). but just straight out "use pay pal and get any egg at different costs" nah.

 

 

 

As for trading. "Don't participate in it", really? Ok, most of us on here use the trade feature to trade what we don't want, for something we DO.

 

you miss my point. my point is that is a self created angst. theres nothing forcing you to participate in trades. if theres a lineage you cant create on your own that requires you to trade for mates, then you have to go in with the realization that its a self created drama, not a game created drama.

 

TJ and this site aren't forcing you to create that lineage. you CHOSE to create that lineage. so if you complain about "too hard to do it" l;ike people do with perfect checkered prize lines, its their own fault not the games and not TJs. and i'm sick of hearing people throw blame onthe game for a self created drama (i could go on about blockers as well with this regaurd, they're only blockers because we dont collect them but i digress)

 

I played Tale of dragons or whatever it's name was. The one that got shut down a while back. You could "donate" (read that as pay for) and get a "donation exclusive breed as thanks". And they had a currency system as well; click an dragon get a coin. And the items you could buy, the ones that were good, were ridiculous prices. 10,000 coins for one dragon egg. I spent 2 hours clicking things and got 400 coins.

 

Now take DC examples

 

Canopy. -5 coins? I dunno, how much is a coin worth? Let's say 5 coins =$1

Nebula - 20 coins

Blu sangs -50 coins

Coppers-  60 coins

Golds/silvers. 200 coins?

 

and whats the difference between butting in the time clicking dragons to get coins to buy other dragons, versus spending the time, refreshing over the same 3 eggs to get CB's of a specific breed 7 at a time to build a hoard?

 

absolutely nothing, except that the preconceived notion of "money = badness" that people have is now thrown into the mix.

 

 

 

Also if we are/can spend real money, its only fair that the sprite of the dragon we are supporting this way gets paid for being so popular.

 

and if TJ sells the art of a dragon for a price, the spriter should get a set % as long as they agree to have their art sold.

 

given how much control TJ currently gives the artists over their sprites, theres nothing to suggest he wouldn't do this.

 

 

Go in and factor in popularity and then those will change a lot. More so on the dates and pseudo rares due to ratios screwing up.

Let's just imagine how spriters with less popular dragons would feel. They may not care, they may be so upset at this they just discontinue their "not so popular breed".

 

which can and has happened, all without real money being in the mix

 

 

-reduce BSA CD times.     

Gives those that pay advantage

 

not really, you can still only have 7 eggs.

 

 

- get a dead egg of the scroll. 

THIS can be abused when it comes to breeding/lineage/gifting threads so bad. They won't give you eggs unless your scroll is clean of dead eggs. They do THIS to make sure their eggs go to good homes, not someone who wants to bite it, experiment it, and to make sure the user keeps an eye out for sickness, etc.

 

not really an advantage as a person just waits the 14 days for the dead egg to roll off before requesting.

 

 

- reduce breeding CD (excluding Holidays).   

Again, gives those that pay advantage

 

not really because it doesn't give an increased chance of an egg being produced. in fact, given that TJ has said that egg production is linked to how often a dragon is bred, this would likely have the reverse effect.

 

 

- getting the next trophy.        NOOO. So much no to this. So hard. We have trophys for a REASON. Its like a status. Someone that has a bronze, a newbie, pays for a gold trophy, probably to get all the slots up. Getting a trophy is something you earn, as is the experience that comes with it. And don't even get me started on how multi scrollers would love this.

 

and WoW has the leveling up system for a reason. yet letting a person purchase a level 17 character didn't cheapen the game or give them an advantage. infact it put them at disadvantage because while their character was high level, they sucked in combat as they didn't have the skills developed from playing a character to that level to go with it.

 

as for multi-scrollers. tbh, it would probably make them easier to catch; which is a double bonus because then we get rid of the a$$hats and TJ gets money from them to go towards the site. win-win in my book.

 

 

the only advantage this takes away from players is the bragging rights of saying "i've been playing longer than you and put more hours into this game than you"

 

 

- max tickets allowed for the raffle without playing the mini game/event.         

Again, player advantage. We play the mini game to EARN the ticket(s). If you can play the mini game and have the patience for it, you deserve a spot in the raffle. Paying for this is like those VIP tickets for rides at parks. All the ones that didn't pay have to wait 1-2 hours to ride in those insane lines.

 

not all raffles involved playing a game. some were just given for "logging in each day" or "decorating a tree"

 

i'd also be for the flip side of paying to get the max tickets and shutting off the flipping game. do you realize how annoying it is to have the mana crystals continue to appear on screen or those "collect me" things during the Halloween and Easter events appear on your screen and jumble around where the eggs fall so you miss the egg you're going for

 

some of us would pay for the option to hunt in piece during these events ya know.

 

 

I, to an extent care for trade values. If EVERYONE had a CB shimmer or Tinsel, then, well, no one would care about how low gen you have and pretty much just treat them as "meh ok, next trade offer". People see 2nd-4th gen and WANT them. While yes there is a class system with those that have CB Shimmers...well...I say good for those users. They got lucky. They won a PRIZE. A prize for having patience in a mini game. A prize for just being that lucky. I don't see it as " Oh elitist" I see it as "hey they got lucky, they didn't know they would win. They played a mini game for fun, hoping they would get lucky. Some did, some didn't".

 

 

as a person who spends 98% of her time on DC trading prize lines and hunting down trades, and can recall when 6th gen lines from tinsels went for nothing less than a few CB golds ... everyone having a CB prize would help the trading market. it woudl be hell on wheels for breeding (which is why i'm against it) but it would nix the current "hostage situation" prizes have on the market in the same way more prizes have made it to where only 2G's from prizes go for high prices.

 

 

 

I'm fine with the paying for no ads. Those that do want to support DC that way and not use ad block. It doesn't give them an advantage, it just helps DC  instead.

 

it does give them an advantage cause the cpu loads the page fast as it doens't have to worry about the junk involved with loading the add every time the page is refreshed. so they see the eggs faster.

 

 

I'd also be on board with new skins

Maybe

 

why only maybe? how does this give an advantage??

 

 

If making money on the site is an issue then I would go for adding new things to the store. Theres so many people and artists on DC that I'm positive there would be amazing art. And we could have their awesome art on our clothes and notebooks to boot.

*wishes there was a trio art piece so much

 

 

agreed *nods*

 

 

 

It is not a baseless assumption to say that the site would go down that slippery slope because others did. I have seen it myself. Sites that WERE free, then suddenly deciding to add paid perks, simply made everyone who wanted to keep playing for free extremely unhappy... because they lost out due to the fact that they could no longer have the same play experience as those with money to waste.

 

Precedents are called such for a reason.

 

it is a baseless assumption because TJ has done nothing in the almost 10 years this site has been up to suggest he would "follow precedent set by other sites".

 

actions speak louder than words, and his actions have always been generosity over greed.

 

 

to cast TJ in the same blanket and assume his actions would be the same as other site owners all because "thats been my personal experience" is not giving TJ credit where credit is due.

 

its like the government in the 50's saying "ice cream causes polio because of the coloration between an increase in ice cream sales and a spike in kids with polio"

 

its like saying "all people on welfare are lazy bums because i know 20 different people on welfare that are bums"

 

like saying "all people from the south are racists biggots"

 

 

are any of those true. no, they arent.

 

polio isn't caused by ice cream, majority of people on welfare are trying to get back on their feet and are ashamed of being on welfare, and majority of southern people would give a stranger the shirt off their backs regardless of race or gender (its called southern hospitality for a reason).

 

all of this to highlight the absurdity of your baseless argument when the actions of the site owner staunchly contradict your bases for opposing this idea. precedents maybe be called such for a reason but there are also exclusions to every "rule". i see no evidence that TJ would follow the "precedent" set by other sites.

[HeatherMarie]

I am against anything that would get people exclusive dragons, BSAs, or access to things before other people.

 

Paying for ad removal exists and I am perfectly ok with it. Changing your account name? Sure why not. Changing an adult dragon's gender? I can live with that.

 

Being able to trade adult dragons: NO.

Being able to 'buy' rare dragons: NO.

Being able to use BSAs that free users can't: NO.

Being able to reduce cooldowns further: NO.

Being able to get more eggslots: NO.

Getting access to new releases before others: NO.

Being able to vote on dragon ideas for release: NO.

Being able to buy raffle tickets for prize dragons: NO.

 

Nothing that changes gameplay should be buyable.

 

I'll probably never win a prize dragon myself but 'buying' one is extremely cheap and would cause so much of an uproar you wouldn't believe it. It would make raffles meaningless.

 

I'd rather win a raffle the normal way.

THIS.

 

Look, I'm poor. I am. And to be perfectly honest, I'd be pissed as h*ll if people could raise more dragons then me just because they have money to throw at the game. (shorter breeding cooldown equals breeding more often equals more dragons). I'd be pissed if *any* cooldown could be shortened just because of money. Don't even get me started on "special dragon" type of perks. Just no.

 

I sincerely hope that TJ would never, ever do something like this.

[BlindWolf]

Though most sites pander to paying individuals with perks and everything else, TJ doesn't seem to want to do that and he seems genuinely interested in our opinions concerning paid features being added. This site , though we often choose not to admit it, is already a business. TJ makes money from it. There is a cafe press store. People can also donate money or purchase ad-free subscriptions. He also brings in money from the ads. The money all goes back to the site, but it's still money. In the real world, it would be a not-for-profit business.

 

TJ has also commissioned artists to do things for the site. That fancy new scroll background--paid for. It isn't right to expect all of the expenses of Dragon Cave to just fall on TJ's and other generous users's shoulders because you (general use here) want an equal playing field.

 

 

As for earnable and buyable in-game currency, it can work without having to spend any money. For the first few months of playing Chicken Smoothie, I got all of my Chicken Smoothie dollars from other users rather than from buying it. And when I did finally buy it, it was 20 dollars for 380 dollars of in game currency. And I still have most of it left over. For users worried about scams or anything else on the site, it's possible to report to the mods if there is a real problem. There are also more mods on Chicken Smoothie than here. Also, rarity is pretty clearly established on the site, so I think it does involve a bit of common sense to see when someone is trying to scam you. I think as people get used to using currency on DC if it was implemented, it should be easier to use.

The statement 'seem' relies on an outside perspective and a level of trust that I don't think is realistic, considering the precedent of other pay-to-win websites like this would become. There's no reason to risk it based on trusting some person who has everything to gain no matter how unhappy we're made by it. Not when the game currently works fine.

 

Speaking of your Chicken Smoothie thing, one aspect of that I noticed was that you got your money from other players. By interacting with people. What of those of us who dislike begging and scraping to others for them to throw coins at us like some charity? Or those who generally dislike interacting with others? Or even those who don't use the forum at all, which has never been necessary for playing the game before now? For those who don't pay, it seems like the only alternative would be begging, and that greatly disturbs how the game is currently played.

[herobrine745]

The only paid perk I'm in support of is changing scroll/forum names. (if forum names are even possible.) If you really want to change it, it could be 1 or 2 dollars. Maybe gender swap, if the dragon hasn't been bred. Otherwise, no. If there are any paid perks, I think they should be minimal changes and only be a few, with a max cost of 5 dollars.

[cyradis4]

The statement 'seem' relies on an outside perspective and a level of trust that I don't think is realistic, considering the precedent of other pay-to-win websites like this would become. There's no reason to risk it based on trusting some person who has everything to gain no matter how unhappy we're made by it. Not when the game currently works fine.

 

Speaking of your Chicken Smoothie thing, one aspect of that I noticed was that you got your money from other players. By interacting with people. What of those of us who dislike begging and scraping to others for them to throw coins at us like some charity? Or those who generally dislike interacting with others? Or even those who don't use the forum at all, which has never been necessary for playing the game before now? For those who don't pay, it seems like the only alternative would be begging, and that greatly disturbs how the game is currently played.

I play multiple games where there is a premium currency, and for most you CAN get the premium currency without begging. Its called trading.

 

Depending on how this was implemented, it might or might not need user-interaction. For instance, having an in-site trading market where people can list certain eggs / hatchlings for certain prices would mean that a user not on the forums could, in fact, get the premium currency. All they'd have to do would be to list a hatchie or egg of theirs for x coins, and if someone else wants it for those x coins (and has them), they just hit "trade" and voila! The original owner has some coins. Any sort of trading system that utilizes a currency other than dragons would be vastly more simple than the one we have.... though it would also be a lot less subjective.

 

 

It all boils down to *how* paid perks are implemented. How can we accurately evaluate what paid perks would do, when there are so many different models out there of how to do it?

 

Cheers!

C4.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

Scroll / forum name changes, custom skins (have to be approved by mods though), a badge on your scroll that just shows you donated... stuff like that is fine.

[Red2111]

re-begging/gifting currency. whats the difference with currency and how people gift and beg for low gen prize lines right now?? people gift low gens because they want to, people who beg for low gens get reported to a mod.

 

if we can gift away our valuable dragons to people, why shouldn't we be able to gift away in game currency if we want to?

 

the only viable argument i see is mult-scrollers. to which i point out, it will make finding them easier. its called giving people enough rope to hang themselves with

 

 

 

i think a "gender swap" feature is a bad idea tbh. for the same reasons as others posted.

 

someone will want to make their Solstice a male or their sweetling a female.

 

 

we already have people asking to be able to change the gender of bred valentines and christmas dragons "because halloweens can be both genders and it doesn't make sense for valentines and christmas to be mono gender"

 

i'd rather not give them another feature to point to as to why "it doesn't make sense valentine dragons and christmas dragons can only be one gender"

 

Edited July 31, 2015 by Red2111

[Jazeki]

The statement 'seem' relies on an outside perspective and a level of trust that I don't think is realistic, considering the precedent of other pay-to-win websites like this would become. There's no reason to risk it based on trusting some person who has everything to gain no matter how unhappy we're made by it. Not when the game currently works fine.

 

Speaking of your Chicken Smoothie thing, one aspect of that I noticed was that you got your money from other players. By interacting with people. What of those of us who dislike begging and scraping to others for them to throw coins at us like some charity? Or those who generally dislike interacting with others? Or even those who don't use the forum at all, which has never been necessary for playing the game before now? For those who don't pay, it seems like the only alternative would be begging, and that greatly disturbs how the game is currently played.

Listen, no one is forcing you to pay any money for anything for the game. It's your choice to pay or not pay. I don't know what you're perceiving as an outside perspective other than the fact that I do play other pet games and they all involve some sort of optional pay features that I don't always use. Other than that, I've been playing DC for six years now and never once has TJ added any features that require users to pay to get ahead in the game. He also asked for users' opinions regarding pay features instead of just throwing them in. Also, I am an adult and I have a handle on my money enough to choose when and where to spend it. DC has been around long enough and TJ is business savvy enough to have earned my trust rather than just lumping it in with all other pets sites.

 

Also, I have never ever begged or scraped for anything and I don't expect others to do that with their in-game currency/dragons/etc.. I traded for it all. Chicken Smoothie is set up so you don't have to interact with others at all when you trade. You just send a trade offer or a suggestion. Users under 13 on the site are not allowed to interact at all.

 

Finally, despite my high forum level and post count, I am not a social butterfly and mostly use the forum out of necessity. That is why I joined it. I played for the first few months of DC without using the forum at all. I also usually put no PMs on my trades. I've also started using the EATW dragon market for when I don't want to put anything up for trade in the forums. I've also been playing long enough now that I could probably get by without using the forums, but I don't want to. I like giving things to people. I like trading. I like a lot of the users here. I also am fully aware that the forums, like paid perks or currency, are an optional feature that people do not have to use.

[Vhale]

I don't mind paid perks in general. Imo, anyone that can afford a computer and internet can afford to "tip" something that entertains them. Not doing so strikes me as rude, like going to someone's house eating their food and never reciprocating.

 

As far as how they affect gameplay, one of the more clever ideas I've seen was that a donation of a certain amount sent out giftboxes to all users. What was in the giftbox was random, might be rare or common.

[VixenDra]

I'm very tired of waiting for my descriptions to get into moderation... I wish I could just write them and get them onto a given dragon's page. Not even menioning minor edits to an existing description which disappears with the edit and goes through the infinite process of getting accepted... This simply ruins the idea of describing and makes people not want to describe their dragons. I have just one description up and 9 waiting, 7 of which have been waiting for over a year and have idk how many 'yes' votes...

 

Perhaps we could purchase the instant acceptance of the description(so moderation is not needed anymore - shorter waiting time and shorter queue to moderation) if it doesn't have 'No' votes and has e.g. 5 'Yes' votes.

Edited July 31, 2015 by VixenDra

[Starscream]

 

 

i think a "gender swap" feature is a bad idea tbh.  for the same reasons as others posted.

 

someone will want to make their Solstice a male or their sweetling a female.

 

 

Probably gender swaps allowed within site parameters. Ergo, sweetlings could not be made female because its not a breed that has them. But if, lets say a CB prize, for example, was wanted as female, and it turned male - I might go with gender-swap on that. Providing it was never bred. I actually feel CB prize dragons should be able to be influenced without the usual hazard of failure. You can pick the code, why not the gender?

 

Perhaps we could purchase the instant acceptance of the description(so moderation is not needed anymore - shorter waiting time and shorter queue to moderation) if it doesn't have 'No' votes and has e.g. 5 'Yes' votes.

 

Because this may allow some bad descriptions to get through. Descriptions get done when moderators get to doing them. No amount of perk purchase is gonna make me sit down and start moderating descriptions. So I don't see this as a worthwhile purchase.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Starscream