It's hard to put into words how much I absolutely HATE this change with the pet names. I decided yesterday not to post so I could gather my thoughts and try to make sense of what was happening. I apologise for my post being long.....

Firstly, I'm completely bemused and massively disappointed that we were told by there would be discussions and then a poll over such a huge change to the way the site works....and then went ahead with the change without doing those things. That's pretty much the final nail in the coffin for me.

Obviously this site is only about enticing new users from now on. Handing them everything on a plate. So, I wish you luck enticing them, with all your fancy new changes. Keeping them long term might prove more tricky however, especially if you keep up with this constant lack of communication, the mixed messages, the promises that aren't kept, and the general lack of appreciation for those who have supported this site for a long, long time.

I was one of those who absolutely loved hunting for pet names. Pets were the only reason I joined in the first place, because this was a pet site. Taking part in name clearings, even though I missed out on many! Making plans for alternative names, being creative, feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment when I succeeded - that whole process and spending the majority of my time doing that is what kept me here. To have that taken away, and in this manner, is particularly gutting.

There is nothing left here to keep me supporting the site anymore. I was proud to say I helped over the years, I did my little bit. I bought a GA every month for 12 years. Not to mention paying for the majority of the 97 pet slots I accrued, and the many, many pet name changes/transfers. Still, as long as you bring in a constant stream of new users, none of that matters anyway. Of course I know my post will change nothing, but I really felt it was important to say how I feel. Not every change made is a good one, or the right one.

I will leave here incredibly sad, but mostly feeling incredibly let down.

It's NOT just about new users though, I've been here 12? 13? years and I'm finally interested in the site again because of this, this is gonna bring back a lot of users that were just lurking in the shadows and not doing much because they couldn't get pets they wanted, pets that no substitution would work for (Or that all the substitutions that would've worked were taken)

Unique pet names are outdated now, we aren't living in the era of neopets anymore

I love this change and I am old time player too, been here for 13 years. Honestly, not huge into the pets, I have 17, they've been the same colors forever, don't battle much anymore. But they are a part of the site.

Congratulations!!! Your pet (formerly Siivet) is now named May! Congratulations!!! Your pet (formerly Mr. Moo) is now named Cow!

Being able to change these pet names makes me happier than anyone could imagine. The first was a pet I made after my Mother passed away and the second was made after my 17 year old cat passed away. Now I can finally have them named properly. I don't care if they are unique or if a million other pets have the same name, they are important to me and make me happy.

I am so, so happy for this change! There are many pet names I've wanted in the past but were unobtainable because they were never going to be cleared (the pets were owned by very active users with full profiles for their pets).

If Subeta wants to bring in more people then changes like this are great because many other sites allow non-unique names. New users have been really limited in which names they could pick for their pets, not to mention long-time users who just wanted to create a new pet with a name they liked.

I do understand why some people are unhappy with the change. They grabbed the name years ago, or waited for it to be cleared, and it felt like an accomplishment. However, there are plenty of things on this site that are accomplishments that don't lock others out of having a pet name - something that shouldn't be that important in the first place.

I'm fine with Subeta not doing polls and user discussions because it never would've gone anywhere. It would've been people happy they could finally have the pet names they wanted and a small group that very vocally opposed it. It would've turned into a mess of drama.

Pet names should never have been a status thing, anyway. While I get that people feel like they worked for a name, what I don't get is being angry that other people can enjoy something now. That smacks of elitism, imo.

I could finally rename my real life pet tribute pet to the actual english translation of her name, and not a goofy misspelling 😭<3

I can't begin to express how thankful I am for this change! I'm finally able to memorialize my kitty and it really makes me want to be on here more knowing I have such freedom with the names of my subeta pets! I've been on this site for 13 years and this has to be one of the best decisions made :)

I think it's telling that a overwhelming majority is in favor of this change! Way to go, fellows, I'm so proud!

Really, it's amazing to see that most of the userbase, including people who aren't that much into pets are excited over this. I don't think I've spent that much on my pets in years, and I'm excited to see that most petnames I've duplicated come from users who are totally down with this development. It's so good to finally see a QOL change this big!

We're moving towards something that's way more rooted into solidarity and teamwork, rather than competition, and it's so great to see. Hell, who's cutting onions in here, I'm all dripping with tears of joy!

We're gonna be real, Subeta couldn't afford to keep a model that encouraged being predatory towards other users' pet names and belongings anymore, as it cannot afford to have a bleeding userbase anymore.

Pet name clearings might have been exciting for some people, but in the end, you were literally hoping for the userbase to shrink, meaning that you were hoping that people would get bored of the site. And I'm really glad that this mechanic is gone, personally - and I've been here for almost 14 years.

In the end, we want Subeta as a whole to be successful, and unique pet names were going against that mentality - we were encouraged to drive people away from the site so that we can yoink their names.

And, while I'm not happy that anyone is leaving over this, if it means that Subeta can survive for a couple more years, it means that it was the right choice to make.

I only wish the best to people who chose to leave over this, no hard feelings or anything. In the end, it's only a game.

I am so happy for this. It always frustrated me that I'd miss a name clearing because someone else has a better internet connection or 3 friends also stalking the name for them. Now I no longer have to worry about that!

the search is broken now though, it sometimes says the pets do not exist when you try and visit their profile or goes to whomever the legacy pet who first had the name is.

logged back in just to comment about this (and take advantage of it of course!)

it's been 1 million years... but finally I can have my Adrien

I think this can only be good for the site. I'm happy to see the change.

Thanks for re-linking the thread in the news, Bug :3

Wow, that statement is godly. It's as if staff would say it themselves, judging by all the likes your post got.

I especially agree with this statement: "but in the end, you were literally hoping for the userbase to shrink, meaning that you were hoping that people would get bored of the site"

Yeah, the future of Subeta depends on getting new users to stay. I've heard people say that various things kept them from being on the site more than a few weeks.

One of those reasons was pet names, I remember an user mentioning that their friends were discouraged from joining because of the unique pet name system. So this change is likely for the better.

Alchemilla Brookhaven no longer has the extra I in her name... She is Cleansed and free to be a spooky nurse... With the names of her spooky hospitals correctly spelled....

I love this change. I can finally use names I've been wanting for so long, but had given up on. Most importantly, I've wanted to make memorial pets for the people and animals I've lost over the years, and the name change will make that so much more meaningful to me. Maybe I will actually put some effort into my pet pages.

I don't know. Unique pet names meant you had to get creative with it or else spend time waiting for an old name to free up. I'm not invested enough in the site to do art for it and I'm not a writer. So, the names were kind of it for me.

I don't think I have any names anyone would want, but it still feels like a loss. It's selfish and I do know that, but I don't like the change.

I have mixed feelings on this, now reading both sides (my irl is incredibly stressful at the moment so I do not have time to be on here as much). I liked the unique name system, it did inspire creativity in me, personally....not that it's been written down anywhere. Trying to find a name that wasn't taken was interesting; trying to find alternate spellings was nice and it was fun for me.

On the other hand, it was incredibly frustrating to straight up see pets that were on Frozen Accounts with really good names that weren't free until the next clearing! So having those freed up is satisfying. Am I entirely happy with the change? Not really, but if we do not innovate and adapt, you get left behind and eventually the site dies.

Subeta has and is one of the best virtual pet sites I've been on; listening to the user base, responding quickly to tickets, allowing discussion about changes and even taking user suggestions into account. Am I entirely happy with this change? Not exactly, it is a big one for me as a 12 year member. Do I think that Subeta made the best choice possible for their future? Yes. It is not like the Staff to simply make huge decisions like this without any input from anyone.

Well said.

This change is so awesome. I was happy for the people who would finally get the names they want, little did I know how happy it would make me as well. I was used to so many of my old names, but it's so easy now just to drop a letter, change a letter in a name that was previously misspelled and make it look just right. And some pets I changed totally- name, species, color and have whole new characters. I'm excited to see now what changes to pet profiles are coming, so maybe I will actually put some more work into these pets of mine.

As someone who's been playing for almost 13 years... I cannot tell you how utterly relieved I am for the switch to non-unique names, for multiple reasons. I honestly think this is the best quality of life update to come out of Subeta, which is first and foremost a pet site, in years. Thank you a hundred, thousand times to staff and to Keith for going with your gut on this one. I hope you're already seeing a boost in revenue from returning players!!

For the longest time I gave my pets more unusual names, and just kind of accepted it as-is. I wasn't great at the name clearing game, and the few times I DID try to participate in a clearing I lost the names I wanted, which was super discouraging. Since this was the norm, I had no idea how much using alternate spellings and unusual names was stifling my creativity, until last night.

Last night. I looked at my list of 82 pets. And I realized how much I hated some of their names, but had held onto them simply for the sake of, what if? What if I DID find inspiration for that name? It's not like the "correct" name for my character would ever clear, so why risk throwing a name that COULD eventually inspire me?

Yeah. I tossed a lot of old, weird names out the window last night, and I could not be happier. I'm currently in the process of writing a webcomic, and I have a ton of minor characters I need to develop... so guess what? I just picked some of my pets and renamed them. Because I COULD. Because Subeta has always helped me with my character creation process. Because I feel inspired to work on them.

Seriously, I'm ecstatic. It's been so long since the non-unique name debate started that I completely forgot I was the OP for that thread in the suggestions forum, l m a o (I went to check who it was the other day and was legit like WAITAMINUTE--). I can't believe this actually happened. I can't wait to play Subeta again, I really, really missed it. <3

I never really understood the 'unique pet names means getting creative with your pet names' thing. It never felt like creativity to me. It felt like a compromise lol. My creative outlet for my pets has always been developing a character, choosing the most appropriate pet, getting an overlay, working on their story and profile coding... settling for a name that didn't fully reflect my character never felt like a part of that.