Hey there! I recently finished two little blog posts about a topic that has been on my mind for a while now. I published them on my personal website and just wanted to share it here as well! I love thinking about the philosophies of pet sites and Subeta has been the very first pet site I have fallen in love with. Here goes! You can find the original posts here! It has a bunch of weird pictures and I threw a bunch of formatting in there, haha.

IN THE VIRTUAL PET MATRIX

I have been digging and digging and digging. Some might already be tired of me blabbering about what my pet turned into yesterday and what concept I try to reference by putting some arbitrary pixel mess on this and that creature. I live in a matrix that has led me into the wildest adventures through the internet. On many walks, I stumble over the thought of just writing out my experiences with virtual pet sites. Why that is, I am unsure of, yet there is an urge to talk about what makes this very niche genre of the internet very enjoyable.

A brief introduction to virtual pet sites usually includes the definition of what a pet actually is. It's usually a little critter that users can adopt and call their own. Classic implementations include the possibility to interact with it by feeding and playing with it and with its rise in popularity and a very intricate style of artwork, forums became a cult following. Users got the oportunity to express themselves through their pets by customizing their appearance and styling their own little webpages that could be hosted through very convenient over the pet site domain and a cute little ~tag. One would think about what your pets might like or dislike which gave roleplaying a new face. Virtual pet sites would include fun flash games to earn currencies and focus on the aspect of trading items for profit. Over the years, unfortunately, interest faded, yet a core fan base persists with thriving and diverse communities that could provide a safer space for minorities that could feel validated through the sites' art and representation. Of course, this came with a grain of salt as not every virtual pet site was an inclusive one which led to a multitude of drama which we will not address.

I am fairly new to the world of virtual pet sites. Only one year from now, I clicked my way through some videos and quickly found myself immersed in the most interesting communities. Not like many other kids, I was unaware of the Neopets hype because of the language barrier. My internet life has been very limited to the German interpretations of international media. We were on sites like Spickmich which was a social media platform for students to poke each other, do personality quizzes and play with their pet hamster. When Facebook was a thing, we jumped over to SchuelerVZ and Jappy which had their own stigmata going in our communities. While they definitely followed the idea of MySpace, we rarely talked about anything not German. To no surprise, those places do not exist anymore while Zuck munched up all the internet, which rendered my journey quite uneventful. Finding out about the old English-speaking internet was exciting, and that’s why I would love to share my thoughts about the intriguing communities of virtual pet sites.

I will be blunt, this will be a wild ride for me. Putting my riddled thoughts into blog posts while remaining more-or-less analytical through the process, I try to find a pet site narrative that suits my own beliefs as a computer science person. I love to code cool things, and making art is something that will always be dear to my heart. When these things collide, I have no choice but to indulge. We will take a look at the most prominent sites like Subeta and FlightRising while taking a side road to Strudel Café, Sylestia and Moderneopets. I will not be going over the original Neopets since of all the pet sites out there, it is by far the most dysfunctional. On this journey, I will write up some notes about my conclusions and how they might change throughout my arguments. To prevent my mind from going absolutely nuts, I will limit myself to talking about the sites’ systems closely related to virtual pets.

While I do have a certain order in mind, feel free to shoot me some pet sites that you love! I am always very happy to talk about others' experiences. Maybe the things resonate with you, or maybe they don’t. This topic is such a diverse and intriguing one, and me talking about it non-stop is a desperate call for attention. Just writing up these first sentences made me very happy, and I just can’t help but find myself thinking about the many things I would love to talk about.

So please take the pill. This matrix is a convoluted one.

Subeta: A Muse in Disguise

A walk in the public park, the wind blowing at your naked ears, the gravel building up in those shoes that you should have thrown out long ago, and, from time to time, you see a squirrel quickly jumping over the tree branches that have been losing their leaves quite early this year. You take a deep breath, you exhale and just can't wait to go home - to cover in your favorite blanket. Only then you realize that this home that you are longing for is of cardboard and that path that you have been walking on is of glue, paper and the most beautiful coat of paint. Visiting Subeta is a stroll in a field of splendid dreams that will fade away if you lose your focus. Well, for me at least.

There is something comforting about this site that I fail to put into word. It's not a rush of nostalgia for me, but a severe craving for more. I feel immersed by the artwork and the people, up until a point where it seems to lose itself. Subeta is a very conventional pet site mechanically, as it mirrors many factors of the classical Neopets experience. No wonder, as it was one of the big fan projects of the former titan of the genre. With Neopets' clear lack of adult themes, mindful representation and variety in tone, Subeta strived to give this other target group a place to thrive. My questions during one year of constant playing experience revolved around the potential browser games had, have and will have on internet culture and this is where most of said opportunities are buried deep.

Daily Clicks per Day

The game itself is a simple yet surprisingly unintuitive one. Players are presented with a variety of daily tasks that I will denote as redeems. Click the link, get the thing, rinse and repeat. Every redeem is quite unique as they focus on collectibles such as fruit from an intergalactic tree, a deal from a wanted criminal, or random treasure that you can find in bathhouse. It's cute, it's fast, and it opens up even more questions. What would I use those items for? Why can I wear them? Should I sell them? I feel like the overall experience is providing me with countless decisions that I still struggle to make.

What would a game be without the fundamental urge to be an underpaid figure of capitalism. Quickly, one might find themselves in the predicament of not having enough of one of the 3 currencies. Here we also encounter the most simple way to earn considerable amounts of so-called sP to buy ... stuff! Visit an NPC, buy them stuff, give it to them, and get stuff back! Item pools vary and are, quite frankly, difficult to keep track of. Rewards can be arbitrary junk, cool junk or important junk, which I will elaborate on when we will be talking about the actual pets. The things you don't need can be salvaged into currencies, hoarded or sold in one of the numerous user shops that serve as a source of income (for most people). If you feel dandy, you can grind up some more tedious tasks or play a bunch of very fun mini-games. As you see, there is a whole lot to do on a daily basis, which can leave you occupied for multiple hours a day. Trade junk, buy junk, look at junk, use junk! Well, jolly, so much to do! Yet where. are. the pets ..?

Of Potions and Pets

I can't help but sigh when I think about the pets of Subeta. What certainly sparked my interest was the multitude of colors a pet could come in. Users can use potions or various site mechanics to give their plain (yet still gorgeous) pets a new look. Contrary to the whimsical Neopets colors like Fairy, Pastel, Chocolate, or a bunch of problematic shit, Subeta comes through with Nightmare, Bloodred and Reborn designs for the many species. Not only are most of the designs quite rich, but evolving steadily, with occasional redesigns and additions for newer species. What's more is the huge amount of experimental pets that have the most amazing and creative designs far off the conventionally cute and pretty aesthetic, which made me fall in love with what the site was trying to portray. This could be a place to get inspired and DO things. This could leave you thinking about how this poor rat creature ended up with three beautiful heads, or how this blob of limbs could be a complex concept of time and space. Now, what would I do if those designs sparked my interest? Why in the hell would I adopt something that looks like a cow or a porcupine? Well, friend, the answer is a pet page.

Four times a week, a spotlight takes place where some pet is posted in the news. The creature at hand will most likely be very different to a pet that has been adopted out of the box. Fun layouts, more graphics, a bunch of junk, stats, prose, you can find it all here. To me, this is what it is all about. Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about a contest for a spotlight, but the portrayal of creative processes. We are six chapters in and only now I manage to express what a pet site can be. Aside from a generic gameplay loop of fetch, pet sites could have a very intricate role in shaping the internet. They are frameworks of media that jumpstart self-assigned and reachable goals through multi-medial and creative execution. Every time I think about it, I end up in the world of zines. These are the spaces where lots of web art comes to life nowadays. Here's where individuals get into drawing, designing, writing and programming. On this basis I will try to argue the effort each pet site that I will present makes to provide a safer space for minorities, artists and intersectional identities. I will try to sketch a pet site as a muse for people who want to get inspired or give their ideas home and representation.

Junkyard for the Wicked

Now that we've dug a bit deeper, found this little piece of gold, there is an obvious concern. Me boasting about how beautiful and accessible such a pet system is, does not change the fact that Subeta itself is struggling to balance those creative, autonomous mechanics well. Frankly, the focus has shifted towards systems more lucrative for obvious reasons to keep the site alive. A key element of the site has been the customization of user avatars with a large amount of junk where people are able to create their very own custom junk, which of course is a profitable system at that. A far more complex endeavor is the combat system, which has sparked controversy recently. I won't be going into detail as it has nothing to do with my point, yet it opens up the question of how all this junk keeps the user base engaged and how it ties in to the world of virtual pet sites.

I feel like you might be sick of me calling every item junk at this point. Honestly, I am quite torn on the definition of items. In some games, there even is a dedicated category that introduces items as trash; nonetheless, I feel like pet sites have a very special relation to that concept. Every Subeta item has at least one purpose and can be classified by type and rarity. The rarity denotes the accessibility of an item which opens up a bigger discussion that I am not (yet) willing to discuss. Every item has at least one purpose where users will have to decide how they would like to use this item. In an MMORPG context. It is analogues to the concept of soulbound items that can either be equipped and used or traded to other players. Will I consume my item and lose its value on the market? While tempting in design, the execution on Subeta leaves users clueless when one item can be consumed in multiple ways. Items can be read, eaten, played with, worn, used and or put into a pet's treasure chest. To put this into perspective, I will present the way I try to classify items personally. Arbitrary junk are items to me that I would not feel any attachment to. Those could be items with no unique interaction, progress or mechanic tight to it (i.e., furniture, toys or miscellaneous outliers). Cool junk includes the things that I love and want to include in my gameplay. Items that enable my creativity and make me build narratives, characters and concepts. This includes items that are just fun to look at or fascinate me. Important junk are items that I would like to just delete from the game as they are tied to game progression for various achievements. Unfortunately, this is where most cool junk intersects for me, and it is at this point where potentially bad design habits may arise. We no longer think about how we could use our new item, but we start to consider if we are going for completing artificial achievements or not. If we decide to ditch the progression, the beloved fight against the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) begins and we are confronted with new questions.

Should I read this book to my pet, or should I showcase it on the profile? Should my pet eat this cake, or could my avatar use it in any fun way? The answer is quite simply choice paralysis with newcomers ending up overwhelmed from the abundance of options since the site has been online for over a decade now with items being added constantly. That this concept is monetisable goes without saying, which leads me back to the very first metaphor. The value of pretty items is two-fold. Despite the obvious appeal for the audience to buy, more niche and unique themes lead to further inspirations for a pet. Users might identify with item sets regarding a certain kind of bug, a specific material, an obscure hobby or just a bunch of subtle references to other media. Every new item sparks at least someone's motivation to buy a slot for a pet, fill it up with junk and pamper it to make your own concept come to life. Contrary to that, a very specific and abstract design will deter a majority of users who will struggle to find an item worth the cost. We start to question if we are buying for the sake of having the item or genuinely enjoying it. When I saw a collection of books about vegetables doing crime, I immediately was thinking about one of my favorite books from my childhood, which made me write up a site about a cyber-criminal onion distributing media illegally. This shit is powerful if done right, and it is this slippery slope that Subeta will have to take when arguing the creative freedom they provide to the user. Are we talking inspiration or aspiration? Should users buy everything there is or everything they love? How will we help the user decide?

This has been quite the ride for me. I am in love with what Subeta is and what it might have been. Times are tough for old media, and I am more than amazed by its implementation and artistic possibilities, yet I can't help but think about its flaws. Confusing and incohesive mechanics, choice paralysis, an abundance of junk items most people might not even care about and a multitude of systems that will create ridges within a use base that is quite small at that. All that encompasses a core concept that influenced and keeps sparking ideas in the hearts of creative minds that just want to find a place to throw in their art, stories and opinions in a coat of stylized graphics accessible to a user base of intersectional identities. Obviously, we did not touch on everything there is to the site. I will throw in some more questions at the end of the post to spark some more ideas. Anyways, here are my personal takeaways, or a tl;dr if you'd like.

Virtual pet sites of the nature of Subeta are websites that can inspire people to be creative while providing them hosting possibilities in the scope of the site's aesthetic. They try to create immersion through interaction with your pet through items and will provide further stimuli for you to improve on it. Despite the availability of an atrocious amount of items, users may be faced with choice paralysis as the creative process converges towards "getting the thing" or going towards pre-defined achievements rather than investing in one's own goals. Where do we draw the line between giving users artistic freedom while making our coin? All that is part of this weird little journey, and I hope to find some more answers as I look through other prevalent pet sites out there.

How is forum culture still a part of virtual pet sites like Subeta and is there anything to improve on?
What are ways to tie together a multi-system virtual pet site with its functions (Wearables, Battling, Pets)?
What is the degree of freedom users should have when designing their pet pages?
Where to Persistent Browser-Based Games (PBBG) begin in the pet site context and what are current technologies employed in both sub-genres.

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