Okay...so I have had this random thought on my brain for a couple days since I decided to start back up my gaming on Subeta. I have been an on and off again user of this site for like 15 years. I have noticed the last year or so there have been less people on here each time. It breaks my heart. Please let me know if I am crazy on this?

I know "virtual pet sites" were trendy when I was a teenager and kids now don't really look into this kind of thing but I would hate for such a wonderful site to just fade away. I know there are lots of middle aged adults that would find joy in this site or even the younger generation I suppose. It might be worth trying to put the word out there. Nostalgia is pretty big for certain generations <3

What I am trying to say is I never want to see this site go away. It has done wonders for my stress and just gives me a way to relax. What I have been trying to figure out is...should we all ban to together to spread the word about Subeta during the holiday season and try to boost the community on here? How many people would be up for something like this? Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

You're totally right, the user base has definitely been dwindling. I don't expect the site to be like it was in it's heyday since pets sites aren't really popular anymore, but it's sad to see so much less activity around the site.

I've had the same thought as you but I'm not entirely sure what to do about it. The best I've come up with is trying to welcome new users to the site and offer them help, a friend, etc. to try and retain new users. I have no idea how to go about trying to attract new users to the site honestly. The best demographic to go after would people already using similar sites but I don't imagine those sites would appreciate us doing that, haha.

I know. I tried to almost find users on reddit or where ever that were "bored" of their current site and thought about suggesting Subeta. I don't want to take away from other sites but also want people to know that their are options out there. I remember back in the day...my friend and I had to do some searching and playing around with many other sites before we found Subeta. We never looked back. I just want people to know that we are out there I guess lol.

I have done some Subeta casting over on FB, with folks who say they are tired of the way gaming is being handled over there. However, each person I have referred, has said that the site is too confusing to master. I disagree. I do know that when I came here, it took forever to figure out things, but I just figured that was because my brain was not in the best shape. o.O Granted, you do have to learn the site, and nothing is really spelled out for you, but that was fun for me, and good for my brain, which was needing to learn new pathways, so to speak. I had just had a stroke, and was relearning how to do a lot of things. I figure if a brain like mine could learn it, so can anyone. lol I am an older player, and have been here nearly 15 years now, and there are still things that I am learning, and figuring out. Isn't that part of the fun?
I wish there was a way to market it better, and perhaps if more folks come and put in their two cents here, we might just do it.

I have played for over ten years too, and I just got back into it after years because I'd been poking around in NFT communities (digital collectibles), as one of my friends put it, sites like this and Gaia online are "cryptocore as fuck"! Who needs bitcoin and NFTs when you can have sP and wearables? :D

Anyway, I would love some ideas of where to spread the word. Maybe NFT discords lol.

I agree. There isn't really a tutorial on here but honestly if it something you are interested in...it really isn't that hard to figure it out. I'm sorry to hear about your stroke and hope you are doing well. I can't imagine that was easy for you. I would definitely love to hear people's ideas. I mean if the site could use some tutorials...I am sure the creators and moderators on this site would be okay with listening. I don't remember needing one but I also was so obsessed with the items and collecting that I didn't really need to learn it all. I found the unknown exciting and fresh. I have also struggled with referring people who just either don't care for it or don't have the time and eventually drift away. I have definitely had my years where I wasn't on as much and had many months in between where I was inactive but always found my way back...

I have this obsession with collecting items...digital or not so Subeta is definitely a way for me to control my "spending" otherwise I would be spending more real life currency. ADHD for the win! haha I have never tried Gaia but I do remember hearing about it way back when. How active is that site? Honestly...I don't know what cryptocore means...I feel old saying that haha.... Also I have never done anything with discord but I think that would be a good starting point....I would love to hear your feedback and if anything comes of it. <3

I also appreciate Subeta and think it has been a great way to spend some time de-stressing in the past.

Unfortunately I think the layout/interface of Subeta might be too outdated. Subeta may need more users to generate more income so that they can get more staff.. but without staff they won't be able to make that transition. In the past the users used to complain about site revamps, but I definitely think one is needed (and I know that the new site is addressing that - maybe).

Even though I personally play on PC, I think fewer and fewer people have PCs these days.. it's mostly phone and tablet.. so again, New Subeta will hopefully make it more attractive to new players.

I was recently sent this Google Doc with games for people to play in lockdown. I noticed Neopets was there but not other petsites. I feel like if Subeta can get itself on lists like these it could easily increase playerbase. That one hasn't been updated but maybe we can find other ones. Or if someone even has a teensy bit of a following appealing to the "lockdown" crowd might help.

Honestly I only joined relatively recently but I've been liveblogging about what I do here on Twitter once in a while in hopes of enticing people to think about joining. I definitely see enough Neopets fanart to know there's still lots of people into this kind of experience but a lot are sorta stuck on the idea that Neo is all there is. I can tell its frustrating for them because that site is like... way more broken than this one not to mention the NFT nonsense from the other month has a lot of folks burnt on that whole brand.

I think a lot of folks that even haven't tried a pet site before could benefit from this its almost like... an Animal Crossing type mellowing experience. I would say the only frustration I've had with the site has been some of the navigation being confusing and certain pet colors being obtuse in terms of how you get them (Hydrus pets especially).

I joined the site 17 years ago and the dwindling player numbers have been very noticeable. I think one of the reasons is we don't have plots any more and the only special event is the occasional Quest-A-Thon. We've also been waiting years for the Teahouse and it could be a long time before we get any more new pet jobs.

The real problem, of course, is the staff shortage. From what I can gather the people responsible for adding site content are -

1. Two part time programmers - Keith and Bug. They're working on the new version of the site so don't have time to fix broken games etc.

2. A skeleton crew of artists who are desperately trying to provide all the new things we expect for every holiday.

3. Amber who seems to have several different jobs so she's always snowed under with work.

The site isn't as much fun as it was for us long term users but that can't be helped until Version 2 is up and running and everyone has time to add new features and give us plots again.