Player Activities & Events

[Ramica]

Hello I'm Ramica.

 

I have this addiction called gifting and I don't care to get rid of it. I know some people have gifted me some very nice dragons/lineages and over the time I have been here I have collected a nice assortment.

 

I love to gift my rare eggs be it second gen silver/gold eggs or just give them away for the fun of it. I also like to gift some of my special lineaged dragons. I have gifted on the old take and leave an egg thread, the giving tree and others. Nor am I opposed to people who say hey I like this lineage and can I get one.

 

I gift for the most part because I got what I want for my scroll and occassionally I like to breed and know the eggs are going to a good home.

 

I'll add a bit more to this later.

 

Add:

 

Collecting tips: Be patient. It took years before, I got my first and only neglected and yes it was a gift. Search the AP. The abandoned page has often given nice lineages, I've heard of people dropping the rare eggs for some lucky person to find. Be polite, it cost you nothing. I have had people who seem so grateful for the gift I've given that I often remember them and gift a few more their way.

 

Catching Rares: Not much help I can give you. When I caught my CB silver and golds it was when there was only one cave - in other words no biomes and I caught mine very early in the morning. Once in a while during a new drop I might catch a paper or dino egg in one of the biomes and then end up gifting it. Otherwise I don't see rares much any more.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Ramica

[MissVampire13]

Natayah, this thread is a wonderful idea! Reading everyone's stories and philosophies about gifting has just put a gigantic smile on my face because you are all so kind and generous.

 

I'm MissVampire13. I've been playing DC since Christmas 2008 and have been on the receiving end of many, many generous gifts. My first tinsel came from a gifting thread made specifically for tinsels (although I can't recall what it was called), back during the first year they appeared when they were still awfully hard to obtain. I remember I was so thrilled!

 

One gift I've received that I will probably remember forever is my first (and still only) CB gold. Qualeo surprised me with it after a random encounter in the IRC chat, and that dragon is one of my treasures, not just because she's a CB gold but because she reminds me of how wonderful people in this community are--willing to glomp-gift total strangers with rare and beautiful eggs.

 

I don't spend as much time on the forums as I used to, mostly because I'm in college now and have to put my schoolwork first, but many times I will browse the trade threads and end up breeding my dragons to see if I can fulfill other people's trade wishes, even if I'm not actually interested in what they're offering in exchange. I enjoy PMing someone and offering an egg they've stated they're looking for when they're not expecting it.

 

When I offer a gift, I usually only ask people not to bite or freeze it if the lineage is something really special that I believe should be bred to share the joy with other players. (Pretty-lineaged hollies come to mind.) I myself try to only freeze messy-lineaged or inbred hatchies (except with super-common breeds), and when I receive a gift, I make sure to honor the gifter's wishes if they have any preference about freezing. I feel it's the polite thing to do, since they just offered me a dragon for free.

 

My favorite gifting threads? I really like the Community Departure Board, especially during holiday breeding, because I feel like I can be assured that if I post an egg there, it will find a good home, whether it's a higher-gen holiday or a checker that came out the opposite breed of what I needed for my lineage project. And although there's no requirement in that thread for recipients to post that they got an egg and I don't think they are obligated to say anything either, it always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when someone who's gotten one of my eggs posts in the thread to say thanks or sends me a PM to let me know they picked it up.

[schenanigans]

Heya! I recognize a lot of you I'm Areous, and I'm an absolute fanatic for anything with Spriter's Alts. I've been playing on and off since 2008, but hadn't gotten too involved with DC until about 2013. I'm shy, but love to use DC as an 'outlet' to grow and converse with people... sometimes it may take a bit, though!

 

I've started gifting because of the joy that I've received from having received completely random gifts myself, and I'd love to be able to do the same for people. I'm still far from completing my personal scroll goals and am not much of a catcher, so I don't have much of value to give. I try to gift when I can though - which is usually the lineages that I enjoy creating with the spriter's alt babs I've gotten.

 

My absolute favorite threads are Breeding, Gifting and the Departures Threads. I'm still working my way up in the world, I suppose you could say, but these are both great threads for gifting! I don't have much advice that I, myself, can give personally... But there are plenty of people that are always looking for fresh blood for lineages, hatchlings for scroll goals or BSAs, etc. that will make people ecstatic.

 

Eventually as I complete a few of my own personal goals - Spriter's alt related, becoming better at experimenting, and with my scroll goals completed, as an example - I'd like to be able to gift my experiments or trade for wonderful things to drop on unsuspecting players.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Areous

[Rainstarkitty]

This thread really is a great idea. It'll be a wonderful resource for both those new to gifting as well as those who have gifted for years.

 

I'm Rainstar13, but I go by Rainstar or Rain. On other sites I typically use Rainstarkitty. I'm not nearly as active on the forums as I used to be, but I'm almost always on IRC, though I don't talk much. I've been playing (rather casually) since 2010, and I LOVE Frilled dragons. I collect pretty lineages with Frilleds and I also just started collecting Brimstones.

My favourite types of lineages are checkers, other interesting evengens, and arrows. Nearly all of my rare dragons and pretty lineages were gifts, so of course I gift their offspring and anything else desirable to give back and spread the love. I really enjoy helping newer players, especially with things they can't breed themselves, like 2G holidaykin. I entered most of my holiday lineages into the SROGG spreadsheets to make gifting holidaykin easier for me. I also like doing lottos and gifting on IRC. I don't usually breed to the AP because I like to have some control over who I gift to, but that could easily change when I'm able to breed more regularly.

 

A few dragons I've been gifted will always be special to me. My first and only 2G prize, my first CB Silver and Neglected, and a very pretty Lumina with an awesome code. I'm sure there's more I could list but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

For QAndais' birthday back in April 2013, she had a huge lotto on IRC. Lots of eggs/hatchlings were given out to lots of people; anyone could donate things to be lottoed. The prize of the last(?) lotto was a 2G Silver Shimmer, and I won. It was my first Shimmer and my first and only 2G prize. I don't recall the exact moment perfectly but I remember I was dumbfounded and I'm fairly certain I made a high-pitched squeaky noise haha... The generosity that day was part of what led me to become a regular IRC-goer and participate in more lottos as both gifter and giftee!

Last year, on my birthday, Claire in IRC gave me a CB Silver and a CB Neglected. That was probably the best present I received from anyone that day and I was grinning for a long while afterwards!

The pretty Lumina was a gift from (you) Natayah. Nat glomp-gifted me a pretty Lumina with the code TRSkl- it looked like Triskele. It's still one of my favourite codes. The best thing about that gift though, was that Natayah thought of me when she saw the code and gifted it to me out of nowhere. The fact that it was a completely random gift with a code that meant something to me personally made it way more special than just being a pretty lineaged Lumina!

 

The thread I use most for gifting is the Special Release Offspring Gifting Group(SROGG). It's helped me with my own lineages a ton and there are plenty of people to gift eggs to! I also use Departures and Caveborn Gifters occasionally.

A tool that's really helpful to me is Google Drive, for documents and spreadsheets that you'd like to share with others. Whether it be for lineages, breeding lists, or information for organizing an event, it's really useful.

 

I think that's all I have to say at the moment. I'll probably think of something else to add later, maybe come up with some discussion ideas.

[bloodonmyfangs]

Nice work, Natayah. I think this is a wonderful idea too.

 

Hi, I'm bloodonmyfangs. I get asked about my name occasionally... Basically, I was still going through a vampire obsessed phase (Anne Rice, not Twilight ) when I registered for DC way back in 2008, and this is one of the few sites where I still retain that handle. Most everywhere else online I'm known as siberwolf. But feel free to call me "blood" here if you like.

 

I don't have as much of a social presence here on the forums as other players, simply because I don't have the time. I am mostly active in the trading threads and I use the departure thread as my primary gifting thread. The majority of my communication takes place via PM though, as I tend to prefer more one-on-one contact than forum chatting. So you've probably seen me around and may recognize my name, but unless we've talked via PM, you probably don't know me very well. But I'm actually a friendly person who loves to gift. (Sometimes I wonder if my name choice here makes me less approachable for random PMs asking about trading/gifting/breeding/etc.? I won't bite you, I promise! Contact me anytime!)

 

I've played this game so long now that aside from collecting new releases and keeping up with my own lineage projects, I've pretty much reached all my scroll goals. I'm always happy to breed something for someone in need, if the request is polite and reasonable. I have received so many wonderful gifts from so many players here over the years, I try to give back when I can.

 

When it comes to giving advice to players who want to gift, I'd just have to echo comments already made here. First of all, build up your own scroll. Also, take the time to think of and give your dragons nice names. You can offer to breed anything off your scroll, but if your dragons are unnamed or have long, obnoxious/nonsensical names, I've found that often other players aren't interested in offspring from such dragons. That tends to be my preference as well. Bred eggs from nicely named parents automatically seem to have more worth, and are more likely to be adopted.

 

Most people these days also tend to prefer dragons who have eye-pleasing lineages. Don't breed a messy lineaged egg and think that people are going to scramble all over themselves to adopt it. That just won't happen. Even messy lineaged rares can be difficult to gift sometimes. So as you're building up your scroll with the intention of breeding for gifting, go for collecting nicely lineaged dragons who have perfectly matching mates and also CBs that you can name yourself. If you like collecting messy lineaged dragons, by all means, collect them and give them the home they deserve. But keep in mind that if you want to be a gifter, you need to breed lineages that people actually want. And they don't necessarily have to be rares (though obviously, pretty much everyone prefers rares). If the lineage looks pretty, chances are someone will like it.

 

Hatchlings also hold more value than eggs, so even if you don't have a lot of interesting lineages collected yet, you can always raise CB eggs, hatch them, and gift those hatchies, which many players would be very happy to adopt.

 

Good luck with the thread, and have fun my fellow gifters.

[miss1nformation]

Thank you for creating this thread natayah!

And now my brief introduction:

 

Who Are You? I am Jennifer (aka: miss1nformation) and I've been here since late 2008. My favorite thing about DC is the large variety of dragons and the awesome members I've had the chance to chat with. My favorite lineages are EGs and creative inbreeding. I also enjoyed themed lineages. I gift because I know that a gift can go a long way, and can even turn a bad day into a good one. I remember the first Shimmer I received was a gift, and I received it on the day I was laid off from what I thought was my dream job (which also happened to be a few days after my birthday, which hadn't been a good day either). So just knowing that someone took the time to extend a friendly offer to me and I didn't have any Shimmers at the time, so it meant all that much more.

 

What is your favorite Threads, Events, Practices, Habits, Tools or anything else when it comes to Gifting and Helping in the world of DC? My favorite thread is the Departures Board (linked in my signature). I enjoy gifting and receiving gifts via that thread. It's full of lots of fantastic people who breed lots of lovely babies for everyone! If you've not given it a look, do yourself a favor and check it out.

 

What advice would you give to people who wanted to become more involved gifters and/or gift more or nicer items than they feel they currently have? Or is there a question you have about Gifting and Helping? Would you like someone you can PM for various ongoing questions related to this? The only advice I can really think of is to remember that just because you don't think what you have to breed is valuable, that doesn't mean someone else will think that. And always be nice to other members, even if they aren't always nice back. Life is too short to be upset by a game of pixels.

 

Is there something you would like to post about for a discussion point for feedback or just an opinion? Can't think of anything right now, but I'm very sleepy. Maybe after I've had a chance to read through the pages I'll have something.

 

Are you thinking about trying something bigger beyond what you do now that involves gifting and want some advice or assistance? I would absolutely love to do a lotto for a baby from the dragon in my signature (though it's first offspring is reserved), but I haven't the time right now. When classes let out for the summer, I'd love some help getting a lotto or two set up!

 

Have you had difficult experiences with gifting and/or helping that you found a way to overcome? Or just an experience you need help overcoming? Can't think of anything right now, but again, I'm very sleepy.

[Natayah]

In case you haven't seen the news, or by now I assume you have, there are openings for all sorts of Moderators, including possibly that often suggested "Description Moderator". If you find yourself active in doing things to help benefit the community, via gifting, making suggestions and feedback, positive actions and helping others out (as many who are Gifting Types do) and have some extra time, you certainly can't hurt to try it out! Again, it's been almost 3 years since the last opening so even if you aren't 100% sure, you should at least try to show interest! See the news thread or Click Here

 

Or if nothing else, its great to show support for others thinking about it and excitement for new mods to come, including IRC people AND the very exciting proposed Description Mods may be something that may be coming around which will make Dragon Descriptions a lot more exciting and a lot more opportunities for combo player run events in the future!

Edited April 14, 2016 by natayah

[miaou]

hi, all! i got pointed to this thread and thought i'd introduce myself.

 

one of my favorite things about dc is sharing lineages--swapping with others doing the same lineage, breeding for anyone who likes something i've been working on, and gratefully giving a scroll home to the results of others' projects. i'm also more than happy, usually, to help others with lineages i'm not doing, if i can breed a needed partner.

 

i got a little overwhelmed and took the "happy to accept breeding requests" out of my sig but i'm thinking i might add it back, once rl settles down a little more. mostly i drop things in departure threads or the ap, sometimes i'll breed for someone if i see in a post or their .sig that they're looking for something i can do.

 

love the idea of this thread!

[Natayah]

Did a few Quick Updates before I make another posting but some new info:

 

Added a Poll for Gifting Style Preferences & Discussion.

 

The "Earth Day" Breeding Event starts today, Friday 4/22/16. Here is a link to the thread: Earth Day Breeding Event Thread

 

Clya has done a really great job of mixing Forum Lottos with Google Docs for both Lotto Entry, Winners and Donations. I would love you guys to check it out for inspiration and participation if you would like. I find it quite a bit of fun and will get some info from them in the near future for a post.

 

In the meantime, here is a graphical link to their Lottos. Lottos are sometimes listed under Trading, and Sometimes Listed under Forum Games. Clya is under Forum Games:

 

To help me update the Resource List, if your favorite threads aren't already listed, please send me a PM with a link to whatever site/thread and a brief description (1-2 sentences) so I can just copy and paste it into place for faster updates.

 

Think about joining the fun with the Earth Day Breeding Event, and don't forget to add to the discussion of Gifting!

[Ribombee]

DERP! I forgot about the Earth Day breeding event and already bred a lot of things! I hope I still have some left to breed. I tend to breed everything nice I have as soon as I see them available so I can shove them in Departures for someone to love.

 

QUESTION FOR THE THREAD

Obviously, we can't dictate 100% what happens after we gift an egg, but is there one particular thing you wish giftees would not do?

 

For me, it's not naming offspring from my dragons. I know it's weird, but I would rather an egg I gift be traded or even killed than not named. If it dies, I don't see the unnamed dragon in the offspring list and feel sad that no one came up with fun and interesting names based on the parents. I love going through progeny lists and seeing what names people came up with. Some of them are neat, others make me giggle, but they all make me happy if they are named.

 

In all honesty, I don't mind if people bite or neglect my gifts unless it was specifically bred for them as a mate, or something. If it makes them happy because it would be a gorgeous vampire, I still get the satisfaction of knowing I made someone's day. Trading I like less. I would prefer people not take something they don't actually want. I don't mind regifting at all. I often grab things I know friends are looking for.

[Natayah]

@HR: I posted your question in the first post to give something for the thread to discuss specifically. It was suggested to actually pick topics to highlight, and I agree.

 

@Everyone - We just wrapped up the Earth Day Breeding Event, and are getting ready for the Spring Breeding Event - Are Breeding Events something you enjoy and participate in and/or do you just breed so much anyway it doesn't really matter to your patterns? Anything you would like to see more of?

 

Warning: This is a really long post, and I do repeat some points I've made earlier, but I wanted to try and cover every possible thing I could think of in regards to my response. Feel free to skim and/or skip it or look at it later. But I'd love to see other people respond to their thoughts on the question (and not feel the need to take so long to do it) and post other conversation pieces.

 

Here is my answer or thoughts: The thing that drives me nutso that I wish I could stipulate is not breeding messy babies. I don't care how they are bred just as long as its some form of patterned continuation. If its a Prize Stair Step, for example, they don't have to make it a stair step specifically (although that is often easiest). If they want to flip to a Chevron, or Arrow, or Diamond or any other thing that "looks pretty" I'm good with it. I hate what I call "oogly babies". Honestly, people can name my things, not name them, freeze them, experiment and kill, turn them into zombies later on, free them from their scroll, I don't really care. But please, let me admire my progency list, don't make it oogly! We got enough messy and oogly as it is. Don't contribute to it. I'd rather you just "collect" the dragon and never breed it than breed ugly stuff.

 

As for not being able to set stipulations, I don't think that is 100% true. I mean, I think I mentioned it before and I know yoso mentioned it, but when a dragon leaves your possession, unless you belong to specific Gifting Group that takes Jurisdiction and has specific rules and can warn, ban and punish users for violations, once a dragon is out of your possession, anyone can ultimately do whatever they want to it. It is on their scroll and not yours. You are no longer in control, and really, its just a pixel game.

 

And for people who want specific rules for their offspring/gifts (and there are many who do), they gift only thru these threads OR gift only themselves directly. They won't even do random AP drops and are upset if something ends up in the AP by accident because it is out of their control. And this is entirely fair. But I find that much too constricting.

 

One of the reasons I love the Departures Thread is that I find it a nice happy medium. Yes I 500% understand that if I post something in a teleport anywhere I have NO control. But there is also a basic respect thing that says, due to how the thread is set up, is you can set up "requirements or Conditions". However - they aren't really enforceable. But I find it a really nice moderation to say, "Look, I took the time to breed this and set up a teleport vs just randomly drop it into the AP because I feel this line is a bit nicer than the normal stuff I just drop to the AP and/or I think someone here would really like it so I would like you to treat it with just a bit more respect than something you might consider gutter trash and if you would be so kind I consider those types of things to be xxxxxxx"

 

Again, they don't have to do that, but I tend to find them very good about doing it. So if naming your dragons is your big caveat, list it there. And I'd put it in your sig as well, because you would be amazed at how many people when they find nice dragons from the AP, will sometimes look up the AP and Profile of the Owner. Even though AP finds more than teleports even certainly can do "whatever they want to it," sometimes players are so flattered and overjoyed to find a dragon they will actually track you down to personally thank you or ask if it is ok to do something to an egg they found of yours. (I've posted this a few times, but my story is someone tracked me down to send me a PM to ask if it was if they could get my permission to bite a lineage for a vampire because they really liked the lineage and thought it would be awesome to have a vampire with a great lineage - I was really flattered and of course it was ok.)

 

The things I request for in the Departures Thread (and for the rest of my gifting) are very simple. I basically ask them to let it grow to the Adult Dragon of its breed. I don't care if they make it zombie fodder in the future, release it one day, or kill it one day if they just don't want it on their scroll anymore. But if they don't at least want to let it grow up to an adult, I feel they should let someone else who would better appreciate and love the line have it instead. My nice lines don't really make a lot of sense to be freezies. Especially since the AP and Trading threads have ways to make that easier. Also, again, I always always prefer patterned future breeding (or otherwise no breeding if they need it just for a collection piece or its almost impossible to find a proper mate). The second thing is my big stipulation, but I add the first one as the first thing on the table because I think those with more should be respectful to let those with less or those who would really appreciate it more have a shot at grabbing it.

 

And honestly, its not like I have people who are taunting me and purposely violating my requests. I'm sure its done. And if it was something that I could spend enough time obsessing about, I would treat that dragon as a trade and add conditions. But again, its a pixel dragon game, so it better be a darn important line for that kinda effort when I got a lot more things to do in real life. So normally, I just don't let it bother me. But that is my answer to say that I think you can request that, and also get a pretty good respect and following of that request, without going overboard.

 

But more importantly, if it really means that much to you, I'd add it to your sig. Something like "I hope you enjoy my Dragons and it Would make me so Happy if you took the Time to Name them! Thank you for giving them a great home! Please let me know if have any issues with finding a name or want to know the stories behind the parents names!" I wouldn't say that all in a sig. I'd say something brief, but then put the rest of it in your profile. When people see you care that much, they are really generally pretty good about it. Especially when you are a well known person in the community who gives nice stuff that people get excited to gift. So if they can give a simple thank you by just giving it a name, you would be surprised how much people will take the time to do it (even if it isn't something they normally take the time to do) if they know how much you appreciate it.

Edited April 25, 2016 by natayah

[Aqub]

Hi everyone, I'm Aqub. I'm shy and awkward when it comes to talking to people, but I really like being a part of the DC community, where I've found so many nice people! One of my favorite things about this game is gifting, and I usually just post things on the departures board, but I really enjoy being sneaky and sending people surprises through PM, too. I love to breed less common lineage types like arrows, circles, and mirrors of more complex shapes. I think these are beautiful lineages, although I know most people would prefer a normal staircase or EG. Why I gift is an easy question: It makes people happy, and that makes me happy.

 

The only advice I can give, although it may seem a little counterproductive if you're trying to gift, is start out by collecting an army of rares for yourself... They can be really annoying and not give eggs a lot of the time, but if you have a bunch of rares you'll always get offspring to gift, and what you'll be able to give back once you've collected your rares will make up for any gifts you might have gotten to build up your army. I started out taking a lot of wonderful gifts from the Departures thread, and now all of their eggies end up posted back on the thread where I got their parents!

 

Obviously, we can't dictate 100% what happens after we gift an egg, but is there one particular thing you wish giftees would not do?

I have the most obvious answer for this: Killing the eggs. It bothers me the most that someone else might have loved to have that dragon, so when people take it and the egg ends up dead through whatever reason instead of with someone who would love to have had it, I feel like that gift was kind of a failure on my part, I guess?

 

Anyway, I don't know what else to put... x3 See you guys on the Departures Thread, I guess!

Edited April 27, 2016 by aqub

[Natayah]

Currently: Updating resource and thread list in first few posts. Will probably take a week or two to finish because I am slow and have other things going on irl and don't really feel like taking a lot of effort to list a bunch of threads unless someone wants to make it easy on me Sorry I am lazy on that particular part. But will be done and has already been expanded some.

 

Forum Still Up on Preferred Gifting Method. Will probably keep that up for another week, add results in one of the starting posts and then create another Poll. Have some questions for gifters:

 

1. What Poll Question Would You Like to See Next (Or at all in Future)?

 

2. What Questions or Discussions would you like to have next or ongoing in this thread?

 

3. What do you think about making a DC Gifters List (maybe Badge) to add to this Thread so people have a master place they can go to find people who like to "gift". We can also list your preferred method of gifting info (your profile, personal spreadsheet, favorite gifting thread, whatever). This would NOT be something done for everyone who posts in this thread. It would have to be specifically requested. (So people who don't want to be bothered or publicized that's totally cool. Don't want that to deter you from posting thoughts in this thread). Is this something you would want to be on if we did it? Or you can just have a fancy graphic in your sig or avatar. Cuz Fancy and Shiny and Pretty and Special and you Deserve it!

 

4. Are there any particular gifting orgs, groups, games, lottos/raffles, people, etc you would like to see specifically .... either "interviewed" or to have them post something more detailed on a specific question(s) or topic(s) and/or in general? You don't have to list a specific person here but can do it via PM to me and I can ask them. This would be done only if they were willing. But some people are especially awesome on specific things and it would be nice to get the details on those things for others. Or if this isn't something you want to see you can say that too!

 

5. Anything Else? And if you haven't posted an intro or post about anything, please join us!!

 

6. And if you are potentially interested in making a "DC Gifter Badge" or "Badges" options, that would be cool. Just post or let me know. You will get big thanks and creds.

 

7. Can someone tell me who created one or some of the various "Click here to see if you got lucky" type images so I can make a Gifting reference list for others who want to add those to their sigs? I have never been able to find those things. But I never looked super hard either. And to give credit to the proper artists and their permission and all.

 

BTW - This is NOT a Survey and you don't need to do your next post where you answer all the questions 1-6 and number them and be official. Just post. But if you want to answer one or two or all of these things, that's cool. Or something totally unrelated is great too. Just post what you want to post. You don't have to be formal unless you really think its super awesome to answer Q&A Forms. Which I respect!

Edited May 5, 2016 by natayah

[Fuzzbucket]

Hi - I'm fuzz. I breed for free - it's in my sig.

 

I gift at random, as you might say. Sometimes I look at the scroll completion thread - especially when I'm bored and may as well breed or catch for others who need something I can do. I also trawl sigs for wishes and needs, and glomp with misclicks that others want and so on..

 

I hate being on lists in threads, though. I trade occasionally - when I want something and actually have something that might get that for me (blue moon, meet fuzz... ) - but on the whole I dislike the "stock market what's it worth to ya" atmosphere of trade threads - as well as all the discussions about how "we can't have that cuz it will devalue the rares we use to hold over people's heads".

 

So I shall slide back under the furniture and see what I can do for someone with a tragic sig or an "OMG I FINALLY bred x and it auto'd" post... when I'm not locked....

[Natayah]

Happy Birthday DC! I am thrilled about all the new release (including the Special Breeds in Need) and all the new site additions and tweaks! New Surprises Everywhere!

 

If thought I'd make a new topic of discussion involving new release dragons:

 

Current Question Discussion: What is your Favorite Way to Gift New Releases? Some of the Options can include gifting CBs to your friends, family, closest ties first; others prefer random people, newbies and others in need; some grab CBs to drop to the AP; Others grab CBs to Post on the Forums via Teleports/FFAs; and Finally, some prefer to gift the Offspring of New Releases either to the AP or via Forums and other Methods. Which ones do you prefer??

 

Personally, I tend to gift to my friends and closest ties first for those in need. After that, I will certainly reach out to anyone that I happen to see in need, but I often like to take those new release CBs and donate them to raffles as something fun for people to win!

 

How are you enjoying the Birthday and what are your plans for gifting in between the wait while hunting and celebrating? If you are a person who likes to breed to the AP, once you have a full scroll and are on that 5 hour wait, its a good time to send some nice lines to the AP!

Edited May 22, 2016 by natayah

[SullenCat]

Current Question Discussion: What is your Favorite Way to Gift New Releases? Some of the Options can include gifting CBs to your friends, family, closest ties first; others prefer random people, newbies and others in need; some grab CBs to drop to the AP; Others grab CBs to Post on the Forums via Teleports/FFAs; and Finally, some prefer to gift the Offspring of New Releases either to the AP or via Forums and other Methods. Which ones do you prefer??

 

Personally, I tend to gift to my friends and closest ties first for those in need. After that, I will certainly reach out to anyone that I happen to see in need, but I often like to take those new release CBs and donate them to raffles as something fun for people to win!

 

How are you enjoying the Birthday and what are your plans for gifting in between the wait while hunting and celebrating? If you are a person who likes to breed to the AP, once you have a full scroll and are on that 5 hour wait, its a good time to send some nice lines to the AP!

I recall being unable to get any new release when I joined the cave. Time went by, got a better connection, learned a few tricks. The first thing I do when there is a new release is to fill my scroll and, five hours later, drop all new eggs in the AP. At that point, I think I know what is going to be hard to get, so I catch a new batch of those and, 5 hours later, rinse and repeat. I tend to keep the 3rd batch for myself unless I read someone in the forum having problems catching or if that happens to friends of mine. Being quite full of myself, I tend to think that I can always catch eggs later.

[Terrafreaky]

Who Are You? Please feel free to introduce yourself!

 

I breed Freaky dragons, if you have ever run into any of those. Some are test breeds between mates, but usually if I am waiting for something to hatch, I will randomly breed out my scroll while I am waiting. I also sometimes breed when I am working on my internal records, to make sure that I have all of my missing mates recorded on my spreadsheet.

 

I do a lot of AP breeding because I like to see the AP with low time eggs. I am in heaven when the AP is incuhatchable. I also like finding interesting things in the AP, so I try to make sure I give back when I can. In fact, I own a CB Prize and I dropped my very first 2G Tinsel egg to the AP - completely on purpose. Unlike the 2G prize that I accidentally auto-abandoned last week. (Note: my prize waiting list is currently full; please do not PM me regarding prizes.)

 

I love the challenge of trying to breed matching mates for people. I'm addicted to the SCroll completion Wish lists, Special Request Gifting, and Breeding Gifting threads.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Terrafreaky

[sylviamaris]

Hello! I'm Sylvia, and I have a perpetual breeding inferiority complex? I was late to the beautiful lineage party, anyway, as even after we got lineage views I still didn't quite understand the concept. And my record-keeping has been spotty, so I've abandoned some (too many) embarrassing misbreeds, thinking they'd be lovely. Vines are my very very favorite - my first dragon was one, and I've got a thing for thorns and climbing hedges (hence the Thornhedge name) - but I think I'll never be any real kind of hoarder. I only have seven egg slots and far too many things to do with them!

 

I joined just before Halloween '08, so I've been in time for CB Yulebucks, Valentines, Frills and Old Pinks (aww, wait....) and I really enjoy being able to breed things with my CBs that other people will never be able to breed themselves. I really am delighted whenever someone takes me up on the "happy to breed/gift" offer. I think all the rapacity in the trading forums makes people wary of asking, or just skeptical of the "gift," but you all know how nice it really is!

 

I get really frustrated with trading, and a lot of the CBs I offer on the Departures thread got grabbed impulsively, knowing I didn't need them but wondering what I could get in trade - then I'm reminded of just how tedious trading is, and I pack it off to someone who'll feel delight at a surprise, not satisfaction at an acquisition.

 

I typically breed checkers or "ordinary" lineages directly to the AP, saving the Departures thread for CBs or very special things. Once or twice I've seen one of my babies on the Abandoned Lineages thread, but I just don't breed in the volume others do so I know mine just aren't statistically likely to be noticed... that, or I have unpopular taste in combinations! I don't really love using other gifting or completion threads - too often the response has been, "Oh, no, I don't need that anymore," or no response at all. I do like holiday planning threads, though!

 

Eh. That's all.

[Lavinia]

Hi, I'm Lavi. *waves* Like several other people have said here, I can be shy around people I don't know. But once I'm talking, I'm a real chatterbox - must be why Nat and I get along so well, neither of us can write a concise statement to save our lives.

 

I started playing in November 2008, pulled in by my friend who kept showing me cute dragons (alliisara, the founder of TGT). I lasted only a few months before becoming too busy for DC.

 

I came back in September 2012, and idly poked around the site a bit (I didn't discover lineages until a few months later). I was getting more into DC, just starting to care about lineages, just realizing that there were a few dragons I couldn't get by just independently hunting (golds, tinsels, trios - I had a couple of messy silvers already from 2008), right around when the first shimmers were distributed in early 2013. I searched for how to arrange trades (since allii was no longer arranging trades for me) and found the eatw trade board. That worked for a little while, but many of the posts for things I wanted had as the only contact info "PM me on the forum." I eventually joined the forum in order to ask about one of those trades.

 

I discovered the Gold Gifting Group and I wanted a gold so much. I was shocked when I got a reply within hours of requesting one, when months of hunting and attempting to trade hadn't gotten me any. One of the Gold Gifting Group posts had a signature with a link to Breeding, Gifting, where I went to meekly ask for a thunder egg, ANY thunder egg, to complete my trios so I could start summoning. Almost immediately, I got a PM with a thunder egg (2g PB) which said "sorry, neither messy nor inbred " and I was hooked, on DC, on collecting nice lineages, on the forums, and on gifting. (Thanks again, LostFate, you gave me so much more than a thunder egg.)

 

I prefer to gift to people who are willing to gift back. (I'm not hard to gift back to - I ALWAYS need easy-to-breed commons, and am happy to take them as eggs, to get some fresh blood into my lineages.) I hate trading; I want to interact with people who are generous and helpful rather than some of the greedyguts on the trade threads. If a breeding request comes in (by PM or on BG) from someone I recognize as a frequent gifter, or who offers to breed in return/for other people/in the future when they have built up their scroll, I am always thrilled to fill those requests. I do get irritated at PMs or requests that are rude, beg, guilt trippy, greedy, or seem to be abusing the system, so I am a mean, prickly gifter compared to you all.

 

pinkgothic: I love the idea of the League of Impatient Cave Cleaners, but I've had some trouble getting any interest when I post something there.

 

Nat, please add a link to the Gold Gifting Group to the front page? They gift non-inbred golds to users with 0-1 golds on their scroll. Thanks, Nat!

Edited July 25, 2016 by Lavinia

[Natayah]

I promise to update the first page, but this next week I have an upcoming class and exam for my business soo... I won't be updating any pages until after that. But after that I promise to add at least 5 more awesome references of great places to go for Gifting Requests and Gifting Fulfilling. I think there are a few related to both prizes and metals (Metalweavers, Rare Breeders if I don't have them yet, and something with Prizes), so I'll make sure to get those under my belt. If you happen to know anyone from active gifting threads, groups, games, whatever who would be interested in posting a summary of how they like to do their stuff, or have a short "interview" where I send them some questions and they respond back and I post it, I would love to do more of that here (got at least one or two things in the works).

 

Even if we aren't the chattiest group all the time, we have a lot of good info, and I want those first posts to be a really good reference for both people in need of gifts and people wanting to gift, and to inspire people to find new ways to do both if they notice a need!

 

So if you know any groups who would like to post the details of what they do, or have a small interview to be posted here, or just post, please invite them and/or send me the info so I can talk to them!

Edited June 4, 2016 by natayah

[Natayah]

Got some new resources and threads and links listed in our Resource Posts. I noticed while looking for new threads and groups and resources to add, that there are many wonderful threads that ran for years that have been closed down (that I was used to being very active when I started, and I'm sure many of you remember them too) due to inactivity.

 

So I wanted to take a second and remind people that for the threads still active out there, it's our job as players to help support where we can and keep them going. Now I understand with player run activities, eventually concepts are going to repeat, people are going to move on, things will change, and/or things just close down. That is ok. But we have some really great threads out there that could always use a bit of support. If you aren't sure what you can do, here is a few ideas:

 

1. Pick a few favorites. Sure you can try and promote everything, but usually it is best to focus your energies on things you can most easily support. That way you are inclined to remember to be more involved!

 

2. Advertise the thread! Put a banner or link in your sig. Don't really want a sig full of various large graphics? You could just put in some Text and a Link to your favorite threads. This is great for anything. People look at sigs and follow links all the time. Don't think that space isn't important. It is, and you can always rotate the things you are promoting too if you want to split it up. Or there are people who know how to make those rotating graphics where a new banner pops up each time someone refreshes the page, or graphics where you can link 50000 things... I don't know how to do all that, but I'm sure you could talk to the artistic people if you really want.

 

3. When sending gifts or answers for help to younger or newer or growing players, you can always ask if they would like or need references to any other gifting/game threads where they can request or win more awesome dragons? Not all players with new scrolls need this info because some people have already figured out the forums or have a friend helping them. But many don't. So I tend to find simply asking someone if they would like or need some references for things is better than just assuming and spamming them with a list of 20 threads "to check out".

 

4. Get involved with the threads! A lot of them need participants and donators, not necessarily just one or the other. If you aren't sure how to get involved or how to help, I tend to like to send a PM to one of the mods or group account. You can also post, but I tend prefer PMs myself so I don't assume anything.

 

5. Any other ideas on ways to help promote some of our favorite threads? They don't always need to be about Gifting Only. This can be used for any thread you find particularly helpful. Thuwed, Dorkface, Breeding Projects, Special Dragon Types Breeding Groups, etc. However, since the point of this thread is ultimately Gifting, I just mention those more. However, feel free to share and use these ideas for anything you want to help!

 

 

[Natayah]

We have a LOT going on between NOW and July 4-6th. The USA Celebrates Fourth of July but many other countries have celebrations during this time period as well for Independence and Other Things.

 

We have 2 Raffles, one where you can win one of 2 Prize 2G Dragons (Super Rare!!) from Vhale and Clya's Raffle that runs on July 4th for anyone to enter and taking donations thru July 3rd for anything you would want to donate. Also a breeding event for Holidaykin or Holiday Lines on July 3-5 but July 4th is Main Day.

 

Here is a copy of the Info from one of the First Postings I Updated:

Upcoming Player Run Events:

Lottos:

Clya's Raffles - Almost Non-Stop Raffles/Lottos to win all sorts of Constantly Changing Awesome Prizes. Clya also accepts any and all donations! Great place to both Donate and Participate!

Vhale's 2G Prize Breeding Raffle - Currently Chance to win (2) 2G Prize Shimmers from Now Until July 6 - Win 2G Prizes & other Super Rare Things. Just breed some stuff to get free raffle tickets. See Thread for Details

Upcoming Breeding Events:

Holiday-Kin MassBreed - July 4th is the Main Day, but also including July 3rd & 5th. Visit Thread for more Details, but this is one of the most popular Breeding Events that will make lots of great lineages that make it to the AP and a perfect chance to dust off and breed some of your great dragons so please join them whenever you can! Or all three days if you have lots to breed! Plenty to breed and Plenty to Hunt to add to your scroll!

 

ETA: If you also like getting these updates and postings here of upcoming special events, please post to let me know or any feedback thanks!

 

Please go to these threads and support these Players for the wonderful work they've done! Hopefully you will participate, but even if you can't this round, be sure to chime in if you want to in the future so they can gauge interest. Some of them even offer sign up lists to notify you of future events. The AP is full of ready to incuhatch eggs, and will probably continue between a Combo of Vhale's Breeding Raffle and the Upcoming Holidaykin Breeding Event from Socks. So if you decide to go on a breeding rampage, or if you fill up on eggs and then decide to breed some eggs, there are plenty of times you can grab eggs, hatch them, and either release them into the AP or re-gift them on the forums or glomp gift them. However, remember because of timing the hatcheries are going to be more full than normal so please remember to return clicks as well so these things get hatching faster so we can continue super gifting. Or you can keep them yourself, whichever you want!

Enjoy the week and weekend and then week! We have lots going on for Player run events, and possibly even stuff upcoming from the staff in the near or not too distant future!

 

I am working on getting a few interviews with some of the people who run various gifting and player run event threads (since they all involve gifting in some form), however, please feel free to use this thread to promote your group or thread anytime you want. I know that is not allowed in some threads, but it is allowed and encouraged here. We want to know who has upcoming events and who needs help or just wants more participation, mods or whatever so we can support you! I will make that clearly posted in the first posts so it is clear, but please feel free to promote anything you like that appropriate and related to DC in this thread anytime you like. Thanks so much. Even if its just to say you exist! And you can feel free to post as an "organization" vs an "individual" anytime you like. Thanks!

Edited July 24, 2016 by natayah

[Natayah]

End of July Update Correction: Clya Has Another Wonderful Raffle Open for Sign Up until 7/24/16 4:00PM EST Lots of Great Eggs. Go to Clya's Raffles to Sign up & View Prizes! All Free! And the Raffles Keep On Going From There if You Miss This One! Just Wait for the Next (Usually within 2-5 days later!)

 

We had a lot of fantastic events at the beginning of July. However, this is one of the first times in several months I have not had any upcoming events to update on the calendar post. (Other than Clya's Always Ongoing Raffle Events). So that means it is time for the player community to come together and start putting together some events or pitching in with some already established events and groups.

 

There has also been some discussion of people wanting to "revive" the activity of the game and player base. So to Help with that I will Post a Few Suggestions and Highlight a Few Groups. However, please see my first post for a lot of great groups that have threads where you can go participate and get involved to help them keep going with what they are already doing or make it bigger and better. If you want to market or post or share anything about your group in this section, please go ahead!

 

But I'm going to take this time to Highlight One of those Groups:

 

Happy Birthday Gifting: This Thread Helps People Get a Variety of Gifts or Birthday Surprises on/around their Birthday from a List of Options Listed by the User. You can also Sign up for your own Birthday WishList! I used to Gift here, but it's been a long time. They have a fantastic group of dedicated gifters, but there is certainly room for more people to get involved! With DC's Birthday not being too long ago, this would be a great group to consider getting involved with for gifting if you are looking for a place to gift and/or signing up for receiving! What a special way to gift and also celebrate a special day and meet new awesome people!

 

Here are some suggestions:

 

Breeding Events: Not Terribly Hard to Organize and a lot of fun and lots of participation! If you have done one in the past and want to do another, now is the time to get those posted! If you want to organize one but would like some assistance and/or advice, please post so we can get you some! If you have organized them in the past and want to either post tips, share your experience, and/or offer to help someone or a group organize one, please post as well!

 

Or if you have participated and want to suggest some "Themes" or "Dragon Breeds" you'd like to see in a Breeding Event, please share!

 

AP Breeding & Forum Gifting: The AP time is up to 6 Days and there is no looming events or raffles to encourage specific breeding. So if you are looking to breed some of your nice dragons and dust them off, now might be a good time to consider. ETA: While there is no "rules" you can place on AP eggs, and if you breed a really nice egg you might want to consider "Glomp" Gifting or Gifting via the Community Departures Board (tons of fun on its own), many people love to find beautiful random goodies in the AP. If you find one, consider posting about it in the "Great AP Finds" Thread to give a "thank you" to the breeder. Most breeders are so overjoyed to see their eggs posted in this thread and it makes their day and week! (Thanks for the call out Tabs!!)

 

I want to Be Involved, But Don't Know what To do Specifically: I've seen and heard from various players that they want to be more "involved" with player run events and activity but aren't exactly sure where to best spend their efforts. If you are one of those players, there are a few things you can do:

1. Post Here to Let Others Know You are Looking for Projects or Other Things To Help: That way people here and from other places can get a list of people that want to do more and also post maybe the things you'd like to do specifically if you have any. Feel free to use this thread as a place to discuss new ideas and meet other people to contact to start something. Feel free to post here as the Idea is any form of Gifting we want to encourage, and this activity all falls under that. A lot of you are looking for things to do, and a lot of you also need help or have ideas. Let's bring that together and see what we can do with it! Sometimes you have a great idea but not the time to run it, or run it alone. And other people need ideas but have lots of time and energy.

2. Contact Groups Posted in the First Post or Other Groups in Other Sub-Forums And Ask How You Can Best Help - This may be as simple as signing up, posting a link or banner for their thread in your sig to share with others, talking about it with others, or something more. Sometimes they don't need extra help other than just participating and/or sharing with others about their group. Also, look for people who may be newer or in search of certain things and/or your own friends who love to do what you do and let them know about these groups so they can also join up if they are interested.

3.Search the Forums for Any Groups in Need or Ideas that seem to Be "Missing" - If there is a "Closed" Group that you would like to take over, talk to a mod. If there is a Group I have looked over and need to list it here so others know, tell me and I'll add it and also consider sharing it with others so they also know. Additionally, if there seems to be a "missing" opportunity, you can run with it on your own OR you can post it here as an idea for a person in search of something to help contribute to consider running on their own. Again, Sometimes you have a great idea but not the time to run it, or run it alone. And other people need ideas but have lots of time and energy. Let's bring that together and see what we can do with it!

Edited July 26, 2016 by natayah

[Dirtytabs]

Thanks for the shout-out to Birthday Gifting. Everybody is allowed to give and sign up for gifts. While a lot of them are given by the same group of users, I'm thankful for all the generous people involved.

 

 

A warning about AP breeding is that there are no rules there, so be wary about dropping nice eggs if you don't want to risk them dying.

Edited July 23, 2016 by dirtytabs

[gigglymonkey12]

Hello

My name is gigglymonkey12.

I got my nickname from elementary (when I was 12yrs old)...way too giggly and always on the monkey bars. Makes sense, right?

That nickname has been my favorite thing since then and I haven't bothered thinking up anything new since then.

 

I joined way back in 2009 (sometime), but then I left for about 3yrs and now I'm back.

 

I never cared about lineages back then.

I was just about hoarding specific dragons.

 

I'm now starting to work on lineages and I can admit...it's quite satisfying when I have one that I like and that I can proudly try to give to someone else. My proudest lineage so far is 4B. I'm working on the mirror lineage of that one right now, but I keep producing a magelight pygmy instead.

 

I think I've taken to dumping some of my smaller lineage projects to the ap because...I will never know if my egg gets rejected. I sometimes add them to departure thread or something like that, but then I get all twitchy when I see people skipping them...so I just dump them to the AP. (fear of rejection?) Also it is a guilty pleasure of mine to go through my recently bred dragons and see what names people come up with

 

I love dumping them to the AP though because I remember when I was a newbie and I didn't know about the departure thread and the forum (in general) was scary...I would only grab eggs from the AP and cave...so hopefully that helps someone out.

 

Again, with my fear of rejection...I know natayah mentioned in her introduction paragraph that it is great when someone asks for an egg or something along those lines (I fear it is late and I am not truly articulate right now)...but I am always too scared to ask.

Even though their signature says that they would be glad to do so...

I wonder if there are other people who have that same struggle and how we can lessen the fear for them/me.

(I know that if someone asks me for an egg from a specific pair..I would, basically, bend over backwards to help them...but I still don't like asking others...)