Subeta has supposed to have got away from the real world but there are still a lot of items relating to the real world on the site. To give a few examples -

1. Text books for languages such as Japanese, French and Italian etc.

2. Food related to specific countries such as colcannon, boxty, various types of sushi and haggis.

3. A few other items such as the Enchanted Geisha Comb and Samurai Waraji.

The ones that relate to real life events ARE retired. I don't see a reason to retire things like that... Technically if we did that, then we'd have to retire t-shirts because I have those in real life. Or even all the dog and cat wearables...especially the siamese cats because those are named after a culture. The stuff like flags and remembrance pins and such...those are already retired.

[edit] Let me make that a bit more eloquent and a little less sarcastic...I didn't mean it to sound that way xD

The ones that are tied into a culture so much that they cannot be separated, like flags, items for specific events, etc., are retired. The items that you mentioned are not really like that. They are more inspired by a certain culture. Like all the the Alegarten items are inspired by German things. The Samari and Geisha things are inspired by Asian culture. There are so many things that you would have to take out if you do this...who decides where to draw the line? I think subeta has done a stellar job of changing names and things so that they are more general. The whole of subeta is inspired by real life...you can't take out everything!

Other Samurai items such as the Bracers and Kabuto have been retired so it seems that the Waraji was overlooked. A Siamese cat could be renamed to fit Subeta but I can't think how a French textbook relates to the site now.

PS: Yes, Subeta items have been inspired by the real world but do the fictional Subetan people who celebrate Alegarten speak real world German?

You never know! Alegarten is a play on the German word Biergarten which is traditionally an outdoor bar type place. And Ale is still a german word. Maybe they do!

So where, in the world of Subeta, do the inhabitants speak Hebrew, Spanish or Russian? :)

I dunno...we do have Jewish items like dreidels and star necklaces and latkes...I think it is someone in the Arctic Frost and you can tie that in with Luminaire because that encompasses all winter holidays.

Spanish, lets see. We have tacos, hot sauce, burritos, matador costumes and flamenco dresses. Someone must eat that stuff...I am thinking the Darkside. They seem like they'd like the spicy stuff!

Russian...we have Matryoshka Dolls, vodka and jewelled eggs. They are usually found in cold spots and they also have a winter holiday too. I think there might be a small village in the Arctic Frost that speaks Russian...maybe just a dialect though.

If you retire those books you'll have battlers and people who simply like reading books to pets screaming bloody murder. Like me, for example :P

No, but while there is something in this idea, I expect throwing out everything inspired by real world would severly lower the amount of items on Subeta? WHere do you draw a line? I mean, we pretty much never could have a new costume trunk again, if ...Asian items have to go surely same goes for Egyptian and Ancient Rome inspired items. Then there is loads of weapons named 'katana' or 'sai' or something, since that's what they are. Hamburgers are this chiefly American thing, do we get rid of them as well?

And if countries are so bad how do you treat various references to popculture? Technically speaking stuff like potatoes or tomatoes would have to go as well since there isn't a climate on Subeta where this plant could have originated from... okay, kidding! :P

I can see your point, but other than the artists redrawing everything I don't see how this could be fixed. Retiring items doesn't make them go away. And I believe someone on staff said that they won't be releasing new ones but they won't remove the old ones either. I like it as it is now, personally.

It would be fun if each land in Subeta had its own language so the real world language textbooks were replaced or even just renamed and revamped. For example,the French Textbook could be the Centropolis Textbook - remove the French flag label and replace the Eiffel Tower pic with the Blue Building or Item Directory building.

A lot of the items you mentioned such as the dreidels were specials when Subeta added items for Hannukah - one of the many real world festivals which was abandoned. Other real world costumes which got retired are the Traditional Scottish Dress and Traditional Scottish Outfit. The Traditional Teacup is Japanese - it seems to be a real world leftover like the Enchanted Geisha Comb and Samurai Waraji.

I can understand why real world festivals were abandoned - everyone wanted their own country's special celebration added and the artists were swamped because every day is a special day somewhere in the world. Leaving real world language textbooks on the site is a bit unfair to those whose language isn't represented (a lot of players here have English as their second language) - what about an Irish Gaelic Textbook to go with the colcannon and boxty? :) :)

PS: - I wasn't suggesting that items inspired by real world things are retired. Alegarten is fine because this German festival has been changed into something Subetan.

- retiring stuff doesn't make it go away but it doesn't turn up in the ordinary shops any more. It just seems illogical to me that we can restock French and German textbooks but not traditional Scottish costumes. It also seems illogical to me that we can restock a Samurai shoe but not the rest of the Samurai outfit.

Vanya is apparently russian, judging from his first name (Which is russian!) and his broken english implies that english ain't that first language.

So, pretty sure this one works.

Thank you! YES VANYA! WOO WOO Thank you for pointing that out xD

I always thought Vanya's shop was inherently Russian in nature. Just saying. c: (oop took too long typing and someone beat me to it :P)

: When you play Subeta, do you type and speak in Subeta-nese? Do you not feel your current HA has a sense of old European elegance in it? What do you suppose we call a kaftan, a kimono, lingerie, a kilt, or a fez? Should we rename all those items to "better suited" long drawn out titles to remove their culture? I can see it now; the cherry blossom kimono becomes "cherry blossom bell sleeve sashed dress" - what a lovely new name. There are words in every culture stolen from other cultures. We give and we take; and considering Subeta is a made up world, there is no way for it to have its own culture without drawing upon the cultures of the real world or becoming completely ridiculous. The real world grounds a fantasy world; and although a fantasy world can "pretend" the real world does not exist, there is always a base line connecting them. Denying that means one would rather play in a world without "human" avatars who wear "clothes" and "pets" who eat "food", because these are all facets of the world we live in.

I see the point you are trying to make with denying the culture items though, is not this point. But I can hope you realize that this is how ridiculous it can sound. I believe most pet sites "deny" the real world for the sake of creating a place where all can be one community of humans and have a good time, free from the woes that happen around them. However, I don't see that chosen denial as a denial of the people of the world. We are all different and from different walks of life, and to deny or not celebrate that diversity in some way with what your site provides boxes you in to a bland, tasteless world. Allowing the cultures of the world to feed into your website but filtering out the strain and problems of the world provides members with choices, with options. It allows them to be who they want to be, and if they saw deem it, allows them to feel celebrated and welcome in who they are rather than pretending they are something they are not.

Removing "culture" from Subeta does NOT remove it. It narrows it into one culture and restricts those who are not part of that culture. Making the site completely "American" or completely "English" or completely any other culture simply makes for a shallow, flavorless community.

EDIT : I also want to point out that I don't mean to sound rude or harsh with this sentiment. I just didn't grow up with a lot of culture around me, and in my travels and learning about other cultures, I wish that where I came from could have been more diverse. Sites like this and their openness not necessarily to world issues, but to world CULTURES and people, helped me broaden my horizon and have those opportunities to learn that "my" world wasn't the only world. I didn't mean to come off rashly; I guess I just tickled a bit of a sore spot reading; even though I know that wasn't what you intended by your post.

I don't see why everything / items have to be so precisely consistent with the "Subetaverse" (which... I mean, what exactly is that?) or even stuff like steampunk things, which derives from "real world" fantasy

even at that, we don't have things laid out specifically, like cultures that pets or pet colors have, which I see as the site allowing us to use this empty canvas to make our own pets' stories if you choose to make Subetaverse pets.

I'm just trying to say that I see you saying : get rid of items that don't fit in the Subetverse -- but, my argument is "what Subetaverse?"

's points are good too.

german user sitting in front of her computer and questioning herself what "Ale" is i know the drink, but ale is certainly not a german word - it is the english (british) equivalent for beer, as far as i know XD at least, germans don't EVER use Ale - only when referring to the english beer

Until this day, I had no idea Subeta had it's own universe...

Pretty much everything on subeta is based off real world culture though.I don't see why we would have to take everything on subeta and make it strictly subetain.So does that mean we should remove wearables like the English bulldog or Asian foods just because they're based from real world cultures?Without reality there would be no fantasy,I see what you're saying but there is no point in going to the extreme with removing anything that is slightly based on real world culture.

totally just summed up my irrationally verbose rambling into something people might actually read. Thank you for your amazing insight to this c:

Subeta got rid of real world celebrations as real world celebrations and replaced them with Subetan festivals which were inspired by the real world originals.

1: Luminaire replaced the original Christmas season and the Advent Calendar became Melody's Cottage. Other than that the only real difference is that we no longer have Hannukah items. Why not include Hannukah items when we can still restock the Hebrew Textbook?

2: Subeta no longer has Halloween by that name - it's now known as Morostide but the event is exactly the same as it was before the name change.

3: Fireside is a harvest festival but it incorporates elements of the British Bonfire Night with the Guy Fawkes efigy replaced by Red Rreign relics. There used to be a Bonfire Night book on the site (Guide To Making Your Own Guy) but it's listed as retired, not a special. I honestly can't see the difference between retiring a book about making a Guy Fawkes effigy and retiring real world language textbooks.

4: Atebus Revolution - there are some elements which seem to be inspired by the American War Of Independance. It's also paying homage to real world Steampunk but there's a logical, Subetan explanation for why the Atebus culture is Steampunk.

I'm suggesting that Subeta is consistent with it's policy to real world things. At one time we could restock an entire Samurai outfit from the clothing shop but all the items except for the shoe were retired. We could also restock male and female Scottish items from the clothing shop along with Native American clothing items but these have all been retired. Where is the logic in being able to restock a Japanese Textbook and Japanese Dictionary but not a Samurai outfit apart from the shoe? Wouldn't it be better to have a Subetan land inspired by Japan? We could then have the rest of the Samurai outfit to restock and the Japanese books could be renamed to suit the Japanese inspired land.

Subeta did its best to cover everyone's culture in the old days but, with players from around the world, I'm guessing it just got too much. No matter how many real world festivals etc they paid tribute to, a lot of others got left out. The language textbooks are a leftover from those old days.

Having something based on real world culture isn't the same as something being blatantly real world culture. Subeta started a new policy of adapting real world stuff but it's very inconsistent now. Why retire a book about making a Guy Fawkes effigy but keep language textbooks from the real world?

One was released for a holiday while the others weren't.

They were not retired because they were ethnic. They were retired because they were amongst the oldest items in their respective shop. The warajis were not retired because Sole Train did not have a massive wave of retirements.

That's really the reason why these are retired. Because old.

I'm glad that subeta isn't one of those websites that's super strict on its fantasy setting.