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Site Update
Good evening everyone! It is with a heavy heart that I come to you now. Unfortunately we have to make several financial changes rather quickly. I want to be completely open about everything, so I am going to try to address all of the points that I feel need to be discussed.
I was discussing finances with Slash recently and he discovered a major source of the financial issues that we have been having are due to the site making 30% less income these past few months than in previous years. This is understandable, as many have noticed the active user count has gone down substantially last year, and many countries are in a pretty bad state economically and people are nervous about spending. There is a lot of concern about the stability of the site with how behind several aspects have become.
We have been working on catching up on these things to try to earn your faith back. We are in the process of more changes to help streamline background productivity (such as getting breeding helpers, the commission panel fees, etc). We know that it won't happen over night, and that many of our changes will also upset the user base. We do not want to disregard your feelings, but please understand that everything we do is to benefit the site in the long run. We have a lot of damage to repair, and it is a very long and tedious process. I personally spend almost every waking moment when I am not at my offline job, investigating options and discussing changes with the staff to keep pushing forward.
That being said, some of the changes we are making are:
- Alidae Egg, Transitional Fossil Egg, and Grand Edit Potion are having their Prediction Payout dropped to $10. When an Egg and a Grand Edit Potion are combined they will pay out $15. Any breedings submitted before Tuesday February 14th at 11:59 pm will not be effected by this pay change.
- Offering different payment options for USD breeding teams.
- Shrinking some of the larger USD breeding teams. (However, if we end up with enough artists taking different payments we won't have to do this!)
- The GCC and MDT teams will be shrunk. If you are on one of these teams and are interested in receiving GP or working out another payment system please pm me, Kaiyo (#489). If there are enough people willing to accept different payments I won't have to shrink them.
- The monthly site contests are going to have the USD pay dropped starting next month. It will still be offered but it will not be the same amount.
I appreciate everyone reading this, and I apologize again for these changes. Many of them will be temporary, such as the artists adjustments. Over time we may be making more adjustments, but we hope that these changes will be enough to cover the expenses, and we may be able to bring on another artist or two with the new payment methods for some of the backed up breeding teams.
If anyone has questions please feel free to ask, send me a PM if you would like, I will try to answer whatever I can. I want to be completely open about this situation, and withholding information does nothing for any of us. However, due to certain restrictions, there is some information that I am not permitted to share.
I do not come to you today with only bad news, however! The Commission Fee Panel is now live! You are now able to pay your own fees, select which ones you pay and when. There is a minimum of $5, so if you don't have that much in owed fees you won't be able to pay it yet!
It will work the same way it currently does in regards to dates, and all fees of the prior month must be paid within one week of the new month. So January must be paid within the first week of February, February within the first week of March, etc. Of course, this month is an exception since the feature is new and did start late, however please make sure January fees are paid quickly!
If you have any questions regarding your fees, please send me a pm! Only ping to the news comments if it is a general question about how something works.
Posted by 🐼Kaiyo🐼
(#489) on Fri Feb 3, 2017 2:19pm
- 🐼Kaiyo🐼
(#489)
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Posted on: Sat Feb 4, 2017 9:01am
Re: The application process, I talked to staff and one of the main reasons we keep it is to prevent bots from applying, so that the forums don't get completely flooded.
Zenis (#32877) Replacing the HA's was for the front page, as it is really weird and outdated. We can't change the HA base or none of the clothes already on site would fit them and that is a massive endeavor to swap over all the site clothes and would basically screw over the HA artists.
Kyria (#31172) Breathing is why my response is so slow xD Staff convinced me to take a break last night due to the stress of this post lol. Thankyou so much for your kind words, I am trying. I heard the userbase when you guys said you wanted us to be more open, so I am truly trying to keep everything completely transparent for ya guys. Unfortunately the breeding artists cost the site a massive amount, and I agree slowing the queues down is pretty crappy, which is why that is my absolute last ditch effort. I am trying to spread out the costs and get some people to accept different payments which so far is looking pretty good. I don't know about a "lesser quality" team, however I am offering people GP for the teams. We did try opening GP based teams before and we got very few/no applications, which is one of the reasons why I am hesitent. We don't want to drop the quality too far, and telling someone their on a low quality team is mean xD
Glynda {Conquest} (#21034) If you want to put in a MBC application I believe there is a thread with what to do then you just PM mauri and Kyu, however right now they are going to be a little slow responding and it isn't my place to say why. If mauri/kyu want to tell then that is their decision, however there was a personal thing come up.
NINE & JESS (#13049) That pushes us into gambling laws and then gets us in trouble ;;
Laptop Exploded (#998) All of it is going back into the site. We pay 2 server bills monthly, our coder gets paid weekly, site pets cost us $65 each base, we pay USD for gp/bp colorations (almost noone is accepting the gp prize for that), every new site item like the monthly potions. Literally ever since I took over everything has gone back into the site with the exception of the fees that Paypal takes, which I have absolutely no control over.
Loveless (#19023) That is a really cute idea for the pet contest. We can't do user color since that is a massive prize we normally give away for certain achievements.
Pirate & Kazna (#233) Doing that is harder because the other site teams get multiple breedings at once, and we can personally adjust how many they get versus how many they may choose to grab. It would also require quite a bit of coding which right now Yasu is completely booked
Linchan (#57480) <33 Thanks, I'm trying!
Kitsune (#23799) We have tried callouts for GP only artists and it normally doesn't succeed well, we typically get noone actually. As for the USD shop items I do want to try to limit how many people we have on that as many of those items do cost us.
Nhotemau (#175) Yay! I am glad for that, so far it is looking like we won't have to fire either anyone or too many. It may end up being a temporary lay off, which would be good.
- Bunnie [HIATUS]
(#19822)
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Posted on: Sat Feb 4, 2017 9:26am
I think an important thing that the staff and community need to discuss is, what is Aywas really about? Is it about the customs and breeding? I think that really is the draw to the site right now. The entire site revolves around creative people designing and colouring pets for others, and then the others, who essentially collect the art. Even if that was supposed to be a secondary aspect of the site to begin with, it's still the most functional feature on the site right now, even with the queue issues that need trouble-shooting.
Next, keeping in mind that this is a pet site, what are the secondary features that are most important? Adventure, for example, would likely be a high priority, since most site pets are obtained through this feature. Other features such as the Story Game, although fun, would need to take a back seat for awhile until the "Pet Site" features are in working order. And, in fact, features that are not in working order may as well be taken down *entirely* for now (not in drop-down lists, not listed as buttons, etc.) so as not to confuse new users who might see these features, be interested, click, and quickly get frustrated that so many buttons lead to dead ends. Removing these things, however temporarily, also takes stress off of staff members who see a *huge* list of issues and try to scatter their energies to solve them all.
I agree with the others that the site layout is outdated and could use a major overhaul. I think if we have these new site characters, we should really work on phasing out the old ones entirely, since most new users will have little to no idea what the old characters were ever about. In fact, the old characters never really did have a tie to the site other than through Slash herself, so other than nostalgia, there's no reason for them to be kept.
I also agree with eliminating the application process for creating account. Isn't there a way to avoid account-doubling through IP address/email limitations? Other sites seem to function well that way.
Anyway, a step at a time. I think everything will work out fine in the end. Thank you for updating everyone. If you could think of a use for me, I'd be happy to help out with anything.
- LadyStoneHeartHiatus
(#54532)
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Posted on: Sat Feb 4, 2017 11:45am
I wish I had some suggestions that were good, the only thing i could think of is the boxes (faux and snoodle). People loved them when they were new and I think it gave the site some revenue, but now they seem not so used.
Maybe, have them cycle into a new genus every 4 months? Like have melo and roku, then switch to wibbit and lepu, ect. And have a sale on the item at the last month to clear the remaining customs? I don't know, I'm just spitballing over here lol:P
- Rheyn + Essi
(#844)
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Posted on: Sat Feb 4, 2017 12:05pm
i haven't been around much and am more of a lurking player than active participant–
but have you thought at all about adjusting the cost of gp? currently, gp definitely has a value much less than that of USD, but is still 1:1 being sold. paying 1:1 doesn't feel worth the costs in the end, maybe trying to even that out some or come up with a bit of a bp or gp sink.
currently the currencies seem a bit weak.
- essi
- 🍬Arkonsel 🍬
(#388)
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Posted on: Sat Feb 4, 2017 12:31pm
How about RNG boxes for HA items since a lot of people love HA stuff? Maybe have monthly HA items that can be bought for a set USD sum, and a RNG box that gives you a random item out of ten-twenty possibilities exclusive to that box?
- Tsuyu & Sia ToT
(#774)
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Posted on: Sat Feb 4, 2017 12:36pm
🎁❄Kaiyo❄⛄ (#489) So, I don't know how many users are like me in that I'm totally willing to be paid in site currency, but I honestly don't have time to contribute full breeding lists regularly. It frustrates me that therenseems to be no option to contribute on a smaller scale. Thinking about this gave me an idea. What about a "bounty board " for artists who have a high enough quality for breeding, but don't have time for full lists? I imagine something that would rotate every week, so no pets get stuck in limbo, that only pays in site currency. You could only claim one breeding at a time, and there could be very strict time limits for completed work in order to make it a useful feature that actually help the queues. I really don't know how practical that is on the back end, but I think someone in my position, who doesn't know when she'll have time until she has it, would be able to contribute that way.
-Sia
- Cosmos
(#25837)
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Posted on: Sat Feb 4, 2017 12:49pm
For monthly site pet payments, I know I'd accept usd shop items over usd if that was an option.
- Sandy
(#50007)
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Posted on: Sat Feb 4, 2017 2:17pm
I wish the best for the site.
Everyone has their own idea of what makes the site fun - or not fun - for them.
I rarely do any breeding or anything custom, but I really do enjoy seeing what others make. Boggles my mind at the creativity so that should be a big focus - pets and items.
My fun here on Aywas is collecting the site pets, and every site item that I possibly can. :) Perpetually droolling....
And in-between those daunting goals that should keep me busy for eons :) I love events - major ones and user run site events, and some competitions although just for fun competition. More of those kinds of things?
And get caught up on the old stuff. For things that are important for everyone - I'm still waiting for over a year for the NaNoWriMo 2015 prizes :O
Refreshes would be great if they are doable.
Get caught up, clean up the site a bit, offer new and exciting things to do or see, and the excitement will build again and draw new people in. And maybe some that have left and are able to return will see that as well and come back. Maybe a welcome and welcome back site party of some sort? Post accomplishments and upcoming events on the Welcome Back page?
Do we advertise? I know that there's banners, but is that just for our signatures or how would you otherwise display them? Tumbler? (I'm not techy - can you tell?)
I can't help out financially short term or possibly long term unfortunately. I sure would if I could. As long as I had confidence that the site is healthy and will be around for a long time to come of course. And my financial situation may improve with time also. Most tempting for me is that lovely magic ticket box! :D
Thanks for listening.
- Shaenora
(#70050)
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Posted on: Sat Feb 4, 2017 3:19pm
I'm not a breeding/customing player so all I say here is concerning the other ways of playing here.
"Something needs to be done to make site currency worth having instead of making USD the prime currency for the site." clearly : 1dollar <= 1gp => 65k bp, yeah clearly there is a problem here, I really don't fell like 65k bp is worth 1 dollar.
Ha items for exemple of small prices maybe ? Old HA items monthly maybe like feb 2012 items for this month ...?
And here is an idea I'll try to explain clearly : tiny "pre designed" items to self custom basic pets (adventure and such), like accessories (a collar, a tail ring, a belt and 2 bracelets ?) with a limit of 5 per pet for exemple ? That could be a small priced thing no ?
And as for bots, captcha, no ?
*cheers*
Posted on: Sat Feb 4, 2017 8:24am
Broken (#1464) yep pbc queue is an odd one. Those old breedings are likely in limbo cuz the user has not assigned any artists to their breeding and thus will never get done. I have a relatively short waitlist and generally am assigned breedings at most 3 months old, sometimes less than a month!