((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 >< ))

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 />

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.

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<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.

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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.

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. :}