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RoseRedAus

Do we need a revival?

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I have noticed the game seems to have lost a lot of players. The trading forum always used to move so quickly. For example you could check the dragon trading thread just before bed, and then when you woke up and checked it again ... there were probably 4 new pages of trades available.

Not that I necessarily want it that busy again ... but it just seems so "dead" on there now.

I'm just wondering how other people feel? Are you happy with having less people around, or would you like to see the place perk up a bit again?

I'm just a bit worried that the game will end up dying out sad.gif

So, what can we do to lure new players in?

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I have noticed the game seems to have lost a lot of players. The trading forum always used to move so quickly. For example you could check the dragon trading thread just before bed, and then when you woke up and checked it again ... there were probably 4 new pages of trades available.

Not that I necessarily want it that busy again ... but it just seems so "dead" on there now.

I'm just wondering how other people feel? Are you happy with having less people around, or would you like to see the place perk up a bit again?

I'm just a bit worried that the game will end up dying out sad.gif

So, what can we do to lure new players in?

I've been noticing the same... For example with the July release. 28 pages of comments on the News topic. Someone said that was due to vacations etc. But on July 2015, there were 68 pages.

 

Reasons... I do not know. But I heard a lot.

Three of my DC friends, one of them the person that brought me here, told me something that sounded like "I kept checking for new releases ad getting disappointed to the point that I decided that I did not care anymore. In fact, now I don't."

Several other friends were disappointed by the birthday. While happy about the Frills and Arias and by the extra day not being added anymore on the AP, the common feeling was "That's it? 10th Birthday and that's all we get? What about suggestions/requests with high consensus that have been around for quite a while?"

 

Myself, I'm quite less addicted than I used to. The forum is sleepy to say the least. Not just the trading area. Suggestions/requests used to be quite more vibrant but why should people waste their time posting when so little gets implemented?

 

The feeling I get is that many "veterans" lost interest and that's normal (time goes by, people find other interests) but the issue is that there's really nothing around to excite new players. I would not say that the forum is dying but for sure it is quite ... comatose.

 

Editing to answer to "what can we do":

We cannot. That's on TJ's hands. To state the obvious:

- Implement suggestions, in particular the ones with high consensus

- Release new sprites often

- Add games like "mana"

The fact is that many new players are "lured in" by existing players. But if the existing players are not very enthusiastic to start with, why should they invite others?

 

Edited by NotBambi

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Yeah, I believe TJ has probably got to a point of having a lot of other stuff going on in his life ... work, etc. So I do understand that.

 

But yes, I agree with your comments.

 

I just wish it would liven up a bit.

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I feel like this is something more on the community than on TJ. There's only so much you can do with trading, and only so many things to request. If we add more dragons, it'll only be a matter of time until those dragons get collected. If the community made something on the forums to do (maybe clans?) and put emphasis on hatching dragons, as opposed to collecting them, then people would come in and stay in.

 

That being said, if TJ added in trinkets like in GPXplus, it might keep people interested for a lot longer as a non-dragon side quest.

Edited by serce2

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I've only just come back so can't compare to many other times, so I don't really know if it is slow. This release didn't seem very exciting but I can't think why.

 

I wanted to comment about TJ and how much we should expect from him. Does dragoncave actually make any decent revenue? If this site is being supported well with money then TJ would want to give us lots of updates and keep the community going, but if this game is actually something TJ does as more of a hobby then ANY update we get is one we should be thankful for. 10 years this game has been running, I'm sure many other people would have just dropped dragoncave if they were the ones running it.

 

Honestly I really don't know how much we should expect in dragoncave.

 

I do think adding the store would up our numbers though, I know trading has gotten a bit stagnant with the addition of 2g prizes. Also more, and more varieties of rares.

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Not just trading, but also the breeding section of the forum.

It doesn't seem like there is as much interest there either (except in some of the more lively pages)

I also looked and noticed that most threads moved a lot faster back then than now.

 

I remember when I first joined the forum...and things were pretty lively. There were tons of people on and tons of talking, but now it's hard to find much chatting going on.

 

I found enjoyment from the game once I decided to work on lineages instead of just collecting the dragons. I think a part of finding satisfaction in the game also depends on each person. There is only so much that you do in general....grab an egg, add it to a hatchery and wait for it to hatch and grow up (is the general gist)...

Edited by gigglymonkey12

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I guess I hadn't noticed the lack of activity in the forums. As far as posting on the new release, I typically don't anymore. I might give a simple thank you at most. I don't like to put my opinions out there. So, posting now is something I wouldn't normally do. Players not posting on the forum doesn't mean they are inactive with their scrolls.

 

Part of that could be players are offering on trades or collecting things for the own scrolls and not posting on the forum. I typically only post when I have harder to find uncommon or rare CBs or lineages that others might be interested. A lot of the focus feels like it's on Prize dragons, especially low gens, or CB Golds, Silvers and Neglects. That's an area I cannot compete in and will typical keep me from posting trades or offering on a trade.

 

Personally, I will go inactive at some point in the spring/summer. I just lose interest and I need a break. I pop in around holiday seasons and occasionally to check for new releases. I think a lot of players can relate. Holiday seasons can be so intense. And then you spend some time after events breeding/hunting for mates until the allure wears off. I get disenchanted when I am not making progress with my personal goals so I'll just stop playing for awhile. Lately, I've been building more non-holiday lineages and that had my interest for now.

 

Maybe there could be special events to help pull people back in.

~There a lot of inactive scrolls - maybe a lottery to give away some of those unused dragons, with previous owner's permission. Like if a player decides to quit and turn their scroll over.

~Make it possible to adopt from the Wilderness page.

~Say, increase the chances of Silver or Gold dragons for a day.

~Or a day where dragons that once refused each other could temporarily be bred again.

~I'd like to see a few more dragons updated. I know there are some who don't like the updates.

~Some more scroll specific dragons like Snow Angels and ALT Sweetlings. And let players choose the version they want on their scrolls.

~Maybe animating those little pixels. Make it flashy and draw those kiddies in here.

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I'm pretty new to DC. Personally, I would have joined a few years back. In fact, I think that I did, but then quit because I didn't understand how the site worked and all of my eggs died. So, I sort of "re-discovered" the game again this year.

 

I think the whole game has a ton of potential, if maybe more knowledge about it were to become a little more widespread. I know it's a well-known site, but a little marketing never hurts. Also, maybe creating a way for the site to provide a bit more revenue so that TJ can have an easier time/acquire greater motivation to improve the site continuously.

 

And also, the introduction of a system within the game that could provide easier ways for a newer player to take part in trading more actively when it comes to the acquisition of super rares. As a new player it can be a little discouraging knowing that only a few players have ultimate power over the game with things such as prize dragons and old CB holidays. Maybe making these dragons a little more accesible to the newer user base by re-releasing? Or in the case of prizes, an alternate way to obtain them?

 

In general, I think DC needs innovation, and a friendlier experience for newer players all around. I love the game as is, but these are just my view points about what could be implemented in order to increase the site's overall popularity and user base.

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The breeding threads used to get 1-3 pages a day. Now they might get 1 post a month. There's been a huge drop. I feel like a lot of people lost their excitement when the raffle did not happen and there was no notice. It was rude. The second was changing the lineage views and some of the dimorphism. I like the lineage view, but I respect that people who've been working for years on something to collect may not want it switched. What can they do if they don't like it but leave? And so, we've lost a chunk of people.

 

It may also be that Dragon Cave doesn't lend itself to finding new players like it used to. It used to be people had them in forum signatures, so people saw them and tracked down what they were. With the world going mobile or many forms not allowing code in signatures, I don't see as much of that "advertising"

 

/sadface

 

I just enjoy what I can, when I can with it. It's a simple little game I can check into once in awhile. So I'll be around. But I am sad it's lost so many people for what seem to be avoidable errors.

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The breeding threads used to get 1-3 pages a day. Now they might get 1 post a month. There's been a huge drop. I feel like a lot of people lost their excitement when the raffle did not happen and there was no notice. It was rude. The second was changing the lineage views and some of the dimorphism. I like the lineage view, but I respect that people who've been working for years on something to collect may not want it switched. What can they do if they don't like it but leave? And so, we've lost a chunk of people.

I completely agree with you that after now news whatsoever about the raffle that everything seemed to die down a whole lot. Not as many people were active, less people were excited about the new releases, I even think that the Birthday Release didn't have as much hype as it should have. This past release seemed pretty calm, and there were fewer people active (from looking at the main site's active numbers), than any previous release I've seen. Which maybe after the lack of news on a June release it had a similar effect of after what happened with the raffle.

 

Personally? I've reached the point where I just don't collect dragons all that much anymore, maybe a few neat lines here or there, but I feel myself gravitating towards other sites. I feel that with the only once a month releases that after the initial grab for the new release, that I'm just not very active on the main site until the next one. It's not that I'm busy (it's middle of summer here, no school), it's I just don't feel like there is much to do. It just always feels like a waiting game for the next release. I don't trade much, I've accepted that I can't catch a Gold Dragon (my last remaining goal), I won't be able to get CB holidays, so there isn't much left for me to do other than the new releases and my raffles (which are fun no doubt). I don't have the intention, nor do I think I will, to quit the site, but I know that I'm not the only one who is or has felt this way.

 

The forums feel slow, few people seem to be on, less seem to actively be posting, and hardly any other than regular traders are on the trade threads.

 

The site has undergone a lot of changes many of which aroused negative thoughts from the userbase, the Silvers' Sprite update, Lineage view change, lack of a raffle, dragon view page change, etc. While I personally enjoyed the Sprite, the view page change and the lineage view change (to an extent), I know many people didn't which made the site lose the appeal to them.

 

/breathes

Sorry for the long post smile.gif

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The breeding threads used to get 1-3 pages a day. Now they might get 1 post a month. There's been a huge drop. I feel like a lot of people lost their excitement when the raffle did not happen and there was no notice. It was rude. The second was changing the lineage views and some of the dimorphism. I like the lineage view, but I respect that people who've been working for years on something to collect may not want it switched. What can they do if they don't like it but leave? And so, we've lost a chunk of people.

 

It may also be that Dragon Cave doesn't lend itself to finding new players like it used to. It used to be people had them in forum signatures, so people saw them and tracked down what they were. With the world going mobile or many forms not allowing code in signatures, I don't see as much of that "advertising"

 

/sadface

 

I just enjoy what I can, when I can with it. It's a simple little game I can check into once in awhile. So I'll be around. But I am sad it's lost so many people for what seem to be avoidable errors.

You're right. The drop is noticeable. I did not like the raffles but I dislike even more that no mechanism was put in place to replace them. I didn't like that we got no information at all on the subject. I felt like we, the players, didn't count.

Often I think that TJ is not too interested on the site anymore. It will keep going as long as there are players and as long as there are artists willing to "produce" beautiful sprites. And that a certain point, the site will die of "natural death". I saw that happening on other gaming-related sites. They just became slower and slower.

Another worrisome sign is what is going on with the hatcheries: they used to be quite vibrant too, it was dangerous to put young eggs on them. Nowadays, if you put a normal (not a "lazy" Prize, avatar etc.) egg only in one of the busiest ones when it is just caught or laid off, it does not hatch until it is 3d6h or such.

You're right also about the lack of "advertising"... but lack of enthusiasm is a contributing factor.

As you say, I'll keep playing until is possible and until I still remember of checking myself. Weeks ago, for the first time since I started, I realized I hadn't checked my scroll for days. Now I've "check scroll" on my daily to-do list smile.gif Like a reminder to do laundry smile.gif

 

Which maybe after the lack of news on a June release it had a similar effect of after what happened with the raffle.

^^This.

Edited by NotBambi

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The forum is basically dead

The 10th birthday was a HUGE disappointment

The new lineage view sucks

What few actual improvements we've gotten have been unimpressive

The Encyclopedia was not what we asked for

The completed dragons list just keeps growing

The Prize dragons should never have been given out as prizes, but should have been a regular release of new rare dragons

 

Do I need to keep going?

 

I've been here since 26-September 08 (EIGHT years) and the only reason I'm still playing is because I like breeding projects. Plus, since I became unable to work, I've got way to much free time and not enough to do. So I'm mainly still here due to habit. I quit expecting anything from TJ, so now I don't get disappointed when NOTHING happens over and over and over again.

 

I have no clue what TJ's personal life is like, but if he's not going to keep improving the game, I wish he would just sell it to someone who would.

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I'll also add that I never look at or post to the trade thread anymore, because when I have something as decent as I can catch no one offers on it and when I want something even slightly rare it's really hard to find someone who wants anything but Golds, Silvers, and 2nd gen prizes. There really needs to be something done to revitalize the game, in a number of places that people have spoken about in this thread, but I have no idea what they are. A game would help, a store would help, a way to pay real money for something or other would probably help too (though since I am dirt poor I would not be able to do much with said feature).

 

I don't know. It would sadden me if this game lost players to the point it made it impossible to hatch eggs because I truly enjoy it, but I don't know what we can do to really breathe life back into the forum/game.

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Since someone texted me twice this link...

Three of my DC friends, one of them the person that brought me here, told me something that sounded like "I kept checking for new releases ad getting disappointed to the point that I decided that I did not care anymore. In fact, now I don't."

Several other friends were disappointed by the birthday. While happy about the Frills and Arias and by the extra day not being added anymore on the AP, the common feeling was "That's it? 10th Birthday and that's all we get? What about suggestions/requests with high consensus that have been around for quite a while?"

Guilty as charged. The 10th birthday was a joke. I wasted time religiously checking the forum for new releases after June 18th. By the time the release happened, I could not care less about it, was busy with other stuff. Didn't get any new release from the biomes, got some from the AP.

 

 

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Do you know who is keeping this forum alive? Vhale, Clya and others with their lotteries. Other generous people with their gifts on the Departures thread. Socks and a bunch of others with useful mass-breeding - and I'm not a fan of massbreeding. Herk and many others breeding beautiful lineages to the AP. I could go on and I'm sure that I didn't reference a bunch of deserving players.

But, if was not for them, this forum would be beyond any hope of resurrection.

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Nah, you guys missed something hugely important: Go. It's taken over pretty much everything and everyone; I'm significantly less active due to it, and I know I'm not the only one. People are outside playing rather than inside on DC, and that's okay. DC's pretty forgiving of people grabbing half-a-dozen eggs and going out to play for two days.

 

Give it time. In a few months the Go hype will die down, people will come back from summer vacations, and things will pick up again. If the forums are still slow in, say, mid-September, I'll concede the point. Until then, I don't think there's much to worry about.

 

Grabbing random points from the thread, because responding to everything I want to respond to would fill a book -

 

A lot of the focus feels like it's on Prize dragons, especially low gens, or CB Golds, Silvers and Neglects. That's an area I cannot compete in and will typical keep me from posting trades or offering on a trade.

Come and learn... (Seriously, what more can I do to pull you guys in without pissing off the mods?)

 

~There a lot of inactive scrolls - maybe a lottery to give away some of those unused dragons, with previous owner's permission. Like if a player decides to quit and turn their scroll over.

~Make it possible to adopt from the Wilderness page.

Nah and no. The Wilderness one has been suggested a million times in a million forms and is always shot down. Also not a huge fan of the abandoned scroll one; people who want to quit probably will just do so, no consent asked or given, and people going on hiatus will be back eventually.

 

I like the lineage view, but I respect that people who've been working for years on something to collect may not want it switched. What can they do if they don't like it but leave?

This is true. Dunno what we're supposed to do about it, though. TJ clearly wanted to switch to the new view and I don't think it's reasonable to ask him to maintain two codebases for two views.

 

Which maybe after the lack of news on a June release it had a similar effect of after what happened with the raffle.

Probably true as well. People might not have expected an early July release after no June release. Can wait and see what happens in August and September.

 

I have no clue what TJ's personal life is like, but if he's not going to keep improving the game, I wish he would just sell it to someone who would.

>_> I guarantee if he sells DC to someone, they absolutely ruin it.

 

Also because I've seen the sentiment "10th birthday was fail" about a hundred times now... wat. We got a bunch of new releases, the rerelease of two breeds people only dared to dream about, and some extra site features. Sure, it wasn't the release of every feature we've ever asked for, but it was certainly very enjoyable.

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Nah, you guys missed something hugely important: Go. It's taken over pretty much everything and everyone; I'm significantly less active due to it, and I know I'm not the only one. People are outside playing rather than inside on DC, and that's okay. DC's pretty forgiving of people grabbing half-a-dozen eggs and going out to play for two days.

 

Give it time. In a few months the Go hype will die down, people will come back from summer vacations, and things will pick up again. If the forums are still slow in, say, mid-September, I'll concede the point. Until then, I don't think there's much to worry about.

Yeah, let's discuss about this on September. Because, not only I don't give a leaf about Go but the DC players I know don't either. Add the fact that I'm in Florida and no sane teen+ will be out and about under the unforgiving sun and humidity.

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My sister is a Go addict, and I have seen quuite a few on Alameda Island, so I say wait a couple months. Also, we are lucky to have gone on as long as we did... 10 years with the same admin. Most other sites die off before then.

Edited by Dusky_Flareon

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I do agree about the forum being a bit sleepy now, I used to see lots and lots of new replies to threads, but now I don't see as many. I think with the lack of the holiday raffle, many players quit or went inactive, and with the release of new games such as Pokémon Go, people just lost interest. I admit that I've really kind of lost interest; after you collect lineages, CB dragons, and breed, there isn't really anything to do. I stopped trading in the trading section long ago, and I just dump any "good" CB eggs I find in the departures thread now, instead of trading them. DC really needs to get an interest boost. I still hang around and stalk the threads, but I rarely post.

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I'm playing Pokemon Go on a daily basis, but I absolutely will not attribute the declining interest in DC to the fact that I'm "gonna be the very best" Pokemon Trainer. DC can also be accessed on the phone, so it's not like people are forgoing one piece of technology for another. I am also on here on a daily basis and the site has been experiencing a decline long before the Pokemon Go app was ever released. I think it stems back to the switch back to unscheduled releases and the lack of raffle/updates concerning it.

 

No idea what to suggest in terms of a revival, but I would like DC to be a bit more interesting. As it stands, I spend most of my time trading for CB hatchies or taking breeding requests (which are few and far between now) when it's not a holiday or new release.

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@AGYK

 

There was no release on September 2015. Considering the stingy approach so far (i.e. no June 2016 release, while there was the magnificent release of Xenos on June 2015) I'm not holding my breath.

 

If TJ was to sell DC to someone else, why would that someone ruin it? That sounds quite absurd, people tend to protect their investments. I bet a new owner would do as much as possible to woo us and to make our experience as enjoyable as possible. At least on the short and medium term. Considering how the short and medium terms look right now, that would be an improvement. Frankly, maybe TJ will, before DC hemorrhages all the value.

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Don't bet anything a "new owner" would bend over backwards for a 10 year old pixel raising game. I've been here long enough to know not to expect too much. I just collect what I happen to like/want, make the occasional trade & go on my merry way. We used to go far longer between releases, if memory serves me, missing one month is nothing.

 

This place goes through cycles of activity. Welcome to the slow cycle! When summer ends, people tend to come back. You think this place is dying? I see far more newer people than established regulars. You don't see me post much because I don't have much to contribute beyond the occasional "Hey, lookee what I found in the AP!" but hey, I got forum lurking down pat! Not everyone here chooses to come out of the woodwork.

 

I do agree (always have!) that some kind of notification on events/releases happening/not happening would be the courteous approach, but as I said, I've learned not to expect it.

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I... haven't logged in for a long while, but I do check in on DC every few weeks. But I do agree - the game (and by extension the forums) is a little stale.

 

Y'know what would be really interesting for me, as someone who's kind of just bored with the entire thing? Having a lot of things to catch and add to my scroll. The releases are nice, but it's like, "oh hey I got this" and I don't bother coming back for a little bit.

 

It'd be really neat to see something like a silent release, where a whole bunch of new dragons are quietly added to the biomes, and it's not something I can get most/all of in a day or two. If I had a reason to continue coming back to the game, that'd be pretty cool. Or some minigames. Mana was pretty cool, but didn't keep my attention for too terribly long.

 

But as it stands, I'm really not doing much in game, therefore there's not a whole lot to me do on the forums.

Edited by kabocha

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It'd be really neat to see something like a silent release, where a whole bunch of new dragons are quietly added to the biomes, and it's not something I can get most/all of in a day or two. If I had a reason to continue coming back to the game, that'd be pretty cool. Or some minigames. Mana was pretty cool, but didn't keep my attention for too terribly long.

I really, really like the idea of silent releases.

And I'm all for mini-games smile.gif

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Yep, we do. I was just thinking about how quiet it's been lately.

 

My opinion on this has pretty much already been stated, so I'll keep this brief. Basically, something has to be done. Whether it be prizes released again somehow, or better improvements to the game, whatever it is, it has to be done, or else this place is going to become a graveyard.

 

Whatever happens, I'm waaaaay too attached to ever stop playing, so. /shrug

 

It'd be really neat to see something like a silent release, where a whole bunch of new dragons are quietly added to the biomes, and it's not something I can get most/all of in a day or two.  If I had a reason to continue coming back to the game, that'd be pretty cool.  Or some minigames.  Mana was pretty cool, but didn't keep my attention for too terribly long.

 

Both silent releases and mini games are something I'm all for as well.

Edited by riyuuan

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