Plots give fictional justifications for certain activities, though. To illustrate what I mean I'm going to use the last Morostide event as an example.

The staff could have said "Here's a selection of mini games which will earn you points for a special shop. Connect some pipes, find your way through an old text adventure style maze etc. etc."

This would have kept us amused but it wouldn't have captured our imaginations. The plot provided a fictional reason for various activities and players got very involved in the story. We cared about Ian and Jaxon and wanted the story to have a happy ending.

The Dungarde captured our imaginations as well. (From the Subeta Wiki plot details.)

The Dungarde appreciates the magazines.

When the plot was finished we players wanted to give the Dungarde gifts for Luminaire and the staff provided a mini event so we could do this.

So back to Neugarten. Amber could have made a news announcement on the lines of "We ran out of ideas for sausages so we've changed the event and moved it to the summer." The fictional justification for this change made things a lot more interesting, though. We've earned our virtual money to buy pixels and are now hoping we get some more of the Gunter/Bubbles/Anne story.

Honestly, I just never like to miss an opportunity to overthink things, and sometimes I engage in debates just to figure out how I myself really feel about something. 😅

While I still think there's a good point to be discussed here, I don't necessarily believe the event/pricing really needs to be changed. I would still enjoy the addition of veggie foods to the baking/cooking feature (and I see that's in the works, so yay!) And there are, in fact, a few vegan items already in regular shops for normal prices so that's awesome.

Most of all, I just wish we could go back and retcon the whole thing with Gunter being a murderer and have regular Alegarten back. I really liked Gunter and I will never tire of beer and Lederhosen.

The event pricing can stay as it is for the Brewery and existing event shops. (Local Fresh Wholesome, Rumis Vegan Life, Shantis Sustainables). Marcus came up with some good ideas for expanding the festival to show that you don't have to be rich to go green.

A few years ago we had the Centropolis Green Project. Maybe one year we could have a Centropolis Urban Farming Project - a piece of wasteland is converted into a plot for growing edible plants. Another year could have an Upcycled shop - the shop description could be something like items are donated by people who like being creative with old junk and the sP raised will be helping to support Charity's soup kitchen. The items could still be expensive because it's for a good cause.

Ooh, I like those ideas , especially the urban farming project! Events with things to "do" are a lot more interesting than ones where there are just shops to buy from. I would like to grow more things on here because when I try to do it in real life they usually just die lol

I'd rather be catered to as a user than see the characters that populate Subeta come first (in terms of sP/CSC and the Subetan economy).

Also echoing others about farmers markets being bougie. I love supporting local farmers and I get why I pay more at a farmers market than at Whole Foods.

this might not read clearly because i'm tired, but:

I like the idea presented where the users in terms of Subetan civilians are regarded as high class and influential members of society. Honestly saying something as simple as "The NPCs make you pay more so that the poorer members of Subeta don't have to" could satisfy me, and being poor IRL I think it's damn cool to be considered wealthy and special.

Though I never thought about it on the level as "Well, what about the NPCs?" I can definitely appreciate that level of thinking. Some ideas that came from this board I found very interesting as well as the topic itself. I love that people are actually thinking about the lore around Subeta and getting involved in it.

I also see the point to where the items are meant to sell like a farmer's market typically does: more expensive. At my local farmer's market I paid like 15 dollars for 6 donuts because they were made right there and absolutely delicious. I'll do it again whenever they're around.

basically: i love the thought invoking discussion, but sometimes things can't translate well from actual subetan society to the users as apart of the subetan society. adding some of those other mechanics people have suggested would be cool, but definitely should be put on the back burner for now if they were considered for anything. we've got a lot more important things to focus on/fix right now.

Agreed, because I love meat and Bavarian/German culture and I am not a fan of most vegan foods, and yeah most of the vegan options for cheese and whatnot ARE typically more expensive than your cow curds. I think the pricing is set just fine. But I want Alegarten back :X

Personally, I'd rather shop at a farmer's market because you know where your food came from. (It's just too bad I can't go to ours because I'm always working on Saturdays)

It's not about putting the fictional citizens of Subeta first. It's using existing Subeta lore to gradually expand the event so it's more than just a farmer's market with three shops.

Neugarten happened because the staff ran out of ideas for Alegarten. Next year we'll be expecting new items in these three shops. How long can the staff keep going before they run out of ideas for gourmet vegan foods? An Upcycled shop one year would mean that most of the new items would go there so it would only require two or three new items to be added to the existing shops. It could still be an expensive sP sink with the explanation that the money raised is for a good cause.

Not every event or holiday should come with additional lore or a plot. I’m willing to accept that some will and some won’t, and that staff will make necessary changes from year to year. This Neugarten was a nice expansion from last year’s change. I also like that some Subeta holidays are more low key than others. For me, an explanation from a lore standpoint is fine but the lack of one doesn’t bother me.

Sometimes less is more.

We're all different. I have zero interest in Rumi's stickers or vegan food but I sometimes wonder what she gets up to as an anti-government rebel. :D

I love the ideas in the original post and ideas that have been added on the first page- also it's kind of funny that people are shooting down ideas on the basis of not wanting more lore for Subeta? What? Do we just have too much now? xD NPCs get no extra flavor text or anything? LOLing at the concept of "overthinking" it too. Coming up with new lore ideas isn't overthinking it, it's delving into the lore of Subeta, which is a lot of fun and what a lot of people like in petsites/MMOs/similar social sites like Subeta! The characters and events here are actually a lot of fun that looking forward to more depth and development isn't a bad thing, and if you're already at your max lore quota for Subeta you can always skip anything else that gets added. I like it when my brain gets to thinking about implications and changes to stuff on this site, that usually means there's something interesting enough for me to keep thinking about it later. :D

The shopkeepers could hand out pamphlets for free- we've had educational pamphlets and books in previous events, like and [item=Minor Curses: Stubbed Toes]. There is a farmer's market quality to some of Neugarten but some of these NPCs are not just farmers making a living, they're also trying to educate & reach out to the community, right? Each NPC with a shop could give out a pamphlet and a sticker, that would be a very realistic thing to give out for a once-a-year holiday. Speaking of which, this also isn't just a normal farmer's marker, it's a once-a-year holiday, which is even more incentive for NPCs to do something special for the occasion. Unless Neugarten is going to start happening every other weekend like a typical farmers market and I just missed the memo.

Lots of places that sell artisan and fancy handmade things also give free samples, there's another idea.

The Unliving came up with a good idea because the Zombie Den now sells bags full of garbage. Collecting the garbage helps to keep Shadowglen litter free. The full bags are fairly expensive but rich people can buy them and take them to the official Shadowglen tip and the sP pays the Unliving for their work.

Using my imagination like this made the Zombie Den more interesting for me than thinking of it as being an sP sink.