I'm not looking forward to this supposed site revamp. I can hardly get the new wardrobe to work or even load half the time. If the new site is anything like that, I'm out. (Unless it's like the Teahouse and never materializes, hah!)

Is my subscription doing anything besides keeping the lights on? Kind of feels like it isn't.

I'd volunteer for Subeta for free, if I could do anything to help. I know nothing about coding and have zero art skills, but I can organize boring things for hours and hours, proofread, research, etc. I love Subeta, despite my constant bitching, and have been part of the site for over 15 years. Anything at all that I can do, please let me know.

EDIT: I also miss the pet aspect of Subeta.

I love Subeta, but if it's ultimately better off dead, then so be it. To me it feels like staff have no passion for this place anymore.

Don't offer to volunteer for this site, or any other site. This NEVER WORKS OUT to be an advantage for the worker.

Your time is precious, and you should absolutely be compensated for the work you put in. Volunteer positions should go the way of the dodo, just like unpaid internships.

This is how I've ben feeling as well. I enjoy my subscription and my CW vouchers, but it doesn't really feel like subscriptions have made much (if any?) positive impact on the site from the user's end. We still have a skeleton crew with the absolute bare minimum being released.

Sure, there's a new recode "in progress" but like staff are always saying, coders aren't artists or writers. Why is basically nothing being released? Where are the new pets? Are we going to get a single one for Vesnali?

It does feel a bit like our money isn't really going anywhere. I'm not saying that it isn't, this is just another communication issue. Remember when we used to have those site update threads every month? What happened to those? They told us what was going on, whether it was stuff being worked on behind the scenes, or new changes that they wanted to announce, so it always felt like something was going on even if it wasn't new site features or items or lore or anything like that. But then one day they just stopped, and now we're only getting updates about the new website, and they're easy to miss if you're not part of the siteupdate ping group.

If it helps anything, there's the Staff Forum Posts on the front page that shows what the staff has been up to.

i usually don't rly post on these types of threads because there's only so much 'is subeta dead???? is this the end at last??????' threads i can read before it just becomes white noise but to answer the op

man i wish pets got more attention negl 😔 i say but realistically i don't even really know what can be done to like....... make them more interesting aside from releasing/revamping more and maybe getting the spotlight back to being daily but idk i'm biased there bc i've had a pet in queue for 4 years now lmao

sighhhh. i mean honestly what needs to happen is hiring more staff, especially people who will expedite the site recode process. subeta is built on such old piecemeal code that not a whole lot of progress can be made until that happens. and i thought the whole point of improving subscriptions and CWs was to bring in more money so the site could actually afford to do that!

i also agree with adding subscription features to appeal to different types of users, e.g. those who are more focused on pets or battling or restocking, etc. i think modular subscription bundles that allow you to choose from a certain number of bonus features could work nicely, so you can swap out bonuses you don't care about for ones you do – e.g. someone who doesn't care about CWs but likes training could swap the CW voucher for stat boosters / faster training / bonus EXP / etc.

i think once everything is nice and shiny and new and functional, with sufficient staff to cover all the bases, there's a lot i'd want to see.

obviously more pet color releases – remember how every pet is eventually supposed to be available in every color? yeah... not seeing it. but if things can get on track, then we can start on a lot of those fun color and species ideas people have been suggesting.

more events like peka-boo / just straight-up bringing back peka-boo. i'm still bummed i didn't participate in the battle of the bands contest when it happened, and would love another chance at it! group HA contests have the potential to be so fun, especially with CWs more accessible than they ever have been.

the tea house and all those other features put forward during that esther & emma donation drive. when even was that? 2016? 2017? don't tell me it was 2015... i think revamped gardens were one of the things on that list. something more visual and immersive than just some text and a jpeg. i love farming sims & gardening in video games, so something like a mini version of that would be fun. putting details on that under a spoiler cuz i have a lot of thoughts.

there are a lot of ways the game of subeta could be more fun and involved. but at the end of the day, having a bigger team with individuals who can dedicate more focus toward developing & improving specific site features is the only way forward – that could even include bringing on freelancers to work on particular projects. if the site cannot afford to do that, then, sadly, the business is failing.

honestly at this point that items have been on the "item name/desc that need to be changed" list for so damn long is egregious enough, like yes they finally changed the cherry blossom items after years (and a solid year of anti-Asian hate crimes in the US) and I appreciate that. that was a good thing! but it's literally just renaming a short list of racist/sexist/fatphobic/etc items and the staff is apparently even too stretched for that?

Also, the userbase should kinda take a break on submitting CWs.

Have you noticed that staff isn't really in a hurry to release new SBQ, Delish or Vanity? Why should they waste their time when users are throwing money to do their job.

The CW community is literally paying to do staff's job, so really, why should staff bother lifting a single finger?

That was exactly staff's intention with the big CW fix. I'm not sure if people forgot or missed the post, but stated that when CWs got fixed that was the whole point; LINK

Several of the people on the board (myself included) expressed concern on this statement. My specific concern was how this turned the wardrobe slowly into pay to play and cut off access to new things from general users because CWs are STILL expensive as hell for the average user (but I think this is why subscriptions were never updated to include anything BUT the voucher, to force people over to the CW market to use their 'rewards' and to hopefully encourage them to stay). But I also felt like this was a huge problem because it puts a lot of pressure on CW artists especially to carry the site.

Also I do get the point of asking CWs to stop but you have to understand that there ARE artists in the CW market that use commissions to pay for their needs. Asking them to stop is basically asking them to quit their job until protest goals are met. This is not fair to those artists. They still need support right now.

Wanted to piggy-back off of Frenchi's gardening idea. It gave me the idea that what if subeta designed it's own gardening sim similar to farmville and other mobile games? It doesn't have to be mobile (but would certainly be great esp if Subeta mobile/an app ever came to fruition), but just the timer-based mechanics along with the collecting/gathering system could be really neat! Kind of like how we have the baking "game"/mechanic already on the site.

Gives people more to do and incorporates the "world" of subeta more if folks need to go to specific lands to collect seeds and what not vs it just being the world of subeta being this backdrop/after-thought that's just kind of there amidst events and what not.

This can also help bring in some $$$ to the site if folks don't want to wait for their timer to run out, or want to get like some special, limited edition CSC plant or something, or even buy more gardening plots, upgrade gardening tools, etc. (Some of this can also be SP-based so not everything is behind a CSC wall, but I'm just spitballing ideas!)

I know some of these timer-based games make a looot of money because people simply don't want to wait or they want a special LE item that's only available for a limited time.

There can also be special seeds and what not only available during certain site-wide events too! And maybe some plants do special things like a very rare plant you can get has a chance of giving you a Glade potion pitcher thing when it blooms or something. Or it can do things for folks who like to battle like gives you stats or some kind of battle item?

I know there's some grey ethical...boundaries? here regarding timer-based games, money, and addictions though.

Anyway, just some more thoughts/ideas! 👀

Edit: Another idea I had regarding subscriptions catering to pet folks - There could be like a subscription users only bathhouse pool? Where if you've stayed subscribed for like...2 or 3 months? You get a neat token item to enter this pool and it allows you to change one pet into any colour or experiment pet of your choice? Or even just one dip per month maybe? I'd be interested in something like that for a monthly sub option vs like the CW voucher!

"Also I do get the point of asking CWs to stop but you have to understand that there ARE artists in the CW market that use commissions to pay for their needs. Asking them to stop is basically asking them to quit their job until protest goals are met. This is not fair to those artists. They still need support right now. "

You're not wrong.

Either way, these artists are gonna be left in the dust, because Subeta's lack of content isn't sustainable. The site is hemorraging members - it could get by while the pandemic was going on, since we were all on lockdown, but now, with everything reopening?

2021 isn't a good year so far, and staff should be held accountable.

I'm not really sure how to approach this topic... I'm a longtime member but just coming back from a string of long hiatuses, so my response may not be the most relevant to OP's question but I'll share my two cents anyways.

First of all, seeing everyone's apathetic replies alluding to an inevitable end is truly heartbreaking. Without rebutting any specific comments, I'll just say that we all play for different reasons, and supporting is awesome but you shouldn't feel obligated to. From what I can see, staff is doing the best they can. I'm happy the site is still up and running after all these years.

Second, it is common knowledge that in order for a company to withstand long-term it needs to be innovative. I want to avoid going on a tangent about gaming industry trends so I'll just speak to my personal experience.

I used to play Subeta a lot when I was in K12 school and gradually less as I got older, went to college, got a job, engaged etc. It's not that I don't want to play anymore, it's just that I don't have hours every day to sit at my computer anymore. What I, however, and most adults I know do, is use my phone a lot. When you're early for work, at the doctor's office, after dinner, on the toilet - I'm on my phone all the time. I could and would be playing Subeta, but I've tried to log in and the site is so not mobile friendly that it's almost completely unusable.

So in response to the topic question, the # 1 site feature that I would love to see worked on is an app. Not even with full site features like user and pet profiles but just something that I could log in, do my dailies, leave some flowers, comment on some forums, that would keep me engaged enough to not feel like I was just missing out when I have time to sit at my desk and log in.

If this was the case we wouldn’t even have this website cuz Keith has expressed that he doesn’t make money off Subeta anymore. And I’m pretty sure the mods don’t get paid either. Although there are options for us to give financial support, most features can be fully enjoyed 100% for free. I for one would be happy to volunteer my time, now that I have access to a computer again. If it would help keep Subeta alive, and keep people from complaining nonstop about nothing getting done and accusing staff of all sorts of nonsense, hell yeah I’ll do some free organizing and shit.

I know what I'm going to say is going to upset people but this really does need to be said.

(this is a blanket statement and not directed at any individual user)

The site cannot simultaneously treat the CW community like we're the scum of Subeta AND the reason for all the site problems WHILE ALSO expecting us to be the community that holds down the fort by keeping the site afloat by pumping money into it AND makes staff 'accountable' by not giving money at the same time.

A large part of the CW community ALREADY spent the better part of 2020 'holding staff accountable' while we stopped submitting CWs and demanded that the new system be put in place. A lot of us got treated poorly by the rest of the site (and even other people within our community who were worried and scared) and told that if the site 'went down' we'd be the ones to blame for not just continuing to pump endless amounts of money into a system that was incredibly flawed. We've already 'put our money where our mouth is'. We've earned the right to enjoy our own little part of this site that is largely community fueled and has little staff interaction (of course and anyone else who helps with the queue still interacts, but this is a small part in the community keeping itself going).

Constantly throwing a hateful tantrum at the CW community (which is mostly people just participating in a HOBBY) isn't going to fix this site even a little bit. You're throwing a fit at the wrong people. Your anger should be specifically with staff.

TY and don't @ me.

User admins are paid.

Minimods are not, and considering how many left in the past year, this confirms that the model is not sustainable. I was a minimod and I can assure you that this experience isn't on my resume.

The criticism that's been thrown, that CWs are allowing staff to slack off are mostly on staff, not on you. In fact, you've posted a staff quote confirming it.

Not everyone can afford to throw 250 CSC for a hairbow, and that's where staff has been dropping the ball.

TY for taking the time to give us a detailed response . I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for places you want to receive feedback and suggestions in the future. :)

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I just wanted to add that it's really easy to be afraid of losing things you love. That's a natural reaction and no one is wrong for feeling scared they might lose Subeta. It's also okay to take breaks if something you love is causing you pain, and then come back (if you want to) when you're feeling less pain. It doesn't make you selfish to take a break and take care of yourself.

With Rah on mat leave, I've noticed a slow down in non-CW art (like delayed holidays and some items we usually expect missing). Is this a problem with management or because we could use another artist? I know there was a posting at one point but it never got filled.