I personally am against it.<br /> <br /> I think that HA's make a site messy. I've tried human avatars, and I've had beloved websites to me turn to HA's, and it honestly makes things messy.<br /> <br /> One of the things I like about this site is the fact that HA's are non-existent. There's no pressure on having to dress them up so you don't have a 'naked' avatar, and well, I just don't see the point in it.<br /> <br /> What's really the point of having HA's? Dress them up? Cool. But they don't really do anything for the game. I joined this because I love dogs, not humans. I go on here to get AWAY from humans.<br /> <br /> If you want to play dressup, there are plenty of online games and hey, you could even ask your little sister who's been wanting you to for years.<br /> <br /> I don't like HA's, I think they have no point. They don't do anything other then sit there and get in my way.<br /> <br /> I don't know if that sounds harsh or not, I just don't see how it would benefit Alacrity.

There are many plans and ideas for the development of Alacrity behind the scenes :) Plans that have been in the works for almost a year. <br /> Just because the staff pokes around and asks what users think about features doesn't mean that it's 100% dead-set, going to happen, no matter what, no ifs, ands or buts. They're just asking for input - what you think, should it happen, what should be changed?, etc<br /> Mentioning a new idea will not direct the artists from their other projects - that would be a waste of time to have them half-abandon one project and the work on the next. I can assure you there are cool things in the works, one of which I personally am a bit excited for, but it's a surprise and not my place to get into anyways!!<br /> So all I can say is that art takes time, please be patient, mentioning HA's does not mean it's 100% going to happen, and that changes have to happen to a site or else the site gets stagnant and sinks!<br /> As an artist, I personally would love to discuss the time that goes into breed and site art and the time frame it takes to complete full images, so I think that if you want to continue that topic, you should take it to the debate board - I know there are other users that would be willing to give their opinions on it too :) In the meantime, let's try and keep this thread to human avatars, please?

I think its a perfectly valid argument.<br /> <br /> A new user makes an account on Alacrity. The first thing they're going to do is pick a dog breed! Hm, 12 breeds to pick from... Out of 100+ What are the chances we'll have THEIR breed? Or a breed similar to theirs? With 12 to go threw, you're going to get bored and eventually leave.<br /> <br /> Oh but wait, we have HAs?! Yeah no, that's not what is going to attract people and hook them into Alacrity. If people wanted to dress up humans they'd go to Gaia or Subeta or Aywas or Sonas or Khimeros or all those other pet sites. <br /> <br /> Capped dogs, a broken trial system and then a horribly outpaying frisbee game are what screwed up this economy so bad. Myself, like many useres, are just curious as to where Alacrity's priorites have gone. HAs? Seriously thats what Alacrity needs to bring it to life again? Why not create more engaging games so users can do more with their dogs? FLYBALL anyone? Dock Diving?

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Lookit the dates on those, there was a lot less artwork and a lot less economy issues in 2010. There's a reason we waited so long before Shibas, there was a lot of behind the scenes working on debugging a ton of issues on Alacrity. We had coders rewriting a ton of code to keep Alacrity running.<br /> <br /> Half the reason we had issues with the economy was putting out breeds so quickly, that it didn't recover. You can expect to wait more than 5 months for future breeds for that reason, for 3 years of art (unlike the 7 months of art for Borzois, or year and 7 months for Catas. In addition, it's the breed art that takes the most time, the majority of the items are redrawn post the breed being released.)<br /> <br /> You don't like having to wait so long, I'm sorry about that, but it's going to be a permanent change. Breeds will not be released every 2-4 months like before. <br /> <br /> Regardless, this is not a thread about how often breeds are released, if you have a suggestion to release them quicker, please put it in the suggestion forum.<br /> <br /> We are capable of brainstorming new ideas for Alacrity and working on current art. Mainly because the majority of our admins are not artists and the majority of our artists are not admins. We each have our jobs: our artists work extremely hard on our site art, the admins work on current bugs and look to plan for the future. If we didn't plan for the future, we'd have complaints about how nothing new ever changes on Alacrity.<br /> <br /> Again, a bit off the subject. So now that I've addressed your concerns, if you have further ones that are not directly about Human Avatars but rather your being upset due to the new amount of time between breed releases, I'd be happy to talk to you further via issue hub or another thread.

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Alright I'll bite. I'm aware of the need to space out breeds, though with how quickly people can hit the TP cap, and how just as quickly interest is lost as part of that, it's not what it use to be. Still, I do agree that for at least two months after a breed is released, that's all that sells. So, by that understanding lets look here.<br /> <br /> November 23rd, 2010 Borzoi's Were Officially Released<br /> <br /> 4 Months Later<br /> <br /> Mar 14, 2011 Huskies are Officially Released<br /> <br /> Another 4 Months Later<br /> <br /> Jul 21, 2011 Pitbulls are officially released.<br /> <br /> Another 4 Months (See a pattern here? OH BUT WAIT)<br /> <br /> Nov 15, 2011 Cata's were officially released<br /> <br />Editt// I shouldn't be doing this on my lunch break. There was a longer wait between breeds here because of the addition of puppy images and the need to get those caught up. Regardless, a voting of a new breed was started in March, four months after Catas.<br /> <br /> Jan 21, 2013 Shiba Inu's are officially released.<br /> <br /> It's going on five months now for our wait for Great Dane's since Shiba's were released. <br /> <br /> Why not focus on getting whatever items that <i>STILL</i> need to be done for Shiba's finished and work on Dane's, rather than brainstorm an 'accessory' addition to Alacrity that has not nearly as much benefit as a new breed. I imagine bone donations following a new breed will always be higher than the one time addition of HAs. But then again, Alacrity is a far cry from its glory days so who would be surprised to see humans prancing around Alacrity before Danes. need to be done for Shiba

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I, personally, as well as illusions think that the HAs would drag attention away from the real cause of the game. Also, I really don't like HAs and they creep me out - a lot. I really think that, since the shiba's accessories (I believe), aren't quite done, as well as finishing up the danes, that if added should wait a while. Alacrity has a lot to get done and I don't think bringing in a new idea would be 'good' at the time. <br /> To include, like Talon, I'd like to see more dog breeds added to the site as well as the art staff's talent and time going towards dog-related things, rather than Human Avatars. That's basically all I can say without repeating myself ;) sorry if it was already posted, the stuff I said.. <br /> <br /> But, yeah, I'm against it. <br /> <br /> [Ignore what I've just spoken ZJ, if it's something you mentioned below. I was typing when you posted..]

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Shadow:<br /> <br /> To put some perspective on things, we (the admin team) have been talking about some of these changes since before the polls. This is not something we will rush into, you won't see human avatars in a month if we decide to do it. We're discussing this now because we've accomplished a lot of the other changes we discussed (like the Mascot and the Bone Barn) and this is next on our list to see what the site thinks of it before we decide to move forward in our plans or not. Plans, not creation.<br /> <br /> Secondly we space out the dog introductions for many reasons. Firstly, would be the amount of art work that goes into it. 3 years worth of accessories need to be made for each new addition, shibas have a few items that have been missed that we're catching up on. It also drains our artists, and we don't want to take advantage of their skill by dumping a new breed on them every few months.<br /> <br /> Secondly, and importantly, a new breed affects the economy of Alacrity greatly. Money pours into Ala but it also throws several thousand new dogs onto the site in a short time, and screws up breeding sales for all other breeds. By waiting between breeds, it allows the breeding economy to stabilize. It allows the monetary economy to stabilize as well.<br /> <br /> Lastly, we are going to do Danes, having Human Avatars will not affect when the Danes come out. If by some twist of fate we released Avatars before Danes, it would not be because we took our artists away from working on Dane items or decided to put Humans before Dogs. It would be because the site is not ready to handle a new breed yet.

I'm against the idea :'><br /> I personally don't like HA at all.<br /> <br /> One, because they stereo type different races. HAs can be limiting and could cause many social problems. It might encourage racist comments, making users uncomfortable. Personal experience myself, when others would laugh at the 'squinty' eyes option and stereotype them as 'Chinese' or 'Japanese' eyes - this made me uncomfortable because I am Chinese, and I can tell you that I DON'T have squinty eyes. <br /> Perhaps it's just me being too nit picky, but it makes me really uncomfortable.<br /> <br /> Two, because this is a dog sim and if HAs are included + users can accessorize them, it might drag the real focus of the site onto something unrelated.<br /> <br /> Three, they creep me out ;m;<br /> <br /> My opinion might be affected by my bad experience with HAs x3x;<br /> <br /> So, maybe the feature should be optional. Or charged with bones.<br /> <br /> c':

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"I think the artists were still getting items on to shibas since shibas were released. We have a ton of items that have to be fitted. New breeds take patience."<br /> <br /> The two winning breeds were announced in Nov, Shiba's were officially released in Jan. It is now June and not a word on Danes, but all this talk of Human Avatar sketches? Considering this is a dog sim, I'd think pushing out more breeds to attract more players would be a higher priority. How many people come to Alacrity looking for a HA? <br />

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I think the artists were still getting items on to shibas since shibas were released. We have a ton of items that have to be fitted. New breeds take patience.<br /> <br /> I'd personally like to see other reasoning other than danes =)