Hey everyone!

I wanted to open up a discussion about something I'm trying: paying community artists in CSC to create site art.

I've posted a call for artists to create custom reaction images - NPC-themed reactions in their own style that'll become collectible cosmetics. Right now I'm offering CSC because we don't have the budget for cash payments, but I'm hoping this could become a paid opportunity down the road but don't want to make any promises.

Why Now?

Honestly? I want the reaction picker to feel less empty, but our focus needs to stay on the new pet and other features we're working on. This felt like a way to add something fun without pulling dev time or creative staff time. It also is a fun way to see the community get to be creative, and reward that.

Here's a blast from the past - about 20 years ago, we had user-submitted forum avatars:

Users would create these and we'd add them to the site. So really, this is just returning to a very old idea 🤔. The difference now is that we're back to just one person (not a teenager, now in their 30s, somehow) trying to make the site fun.

What I'd Love Feedback On

1. How do you feel about community art becoming "official" site content?
2. Is CSC compensation fair for this kind of thing, or does it feel like we're undervaluing artists?
3. Would you want to see more opportunities like this? (Avatar borders, titles with custom graphics, etc.) Nothing that we put in the cash shop, or makes any effect on the game. Not pets, or items. I'm not sure what else!
4. Any concerns about quality control or what should/shouldn't be accepted?

I know visibility and CSC aren't the same as real money. I'm trying to be upfront about where we are right now while still finding ways to get the community involved in building Subeta.

I love this idea. Look, real talk, professionals should be paid, but site currency is useful too, and I'd MUCH rather this than AI art like some other games are using. And there's already lots of player created art with CWs, so there's plenty of precedent here as is. I would prefer if they're generally kept in the same overall style as the rest of the site art, as I find it jarring when things are too different.

This is something I have been wanting to see for quite some time; Especially as I have seen users demand the opening of volunteer positions in the past. To answer,

1. I think this idea alone is fascinating although my concerns about this might be that similar to the CW Directory whichis based on user-made items, it might be sensible to have a section dedicated to user-made graphics as well.

2. As an artist myself and from an outsider view of the art market here on Subeta; CSC is already a payment option for some (myself included) and for those who have limits on real life currency earnings (example, disability) as I was previously, it was hard to go over a certain amount of money earned as a side job which alone rarely left me enough to treat myself; so in a way, it may seem unfair to some but those who want to buy CSC anyway but dont have the financial opportunity may benefit from this. Personal choice at the end of the day.

3. Yes, although bummed about the items! I would love to redraw old wearables outside of work & CW commissions. xD

4. I would like to assume that people are responsible enough, but simiarly to how CWs work with , perhaps somebody to do a quick review prior to publishing? Of course not with strict expectations or a denial system necessarily! But just to ensure everything is uploaded as expected, etc.

Overall, I have appreciated your transparency on the topic of paying artists and your fears of undervaluing. It's important to remember Keith, that it has been stated as volunteer work; It is not an obligation and they are doing it out of willingness. You've made it clear about the financial stance as well.

I'd be excited to do something like this, frankly. At this point, people who remain on a browser-based adoptable pet site are pretty locked in. Subeta is filled with (as far as I can tell) mostly adults who are enjoying a little nostalgia and a nice community. I don't think anyone expects what boils down to a passion project to pay a salaried wage. A lot of artists who work in the forums already take CSC commission slots; this just seems like that, but with a higher payout and larger "customer" base. If cash money can be paid down the line, that's great, but I don't think CSC payouts are a bad move.

1. Love the idea, as a for-fun type of thing.

2. I’ve started spending money on Subeta, so the equivalent of $100 in CSC sounds fair enough compensation to me haha. But I’m speaking as someone who has a full-time job and already likes creating free digital items for other people to enjoy in my spare time. I might toss my ring in the hat, though I didn’t see any mention of a deadline to apply.

3. Would love to see all of it. I know I’d want to draw some pet reactions! How about event stamps? Someone made stamps in the profile & graphics forum to be used to replace event links. This can even be opened up to non-artists, if they’re allowed to use official item art.

4. I don’t have any notable concerns right now, since the topic is on small reaction images.

How do you feel about community art becoming "official" site content?
Is CSC compensation fair for this kind of thing, or does it feel like we're undervaluing artists?
Would you want to see more opportunities like this? (Avatar borders, titles with custom graphics, etc.) Nothing that we put in the cash shop, or makes any effect on the game. Not pets, or items. I'm not sure what else!
Any concerns about quality control or what should/shouldn't be accepted?

1. I'm totally cool with user-submitted art, like others have mentioned we have an entire extensive side of the site solely dedicated to putting user-made content on the site (custom wearables, but the user has to also make a name/description/item on top of the wearable itself, so most of the userbase is very used to the idea, I would assume. (Just as long as all work is credited obv)

2. Honestly with people trying to volunteer for you for free (I know there's legal ramifications why you can't), I can definitely see CSC as a good compromise, as long as it's not against the volunteer/legal issue stuff. if someone doesn't want to be paid in non-real-world-currency they can always skip and keep to commission work instead. (I don't mean that in a negative way, everyone has their own values and ideas of what compensation they consider their time/skills worth or would accept)

3. borders (currently imagining something like using the different pet colors as border inspiration. lil crayon marks for scribble, dripping blood for bloodred, purples/whites/teals for lilac, etc) and lil avatars that you could use instead of a HA headshot would be fun to see. maybe even lil pre-fab signature art (which could possibly be linked to holiday event actions too like the lumi tree)? but also THANK YOU SO MUCH for specifying these would not be premium/cash shop content. (edit: reaction images for posts, how did I miss that as an idea! kinda like discord emotes, but kept to a subeta theme to reply to posts with would be awesome!)

4. I worry a little bit about pixelation/blurryness (sp?) issues on scaling, but I figure thta would be caought pretty quickly. a big concern (I would hope this wouldn't be the case, but it never hurts to bring up) is that some people might submit ai generated art to get the compensation, and how those would be checked (esp since "ai checkers" are pretty unreliable and also involve directly feeding said art into the machine learning to "check" it). Again, I doubt this would be a big issue, subeta is full of amazing artists, but yeah.

(geez I wrote a dang novel there, sorry. cut it down as much as I could and it's still this big, rip :'v

I am all for community art becoming 'official' site art, and I think this is a great way to engage the community, create a sense of pride (having your art featured on a site you enjoy/play on) and belonging, and also most of all: creating a site that is made not just from 'official' art and ideas, but ideas that come directly from the creativity of the users.

CW and custom overlays proved that many artists can create 'Subeta style' art well and consistently. I have 0 worries about quality. Offering CSC for now (especially in such a generous payout) seems very fair.

Various potential fun things that could be created: fun username icons, potentially flavour graphic for seasonal events (banner for the news? Cute art of NPCs for an announcement? I know Genshin Impact does this thing were they will feature 'official fan art' on some characters birthday and such. Unsure how that could translate to Subeta)

I know, but you asked for ideas and we've had the same ones for basically the entirety of kumos. People being able to submit other reaction images would certainly be a good way to add a community aspect to it imo. or at least add, idk, a broken heart/skull/clown/thumbs down, confusion, brain explosion, huge brain, evil smile, freaking worm on a string or whatever... literally just anything besides 5 different "love it" emojis? ("!" and "huh" only go so far, and it's honestly pretty frustrating 5/7 of them are essentially the same emoji in slightly different formats, there's not really any variety at all. iirc there actually has been a thumbs down sitting there for months, with a note of it being locked until some unknown point in the future? idk, I almost never use them because there doesn't really feel like a point to doing so except for the anonymous melody fluff messages. I was just adding a suggestion for where the community could be of service making reactions people actually want to use. ┐⁠(⁠´⁠ー⁠｀⁠)⁠┌)