Do not support. I like the fun, unique, and creative names. Everyone having a unique pet name is one of the things that makes pet sites fun. And in regards to that argument about bringing in new users, Subeta is going to LOSE users over this, lbr.

I'm actually curious your reasoning to why non-unique names would turn new users away?

If unique names are meant to be fun, why are new petsites like Furvilla and Flight Rising not having them?

Like, I get people wanting to have unique names because it brings a sense of accomplishment, this is an argument I 100% understand! I get people saying that they spent time and money on their pets! These are good argument, and I understand their point of view!

But, saying that it makes the site more fun? I must disagree on that, and I've played petsites with and without unique names. To me, it just isn't a thing that affect how fun a site is.

I do not support non-unique names. Call me selfish, elitist..whatever. I've been a member for over 11 years now and I've worked hard over getting the names I have.

Not all of them are the way I would like them, but I'm fine with that. I'd love to have the name Brian on my account, because of the wonderful man in my life, but I'm fine with the original owner having it. I'm going to do my version of the name justice.

On the other hand, I'm the only one who has Olivianna on this site and I'm damn proud of that. I'd go freakish if someone else had free access to that name. I'm not saying another user wouldn't / couldn't do the name justice, but that's my daughter's name and it has a lot of personal connection for me. I know this isn't the real world and many other females have that name but if I can be the only one on here that has it, that's how I want it to be.

I thought about the nicknames and star implements, but in my case, I rarely check profiles unless it's a special case. If I search for a name and the icon next to the name is red, purple or gold, I usually move on. To me, those icons represent people who are more than normally active on Subeta. If those people have pets up for adoption, they usually have a thread in the adoption forum.

The blue icons warrant a further look. While some are active, some may not be and have pet names clearing soon or have already cleared. In some cases for me, I have received a name I liked this way.

All in all, honestly to me, having non-unique names would make Subeta like every other. I like the way Subeta sets themselves apart from the rest.

Plus [to me] it would be set up like a 'free-for-all' with no "work" involved. I worked towards what I have and it would seriously make me crabby that anyone could just come along and grab whatever they like on that day.

I personally don't see how Subeta only allowing one pet to have a certain name is part of what makes the site unique compared to others. It's not unique, it's not a feature, it's a mechanic that all old pet sites have because they probably couldn't figure out a way for users to be able to have pets that shared the same names. Every newer petsite that I've played has non-unique names. I don't like Furvilla but I was more motavated to work on my characters there because I was at the very least able to name them what I wanted with no hassle.

It makes Subeta just like Neopets. I did a search for this and found a page which is available for guests to read. Naming Your Pet

Everyone's different. It wouldn't bother me if there were other pets with the same names as mine because I'm working to make mine unique in other ways which includes describing their personalities on their profiles. I haven't got very far with this yet because I only started following coding tutorials about three weeks ago and I'm still trying to get the hang of the basics. People don't need to do coding to add a description of their pet, though.

@ Malachi I don't think it would turn new users away. New users are already sporadic with sticking around because the internet today (esp on mobile devices) isn't big on web games like Subeta. Mobile games with (or without) microtransactions are more popular because they're quick, easy, interesting, and if you're impatient, you can pay2win fairly easily while the game leeches your pocket because "oh it's just a few cents at a time, how badly can it pile up". On Subeta? 20$ gets you a pet slot. 5$ for a monthly GA. 10$ for a namechange. 5$ for a pet rename, 7.50$ for a nameswap, etc. Subeta can be complex and downright overwhelming to get the hang of if you don't have someone around to help you out. The wardrobe alone? According to Subetalodge, there are 31310 wearable items from R1-199 on Subeta. That's 31k wearables, not including CWs. Good luck to any new players that want to try and catch up with that. ._.

Subeta is also definitely more intensive with its learning curve as well as being visually less interesting compared to something "alive" and animated like Pokemon Go or Clash of Clans. Don't even want to get into how demotivating it is to be a newbie and see something you'd like to have selling for 20m+ while not having enough time to play, quest and earn it, or knowing that 20m is really not a lot on Subeta even if it looks like a big number.

What would potentially happen is many old users going "yeah, no. BYE!" and leaving for places like FR and similar very well established game sites because those are less likely to pull something as drastic as Subeta (in the scenario that names are made non-unique). And a lot of older, more established users are the paying ones, people that don't mind shelling out 20$ for a petslot, or 50$ for a set of private CWs.

Yeah, it's a "might, could, possibly" kind of scenario, but frankly? I've seen people quit over smaller things.

@ sopheroo Fam, I respect you, but I can't compare Subeta to a breeding sim game like FR. Naming your dragon is required on FR, because in that community exalting an unnamed dragon is apparently equal to roundhouse-kicking a kitten into a flaming dumpster. Yes, I play. Yes, I've had people badger me via PM to name dragons that I've bought from the auctions for breeding projects because they hate seeing Unnamed in their dragons' offspring list. fwiw I name all of mine before exalting but I still don't want to be harassed about it because someone feels like it's in their right to demand it from me.

Plus, I can't compare a site where I can choose to own 90 pets with nobody forcing me to own them in order to make profit to a site where the economy depends on running a successful dragon mill. On FR I am basically forced to breed, train, sell or exalt dragons to make any kind of decent profit because the games are hard-capped at 75k, and the games available make me want to cry.

[edit]The reason why FR doesn't do the unique name thing? Breeding. I can churn out anywhere from 1-25 dragons every 5 days depending on how lucky I get with eggs. On average, 12 new dragons every five days. 12 dragons that I have to name if I want to train and exalt them. And that's just me, one user among ~2000 users online. (I MATHED WRONG :'| ) If FR had Subeta's naming system? People who exalt would probably just name their dragons after their ID, or a random string of letters and numbers. If you buy a named dragon like that? Congrats, you get to deal with the headache of finding a better name for them. Also, real-word, real-name and generally interesting names would prob fetch the same interest and high prices as a lowID derg w/no offspring, or a G1 with a very nice colour combo.

That's why breeding sites go with non-unique names vs. unique ones. Afaik, not even Wajas had unique names. Aywas doesn't have them either. Because breeding and owning literally thousands of pets kind of makes that a big issue for a site where the economy depends on breeding.

That's so bizarrely backwards to me. Subeta is not unique because it uses this 'single name use' system.

Let's list some sites from the past that I've played that do (or have done) the unique naming system: Neopets Icepets Acitius Marapets Kenopets (later changed to Anatheria and non-unique names) Leopets (super recently changed to non-unique too) Verpets PetRPG And more that I didn't get to experience or simply don't remember.

The "work" shouldn't be 100% the name either. Like I stated in a much earlier post, it's what you do with that name. Yes, catching names in clearings is (sometimes very stressful and desperate) work. But there's so much more that can take up time and effort. Potions/elixirs = work. Pet characters = work. Pet profiles = work. Filling treasures = work. Training/battling = work. Books/foods = work. Whatever you want to dedicate your time to in a single pet = work. So don't tell me that taking unique names out of the equation removes all the "work" put into a pet.

Silly edit to say overlays and other art/writing is work too! I bust my ass to draw my own mediocre overlays!!

Verpets has 7-15 users online at a given time. They also allow you to take petnames from abandoned accounts for a fee afaik. Not exactly a challenge with a userbase that small. Icepets currently has 17 users online. Acitius has 2, one of them is my account rn. I want to say they also allow you to take petnames from abandoned accounts for a fee. Definitely dying. Marapets has 592 users online now. PetRPG has been dead and gone since 2015 from what I could find.

To add to the list: Misticpets has unique names, 3 users online now. It's dead, no active staff remain since August. Paladore has been sold and it's also twitching its last. 2 users online, non-unique petnames.

The only petsite on that list I can even compare to Subeta in terms of user numbers, activity and things to do is Marapets. ._. I don't know how old Marapets is, but I'm assuming it's pushing around 14 years, just like Subeta.

Unique vs non-unique pet names has nothing to do with a site thriving or dying.

Yo, you're awesome and all, but you forgot Furvilla actually! Not breeding-inclined, and doesn't have unique names either.

While the userbase is much smaller, we'll take into account that the site is only 18-months old.

I also think that people are being overdramatic over it, and most people who'd "quit" would come back because they'd potentially gain as much as they'd lose. Of course, pets are a touchy subject - we all love them, but name no longer being unique isn't as big of a deal as we think it is.

But, I haven't seen a better suggestion for the issue of the site nearly dying whenever desirable names are about to clear. If people actually have a fair idea to reduce the impact of hardcore refreshing to get a name, with keeping unique name, I'm all ears.

Sadly, I haven't seen anything viable so far - Bean's suggestion, as good as it is in theory, does nothing to remove server stress, and daily clearing are hindering the site in a terrible way. Of course, for us pet lovers, it hurts to hear that our passion for names damages the site - but it's the undeniable truth

I haven't played Furvilla and I'm not particularly interested in picking up a new site, so I didn't include it. :'D But yeah, if it's a new site, it's going to have way more people interested in it because it's funkyfresh and superfly. The same goes for Dappervolk, which is now in closed development, but people were reallyreally interested in it from what I remember!

idk, we can't speak for everyone. I wouldn't be too bothered, but someone else might be really attached to their petnames. Like I've said, I've seen people quit over smaller things.

The only thing I could think to suggest to curb the site dying at 3pm would be staggered clearings every 3-6 hours. But instead of 3pm the site would just die at midnight. And then at 3am. And possibly at 6am. And maybe at 9am. And- you get the picture. It wouldn't really do anything. Plus, petnames may clear early even with the current system, so I can see why people would start to autorefresh a day early.

[edit]fwiw I filled a ticket to double-check something that got me curious about Bean's nickname idea and I'll report back on it once I get a response.

Dappervolk looks like a petsite but...I did the beta and it felt more like a RPG more than anything, which is why I'm not talking about it as much. It also has a really obnoxious gachapon aspect to it - I didn't find it very fun!

But yeah, staggered site clearings would just kill the site even more, agreed on that one. Subeta already has a pretty bad reputation - not because of the staff or the content, but because it's seen as unreliable.

Get in touch with me once you get that ticket answer, yo!

Yeah, Subeta does tend to be hiccup-happy. Even in the older days of manual clearings before autorefreshers, the site rolled over and wheezed for hours after the clearing because so many people were name hunting.

Like... staggering the clearing over a half-hour period would do nothing for the problem. Letting accounts clear after 10 months of inactivity would do nothing too. Manually clearing? Chaos. A clearing once a week/only during weekends? Getting somewhere, but you can bet your last dime that the site would combust when the clock hit 3pm. Banning autorefreshers? ... Might have an easier time finding a better answer to the 3pm clearing lag that some folks are having than doing this.

THOUGH I wonder something. I haven't noticed lag at 3pm (9pm my time, so it's def the time when I'm on Subeta). A friend hasn't noticed it either. Could it depend on the server you're on, or something? I'd ping Bug but they're probably having a well-earned break today and I don't wanna bug (ha!) them.

[edit]AlsoYEP I'll give you and Bean a ping once I get a response on that ticket. Because I want to say that the nickname idea is possible right now, but I wanted to triple-check before I go off spouting nonsense about something that could get people into trouble.

It depends on what is clearing - if few accounts, or nothing desirable is set to clear, we're golden, the site is fine. But, the moment a big-ticket account is due to clear

Oh boy.

Ah, so that's the thing. :'| I thought you, Andrea, Eevee and others were having it daily at 3pm like clockwork, so that had me confused! I'm a derp.

Like... if there was a "file an app for the amazing real name pet" system a la UFA topics, that'd also be way too much fuss and people would be crying favoritism. But on the other hand, that would definitely take the weight off the servers.

[edit]Then again... that would also encourage creativity, and it might get people to work on their pets more in order to create a more presentable image to get the real highly-sought-after name that they reallyreally want. While leaving the current system as is, meaning that Subeta won't have to take a financial bullet to reimburse the users if it makes petnames non-unique. And leaving us who are a-ok with made up names and misspellings to do our own thing.

But then you also run the gauntlet of "which petname is special and sought after enough for this mechanic?"

Another thing I'd like to point out: our unique name system here has caused a lot of ugliness between users and destroyed more than a few friendships. Is that absurd? Absolutely, but it happens all the time. Drama within pet-related groups is INSANE because of names, and is the reason why I've left at least two such groups.

Not to mention the snide, anonymous off-site posts about how some users don't "deserve" their good names because they don't do enough with their pets and they're just "hoarding good names to let them rot", or people getting mad because a few users make out so well in clearings and hand the names off to their circle of friends, or all the other pettiness, bitterness, and jealousy this system breeds. We could eliminate all of that.

I caught a name for a friend a few years ago and she got a LOT of hate from her competition because of it, including some users conspiring to try and get her frozen. Over one pet name. I've had people report me for what I assume is the same reason - I put a pet UFA once and as soon as it left my account, some bitter jerk filed a ticket to report me because I still had a link on my profile. It was within an hour. That's some pettiness right there.

Now, I'm not saying that a few awful people should be the SOLE reason for change, just that it's one of many things a non-unique system would eliminate. There will always be awful people, of course. But pet names, for some reason, seem to turn perfectly nice people into monsters sometimes.

No sir, I don't like it. I'm an awful, selfish person and do not support this. Like, yeah there are lots of names I would love to have but ehhh not enough to do something like this. I'd honestly rather not see a million Roses and Freds.

Y'all make some good points, I'm not gonna argue that, I'm just not a fan of the idea. I've had some of my pet names since I first joined over 13? years ago. I would be pretty sore if I saw twenty people with the pet name Ouija, not gonna lie.

This is very true. One of my first experiences on Subeta was drama like this and it makes me sad (but not surprised) to see that it still happens. Non-unique pet names would definitely eliminate at least one aspect of pettiness from the site.

Mmmm, I'm probably being a Negative Nancy but I feel that if someone has a lot of beef with you over something, no matter what it is, they'll get surprisingly resourceful with attempts to fuck you over even with non-unique petnames. :/ At least until they get bored and distracted by something else.

• Whining in comments/mails/offsite about how they're the only ones allowed to own PETNAME_HERE.
• Whining about how you're not doing justice to the name of their father/mother/child/pet by turning PETNAME_HERE into -insert character stereotype & trope of choice-.
• Harrassing you to opt-in to the free-for-all petname system (if the opt-in option is implemented).
• Calling you a selfish dick offsite for not opting in and going on a long-winded rant about how you're totally The Worst Ever[sup]TM[/sup] because you want to keep those petnames to yourself. And you're not even doing anything special with them, whiiiiiiiiiine.
• Guilt-tripping in various ways to opt into the system while absolutely ignoring any importance those pets might have for you. ("My mother/father/close relative had that name and I reallyreally want to make them a tribute pet. Can you pleaseplease opt in and make the names available?")
• Getting their friends to dogpile you/block you/generally make you feel super unwanted.

Yeah, everything done on-site is absolutely reportable as said because it's harrassment, bullying and begging. But it's also really ugly and super unpleasant to have to deal with in the first place. It's not really going to go away overnight just because the amazing petnames are free for everyone to grab now. ._.; If anything, I kinda expect it getting worse initially.

NO SUPPORT. I will never support this for reasons already stated by others.