Unique Pet Name Changes

July 26, 2020 7:18 pm

It's happening! This change is a massive shift over what we've done for the past 15 years and we know upfront that this change will make some people happy, and some people upset. We're making this change to preserve the future of Subeta, and to keep excitement for new users as high as for those of us who've been here for the last 15 years.

We've listened to feedback on this for years, and have looked at how other popular modern games handle unique names like this. We've come to a decision and are implementing it today.

The goal at the center of these changes is to give everyone on the site the freedom to be as creative as they'd like, and build characters around their pets without having to scour for the name you want for months - and to honor those who fought for names and waited months.

Pet Names

From this point forward pet names are no longer unique. That means, for example, there can be two pets named Spot on the site at the same time. You can build stories and characters around a name, without needing to add numbers or strange spellings. We're looking forward to seeing a burst of creativity!

Changes: The new URL structure for your pets looks like: https://subeta.net/pets/keith/AwesomePetName

And the sCode for linking to pets is: [pet not found] ...where "keith" is the username of the pet's owner, and AwesomePetName is the (hopefully awesome) pet name!

All of the links around the site have been updated to reflect this change.

Changing Pet Name

You can now change your pet name once per month with a gold account. That means one name change per pet, per month. We'll have a way for everyone to rename their pets soon!

Legacy Pet Names

To honor those who have spent time, effort and money in obtaining unique pet names up until now, every pet created on the site up until this news post now also has a legacy pet name that links them to their names prior to this update. The old URL structure and sCode will still work, and will link to the pet with that legacy name.

For example, if I owned AwesomePetName before this update, then https://subeta.net/pets/AwesomePetName here will still link to my pet AwesomePetName for the rest of time!

If I change my pets name to "TotallyAwesomePetname" the legacy name will continue to be AwesomePetName. This status will persist even if your pet is transferred to a new owner.

There is a line on the pet profile designating the legacy name, and this can be removed targeting the .legacy-name class with CSS. For example, the following CSS will hide it completely: .legacy-name { display: none; }

Other Changes

We will no longer be clearing old pet names - all old pets will retain those legacy names.

We will still be clearing usernames at the same time, as they continue to be unique. No pet names will be cleared.

[edit] There is a helpful user-made FAQ here which compiles information from various staff posts/comments: FAQ about Legacy Names/Non-Unique Pet Names

July 27, 2020, 9:51 am by

this is so cool! i can finally have the pet family i always dreamed of 😭❤️

July 27, 2020, 9:40 am by

Finally, all my babies can have their real names! <3

July 27, 2020, 9:37 am by

I think this is a fantastic clever solution! :D

July 27, 2020, 9:27 am by

!! :D All those time I got an experiment that I wanted but wasn't the right pet name! This changes EVERYTHING!

July 27, 2020, 9:25 am by

!! :D All those time I got an experiment that I wanted but wasn't the right pet name! This changes EVERYTHING!

July 27, 2020, 9:17 am by

Good. Every once in a while I get sMail asking me to give up one of my pets because someone wants the name SO badly - and one time the person called me selfish because I wanted to keep the name even though I was mostly inactive at the time (essentially "how dare you sign in once in a while to keep your account active, I was stalking your pet's name"). Now those people can just go create their pets and leave me alone :P

I also think it's amazing that tribute pets will be able to have the right name now :) Thank you!

July 27, 2020, 9:14 am by

Just wondering now since the uniqueness of pets is now gone/special pets, what other changes are coming is there a forum we can look so we can figure out if its worth it? Thanks (I don't visit the forums often enough to know where this overall section would be, but I guess I can browse)

July 27, 2020, 8:55 am by

I am shame. I cannot believe I just mixed up effect and affect. Dear staff: why oh why can’t we edit comments? My shame is eternal.

July 27, 2020, 8:48 am by

Well. As a word nerd, I really love unique words for names so this doesn’t really effect me at all. But while I’m here, let me pitch my 2 favorite pet names in case anyone wants to use them!

Maelid: (n.) A mythical apple nymph. Chthonic: (adj.) [pron: THänik] Concerning, belonging to, or inhabiting the underworld. Ex. Hades is a chthonic diety.

I might change Abature though..... (in case anyone has made it this far in my ramble, Makena is just a name I like and my use of it predates this site.)

July 27, 2020, 8:46 am by

my translator is cruel and I have understood very little, maybe someone can roughly tell me by e-mail in German what is written here ... "We will continue to delete usernames at the same time because they are still unique" ... which means this please? what names are deleted, those of frozen accounts? can i change the name of my pound pets now? would be great because there are nice pets there with often impossible names of users who keep bored pets in the pound.

July 27, 2020, 7:52 am by

I would much rather share a pet name than have my pets deleted as an inactive user :)

July 27, 2020, 7:34 am by

Aaaaa, this is amazing! Can't wait to see the boom of creativity! Only thing I'm wish to see now, is with all the pets in the pound, perhaps add the legacy name onto the pets adoption page? If thats at all possible? Not that I think it make's that much of a difference, but it'd be nice to see!

Now...who gets a name change...... :D

July 27, 2020, 7:32 am by

Question: how can you look up the profile of a pet in the pound? For example: there's a pet called "Louie" in the pound right now, but when I look it up via the legacy-link, it leads to a different pet. That would mean that Louie had a name change, but it would be important to know the original name of the pet before adopting (and seeing the profile too).

July 27, 2020, 7:29 am by

Most of my pets are based on my own story characters so I'm really glad everyone can finally have just their first name like I wanted. :)

July 27, 2020, 7:17 am by

This is awesome!

July 27, 2020, 7:14 am by

So at first read, I wasn't too excited? But reading all of the comments here has helped my shriveled heart grow just a bit, and I am happy everyone is able to get pet names that they have been wanting for sometime now.

July 27, 2020, 6:56 am by

I can see how this will be so much fun. Nice change Subeta. :)

July 27, 2020, 6:41 am by

Loving all of the site updates lately, very nice. As someone with a handful of cool names before this change, I much prefer not feeling like a name hoarder when I just want to casually enjoy what I have and maybe yeet items into pet TCs every now and again.

I'm also intrigued to see what else gets added to new.subeta.net in the coming months. Nice to see it using react/redux as that's my jam!

July 27, 2020, 6:37 am by

I'm also intrigued to see what else gets added to new.subeta.net in the coming months. Nice to see it using react/redux as that's my jam!

July 27, 2020, 6:35 am by

Sweet Subeta!!!

July 27, 2020, 6:15 am by

Subbed for the recent updates, keep 'em coming. Out with the old, in with the new. :P

July 27, 2020, 6:07 am by

Also - I just want to say it - for a long time a lot of people with unique covetable names said that it had nothing to do with name hoarding or elitism or anything of the like but some of the comments definitely speak differently.

I do feel sympathetic because it must be uncomfortable to have to own up to the fact it was never about character creation or ‘just liking the name’, you just enjoyed having something somebody else couldn’t have.

I am also not speaking from jealousy - anyone who has known me knows I have had quite the arsenal of unique coveted names! But for me it has always genuinely been that I just like certain names & it’s a bit sad to see that that hasn’t been the case for a lot of people who have otherwise claimed the same.

July 27, 2020, 6:05 am by

the new [Code] [user not found][/code] is not working right yet. [user not found] still links to the legacy pet whom someone else owns

July 27, 2020, 6:04 am by

I haven't so far been super into pets but this may just change my mind. I'm still secretly bitter that I lost one of my pet's names on hiatus. Now she can be reborn.

July 27, 2020, 5:32 am by

Can I delete my own comment? I hope so.

July 27, 2020, 5:29 am by

Thank you for this! I am so excited about this :)

July 27, 2020, 5:19 am by

This. Is. Great. Finally I can get my real life pet name. This might get my interest in pets renewed again. Also smart move to add it to the GA status!

July 27, 2020, 5:13 am by

Congratulations!!! Your pet (formerly Luceat) is now named Lucifer! Yay! Yeah, I think I'm going to like this change.

July 27, 2020, 5:04 am by

not big into pets anymore but I think this was handled well and this might make me excited about pets again 8D

July 27, 2020, 4:58 am by

Yes! This is so great. So many times I wish I had a specific name for very personal and emotional reasons and couldn't get it and now this is so much sweeter. Also I feel like this legacy name being visible is just going to create some great opportunities. Like a pet whose legacy name was Dr. Jekyll and then you rename him Mr. Hyde... I mean, come on.

July 27, 2020, 4:52 am by

"Congratulations!!! Your pet (formerly Snuff On Digital) is now named Akaash!" AHHHH I've been wanting to change that for a while.

July 27, 2020, 4:52 am by

Thank you so much for these changes! I still can't believe it, great improvement! Have some names left that i really want! So, let's go! <3 :)

July 27, 2020, 4:07 am by

aaaaah! Thank you! I've been wanting to make character-based pets for YEARS but havent been able to! This rocks!

July 27, 2020, 3:43 am by

The more I think about this, the more excited I get !!!! Catch me revamping all my pets without a care in the world about whether or not I’ll get a name back !!!

July 27, 2020, 3:41 am by

Quick question and I'm sorry if this was answered in the post I re-read it a couple times and couldn't figure this out but if I want to change the name now to something that [I]isn't[/I] taken ... will it be the new legacy name? I guess it doesn't really matter but I'm just wondering~

July 27, 2020, 3:39 am by

As a longtime member who's still here mostly because of pets, I really like this change and I'm super glad there are updates in this aspect of the site! I never changed my pets' names, but I have one that I wanted to rename for a long time (with a name that was occupied by a pet that was one year older than them), so I will eventually finally be able to do this change! And I won't even have to change the links on my profile, which is perfect for my laziness XP

July 27, 2020, 3:27 am by

THANK you this is amazing... I'm so so so happy... ;___;

July 27, 2020, 3:22 am by

Just when I wanted to make a new fan pet! I’m so happy for this change ;A;

July 27, 2020, 3:10 am by

I was fairly ambivalent about this when I saw the suggestion in the forums, but after some thought I'm pretty excited. I feel less pressure to hold on to names I'm not sure about 'just in case' I regret changing them or giving them up which has happened in the past, and now I can have the perfect names for my pets and so can everyone else! It will also be interesting to see different takes (for the character) on certain names.

Congratulations!!! Your pet (formerly Zilch) is now named Zero! Congratulations!!! Your pet (formerly Moll) is now named Wren!

Only two changes for me so far, but...

July 27, 2020, 3:10 am by

Thank you!

July 27, 2020, 3:05 am by

You Subeta have just made my life on this site sooo much brighter :o I Love You!

July 27, 2020, 3:05 am by

THIS IS AMAZING, THANK YOU!!!

July 27, 2020, 2:54 am by

As someone who has played for a long time, whose first priority here has always been pets and who has done the hard yards for unique names ... I am STOKED!!! Very very honestly for me it has never been about hoarding a 'good' name for the sake of it ... I love certain names for what they are, and I am beyond excited to upgrade SO MANY of my pet names and to get some of my dream names ... as someone who only checks in now and again I think this'll get me back to playing a bit more earnestly, even if I'm still only casual about it!!

July 27, 2020, 2:51 am by

oh my god thank you so much for listening to us and implementing such an amazing change! ❤️

i love how the legacy name thing is easy to delete (and also doesn't look intrusive or distracting). time to get rid of it on all my profiles because i never rly took pride in refreshing for a couple minutes and being chosen by the rng lmao

July 27, 2020, 2:37 am by

Oh man, I'm really excited about this! Although I think I'll wait until the kinks are ironed out.

July 27, 2020, 2:29 am by

My pets had unique names when I created them but they were gone after I came back from hiatus. It's nice to be able to give them their original names again.

July 27, 2020, 2:23 am by

I know not everyone is thrilled but...blessed be to those who have wanted specific names for tributes to pets who crossed the Rainbow Bridge or family members who passed or to honor those family members who they love and want to show their love for with a pet name. Blessed be to those who have fanpets and have been wanting specific names (I'm so glad I could finally use Starscream, dang it).

July 27, 2020, 2:15 am by