04-2-2013 at 12:45 AM

I think the site has been making a bit too many big (and nasty) changes lately, when I think they COULD have used some more subtle choices. <br /> <br /> I started playing around valentines. So I actually was able to<br /> <br /> 1) play frisbee game when it was still worth playing<br /> <br /> Since the problem was that some people had so many dogs they'd make a fortune daily with this game, I think it would have been smarter to instead make a limit as to with how many dogs can you play this game each day, instead of making the game literally "a waste of energy"<br /><br /> 2) be in the valentines explore -style event and get items I otherwise would have to save a lifetime for<br /> <br /> If this is only temporary then good, but I think the new backyard dig should at LEAST be able to stack up some digs instead of you having to come and play it every.half.an.hour..<br /> <br /> 3) buy things from the monthly shop without bones.<br /><br /> As suggested before, they could at least make the prices somewhat lower so that even the younger members could have a chance of getting something from the monthly shop. Maybe at least make 1 set of monthly items buyable with game cash? <br /> ...and I really am thinking; are ala's people not scared that instead of getting more cash, they end up making users upset and maybe even quit the game? Or at the very least it will be extremely difficult to now start playing since pretty much everything's been made much more difficult. I agree that it's good that ala is trying to get cash when they need it, but I really REALLY think that there would have been better choices.

03-30-2013 at 12:56 AM

Haven't read it all yet. Mostly, I like a lot of the changes that happened while I was gone. Not so the monthly shop change. <br /> <br /> Let's clarify one thing. When a site like this one "needs money" it means it needs more profit. I happen to know the figures the site made when Rob was selling and I doubt it has gone down that much. I also know what servers cost (having 2 myself right now) and what you need to pay for artists if you don't pay them site currency. Only thing I do not know is what the programmer gets but I doubt it is 5k. <br /> <br /> So I very very much doubt that "the site needs money." The owner wants a reasonable profit. Which is logical from a business POV. Some people probably do not spend so much anymore. This is something that has to do with RL economy, too, not just the way things are here. <br /> <br /> I think when people compared Ala to a certain other unmentionable site, they did not really mean it literally. What was meant was probably that Ala has turned away from the family feeling towards being just another micro-payment site. That's not quite correct of course, but I do understand where those people come from. <br /> <br /> Now a lot of players don't care for deco items that much, and even those who do aren't all collectors. But it is in the nature of people to want all the things they like, even when they put it in as a long term goal. With the changes, I imagine most people who can even afford the around 100 bones a month (by my count) the monthly shop items will cost (with the current somewhat inflated bone prices) will only get one of each item. Exception maybe for good companions. <br /> <br /> Which means it is even less likely those items will show up in the shops unless for even more bones (because prices rise once it is gone from the shop more often than not). <br /> <br /> Thus, really collecting will be a money sink that might fit the recent article I saw about games and online addiction in connection with micro-payment sites. <br /> <br /> Personally, I'm not going to fall into that trap. I will probably stop collecting seeing how little time I have to be on and thus less chance to make money or find bone specials. I think I mentioned that I sat out on items I didn't like that much/didn't really need. I have a feeling others might react likewise. <br /> <br /> And yeah you might not NEED the monthly shop items. However, as they include the companions and occasional other functional items, you are at a disadvantage without them. That's a simple fact. <br /> <br /> Of course, as far as monthly items are concerned, this probably won't matter much to the site. Except form the occasional swag bag, I usually used Ala cash to pay as I already put enough money into the site with other things (like dog slots). Where it matters is probably with donation items. Once I am not collecting anymore, I won't need all of those, either. So I'll likely end up buying less bones instead of more. <br /> <br /> Ideas for fixing this? I might have some, but they would need lots of thinking and probably another thread :-) Might not be doable either with the code of the site - things like "buy one monthly shop item with bones, then be able to buy one of same value for money." Yes, that would also mean you'd need to have to have bones to start with, but it would at least cut down on the amount needed. There could also be a random bone event with the twist that the more bones you already have, the less likely it would be for you to find one. But as I said, not quite thought through. <br /> <br /> Oh, and so you don't get me wrong. I'm definitely not against games like this needing to make a profit. That's the way the world works. Just a question of where the limits are to still make it fun for everyone. <br /> <br /> Changes I definitely love are the mascot, the collection Chinese stuff in the donations, the reduction of frisbee money (although I think the reduction was overdone but that is some other topic probably) and the, after years of discussing it on and off, addition of the "pregnant" icon! YAY! Oh and of course the find item function (could we please add CAs to this?) and the ability to hide items you don't want in the scene but need for function. <br /> <br /> Might post more later. All in all, site has gotten better, monthly shop change or not. <br /> <br />

03-18-2013 at 7:49 PM

(Yeah, this is going to be a short post, sorry)<br /> <br /> I agree 100% with this post. I can not donate, and it's really hard to get bones without donating. I read how to get cash, which is still hard to do, and Newbies like me don't have good items to sell. I tried to get my Mom to donate $1 but no, of course not, "It's just a bunch of fake dogs". That hurt my feelings, and I still can't donate. Even after playing all of the games, there's no profit. Between food and other Alacrity Main Shop necesities, I have almost no money at the end of the day/rollover. I don't see any bone prices going down either.

03-3-2013 at 3:01 AM

**This is continuation over from news post**<br /> <br /> "The frisbee was changed to balance out the loss from the trial change"<br /> Yes, but I dont think any real long-term testing was done on that. Carni tested it out with her dogs and was able to rake in the cash. I don't know how many dogs Carni used but I highly doubt it's as many as other people have on this site.<br /> To quote another player from the news post: "I'm just surprised the game was like that for so long. "<br /> <br /> I can go in and play all the games (excluding trialing and frisbee) well on both my side and main accounts, make $12,000 total, buy up 24 pound dogs, train each of them only in basic (which only takes a few clicks because I have a Trainer Perk as well as a Scholar Collar), and then frisbee them.<br /> I believe the higher end of one frisbee throw was like $1,200? Please correct me if I'm wrong and I'll fix my math, but for now I'll use that amount.<br /> One dog could play for five throws, so one dog could make a max of $6,000 per day.<br /> 24 dogs frisbeed at a MAX of $1,200 a throw, playing for five throws comes out to $144,000 per day.<br /> That's $144,000 from <i>one day</i>of playing all of the games on the site.<br /> Say I have a lot of slots because I'm a rich mcgee and I want to keep doing this.<br /> I could buy up 168 dogs per week, basic train them, and frisbee them.<br /> One dog x 5 throws = max of $6,000 per day<br /> $6,000 x 168 dogs = max of $1,008,000 per week <br /> <br /> Over one million $$ gained simply by buying and basic-training pound dogs using the money gained from game-playing lol. It was a little ridiculous!<br /> <br /> Now that the change is put into place, the math in the same situation would be as follows:<br /> One dog x 3 throws = a max of $600 per day<br /> One day's game playing = 24 dogs<br /> 24 dogs x max of $600 per day = max of $14,400 per day.<br /> Using the above scheme for one week:<br /> 24 dogs x max of $600 = max of $14,400 per day x 7 = $100,800 per week.<br /> <br /> Rich McGee mode:<br /> 168 dogs bought = max of $600 per day, per dog = $100,800 per day<br /> $100,800 per day x 7 = $705,600 per week<br /> <br /> So it's not <i>entirely unreasonable</i> to make money this way, it just takes a lot more work now. Either way, trialing is still a good way to make cash right now so if you've spent your time on Ala breeding for TP like me, you're in luck.

03-2-2013 at 2:17 PM

I do not see bones maintaining their current high costs over an extended period of time. For various reasons. <br /> <br /> Anyway, watching this site hemorrhage money from the sidelines, I see absolutely no problem in the change to the monthly shop, and I find the accusations of "pay to play" more than a little ridiculous. The site is trying to stay afloat. Better this, which seems to be a long time coming, actually, than the entire site being shut down. Which is not an exaggeration. A website like Alacrity absolutely can't be cheap to run, if I were the owner and it got that bad, -I'd- consider shutting it down. I'm grateful that it's being changed before that can happen, and I really hope that it works out.<br /> <br /> Monthly shop items are not necessary to play. They're just a pretty and occasionally helpful bonus, but everything that can be done with them can also be done with either normal currency items, or hard work and time.<br /> <br /> Anyway, I have been gone for a long time. I hope the next time I show up the site has gone through with all of these changes. Right now, it's the same site it was in 2011.. Me? I like positive change. Now that the issues the site was having are out of the way, I'm eager to see what will happen with it.

03-2-2013 at 2:16 AM

My views on this whole thing is as follows,. Well, first I'd like to start off by saying that if things don't make sense I'm sorry lol I'm sick.<br /> <br /> Okay.<br /> I believe 100% that the staff and artists payment should be held above items like monthly shop and whatnot, I'm very sad to hear that they are going unpaid. However...<br /> I don't understand the idea that staff will be cut down a bunch of items (I assume so that they can be paid realisticly? I don't know how to word that), but I don't understand... the idea behind taking items from the monthly shop, and instead turning that art into main-shop items (bought for cash I believe).. I don't really see how taking the same amount (or MORE) art and making it for cash only is a change at all.<br /> <br /> I believe that the whole monthly shop change will make the costs of bones go even higher. If you look at it this way...<br /> Monthly shop will now be a special place for donators (or really rich players who can afford 300k a bone). People who buy these with bones will probably sell the excess in their user shop (assuming they even spend the extra bones for large bags). Why would they sell the items for cash? They have the $$ for bones, why not just sell one bone for $300k a piece? bones are now super valuable and rare<br /> So my assumption is that people will sell their items for bones only and because the MS is bones-only, bones will become more valuable and more higher priced<br /> After all, if you can't purchase the items in the MS for $$, only bones... one would think you'd just go ahead and buy bones to buy from the MS.<br /> It will not drani the cash on the site at all, it will just trade bones from player-to-player and get some of the bones off the site (which isn't the huge problem with the economy)<br /> <br /> However, y'all should know there'\s cool things in the works for Alacrity, and there really is no plan on going PTP. I don't like PTP sites, because I don't have the money for that.. and if Ala were to ever go to PTP, I'd simply leave, but ala isn't so I'm sitting it out and seeing how it goes, just like y'all should too before jumping ship :)<br /> <br /> Just my 2 cents

03-1-2013 at 7:55 PM

I don't see anything wrong with switching the monthly shop to bones-only. In fact, I think it's a wee bit ridiculous that there are users who are so upset over it. When it comes down to it, the monthly shop was meant to be a shop for rarer, limited-edition items and it simply isn't that anymore. A great majority of the players can pick up whatever they want from it, which defeats it's point. Not to mention that the cash prices were dirt cheap. With the change, the purpose of the monthly shop will be restored, and I will be very glad to see that! It's been one of my "pet peeves" for a very long time.<br /> <br /> Additionally, a lot of users are missing that in exchange for fewer monthly items and a bones-only monthly shop, there will be many more items added to the main stores, and those items are <i>very</i> attainable. Everyone will still be able to obtain new items!<br /> <br /> Changes like this need to happen for if Alacrity keeps losing money like it has, there will be no Alacrity.

03-1-2013 at 7:29 PM

<i>"What I don't like is that people like me, users who have been a part of this site for a very long time, might not be able to enjoy the monthly shop anymore because we don't have bones."</i><br /> <br /> I joined the site before it had a monthly shop. You joined the site when it's monthly shop was bones only.<br /> <br /> This meant neither of us could get the items from the shop. Something we're both familiar with having started on this site.<br /> <br /> This did not dampen my love of Alacrity. This did not stop me from telling everyone I knew about Alacrity. I expect sites to have perks for donators, I expect this because - like myself - sites have bills to pay to keep it up and running. I expected to not get items.<br /> <br /> I was happy getting the RE companion and having enough cash to buy an item or two out of someone's store.<br /> <br /> I was happy with the new items coming out every month in the main store and trialing my dogs and training them. I still am with that. <br /> <br /> I've been talking about more main store items for eons because I think the site needs more low cost items for all players to enjoy.<br /> <br /> I see a lot of arguments for "new players" who won't be able to buy monthly shop items for cash. New players do not have enough money to buy monthly store items with cash. New players <b>need more main store items</b> not monthly store items.<br /> <br /> We're looking to make this site better for everyone. That means a site that new players can come in and see new items in the main store every month, that means a site older players can continue to find interest in by adding new features, that means a site where donators have perks that others do not, that means a site that can support itself and not rely on an owner investing his own money.<br /> <br /> As someone who joined the site because it was free to play and didn't donate, I can speak to the fact that I never felt the need to donate. Nor the want to collect all the monthly items. Nor ever having issue with the fact donators had more. I love Alacrity for the fact it's free to play, and I do not begrudge donators from having more opportunities than me, as I cannot be a donator.

03-1-2013 at 4:38 PM

I agree with Rabby, it would be nice if the bone prices for the items in the shop were lowered once it is a bone only feature ^^<br /> <br /> I also think it would be nice if "companions" from now on that get placed in there would come in a companion version and a decoration version.

03-1-2013 at 4:01 PM

I'm not sure if I would count as a newer member. I know my ID is low-ish, but technically I've only been actively playing Alacrity for a few months. And one thing I can say without a doubt is that I love this website. I love its members; I love its staff; and I absolutely adore the site as a whole. These changes are difficult to swallow for all of us since we're all pretty used to being able to buy from that shop with alacash. But everyone seems to be forgetting that this site /needs/ an income to stay alive. That's not just a lie to make us all feel bad and empty our pockets so that staff can roll in money. That's a cold hard fact. <br /> <br /> Alacrity is not money hungry. These are motions being put forth to try to ensure that there will still be an Alacritysim a year or two from now and so on. All that artwork, all those dogs you bred and customized, and every memory made here will be null if the site cannot afford to stay open. I can't stress that enough. I donate to here as often as I can, and that's not totally because of the absolutely beautiful items. It's because I want this website to thrive. I happily support the way this place is handled. I've been staff on other websites before here and I can tell you right now that the amount of care and love that goes into this place is unbelievably high by comparison. Members are listened to, and staff are polite and required to set an example. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find websites like that. This is a great place, and it deserves way more praise for all the things it's doing right, in my opinion.<br /> <br /> It's so extremely understandable what a letdown it feels like to those who simply can't donate. But it seems like people are treating this change like it's pay-to-play. Which I know I wouldn't like, and probably wouldn't be very quick to work with. But if you think about it, it isn't moving in that direction at all. The monthly items and what is provided through them are a privilege. Not a right. And these changes are just that: changes. Nobody likes them because they alter what we're accustomed to. I think people need to chill and hear everyone out before they go making all these judgments. <br /> <br /> I remain supportive on this topic. I want to see Alacrity grow and flourish, and if this is what the higher ups deem necessary to do this, then I'll back it. My only suggestion would be to perhaps lower the bone costs of all the items that go into the monthly shop once the switch is made. I think everyone would be much happier to donate if they knew they could get more out of that donation.

03-1-2013 at 3:16 PM

((Slightly off topic, but I realize that we are also going to need to hear the opinions of newer users. A lot of us older users know how the site used to be and have been through a lot, but I'm also VERY keen to knowing what newer users have to say. I don't think advertising this is allowed in chat though >&lt; ))

03-1-2013 at 3:11 PM

Before I really start getting into this topic at length, I first want to mention that the staff team works very hard to do what is best for the site. It should be noted that since becoming a staff member, I don't feel that my style of gameplay has changed much, if at all. I am still a player like the rest of you, and therefore have the same concerns and way of playing the game.<br /> <br /> I'm mentioning this because some players mistakenly believe that staff have a hidden agenda and are "all about the money". It's like Carni just said, the site is not profiting right now, it is losing money. That is not a happy picture for any of us, staff or not - we all love this game, otherwise we wouldn't bother trying to change things to keep it online.<br /> <br /> Of course, we would all love it if the site could be completely free, but the fact is that the server costs money, our coders have to be paid, and as it is, we have many admins and artists that are doing volunteer work around the clock, sacrificing the pay they should be receiving in order to be able to cover those costs. Many of our artists and admins are college students, or young adults who have just started their independent lives. For them to be giving unpaid time to this site for all of us to be able to enjoy it is nothing short of incredible and selfless. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment before making accusations that they're "in it for the money", if this were true, the site would have been shut down a long time ago. <br /> <br /> This site is anything but pay to play - any items that one NEEDS to be able to play the game are available for alacrity cash. The monthly items and other such things are fun, sure, but most are either useless in terms of actual benefit to the game, or offer special advantages that are in no way vital to gameplay.<br /> <br /> While it was nice to have these items available to everyone, the fact remains that the site is losing money and eventually something had to change. As Carni was saying, we as a group have been discussing many new and exciting things for this site, to help point the spotlight back on the original focus of the game: agility dogs. <br /> <br /> Just try to keep these things in mind, because I think we can all agree that having a few upgrade items be a little rarer is a lot better than not having this site anymore. <br /> <br />

03-1-2013 at 3:02 PM

I have seen a lot of other sites have USD currency only "monthly items" so I don't see why Alacrity can't have the same thing. You don't -have- to buy them, they are a bonus for people who donate. Though at the same time, bones ARE needed for custom dogs; and people often use all the bones they collect for that. I think this is fine for ala to expect donations. What I'm more interested in is more community events; site trivias in chat, more competitions, etc. I think those are the types of things that will help build the community and make people want to stay because the site is fun and has events and such ^^ I know some of the other games I play on I end up logging onto all the time because there are constantly events going on. When people have fun, they donate. And they don't worry so much about things like this where the site needs to change a little to get more donations :) Might seem a little off topic, but, I think to curb the monthly shop change, some fun changes should accompany it.<br /> <br /> And as Shadow Wolf said, getting alacrity back to being an actual GAME is also highly needed. I feel no point in playing anymore. There are really no goals to obtain, not as far as having a dog appear on the top dawg list and whatnot. That was a major part of people wanting to focus on their dogs... but when people get such high TP dogs like there are now (10k+ just isn't possible for some people) there is a lot of fun lost.<br /> <br /> Having top lists for many things would be great. The top dog list as it is now, I don't think should be removed. People worked hard on that. But create a new one. And when people pull up the top dog list page, make it show a random page instead of the same one all the time. That being said, make a top page for trials won (not just overall, but within a week's span as well so there is an ongoing list to try to get on), beauty shows won (same as with trials), speed, drive, etc. (Hey, maybe even a trial shows /entered/ to encourage people to enter their dogs!) They are just lists, but they are goals people like to try to reach. One of my favorite things about this site was hitting top dog on lists. It's fun to see your dog displayed there. For some people, though, that just isn't possible.

03-1-2013 at 2:50 PM

<i>"We're going to refocus the site on what it was always supposed to be focused on. Agility! Trialing! Training your dogs and breeding more high quality trialers! &lt;3"</i><br /> <br /> THIS. I can't stress this enough. It feels like Alacrity has lost its path and isn't an agility sim anymore. I don't know about the rest of the players but I honestly make more money picking dogs up from the pound, basic training them, and playing Frisbee. Its not worth it to trial anymore. Even with ALL my capped dogs, the profit is nothing compared to what I make from the frisbee game. I understand the change to the monthly shop and am not surprised by that, so I'm not really going to debate that actual topic. I simply don't see it as being a huge encouragement to get people donating.<br /> <br /> Making the site fun again and worth investing in is what I'd like to see. Right now its all about getting a capped dog, throwing soldier helmets on it, picking up some aviator caps and trying to get the highest tp, which isn't even obtainable at all. So really, what is there worth breeding for anymore? A few side projects, sure, but those can only keep your attention for so long. I've loved this site and even I find myself logging in maybe once a day. I'd like to see the whole Top Dawgs list get an overhaul. Bring agility back into the agility sim.

03-1-2013 at 1:48 PM

thank you for this thread &lt;3 im a newer member but I have Alactrity saved on the top bar of my browser lmao I love this site, not only for the wicked art but also for the player contact I always feel like theres something going on here and things to do. Id love to see an explore part of the site, because the valentines explore was SO fun and I miss looking forward to it...that being said if I had more money id deffinately donate more &lt;3 I don't want to see Alacrity loose members Its the only sim I keep coming back to again and again.

03-1-2013 at 1:42 PM

Thank you for presenting a debate that isn't welcoming bashing to the site! And you're right! This definitely is not Foo, so I'll be happy not to see that comparison being drawn. &lt;3<br /> <br /> That said, the reason bone prices are currently so high is because the trial payouts were insane there for a long time. Plus, people could just create a trial, enter all their own dogs into it, and guarantee wins and prize money that exceeded the cost of entering all their dogs. This is the biggest cause of the instability of our on-site economy. Back when it was more difficult to earn cash, bone prices were smaller, because the value of $1 was higher.<br /> <br /> Changing the monthly shop to bone-purchase-only isn't going to address this problem, and we're aware of that. But we do have lots of plans behind the scenes to implement money sinks, and to seriously overhaul the trial system, or at leas the way in which winnings are paid out. We're going to refocus the site on what it was always supposed to be focused on. Agility! Trialing! Training your dogs and breeding more high quality trialers! &lt;3<br /> <br /> I don't want to give away specifics because these ideas are still pre-production and may change over the course of discussing them with the Coder and taking all aspects of the site into account. <br /> <br /> Previously, there was next to no incentive to donate beyond getting our donation-only items. Why pay bones when you can just buy everything with cash, instead? Because of this, most of our admins and artists have gone unpaid in $USD, and have to settle for site currency to compensate them. Even so, even with the few staff we can afford to pay, Alacrity isn't making any profit. It's actually losing money every month, so the site owner is paying out of pocket just to keep it running. So if we didn't do this, (on top of implementing the new features that are currently in the works) then the obvious conclusion is that the site would have to be shut down entirely. <br /> <br /> But we definitely never want to be a pay-to-play site. We just didn't feel it was unreasonable to make this switch, all things considered. We do understand and fully expected that not everyone would be happy with this change. But it's a necessary first step.<br /> <br /> For those who stick around with us, I think you're all gonna be really excited about everything we have in store! Things that will not require you to donate or pay bones to enjoy. &lt;3<br /> <br /> As for the chipin idea, that's what site donations are for. And we've already added our $5-$10 collectible items. <br /> <br /> One certainty will be the Bone Barn! A new shop that's been talked about for ages, but will hopefully be implemented soon, where there will be special items unique to that store, all for just 1 bone each. That should help encourage people who can only donate $1 or so to the site. :}