Recent News
Search Options ►Streaming Item Artist
Random Silliness
One of our item artists is streaming live, in case you want to watch.
Some of her work here on Aywas!
Go watch items be drawn!
Posted by Jack
(#1) on Tue Sep 6, 2011 12:19pm
Concerns and Community
Site Update
If you like the idea of the reputation feature suggested in the comments, why not share some thoughts on it on this thread?
Hello folks, I'd like to talk about something that concerns me. There have been quite a lot of people who have mentioned the Aywas community has not felt the same and has seemed, almost... colder and ruder.
In the beginning, we all knew each other from a small handful of common sites. We recently passed 30,000 users - so we've grown a whole bunch from the original beta testers, and people from all kinds of sites have joined and made Aywas their home.
With more people, the original family feel gets diluted. I suppose that happens when you have so many people coming in. We can, however, all work together on that.
First thing is, for those of you coming from more aggressively moderated sites, you may not know that the moderators are all really, really nice people. If someone rubs you the wrong way or behaves disrespectfully to you, our staff is always here to help. We've seen a large number of these sort of reports lately and we encourage you to keep reporting. We want to help!
Second thing is, we have always required that members be mature and respectful - it's a staple of our TOS . It's kind of awkward phrasing, but I think it's still a decent description - to show respect to other members, the staff that works hard to entertain you, and the site as a whole.
This seems to be slipping. More and more, there are people who are not acting mature and/or respectful. We've seen a larger increase of individuals who express damaging and hurtful comments in public places, on and off site. This also contributes to an overall feeling of coldness and breeds pain and anger, because whether it's here or not, it still affects all of the community in the way that it infects. We encourage thoughtful feedback, but we don't tolerate bashing and mindless insults, whether here or elsewhere. That hurts our community feel, and does not represent a mature and respectful attitude.
While we want to welcome everyone, maturity and respect is necessary to keep our community thriving, and keep that family feel we all yearn for. The best way to ensure this is to report inappropriate behavior and contribute ideas, not venom and hatred.
That said, please remember that Aywas is a private website. It's one of the things that sets us apart from other ones - our ability to filter registrations. That doesn't end at the sign up page, though. We want a community full of awesome people who have fun together and are, of course, mature and respectful. Please remember to be mindful of how you treat others, the staff, and the site - everywhere. Our community does not welcome hurtful attitudes, and we as staff will step up and do our best in preserving the purpose of our filter.
Your reports are the most helpful in aiding us there - whether it's someone speaking in chatspeak or someone who acts disrespectfully toward you, site, or staff, your reports can make or break our efforts.
I think our community needs healing, but I know we can do it. :) Thanks to all for reading. Now let's do our best!
Posted by Jack
(#1) on Mon Sep 5, 2011 8:33pm
Snake Solis
Pets
It's the 5th anniversary of Steve Irwin's death. It's strange how it's already been five years since he died... I still watch his show on Animal Planet, and he had always shown reptiles in a positive light, something we still need more of in the media.
In his memory I released some more snake-related Solis into Explore:
Did Steve Irwin inspire you?
Posted by Jack
(#1) on Sun Sep 4, 2011 10:57pm
Art Gallery
Contests
Art Gallery
Here are this week's Art Gallery winners:
The winners won:
Next week's theme is: Comics (one page)! Why not try entering?
Posted by Jack
(#1) on Sun Sep 4, 2011 6:01pm
MBCs and other announcements
Site Update
The main point of this newspost is to announce that MBCs have been upped in price in the BP Shop, to 3,000,000 BP each. I know some people might be disappointed in this, but I've seen that they are a bit too easy to get right now with how readily available BP is right now. Price hikes in order to combat a growing Aywas economy are to be expected, so I hope everyone can understand this change! Any items are subject to this within reason, and we consistently monitor the market to balance things out.
I also want to use this post to take people back a bit. Remember this proposition we made about making old x new lineart breedings predict-only? This came into effect March 22nd of this year. It includes Half LBC, LBC, and MBC, and I've realized that many people after that cutoff date continued to submit old x new lineart breedings that sit in the queue and clog it up.
So this is a warning to you all -- it was an unspoken rule in the past that we allowed a month to submit predicts in before you might risk not having them used due to the queue moving along. This is still a reminder for all other breedings to get predicts in quicker, but it pertains to these old x new breedings in particular. All people with an old x new breeding after the above cutoff date have until October 1 to submit predicts for it. After that, I will be going through and refunding all outstanding old x new breedings past March 22nd.
You would be surprised at how much this could potentially speed the queue along. There's still a lot left, and our dedicated artists have done well at cutting down the old x new prior to that date and getting out your offspring! Any before March 22nd will still be completed by artists, so don't fret there.
One last little thing -- please, please be sure to read the descriptions on the new breeding add-ons. There are rules for a reason! For example:
Edit Potion + Hybrid Embryo = Legit! 1 offspring, 50% edits, random hybrid species.
Edit Potion + Greater Fertility Potion = Not legit! Edit Potion = 1 Offspring, so you can't get two!
Artist Palette on a BC breeding = ...Doesn't work for this coin!
My policy is generally not to refund mistakes if I come across them in the queue. If a user contacts me, however, and explains their issue I do take more consideration on a case-by-case basis. If you submit and just neglect to read, though, I won't refund you! So heed this and happy breeding!
Posted by Ash
(#90) on Sat Sep 3, 2011 7:23pm
Saturday Pets
Pets
It appears to be Saturday again!
Saturday Pets
Next week's pets will be Chromo, Oakl, Gael. :)
Monthly Customs
Here are the winners for the monthly customs.
Custom #1: Krill Micah #4366 out of 144 people
Custom #2: Karp and Music #3021 out of 150 people
Custom #3: Nurisha #25601 out of 87 people
Custom #4: drakeguard #16018 out of 115 people
Custom #5: CrimsonLotus #21385 out of 49 people
Custom #6: Guil #246 out of 134 people
Custom #7: Ruck #188 out of 70 people
Custom #8: Daweia #7193 out of 138 people
Custom #9: Caelo #7658 out of 356 people
Posted by Jack
(#1) on Sat Sep 3, 2011 2:45pm
Story Game Winner
Contests
This week's Story Game winner is...
ChocolateRain #19280
Prize: Blue Custom Crystal
Posted by Jack
(#1) on Fri Sep 2, 2011 9:35pm
Welcome to September!
Site Update
Welcome to September!
September News and Updates
Progress on Battledome and Adventure is still going well. We honestly don't know when we'll be able to release it, but we did just code a huge buttload of unique items for Battledome. We have a couple more we want to add in at Yasu's suggestion. Maybe it'll come this month?
There are no big events coming for September. There is a user-requested event coming on September 10th that will last 24 hours and shouldn't tax you too much. All the big stuff starts in October so this is the calm before the storm, so to speak.
Cash Shop Pets
Here are all the news pets that can be found in the Cash Shop for the month of September.
Click on any of the pets to go to the Cash Shop! They cost 3 GP for a common or 5 GP for an uncommon.
BP Shop Pets
Here are all the news pets that can be found in the BP Shop for the month of September!
Click on any of the pets to go to the BP Shop! They cost 200,000 BP for a common or 500,000 BP for an uncommon.
Monthly Items and Lunaris
September's birthstone is the Sapphire, which means that a Sapphire Lunaris has climbed from the depths to join those whose birthdays lay in September. :)
The Essence of September 2011 is the monthly potion, and is in the Cash Shop for 2 GP.
This month's premium item is A Bottomless Trunk.
Monthly Contests
One small change to the monthly contests is that we're allowing hybrids in the submissions now.
October Monthly Pets - GP Shop
Prize: 3 SP, or 15 GP, or $15 USD, and a copy of the pet
October Monthly Pets - BP Shop
Prize: 2 SP, or 10 GP, or $10 USD, and a copy of the pet
October Customs Contest - Trick or Treaters
Prize: 1 SP or 5 GP, and a Gold Custom Crystal or Silver Potion
Free Customs
We're giving away nine customs designed during the previous month under the theme POST-APOCALYPTIC WARFARE.
To play the free custom game, please include the phrase "CUSTOM #__" in your news comment. For example, if you want Custom 1, please comment "CUSTOM #1."
You may only request one custom, may only request once, and only one person will randomly win each custom.
1..............................2..............................3
4..............................5..............................6
7..............................8..............................9
The random drawing will occur on September 3, giving you a little over 24 hours to make your choice. :)
Now that we're at the end, please remember to contact Visark (#185) for your artist's payment if you won any of the September contests.
Posted by Jack
(#1) on Thu Sep 1, 2011 4:12am
Many updates
Site Update
Raffle Crystal Winner
Caelo #7658
Who had 259 Raffle Crystals, out of 23,671 total.
Caelo's prize was: Neura Custom.
Next week's prize: Breeding Coin
Trivia
Trivia has been updated!
Haunted House Submissions
It's about that time to accept submissions to the big events coming up in October! Check out the thread for more information.
There will be three basic divisions to the way pets are released for Halloween. There will be the explore area, of course, some pets that are released in certain features, and then a special custom design feature. Submit if you're interested in seeing your designs in any of the features :)
TOS Update
A small TOS update has been added.
- not excessively advertise other websites or outside services, nor solicit for Staff members of a competing site on Aywas
We have added that we would like members to not solicit staff for competing websites from the Aywas userbase. There are better places to do it, like Deviantart or VirtualPetList. Thank you.
Posted by Jack
(#1) on Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:21am
Bottled Starlight
Items
Currently raffling a Bottled Starlight for Bottled Elemental Storms.
It kind of blows my mind how cheap this custom making item is, especially considering it's a rare...
Do you guys not like the pet or something? Is it too easy to get?
Posted by Jack
(#1) on Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:24pm