I didn’t really mind the character creation requirement. I think it’s okay to add little extra things like this, as long as it isn’t a requirement for ALL custom raffles in the future.

Although… I do have to agree that’ll I’ll be super disappointed if I don’t win the custom (which is the most likely outcome, of course). I really like the character I came up with. I can always wait for another pet to represent her, but still. I don’t like getting emotionally attached to things that aren’t mine.

I was gonna say something about the blurb last night but I was afraid it was going to be an unpopular opinion so I refrained until peeking again this morning.

I will throw my hat in with the ‘its a cute idea but I’m not a fan’ group. I make characters but I can see how this isn’t fair to those that are collectors or don’t. Mc does have a nice focus on creativity but some people like to buy char designs and only do a little and I think all people should have a fair chance. I also definitely agree with the attachment thing. One of the reasons I hated applying for pets on neopets is that the chances were slim and odds are without the pet it was made for I would lose inspiration for the character.

If you want to encourage making new characters I suggest maybe have like a free fodder event or raffle. I know it can be a hurdle here to obtain more pets sometimes and having an event like that even if it mostly benefitted newbs would be fun and encouraging.

Overall I’m excited about this raffle. I love the cranberry dream but I don’t know if I can come up with something on the fly and I feel that something I quickly do might not be good enough. I’m glad you guys experiment with stuff like this though.

i just wanted to put forth a point doragon just made to me in irl discussion: the people who don’t care about characters will just write up a quick throwaway blurb and then never do anything with the custom, and the people who do care about characters will either a) not write anything because they don’t want to get attached, or b) write something and get really upset when they don’t win.

if the impetus was to drive more creativity and investment in characters, this raffle actually favors those who don’t care than those who do. because it’s going to be a lot easier for someone who doesn’t care to participate than someone who does.

(p.s. i am in no way saying that if you don’t care about characters that that is a bad thing! just that if mycena is trying to drive investment in characters, this is not going to be helpful.)

I have to admit that baek and dora have some interesting and insightful points there, and it has made me think of a few other issues I have with the idea personally. I mean, of course, I could also just put in some sort of throwaway lines for the character blurb that will allow me to not be attached to the critter and not feel so bad when I don’t win…but that just doesn’t feel right to me. And I’m not really good at putting things together on the fly, throwaway or not. Also, me being who I am, I at least, would then feel obligated to somehow use whatever I’d thrown in there on the fly, throwaway or whatever, even if I got a better idea later that I liked ten times as much as what I’d written…because that’s what I’d won saying I’d do and now I feel obligated to stick with it. And even though I’m sure the staff and other people wouldn’t mind in the slightest if I did change it up like that…I personally would mind.

Which sounds all kinds of logical stupid in my head when I look at it…but it’s one of those stupid things that my brain does to me that I can’t get around sometimes because it just bugs the everloving life out of me if I don’t do it that way. x.x (And once again, I would like to try to be super clear that I’m not saying this idea is completely bad and horrible or anything and I really do appreciate the way the staff here tries out new things like this, it just this one doesn’t seem to work well at all for me, personally. I’m sure others may love it and that’s totally okay, too!)

I personally didn’t mind the character creation, but after reading through every one else’s thoughts, I do see why people don’t like it. The good thing is that it means only those who really wants the pet will be able to, so I, for example, won’t lower their chances by entering. But I don’t really know if it fosters creativity, which I guess is meant to be the point here?

I put a lot of thought into my characters and tend to spend a lot of time mulling over ideas before settling on them, so I don’t like the idea of having to come up with an idea on the spot for something I probably won’t even win. Others have already proven that they feel the same. If we’re allowed to change the idea later, like Sandhill asked about, then that’s a plus, of course. But then if people make up something quick and dirty just to be eligible to win it, and then work on the actual character later, what was really the point? It would have been easier to just enter in the raffle and skip the whole character description.

I dunno, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing per se. I imagine the only ones who will submit a description will be people who actually want the coat, so then at least it goes to someone who’s interested in it. And for those who don’t make characters, it’s easy enough to make something to discard later. I’m sure most won’t mind putting in a bit of effort to win something, I’m just not sure if raffles are the best place? The chances of winning are so small it feels a little hopeless.

Beyond the concerns that have already been raised my other question is what happens to the description for the person who wins? Does it get shared with everyone within the winning announcement?

I know that some people aren’t comfortable with sharing their writing publicly and that may deter them from entering as well. (Or they may only be comfortable within their RPs with friends even though other people can see it, but sharing it in an announcement might feel like too much attention is drawn to it)

mooingboog No it does not get shared, it’s used only to determine eligibility to win the custom :)

I personally have mixed feelings about the whole character creation aspect. Personally, I just gave it a character I can easily transfer to a different ineki. However, the main reason I did this is because I was hoping that on the off chance I won this custom I could give it to one of my friends who can’t afford tickets like I can. (Now I’m a little conflicted as to whether or not I would do that because I kinda like the character I gave it.)

I’m not a huge fan of the 10% increase, but I commend the site for taking people’s suggestions and trying new things!

I have to say I’m really excited to have another raffle! It’s been too long since I got to sell my fish in an effort to win shinnies! :D

The character description (as well as the pricing scheme) is an experiment that we’re trying out based on feedback, so if you have strong feelings about it in either direction, we’d love to hear constructive feedback about it :) A lot of people have expressed unhappiness that premades rarely stay on the account that wins them, and at that point are usually sold.  This is fine with us (and still fine if this premade is eventually sold or given away), and of course the end result is that the custom usually ends up on an account that adores it which we always love to see!  But when a custom is sold rather than won in a raffle, it’s available to a smaller subset of the population, so this is being tried out based on a few suggestions of how we could raffle it to someone who may be more likely to keep it. :D

So while we’re experimenting with different raffle styles, you letting us know what you like through constructive feedback is super important and helpful <3

Another quick thing to add to what Myla said:

Most of the threads in this post relate to the character description aspect of this raffle, but we also need to know how people feel about the ticket pricing! Please also let us know how you feel about the ticket pricing scheme replacing a fixed cost and ticket cap :) To help you work out how you feel about it, I’ve added some statistics to the raffle page to show you how many people have how many tickets, and you can refer to the table in the first post to see how many nuggets that would have cost!

-kicks in the door with more opinions-

I could take or leave the ticket pricing, tbh.  I’m not a huge fan of uncapped raffles but it isn’t a giant problem to me because I never max out anyway.  I do sorta dig the placebo effect of being able to buy 7 tickets for 1k instead of 2.  So.  There is that I suppose? ouo;  I would say I wished we could combine the increasing prices with a cap but that seems kinda silly, since the higher prices seems to exist just to deter people who want to hold onto their money more from buying more tickets?  But yeah I dunno, I don’t mind the price thing but I don’t love it more than a usual raffle.

I am kind of on the fence about the new pricing thing, I feel it would do better in a capped raffle vs. an unlimited raffle but that’s not the point right now though, While I think I understand why (to filter out more nuggets from the economy?) as one of the players on the opposite of the ‘nuggets in the bank’ scale I’m not thrilled personally as I can’t buy nearly as many tickets as I’d like haha.

I don’t like needing to offer a character for the custom though. I get attached to my characters and I really don’t want to get attached to something that I’m more than likely not going to end up having.

Well, hopefully the feedback above proves useful in general, so far. Though, the more I think about it, the more I’d like some sort of official answer one way or the other on Sandhill’s question because it would be good to be sure here:

What if we come up with a character idea but change it later (assuming we win), would that be okay, or do we have to use the character we come up with now?Sandhill

But anyhow. The pricing, you say? Aside from the lack of a free ticket making me a little sad (though I’m not complaining, mind), I actually haven’t given it much thought. So let’s do so! *goes back to look at it again since she still hasn’t even actually decided if she wants to bother at all with tickets and so hasn’t bought any yet*

Hmm. I’ll be honest, I hope this isn’t the ONLY way raffles ever get done in the future (I really did rather like the ticket capped raffles, too) but I think the pricing system here looks to be relatively fair and on track with what I would consider an appropriate increase over time for the prices. As you say, the cost for 25 tickets is roughly similar, if spread out differently (less to start, more at the end) so that’s pretty fair, to me! I find that to be relatively a good way to do this sort of thing, to be honest, overall!

It may be that the relative lack of feedback on it is mostly that people aren’t bothered one way or the other about it. So long as it isn’t the ONLY way pricing and ticket buying is done in the future, I wouldn’t mind seeing it again, but it would be nice to see capped ones crop up as well, of course!

I think I’m fine with the lack of the ticket cap. You were right that the tickets got expensive FAST lol. But I won’t really know how I feel until the end of the raffle, and see some stats or the winners list. Right now it feels fine, and if people want to buy a LOT of tickets for 20x the cost of the first handful, then more power to them I guess? I for sure like it better than an unlimited raffle with all tickets being the same price, but I also think I might prefer a hard cap. Even if the hard cap keeps the 10% increase and tops out at something ridiculous like a million nuggets (if my math is right 75 tickets is around 1.2 mil), the illusion that a few dedicated people couldn’t “stuff the box” would make me feel better. edit: while I was writing lots of other people said this too lol.

(TLDR: if I win it’s good if I don’t win it’s a terrible idea!! :P )

The last thing with the character requirement that I want to point out is the skew (which you’re probably already aware of). Any feedback you get about the character creation aspect is going to limit itself to people that are comfortable enough with writing to say so on the forums. Whatever the impression of the “silent players”, they’re not a totally insignificant group - when I peep the “Who’s Online” list I often see people who have been playing a long time, but have 0 forum posts (or very few).

DracogryphSandhill

You are not required to use the character idea that you come up with for Cran if you end up winning the custom.  You aren’t required to roleplay or have a description for them at all, and you aren’t even required to keep the pre-made if you do win.

Myla Thank you for the prompt answer. I didn’t actually figure it was going to be the case, but it never hurts to be sure on things! (Granted, I still have the personal issue that I personally would feel like I was obligated to do it and expect myself to because I’m silly, but that’s my own personal hangup to try to cope with. *sticks tongue out at stupid brain that refuses to be logical sometimes*) :)

^{my teensy note on the character bit}
Characters are prone to grow and change, so no one should feel limited to the ‘restrictions’ they might build for themselves. Inspiration is a fickle mistress and often changes as the wind blows.

On the note about the cap, it’s my same issue as always. Those with wealth will potentially always have the means with which to buy more tickets when there is no cap. Users with little currency to their name will be at a slight disadvantage as the ticket pool becomes more saturated. I don’t think it’s fair/unfair either way. Those with wealth earned it, and it’s their right to spend it as they’ve worked to amass their bounty. But, at least when there was a cap, it hn… ‘balanced’ the odds a bit. Everyone could only have X tickets, and the amount was attainable if you maxed your earnings through games, or posted in the forums… there was always a means.

Ramblings aside, I do appreciate that the staff is trying to utilize everyone’s ideas!

I haven’t been playing long enough to see how any other raffles have gone, but I think I like the idea of a cap, too. Granted, I don’t know what the cap have been earlier or how much nuggets one would need to reach it, but it seems a bit fairer with how the richer players (who are also willing to drain their bank accounts) have a clear advantage when you can buy unlimited tickets.

The 10% raise definitely seems okay, too, though! The prices seem to rise fast, and looking at the current stats it seems most haven’t bought all that many yet, either. If it stays that way it doesn’t seem like the odds would be too unbalanced… But I don’t know, I think I would have to see both versions in action to have a clearer opinion.

Jacq actually, that’s precisely what we do :D I needed to put in some number beyond which to stop calculating ticket prices. So while it doesn’t say so anywhere (to avoid making people feel like it’s a goal to reach), it is technically impossible to buy more than 75 tickets.

I’m curious how much that would be to buy the last ticket you can

Condor: each ticket costs 10% more than the previous one, so you can work out how much any individual ticket would cost via the formula 100 * 1.1^(X-1) where X is the ticket #. So for the 75th ticket, that would be 100*1.1^74 = 115,626 nuggets (whose real value is of course exactly the same as something someone else bought for 100 nuggets)

EDIT: Jacq’s answer below is probably more correct, since the formula above takes into account fractions of a nugget, while the ticket shop obviously can’t ;)

Condor115,614 nuggets, if my advanced calculus* is correct.
* advanced calculus = putting “100 * 1.1” into a calculator and continually pressing “enter” while counting 1, 2, 3, 4….

edit; glitch ninja’d me with his fancy formulas <.<

I’m with Jacq. I think I feel okay with the cap, but I’m not exactly sure.

I definitely think this is a much better alternative than having unlimited 500 nugget tickets or something. That way even people with a ton of currency most likely won’t dump every nugget into the pot. Or at least, I wouldn’t think so because they love their bank interest and buying 50 tickets for about 115k is nothing to sneeze at. Though by the off chance there is a rich person does dump all their nuggets and win it, it’s both an effective gold sink but also feels more unfair to people who can’t make a lot?

Personally, percentage based unlimited tickets is better than unlimited static tickets I prefer caps more but the percentage based doesn’t bother me too much. In terms of tickets and my spending…. I’m a lot less likely to buy more because it’s even more of a disadvantage since I don’t have a lot of extra nuggets lying around. (This is actually the first time I’ve kept 60k in my bank for more than a couple weeks, but I want to potentially keep it for the new seasonal.)

I don’t think I would like it if every raffle has this pricing scheme but I do like it as an occasional thing, I mean it gives us a chance to buy a handful of tickets for less than we would have spent on the same number at a static price (I spent about 1000 nuggets so far and got 7 tickets where with the static price I would have only been able to buy 2 tickets for that amount). In general I’m not too fond of a capless raffle, but with the price of tickets increasing the more we buy this doesn’t seem so bad. Like I said I wouldn’t mind this every now and again as long as every raffle from now on didn’t exclusively use this pricing method.

As for the character requirement; I’m not a fan. It just seems like it’s asking us to get attached to a pet that we’re most likely not going to get. I’ll submit a character summary because I was actually inspired by the coat to bring back an old character with some minor tweaks to her backstory, but I would be very disappointed if this became a regular thing in premade raffles. I grow very attached to my characters, and tend to have trouble swapping them from one coat to another. It’s why so few of my characters from Digis have made their way over here even though I’ve been here from the first day and don’t RP on Digis anymore. I want to move the characters over but it’s hard moving them onto a different coat, and in those cases species, than the one they were created for.

Edit: An addition to my comments on the character requirement for the premade; it seems like it could be a fun/interesting way to do a giveaway for a premade custom in a non-raffle setting. Like maybe a writing or art contest that has the pet as the main prize would be fun.

I like the new ticket system, though I would like it better if there was cap, but the new prices I really like.

With the new description part I’m sort of half and half on. I do like how it encourages creativity but I do not like it because some people (myself including) base characters on the coat. If I dont win that coat I will be more upset than usual since I put more effort into it and made a character for it. I know I could always reuse the character though so if a new coat comes out similar to this one I’ll be able too. I dont know, I guess I have mixed feelings about it hah

I know raffles need to act as a gold sink, but I think it would also be great to have interspersed ‘equalizer’ raffles where players with less nuggets aren’t disadvantaged.  Or even raffles where you can buy more tickets, but only for other people.

That said, I feel like this kind of ticket cap is probably a good compromise between the gold sink and equalizer functions, since buying tickets gets progressively more expensive.

The cranberry custom is gorgeous.  *sobs*  I know the rp aspect is a point of contention, but I’d really love to see other people’s characterisations of her.  Do you think there will be a forum for people to share their cranberry dreams profile summaries?  I’m not sure of the appetite for this sort of thing but being able to show off your work might make the creativity aspect of the raffle more enjoyable for people. 

I’ve no idea what I was thinking as I’ve never won a raffle, and I don’t expect to win anything this time around, BUT I adore Cranberry Dream and simply had to throw in my paltry nugget stash for as many tickets as I could.

I’m possibly one of the tiny few who actually thoroughly enjoyed writing a character tidbit for her (yes, or him, but mine is a her).  I sincerely doubt I’ll win her, but for me, she lives on in my dreams now.  What a cutie! =)  that little heart on her leg <3

As for the capping idea, actually I prefer raffles that have some form of real cap.  I’m extremely new to this site, so I have no clue how people get millions of gems or nuggets or whatevers?  I can barely build up my nuggets by slaving away at the 3k cap and not buying anything for weeks on end, so I don’t actually see how this can be a problem? 

To me the idea someone can buy as many tickets as they like for the raffles seems far more elitist than the little bit of character bio that was asked to be done for Cranberry? 

...editing to add, I think that would be great fun to see what others have come up with for Cranberry’s character bio ^.^

I am undecided on the pricing but I will def be mulling it over and I’ll send along feedback :)

I haven’t done a whole lot of raffles in my time - the sites I usually frequent just don’t do them, and this is the first I’ve done here. That said, of the ones I have done, I’ve always found the ones with a hard cap to at least feel a little more ‘fair’. When there’s not really any cap, and the tickets are just expensive, all it means is the people who’ve saved for the longest have the advantage, provided they want to splash out. It would be nice from a newbies’ point of view, then, to cap them at some relatively low point. That said, I can’t wholeheartedly say that, if I was a veteran here, and had gained a large amount of currency through my own hard work, I wouldn’t want to be able to have some kind of advantage over those who hadn’t (whether through simply being new, or by not saving). Is that selfish? Maybe. Elitist? Quite possibly. But I think the only way you could remedy that is capping out at 1 ticket per person, and I don’t know, but I can’t quite see that being all that popular.

As for the profile thing, I quite enjoyed it. I now have a fun character bio I can use either for the raffle coat, if I’m lucky enough to win, or for some other, if not. Now, I can’t say I’d condone that for every raffle - I’ve read through the posts of most other people, and their points are fair enough, really. Even though I enjoyed it, I do have tough times working out even vague characterisations on the fly, and I’m not sure I’d want to do it every time I entered a raffle, but given the emphasis that seems to be put on creativity and such, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to focus on it - seems like that’s what most people are here for, from my perspective - but I also don’t think there should be a focus on it a hundred percent of the time, considering there are also members who aren’t so into it.

For the pricing/cap I am with the sometimes group.  As long as the different types of raffles are switched around it seems to me like the most fair way of raffling.  Progressive pricing this time, cap next time some other type the time after that.  Most everyone then gets a mix of feeling like it works for them or this one is sort of stacked against me but next time…

As to the writing requirement I don’t like it.  I know several people on this site irl.  While many will be fine with the requirement several of the most creative will not be.  Some of them will not bother with the raffle while others will be very upset about the “death” of a new character they are already attached to.  Sorry but it is too close to watching a family member fix the nursery then the adoption fell through.

That being said I will buy a few tickets for the other prizes and wish the best of luck to everyone.