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Transparency in DC

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2 hours ago, Fuzzbucket said:

But the artist stated that what she wanted was what we had.

 

 

That is the way it has been since day 1. That is NOT what we have now. People with alts can now have pinks as well. So why was there a change ?

 

 

 

I was mostly talking about the choice not to spread Alts around. With scroll lock versus not, Kila seems to think it’d be a good idea, yes, but isn’t dead set on it like on the other matter. I understand why TJ did what he did, even if it stopped alternating lineages. By Kila’s own wish Alt Sweets are going to die out; it seems cruel to lock alt owners to a dying breed whose numbers are going to keep falling while more and more pink lines emerge.

 

Anyway I’m kind of burnt out on the subject, going to go pet my valentine dragons. Despite my annoyance with this particular issue I’ve on the whole had a great DC Valentines.  

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I wish he'd gone ahead and retired the black sweetlings. The original reason for giving them out was stupid anyway.. it would have been easier to replace them with pinks to start with, then we wouldn't even be having this issue. Now he's gone and made it even MORE unfair.. so I'd rather he just retire them completely and let everyone be pissed.. that seems like what he wants anyway; for no one to be happy.

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Yeah.. I'm just done. I don't respect the way this site is run, I don't respect yet another threat to pull a sprite altogether by an artist. My belief is that they shouldn't have that authority (even if I myself were an artist).

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So the Sweetlings are still lost in a haze of uncertainty. Kila has spoken and said they should be locked to scrolls (as they have been from the beginning until a few days ago). But that is not the effect of TJ's latest pronouncement. So @TJ09, which is it? Does your word stand, or Kila's?

 

And I am sorry to see Sweetlings dragged into this thread, but they are illustrative of the problems we are talking about here. And with the Sweetling thread closed, this seems to be the only appropriate place to try to get clarification. I don't think it is appropriate to drag it into the news thread.

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23 hours ago, Alrexwolf said:

Seeing Sock's scroll come up again is such a sad thing. I know even if a new global mod is chosen, we'll likely never get someone so willing to fight/debate/whatever you want to call it TJ OR the users. I feel Sock was very fair to both TJ and the userbase... but I feel like in a position where TJ won't generally tell the userbase anything, the job must have been grating. Sock struggled for so long to try to keep our needs & wants in mind while also balancing TJ's wants/ideas for his own game... Even the one time I got a warning Sock was very fair to me, even when I was upset and snipping back... always calm-headed and fair.

 

I will gladly go to bat for you all. The ones who keep the gears turning should never be ignored, even if things don't always go the way that's ideal. I've had jobs where we absolutely ignored the customer base (paying customers, in this case) and boy did it bite us in the arse. Finding that balance is what keeps a game and its community healthy. I will never be able to replace Sock, and wouldn't even try (love ya, Socky!) A happy userbase means a better game environment, and usually a better product as a result. 

 

23 hours ago, HeatherMarie said:

But the beginning of the 14th to the end of the 17th is *four* days, not three. Given that it's always been three days in the past I'm assuming the '17' is the mistake here, but who really knows? Only TJ. And he has not responded to clarify what the actual cut-off time is. Given the severely limited timeframe of the release, prompt communication is sort of important here.

 

He responded in the thread and updated his first post to clear up confusion.

 

20 hours ago, Millennium07 said:

_Z_ is a global mod as well, and has been for a good many years now, and I swear to god there is/was another as well.

 

You are correct, Khallayne was the third Global.

 

 

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PDC, I guess the crux of my argument is that I worry for the forum mods/chat mods/etc. Sock had the unique position of being the only mostly day-in-day-out active global mod, someone who TJ had no replacement for. I worry that TJ would fire a moderator who went up to bat with him... especially now, as he's trying to find new moderators anyway.

 

I don't feel it's safe for the moderators to do what Sock did, for the sake of their positions that I want them to keep. And with new global/moderators on the way, it will continue to be a rocky road.

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2 hours ago, Alrexwolf said:

PDC, I guess the crux of my argument is that I worry for the forum mods/chat mods/etc. Sock had the unique position of being the only mostly day-in-day-out active global mod, someone who TJ had no replacement for. I worry that TJ would fire a moderator who went up to bat with him... especially now, as he's trying to find new moderators anyway.

 

I don't feel it's safe for the moderators to do what Sock did, for the sake of their positions that I want them to keep. And with new global/moderators on the way, it will continue to be a rocky road.

 

This is rather the way I feel. We have a load of good mods. I don't want to lose any of them. But they need to be allowed to do their job. To be trusted. Presidential style government  - one person, unable or unwilling to delegate, imposing their will on it all - has got so many countries into such a fecking* mess. Let's not have any kind of dictatorship in a forum that we all care about - ESPECIALLY the mods, who give their time for us all.

 

*Irish term borrowed from Father Ted, NOT **** evasion XD

Edited by Fuzzbucket

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2 hours ago, Dragon_Arbock said:

Yeah.. I'm just done. I don't respect the way this site is run, I don't respect yet another threat to pull a sprite altogether by an artist. My belief is that they shouldn't have that authority (even if I myself were an artist).

 

Unfortunately, I agree. I deeply try, but this whole disaster has reminded me of issues in the past that were handled in ways that I felt were not fair or in the best interest of the majority. I read through the last replies made before the thread was locked and did not like the tone or the implications of any of them, nor did I appreciate that the thread was locked. Of course no one liked the answer and instead wanted -- and still want -- a compromise that benefitted everyone. 

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6 hours ago, Dalek Raptor said:

I feel like there was a lack of communication between TJ and the artist. From what I gathered from the Sweetling alts, it should have stayed the same. TJ changed his mind and was going to retire the alts but changed it to where alt owners can have both. The artist came in and said only alt owners can have alts and non alt owners can have pink only. So at the end of the day, TJ should have left the Sweetlings alone. Period.

Quoting this from earlier

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So... I apologize if this is too OT, but isn't the site explicitly going against the wishes of an artist right now? Like, I understand being frustrated about the artist's wishes > anything else, but I agree that they give us their species and their wishes should matter.

 

The sweetling thread is closed, but since the stuff about sweetlings is also slightly being handled here, am I allowed to ask if I'm reading correctly? TJ did something that's going against the explicit, stated wishes of an artist just because he feels like it? Because that's like... double super not cool. 

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I’m not getting that impression. Whereas she’s pretty adamantly against wider release, she simply thinks scroll lock would be fairest. I don’t think she’s upset about it so much as suggesting what might cause the least discontent.

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6 minutes ago, angelicdragonpuppy said:

I’m not getting that impression. Whereas she’s pretty adamantly against wider release, she simply thinks scroll lock would be fairest. I don’t think she’s upset about it so much as suggesting what might cause the least discontent.

 

I mean, if she said she wanted alt scrolls to be locked to alts, is the current system of letting alt scrolls have both not going against those wishes?

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So I’ve stayed out of this because I took a five year hiatus for personal reasons and was thus real out of touch with how often TJ was around and all that actually on topic stuff. BUT! That means I was around for the origins of the alts, and while I was super annoyed to not get the fancy alts, I dealt with it, because that’s how it was, you know? Then, sooooo many years later a re-release happens so TJ has to decide whether new CBs caught by alt owners should alt. And he decides something everyone hates, and then listens (yeah!) and changes it, and then stuff that’s been hashed out a dozen times, and then Kila weighs in that alt owners should only get alts, except no?

 

You’ve lost me TJ, if the end goal is:

  • original intent (aka “oh crap I’m sorry have a gift”) then nothing should’ve changed — scroll lock alts like snow angel variations
  • artist intent, well, Kila’s answered that now, and it’s also scroll locking alts
  • retire them completely — pretty sure that ship sailed nearly a decade ago, but ok, that’s what you want, for reasons?

 

I get that those of us who didn’t lose eggs way back when won’t get alts, I’m totally fine with that, what I don’t get is why you’re sticking with allowing alt owners to get pinks after Kila said otherwise. I was annoyed before Kila weighed in, but not nearly enough to comment, now I’m straight up confused though.

 

I’ve written a novel here, it’s only sorta on topic, and I’m expected elsewhere as of, oh, 5 minutes ago! So to wrap this up — will you be reconsidering now that Kila’s said alts should be scroll locked? Or am I, and the rest of us, effectively yelling into the void? Because that is what has always bugged me (and quite possibly improved over 5 years ago!) — that you only reply to say no, or at least to say that your mind is made up; the lack of consideration for what your user base wants. Which is, really, just bad UX.

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Only Kila can say for sure, but I believe it’s like this.

 

She really really doesn’t want an alt re-release to happen.

 

She is far less concerned about the pink thing, but sees scroll lock as causing the least drama.

 

An artist really not wanting something is different from them just leaning towards thinking something would be a good idea.

 

I’m unhappy with the choices that were made, but I think this is the wrong thing to base arguments around.

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10 hours ago, angelicdragonpuppy said:

So, with Sweetlings...

 

I might be wrong, but it seems like TJ’s stance was “respect the artist’s wishes as much as possible.”

 

Which I certainly understand. As an artist and writer myself I still feel things given to a game should defer to what’s best for the game... but I also completely get the creator of a game that relies on freely given art to keep going not wanting to risk offending artists in any way.

 

However we only got vague answers that hinted at this, but never a solid, clear “I want to respect the artist’s wishes as much as possible, and as such they won’t see wider release.” Again, I think TJ was GETTING at that, but something was lost in translation and people were still confused.

 

I feel like this happens a lot; people will argue back and forth over the meaning of single sentences in TJ’s replies  because they often aren’t clear enough.

 

It's a mix of both. The agreement is written in such a way that I have a lot of leeway in what I do (I have to agree to any sprite removals, for example, and the agreement only covers sprites, not the breeds themselves). You're right that I do tend to defer to what the artists and conceptors want in most cases, because, well, it's generally the right thing to do, and even from a self-serving perspective it's not worth burning bridges.

 

For the sweetling discussion in particular, it would've been disingenuous to simply blame everything on Kila and act like I wasn't in agreement with her on the matter. Since our opinions are basically the same regarding rereleases for alts, there's no reason to "shift blame." So nothing was lost in translation, I intentionally claimed all of the guilt for myself.

 

I think it's more that people tend to read too far into what I say (sometimes without even actually seeking clarification).

 

I guess while I'm here I should also caution: This thread should not become "Sweetling Discussion 2.0." I understand the other thread was closed before all of the pent-up steam has been vented, but straying too far off topic is going to distract from actual discussion about improving communication in DC on mutliple-fronts.

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38 minutes ago, TJ09 said:

I think it's more that people tend to read too far into what I say (sometimes without even actually seeking clarification).

 

I guess while I'm here I should also caution: This thread should not become "Sweetling Discussion 2.0." I understand the other thread was closed before all of the pent-up steam has been vented, but straying too far off topic is going to distract from actual discussion about improving communication in DC on mutliple-fronts.

 

Bolded for emphasis. Why don't you actually clarify things when you say them, then? Like, don't you think that would eliminate 99% of this entire mess? And that's basically what this entire thread is about. If you could just explain things in detail when announcing/changing/whatever you're doing, bad things would happen less often. When you leave 1 vague post or a post with incorrect information, what are we SUPPOSED to do while you're gone, TJ? If you're not around to clarify people start assuming things because there's just too much up in the air on pretty much everything. You've been very active recently because this whole thing blew up in an unexpected way, but like the example with the incorrect date on the Valentine's post... how long were people just guessing as to what the actual end date was? That whole time is the entire problem here. When you leave something open to interpretation, with no further input, it's GOING to be interpreted. You can't blame people for doing the interpreting when YOU are the one leaving it open for interpretation.

 

And, perhaps, if the discussion was closed before it was over, it should be re-opened? Or are we allowed to make a new Sweetling topic without having it be closed, perhaps under a more discussion and less suggestion based section? 

 

This is the second Valentine's day in a row where a lack of transparency and communication, along with poor management decisions, has lead to heartbreak and anger. I was hoping last Valentine's day was just a fluke... but I was so heartbroken by those events I didn't even keep any '17 val dragons and I refuse to have them. I know I'm not the only one. These events are hurting DC, TJ. They're hurting what the game is about to begin with and damaging the trust within the player base, as well as the trust between players themselves. 

 

If you could give us even just ONE YEAR, even six months, where you didn't implement or change anything without notice or input (for larger suggestions), and only made NECESSARY changes, while keeping up with dragon releases, I think you'd literally be shocked at how smoothly this community could run. This is honestly one of the most open and calm internet communities I've ever been in - there's hardly ever drama between players, I hardly ever see real vitriol on the forums, only over decisions the community is blindsided by that cause actual negative impact to the players, rather than positive ones. I've never seen DC drama happen that wasn't related to poor communication or just implementation of stuff on a whim, but maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.

 

If you'd just let things lie and let the site run and TELL US things before they happen, DC would have so few problems. 

Sorry, rant over I literally think this is everything I have to say on the subject anymore. I know I'm not calm or open right now but honestly I'm sick of seeing so many people upset over stupid things that didn't have to happen in the first place.

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17 minutes ago, Alrexwolf said:

 

Bolded for emphasis. Why don't you actually clarify things when you say them, then?

And as proof of this--TJ's post says nothing about TJ:  alt owners can have pinks vs. Artist:  scroll lock

Again--TJ, your posts RAISE questions in our minds rather than answering them.

We seek clarifications plenty.  We've been seeking them for days.  You don't provide many.

Edited by Brekke

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3 hours ago, TJ09 said:

I guess while I'm here I should also caution: This thread should not become "Sweetling Discussion 2.0." I understand the other thread was closed before all of the pent-up steam has been vented, but straying too far off topic is going to distract from actual discussion about improving communication in DC on mutliple-fronts.

So how about a straight answer?

Are you going to go back to the original thing... some folk have alts, some don't and alt owners will always breed alts, but only if they stay on their scroll?

Are the alts going to be retired? (My personal preference)

Or are you going to keep the new method that makes alt owners even more special because they can have alts AND pinks. (Which pretty much pisses everyone off)

 

Make a decision, stick with it and don't screw up again. I'm totally sick of your waffleing and wish you'd listen to us for a change.

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Hmm. Well, I feel like the only person who really has no interest in transparency.

 

This is TJ's site and he is the admin. Do we really feel that we are privileged enough that we should be asking for special clarification and advance notice of changes? If you have a really deep opinion about this matter in terms of wanting more transparency, that's fine. But I think we are lucky that DC exists, and that is has maintained itself for such a long time. Many adoptable sites don't last even half as many years. How fantastic is it that Dragon Cave still exists today? If TJ decides it is suitable to make X change without telling anyone, why do we need to mob his door with pitchforks?

 

I understand that, being part of the DC community, it feels good when your (your = generally referring to everyone) opinion is being considered when it comes to modifying or improving the site. But the ultimate decision is TJ's, and we should be a bit more considerate of what he says and does, even if we don't agree with it. That's not to say you shouldn't voice your opinions, but I wish people were being a bit nicer about making those requests, if they feel the need to do so.

 

I guess it is also worth pointing out that I know many users are polite, and that others, polite or not, are trying to act in best interest of the site. I am trying my best not to demonize this entire thread on the basis of a few people who are acting out of line and being a little rude. But come on guys, please don't be mad and angry. And really, do we need to know everything? Do we need to know half of everything? The site will never be a perfect personalized experience that matches everyone's goals and preferences, so if you can't take that you need to stand back, take a deep breath, and take a calmer perspective.

 

Well, I guess that turned into a small rant of sorts. As it is so...

Edited by Ashywolf

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Ashy, if this was a more complex website, I would feel inclined to agree. However, what does this site have besides collecting sprites? I feel like transparency when it comes to the sprites is key to everything here. I don't think anyone is asking to see copies of every spriter's contract or information about the server or exact ways things are done. You're right, there are some things we don't need to know.

 

However, when a website allows people to put in nearly a decade of work into the ONLY feature it has, then suddenly decides to change it because "it was supposed to be that way from the beginning and I want it that way," what are we supposed to think? Privilege and respect goes both ways. TJ did not respect us enough as a community to let us know that work some people had spent years doing would suddenly be going away. TJ did not, or does not, respect us enough to listen to our concerns as a community on the issue and has frequently ignored questions on various threads related to the issue. We earn no respect on suggestions we as a community spend years working out - not even a comment, sometimes, on the most popular suggestions.

 

Why should we not feel worried about every aspect of the site when something so basic as this can go changed after eight years? Why should we not want to know what's happening, or why this happened to begin with. 

 

If it was just a random decision or a feature change that didn't impact years of work, I would agree. Yet changes like this make it seem like TJ does not understand, respect, or care for the basic reason people use this website to begin with - sprite collection, and for some, lineages. Kila's request was that scrolls with alts are alt locked, and scrolls with no alts are not. The way it has been. TJ suddenly decides to fix what was the spriter's wish to begin with by not fixing it, instead breaking it and creating a new mess where he might not even be able to fix it (as some people have both types of CB) at this point. 

 

Is it unreasonable to ask why years of work were thrown in the garbage when - please, correct me if I'm wrong - nothing changed about the spriter's wishes. TJ claims he was taking the full blame for Kila, but what did Kila do? Kila said on her dA that she wanted it to be like it was - what blame does she have? Unless I'm reading this whole situation wrong/what Kila said wrong.

 

It's normal to want to know what's going on in any situation. Curiosity killed the cat, and all of that. However, any website that had an update that unbalanced the game in favor of niche players would see an uproar. I don't care what game it is, it would happen. Like I said, DC has so little drama unless something is altered that affects the hard work and planning people have put into this game for years. The community is open, and friendly. People are willing to help each other in a way you don't see most other places (gifting 2nd gens or even CB of rares, things like that). Players who were once very active are leaving... I won't name names but I've seen some very big players leave within the past year or so. 

 

They're not leaving because the website is running smoothly and dandy. They're not leaving, I presume, because of drama from other players... because there is hardly any. More transparency would go a long way to the retention of older players, I feel, and the harmony of the site in general. TJ doesn't have to tell us anything. No one, I believe, feels like he does... but if TJ wants to keep his players happy and retain dedicated members, he should

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TJ, I think the main transparency issues/requests everyone is trying to get at here (make of them what you will) are basically:

please give a little more advance warning when a big change (such as retiring a sprite, or a major mechanic change in how one species breeds) is coming;
please inform mods ahead of time of upcoming changes and the reasoning behind them;

please communicate with the forum more often, either directly or via mods;

please give mods more power to resolve queries and disputes on their own;

please respond to threads that are asking for your response, even if it's just to say "I'm reading and thinking all this over, nothing else to say yet."

However, there's another issue that seems to come up again and again, which isn't quite transparency-related, but seems to be underlying a lot of people's discontent, and that is:

please value the userbase's input, and try to make decisions that seem the most fair and/or make the most people happy. 


This is where a lot of your own frustration seems to come in, because you feel you've made good decisions, and explained what you did and why.  However, players are often left thinking, "that change doesn't make anybody happy, and we don't see how things would have been worse without the change."  With the Sweetling situation as the most recent case in point, most players still don't see how this change is any improvement over what we had previously: from our POV, it's unfair for everybody (Pink users only get one sprite while Black users get two, Black users suddenly have their ability to trade and breed severely limited, lineages are ruined for everybody).  What we had before seemed fair, because the rule was one sprite per player, and your scroll always gave you your sprite, so it didn't matter who you receive an egg from.  From your POV, it's fair -- or else, you don't care if it's fair or not.  You see it as an improvement -- or else, you don't care if it's an improvement or not.  A huge part of people's unhappiness with this decision is feeling like the reasoning behind it is just "they need to die out because I said so, and if I make the vast majority unhappy in the process, I don't care."  Which I'm NOT saying IS your reasoning, but I'm trying to explain, that's how it comes across when you don't express any particular interest in either fairness or your players' enjoyment, and when decisions you make are apparently directly contrary to both of those things. 

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1 hour ago, Ashywolf said:

This is TJ's site and he is the admin. Do we really feel that we are privileged enough that we should be asking for special clarification and advance notice of changes? If you have a really deep opinion about this matter in terms of wanting more transparency, that's fine. But I think we are lucky that DC exists, and that is has maintained itself for such a long time. Many adoptable sites don't last even half as many years. How fantastic is it that Dragon Cave still exists today? If TJ decides it is suitable to make X change without telling anyone, why do we need to mob his door with pitchforks?

 

Yes, this is TJ's site. Yes, DC has been running a long time. Why? Because we, the users, have put a lot of time and effort into pixels on a screen. Dragon Cave should be operated by a team of people aka TJ and his mods. If he fails to tell anything to his mods and we ask for clarification on his part, we can go to the mods, but if they fail to provide answers such as being very surprised themselves that a massive change had occurred, then it makes TJ look bad because he's failing to be part of a team.

 

Dragon Cave can become so much better if TJ comminates a lot more then he has in the past. He needs to start seeing this site from a player's perspective instead of as his site and what he thinks is best for it. After all, you don't want to work somewhere where everyone lacks communication or seldom talks to each other and nothing gets done.

 

1 hour ago, Alrexwolf said:

{snip}

 

If it was just a random decision or a feature change that didn't impact years of work, I would agree. Yet changes like this make it seem like TJ does not understand, respect, or care for the basic reason people use this website to begin with - sprite collection, and for some, lineages. Kila's request was that scrolls with alts are alt locked, and scrolls with no alts are not. The way it has been. TJ suddenly decides to fix what was the spriter's wish to begin with by not fixing it, instead breaking it and creating a new mess where he might not even be able to fix it (as some people have both types of CB) at this point. 


{Snip}

 

They're not leaving because the website is running smoothly and dandy. They're not leaving, I presume, because of drama from other players... because there is hardly any. More transparency would go a long way to the retention of older players, I feel, and the harmony of the site in general. TJ doesn't have to tell us anything. No one, I believe, feels like he does... but if TJ wants to keep his players happy and retain dedicated members, he should

 

I run the unofficial Discord Server (and sorry to drag this into here) but I don't make necessary changes without the consult of my mods. I wait for everyone to respond to see what they think and if someone makes a suggestion I immediately tell them that I will talk to my mods and immediately pose the question to my mods. I do get back with that person what the vast majority says or if we have to go ask the user base what their thoughts are, I do. I even actually communicate a lot in this Discord because we (including my mod team in this) put a lot of time and effort into this Discord. This is a prime example of how Dragon Cave should work, but it doesn't and that's when things fall apart at a massive change like the Sweetlings.

 

52 minutes ago, Kelkelen said:

TJ, I think the main transparency issues/requests everyone is trying to get at here (make of them what you will) are basically:

please give a little more advance warning when a big change (such as retiring a sprite, or a major mechanic change in how one species breeds) is coming;
please inform mods ahead of time of upcoming changes and the reasoning behind them;

please communicate with the forum more often, either directly or via mods;

please give mods more power to resolve queries and disputes on their own;

please respond to threads that are asking for your response, even if it's just to say "I'm reading and thinking all this over, nothing else to say yet."

However, there's another issue that seems to come up again and again, which isn't quite transparency-related, but seems to be underlying a lot of people's discontent, and that is:

please value the userbase's input, and try to make decisions that seem the most fair and/or make the most people happy. 


This is where a lot of your own frustration seems to come in, because you feel you've made good decisions, and explained what you did and why.  However, players are often left thinking, "that change doesn't make anybody happy, and we don't see how things would have been worse without the change."  With the Sweetling situation as the most recent case in point, most players still don't see how this change is any improvement over what we had previously: from our POV, it's unfair for everybody (Pink users only get one sprite while Black users get two, Black users suddenly have their ability to trade and breed severely limited, lineages are ruined for everybody).  What we had before seemed fair, because the rule was one sprite per player, and your scroll always gave you your sprite, so it didn't matter who you receive an egg from.  From your POV, it's fair -- or else, you don't care if it's fair or not.  You see it as an improvement -- or else, you don't care if it's an improvement or not.  A huge part of people's unhappiness with this decision is feeling like the reasoning behind it is just "they need to die out because I said so, and if I make the vast majority unhappy in the process, I don't care."  Which I'm NOT saying IS your reasoning, but I'm trying to explain, that's how it comes across when you don't express any particular interest in either fairness or your players' enjoyment, and when decisions you make are apparently directly contrary to both of those things. 

+1 this

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Unless Kila becomes ADAMANTLY for returning to the old system (or alt owners really want it), I think allowing alt owners to have both sprites is best, even if it stops alternating lineages.

 

Kila and TJ don’t want them to have a broader distribution. Both regret releasing them at all. So the population is going to slowly wither and die. It seems cruel to lock people to sprites that are going to become less and less prevalent while pink lines are on the rise.

 

This whole thing is aggravating in a dozen ways, but it’s particularly painful that the one point that won’t budge—that it was a gift—seems to now be more stuck on THAT point rather than on the feelings of the people who received said gift. Keeping exclusivity punishes everyone; pink owners for obvious reasons, alt owners because they either get stuck with a dying breed or have to give up alternating lines they’ve worked on for years. It would be such a simple, awesome for everyone thing to just let everyone have both at this point... but no, because honoring an 8 year old intent > listening to the people involved. Heck, some of the people who got Alts were BUMMED and wanted pinks more... so who is keeping the “it was a gift” mentality serving, anyway? It was a mistake. It should be corrected with less exclusivity, not ignored.

 

ANYWAY. It bears repeating that this is just a silly pixel game and while I find the matter annoying it’s hardly making me lose sleep. It’s just... augh! I’ve stuck around ten years. I DO enjoy DC, obviously. So when things like this and all the other frustrations mentioned in the thread happen for years without change (my biggest annoyance, personally, is the lack of input and engagement on suggestions).... then yah, it IS annoying. DC is a nice, fun, simple game. Will be so without alt sweets, a shop, better breeding mechanics, the whole lot. But it could be so much BETTER and it’s sad that it doesn’t seem interested in getting there any time soon. We have had a few huge, awesome things I’m grateful for—GROUPS MY PRECIOUS, arias and frills, CB old holidays coming back—but it feels like too little too late. I mean... CB holidays coming back was so awesome because it took 10 years of pleading to convince TJ to do it. Arias and frills never should have retired at all. See what I’m saying? These are things that should have been done a long time ago, or never done at all. Improvement needs to come more swiftly and it needs to feel like the userbase is being properly engaged. Right now it feels like we’re lab rats being put through a very protracted test instead of users the game’s creator is interested in engaging with or listening to. Sometimes it feels like we don’t matter at all. And @Ashywolf , I do agree that some people are being a bit too sharp in their demands (I uh, hope I’m not being too sharp myself), but at the same time I absolutely do feel better communication (honestly more ENGAGEMENT) is very important if the game wants to thrive.

 

Again, while I’m annoyed I’m not losing sleep over this, I’m really not. DC is not worth losing sleep over. But at the SAME TIME, it’s sad to see these problems that go on and on and on in a game I’ve enjoyed for a decade. Very well known users, artists, and moderators are leaving. That shows something is wrong. TJ, we enjoy DC, and I truly want it to be as rewarding for you as it is for us. I’ll confess it sometimes feels as if DC was a childhood project of yours that spiraled out of control, and rather than being interested in expanding it you’re just kindly maintaining it for us until it dies. That’s probably not true at all, but... again, your engagement with the userbase often gives that impression. 

 

Edits:

 

@Kelkelen yes, you put it very well. TJ feels disinterested in his own game, in his thousands-strong userbase. That’s why I wonder sometimes if my above feelings are true. And if it’s NOT how he feels (again, I sure hope not!), he needs to realize that’s how he so often comes across. Communicating with other people can be hard... I wouldn’t want to have to manage thousands... but mods are here to help with that, if it’s too much to do alone. I feel this game could really be a blessing to TJ if he just embraced the userbase a little more.

 

@Dalek Raptor very well said. DC is a niche, simple game. I like it that way. But it’s also the kind of game that needs to listen to its userbase or die, because it IS so simple that making the few core components not work straight leaves nothing left to redeem it.

 

More edit: every time I post I laugh when I see I’ve written a novel, because like I’ve said over and over, it’s not worth crying about! But at the SAME TIME, I do enjoy DC, obviously, and I want to see it reach it’s full potential. I’ll live either way... but it would be awesome. <3

Edited by angelicdragonpuppy

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