OH! Speaking of games!

I want to say that someone somewhere had the idea of changing the way games worked. Instead of "play 10 times for 100k", you'd have a currency that you could earn and use to buy stuff from an arcade shop. I think that would be more interesting, because Subeta's games are... honestly, boring and often nausea-inducing (please, for the love of Shinwa, consider doing something about this ._.; )

Cap for 25 Arcade Points per day, earned by playing any game of your choice and earning a certain score, spendable on fun real game themed items a la EPICon. Or even exchange them for sP? That would make it easier to adjust game payout without manually adjusting and balancing payout for every single game. So if there's a game you can play for hours without getting sick... This'd be a nice way to earn some extra sP or get some spiffy items without being forced to play Cybill Sledding ( 😵 ) because you've already maxed payout for the other games.

Either that, or give a global earning cap across all games? Play any game you want, for as long as you want, but you can only earn 2m total a day from games. IDK something to let new users earn a bit of sP without throwing them immediately into the quest grind that so many people dislike.

Because 100k is peanuts. 5k starting sP is miserable. I'm not saying "pump masses of sP into the system!" but just... make it a little more friendly instead of gating games off behind walls of nausea, limited mobility, max send times (afaik Drills doesn't even register that you've earned points for his Spectrail tasks if you've sent max scores? BRB CHECKING nvm Spectrail is broken af) and such.

[edit]Case in point: I can't even run Spectrail in Firefox. It's telling me to go download Adobe Flash (which I already have installed). Can't run it in Chrome either! Double edit: can't play Spectrail on Chrome for Android either. :X Triple edit all the way across the sky: Spectrail is dead, Jim.

I think this is a very good idea. The problem with games at the moment is that some have pathetic payouts so each game would have to be assessed for a reasonable score to earn an Arcade Point.

2048 doesn't give out any sP - it's only worth playing for anyone after the achievement or Major Drills quests. Would it be included as a game to give out Arcade Points?

Hmm, I don't see why not? It's a game, and if someone can get to 512 or even 1024 on it, I think they deserve to get an arcade point. Button mashing with 2048 will only get you so far, I've tried. ;) You need to strategize with the higher stages in the game.

- Maybe it would be better not to have a shop where we could exchange Arcade Points for special items. Perhaps they could be exchanged for sP or holiday special currencies - Candy Hearts, Vesnali Coins, Steamworks Trinkets, Lounge Trinkets and New Year Tokens. New users wouldn't have to wait up to a year because they just missed an event.

Most app based games encourage new players to keep logging in via giving them some sort of New User "Advent Calendar" for the first 30 days they log in (ie: every time they log in/collect is one day, even if takes them six months to collect 30 times). It's a good concept because it rewards them for coming back.

Some games have free game boosts/purchased currency others have free unlocks or boosts.

I feel that'd help if it were done correctly. Starting with small things ending with some csc.

Examples: • Thank you for coming back to Subeta, heres some sP + random eliixir + random minion! Why not try adopting or creating a new pet (links to pet page and adoption center)? • It's great to see you again, have you tried making an avatar to represent yourself? Here's some random number of restocking wears + subQ item (link to wardrobe)! • We hope you're enjoying Subeta so far, have you tried completing quests? You can earn sP, items, quest points and a chance if a morty card (explain what it is/does), why don't you give them a try? (morty card + link to quests)

Etc, etc. There's battling, blue building, books, food, recycle beast, cash shop, crypts, games, mystery box, vending, restocking, subetalodge, collections, treasure chests, etc. Welcoming messages, free items, some csc, and explanations + a reason to log in even for 30 days could be very helpful.

@ Ciannwn Hmm... I'm so-so on that idea because you can already buy holiday currency (and items from holiday shops) from users. If you miss a holiday, you only miss out on free currency. Mind you, odds are that I'm a little biased because I miss the fun, cool EPICon items, but not the madness of EPICon itself. :'D

[edit] @ andrea Oh, I like that! It's kind of like a more staggered, more interactive tutorial. Instead of shoving the tutorial (and FAQ) at a new user and letting them read text walls, you'd nudge them into exploring a little and reward them for showing up again.

If it gradually increases in value (start with common things, foods, toys, plushies&collectables, minions, elixirs then move on to SBQ and finally csc), that would also prevent people from multi-accounting just for the sake of getting some free stuff. You wouldn't get all the goodies immediately dumped into your lap, you'd get a little sprinkling of awesome every day.

Because yeah, Subeta has a ton of things you can do, and for someone who's just starting, it can be incredibly overwhelming even with a tutorial or a friend to help you out.

Yes, exactly like that! Bits at a time, and honestly if they already figured sone stuff out previously then it's a sense of "ha I already got this figured out, nice!"

And something worthwhile enough to log in, but doubtfully enough to tempt people into multi accounts (30 days of dedication to get $2.50 in currency is, hopefully, a ridiculous idea). Perhaps one of the final days could net some bathhouse points and an explanation of it and all the cool things you can get by visiting it every day.

Kinda in a "if you keep logging in hint hint" way but also explicitly stating missing a day starts you back at zero.

Because the new user advent idea is not a reset to start, it is not a well you didn't log in for two weeks so you missed two weeks of free stuff and explinations. It is tay thanks for coming back have some relevant items, links, and an explanation of a site feature.

This is an awesome idea! Tbh Dappervolk's daily log in bonus was half of the reason I signed in at all when it was still up. ? Subeta is thankfully much more interesting with much more to do than DV, so I think daily bonuses would be a great way to keep people interested.

Battling - it takes time and sP to train and equip a pet for battling even for fighting the easiest opponents. Perhaps the task could be to put a pet into training.

Blue Building - It's a long and expensive process getting in there - pet stats, 100 forum posts, turning in a Treasure map. Best not to include this in the Advent Calendar.

Cash Shop - Leave this off as well. Even if new users are given some CSC to start out with they might have spent it on something before they're asked to.

Crypts and Polar Ice Fields - Just having a go should count because getting through them is horrendously difficult.

Games - Having a go at one game and sending in a score no matter how low. (Seashell Spotter is great for Major Drills because it still counts as playing even if you don't pick the right shell.) A game to avoid for this kind of task is Saheric Slide

What could be added is getting a pet a job with a link to this topic - Job Agency Guide and Discussion It could also be pointed out that the Beach Shack is the ideal place to start out because getting a job there is 0 for Levels, Strength and Intelligence.

- I was thinking that a special item shop for Arcade Points would be a lot more work for the artists. Converting games to give out Arcade Points would also be a lot of work for the programmers. Maybe just adjusting the sP payouts for the really low paying games would be enough.

@ Andrea If someone decides to try multiaccounting for the sake of taking advantage of this, I feel that 30 days would definitely be enough time for staff to notice that something's going on. And lbr, you can get more than 2.50$ value if you just do some quests for Morty Cards.

I also really like the idea that the intro you're proposing wouldn't reset if you forgot to log in for a few days. Life happens and people get distracted, so not punishing a new user for paying attention to things besides Subeta would be reallyreally good.

If I understood right, it would be something along the lines of: "Oh hey there, it's nice to see you again! We were just about to tell you about collections! Here are a few collectable items for you if you want to check collections out. If you collect enough items, you might qualify for a prize and a trophy for your profile. Besides plushies and trading cards, there are many more items on Subeta that you can collect, and if you want to find out even more, you can check the Frequently Asked Questions!" If needed, add an NPC to the intro for flavor. Sarah, The Wizard, or someone brand new.

[edit] That's true, but then again many games already need updates and streamlining to begin with. If it's too much work to add a whole new currency system, I'd definitely be for removing the number of times you can play a game per day and instead adding a cap for how much sP you can earn from all games. So if you want to earn 2m from playing Tubular Tiles and you have the time and patience for it, you'd be able to do that. You would be able to continue playing (for fun, or for Major Drills, for example), but you wouldn't get any more payout if you hit the payout cap.

Sorry I may not have been clear enough (it made sense in my head -laughs-). A new user "advent calendar" sorta thing wouldn't really be tasks, it'd be more thsnk you for coming back + free relevant items + an explanation of some part of the site related to those items. Training center I'd probably give them some of those non-transferable egg boosters, "to get them started" y'know?

Free things = potential for a new player to come back. If they keep coming back for those 30 days, then maybe they'd stay more permanently.

That's it exactly.

I really like the overall collection idea, and definitely getting NPCs involved. It'd love for this to add to the overall feel of subeta tightening it's lore. Alexander talking about books, Quentin talking about quests, Shanti talking about collectables (or beanbags with the side note of oh yeah there's others too). Meet ruffles, meet Shinwa, meet the Hustler, so on.

Further thoughts on the Advent Calendar - the things to try out should be something that every new user is capable of even if they have a disability. This topic indicates some of the things which shouldn't be included unless the problems have been solved - a blind accessibility set of requests

If the reward is just for logging in, though, that would be fine even if the user can't use the wardrobe as it is at the moment or play any games.

PS: How about something like this?

You can earn sP by playing games. Click here to go to the Games Room and get your reward. The user gets the reward for the day even if they can't play any games.

this might seem kind of small, but do new users who sign up still start out with just , and in the wardrobe? because these items have really outdated art and i think that doesn't make the best first impression

also absolutely agree on changing the 'not posting on threads 3+ months old' rule, it's pretty aggravating negl :v

@ Andrea Pairing up an intro to site features with an intro to site NPCs and lore, with a little dash of items and enticement to return on top? Sign me up!

@ Thespian I want to say they get to choose a starting set of wearables? Subetalodge tells me there are at least 4 starting wearable sets to choose from, but I don't know if the script that let you choose these items actually survived the several wardrobepocalypses we've had. 😬

These are still given? I was thinking they were distributing new 'sets'? (I might be wrong)

• Sparklepire
• Cheer
• Magic school [Edit] Beaten by with better info haha!

Regardless of that, these are not even complete sets. I wouldn't even use them and would prefer to use a vanishing cream, imo.

ahhh i didn't know that!! i just remembered the punkset items from like, 2011 and thinking even then they were ugly as sin l m a o

but yesss i def think nicer starting wearables would be good!! q v q

I'm only popping on quickly, so sorry if this has been mentioned already, but I think one big thing Subeta could do would be to get a better Games Room. Like, I STILL to this day think of a couple of games on Neo that I loved and had so much fun playing, and that was more than a decade ago. There should also be more of a focus on game trophies and achievements, and visible/promoted high scores lists that people would actually try to get on (maybe promoted like pet spotlight, only once per month instead).

There are literally only 2 games on Subeta I play for fun, and one of them is basically Bejewled, which is a guaranteed hit anywhere, so yeah. :(

I wasn’t aware keeping new users was such an issue! I came and stayed on Subeta because I wanted a pet site to hang out on when Neopets was glitchy. My main issue when I first joined was finding out where everything was. I stayed because I like pets and the oppotunity to earn/gain more pet slots was too good to pass up.

There have been some pretty good suggestions made on this thread so far.

Increasing the amount of SP new users get upon account creation is definity a good idea, however the Free Food center and Sarah’s quests might have to be adjusted.

A buddy system for new users is a good idea as well! I’d be happy to sign up for that if such a thing is implemented.

Personally, a page with a link to the third party sites would probably suffice for the pet colour things. I personally don’t mind Subetalodge as I can plan pet combinations and select minions/ TC items for them whenever Subeta goes down.

mentioned that users could create tutorials for new users if staff can’t do it. Well, I made a few tutorial videos on Youtube that new users could look up if they need help. Just type “Subeta how-to” in the search box and you shouId find a playlist of all the videos so far. It’s named Subeta how-to, by the way. Most of them are centered around obtaining the newest pet species.

Team events sound interesting in general; but weren’t the Restock Wars a big issue due to inflation or something? I wasn’t on the site at that point in time.

made a good point about a mini-tutorial for forum groups.

“users have kind of taken to hosting their own 'plots'” I didn’t know that! I keep to myself a lot on Subeta so….

“I've asked about a list of words that are considered "inappropriate" for Subeta back when the filter was removed, only to basically get eyerolled at. Lo and behold, a new user got a warning for making a pet with an "inappropriate" name and they're now worried and asking what they can do to avoid getting into more trouble.”

Ouch! Sounds like an “I told you so!” moment.

Maybe we should make a roll call so all the users who made these guides can make a one-stop shop for newbies to access? Or do we have that already?

Oh wow. Restock Wars ... I have forgotten what they were like? I reckon we had to buy things from regular shops. But that being said .. I have mostly forgotten about them. I know the last team event Steel vs Saggi made some people salty (me included) but it was fun.

Kudos on the tutorials. These should be onsite.

All of this remind me of the nice craft/baking contests Subeta held?

• Snowman contest
• Baking & crafting contest
• Avatar contest Etc

We need these please. I liked them a lot!

...was the Nico vs. Manwar thing a restock war?