[A] Not-Quite Newbie Category?

[bipolar bee]

I gotta agree with Meeki on this.

I only have two Soq, but I don't consider myself a newbie. Grouping people up by how many Soq they have seems unnecessary to me. Those with upwards of 10+ Soquili have earned what they've gotten by entering countless breedings, contests, raffles and participating in events. Sure, they've also got luck on their side, but luck is just that -- luck. Do I feel discouraged when I lose raffle after raffle? Sure, but there's always next time.

By opening events that cater to people with a certain number of Soquili will only divide the shop up further and I think that's what Sirenz is trying to avoid at this point in time. I mean, if it was NECESSARY to change 'newbie' to having more than one Soquili, it should be a blanket number that all colorists should adhere to. Like 3 or less, 5 or less. I'm sketchy about going upwards of five, though. You are obviously NOT a newbie if you have more than five Soquili. :I

*COMMENCES LURKAGE*  

[Graceangel]

The exception to the above being if that in of 5 soquili, you've not managed for any of them to be your own and not co-owned to you by other nice people. Most people by their 5th one have one all to themselves.  

[bipolar bee]

I should've been more clear. XD I apologize.

What I meant to get across was 5 Soquili that you own all by yourself. I keep forgetting about co-owning because the shop that I frequent most (SoA) does not allow co-owning.

If you own like 3 soquili, all to yourself, you shouldn't consider yourself a newbie. Heck, if you completely own TWO, you shouldn't consider yourself a newbie. That's just how I feel. :3  

[Manda]

Okay admittedly the numbers I stated weren't exactly realistic. XD;; Yea I kind of agree that someone with close to 20 shouldn't have more of a chance.

But okay. Say that a 'newbie' is someone with 1-3 Soqs - not minis, and not co-owned. For some people that's plenty of characters or whatever to own and RP. But some people would still want more and how is it 'fair' that they are forced to compete with people that already have 20+ Soqs? Why do those people constantly need more when there are people sitting around with only 3-4 that also want more and it may be harder for them, for various reasons. It just seems silly to me to complain about giving more chances to people with less than a larger majority of the shop-goers - whether the number they have is 3, 10, whatever XD;

Sooo I still feel it would be nice for some people in that middle ground to have more opportunity. And I think having an overall shop definition of 'newbie' would help as well. Because a lot of people talk about 'well it's not fair to exclude someone who has more than 'x' amount of Soqs for someone who already has 3!' or whatever. However, some colorists already do that, because their definition of 'newbie' is 5 or fewer, or 10 or fewer or whatever. And no one really complains then.

So what would be the big difference is saying 'these slots are for newbies with 3 or less' and 'these slots here are for people with 10 or less' etc?  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

I don't think the problem is with the idea, but with the...carrying out?

Rules are nice, I like rules but at the same time you don't want to over-define things if that makes sense?

The reason I personally am for the 3-5 is a newbie or if you don't have any to yourself or any full-sized is because ther person who has...6 may want more to RP, but it's not fair to reposition the numbers so that newbies who have none or very few can't get as many or people who fall JUST past the category from getting some?

So really what I'm trying to say is that, a newbie is a newbie, but categories after that are taking away from others if that make sense?

What I'd be really interested in, is a flaffle or random prize for everyone who RP'ed in a month, but not given out every month, just random months so that you never know when it's going to be or whatever.

I like your point, it's really very kind but I just don't think that trying to figure out other categories before we have a set definition is good. Maybe after that depending on a newbie is. If a newbie is only ONE full owned or two, then I think there could be more merit for a not-quite a newbie slot.  

[ATh e a r t]

Manda

Okay admittedly the numbers I stated weren't exactly realistic. XD;; Yea I kind of agree that someone with close to 20 shouldn't have more of a chance.

But okay. Say that a 'newbie' is someone with 1-3 Soqs - not minis, and not co-owned. For some people that's plenty of characters or whatever to own and RP. But some people would still want more and how is it 'fair' that they are forced to compete with people that already have 20+ Soqs? Why do those people constantly need more when there are people sitting around with only 3-4 that also want more and it may be harder for them, for various reasons. It just seems silly to me to complain about giving more chances to people with less than a larger majority of the shop-goers - whether the number they have is 3, 10, whatever XD;

Sooo I still feel it would be nice for some people in that middle ground to have more opportunity. And I think having an overall shop definition of 'newbie' would help as well. Because a lot of people talk about 'well it's not fair to exclude someone who has more than 'x' amount of Soqs for someone who already has 3!' or whatever. However, some colorists already do that, because their definition of 'newbie' is 5 or fewer, or 10 or fewer or whatever. And no one really complains then.

So what would be the big difference is saying 'these slots are for newbies with 3 or less' and 'these slots here are for people with 10 or less' etc?

Um.. Unless a mini is co-owned, I think it still counts as a full Soquili. I mean, yeah, it's 'smaller', but is still capable of doing everything like the regular sized minus the elder part.

Just because people are having little luck expanding their herds right away, I still don't think it's right to include and exclude people. From your own point of view, would you really do that if it was your shop?

People that keep getting more Soquili easily is because they have friends that give it to them or share it with them. I don't think they should be excluded from anything because of this.

The shop has been a matter of luck for a long time now. Everything takes time. Just because someone may want more, doesn't mean that they need it.

I do believe that the colorists and stuff are working to have more Soquili available, whether it be in flaffles, freebies, or auctions.  

[Manda]

Well, you're saying if it was my shop..? Yea I probly would try actually - or at least propose the idea.

Like I said, there are already colorists who consider a 'newbie' to be someone with 5 or less/10 or less Soqs for some things and have stuff for them. So how would it be that much different to have two different 'types' of slots for people who -still- have less than 10 Soquili?

It's 'taking away' a few more open slots, yes. But I've seen a few other threads in this forum talking about Low-Luck slots, slots for people who RP, slots for people who haven't had very many breedings etc etc. And not nearly as many people seem to have a problem with those things. They still 'take away' open slots *shrug*  

[ATh e a r t]

Okay... Since there are already those slots, why not just RP? or wait to be LL?, etc. It's not like they haven't been adding new slots like newbie and year long LL o_O; I don't understand why it's necessary to have a 'not so newbie' slot since they'd qualify for others anyways.  

[Tamiko_kitten]

I personally don't really think it's a great idea, just because I feel like the entire point of newbie slots are to help people who don't have any soquili get more involved with the shop. Even as it is I think (just my opinion) that a newbie should be considered as someone who doesn't own any soquili at all, or maybe just co-owns one or something. I know back when I was a newbie it was hard for me to become involved with the shop because I didn't know to many people, and a lot of the time got ignored in the thread so it wasn't until I got my first soquili I was able to become more apart of the shop.

Once you have a soquili it's easier to meet other soquili owners, you can roleplay and breed that soquili, and I think it's more about helping people get at least one soquili so they can be more a part of the shop. And there are some contests that have been done in the past that are open to people with less than 10 soquili and those sorts of things. I just feel like putting in a not-quite-newbie category is a bit overkill.  

[Felmino]

Okay some of this confusion seems to be stemming from the varying flaffle rules about entry (which have been everything from "complete newbie", "no solo-owns", "1 or less", "five or less" to "20 or less".

We had been trying out various ones for two reasons - to try and find something that worked well and to try and balance the "haves" against the "have nots" - the definition of which is very fuzzy to say the least.

The consensus I'm hearing is that you'd like a set shop definition of "newbie" - so I'll put that on the agenda to be discussed at the next staff meeting. Once we have that, then maybe we can figure out the sticker problem of at which point do we stop catering to customers.

That's really what newbie rules are, when you get down to it - biased chances for those who have yet to get a foothold in the shop. In general of course they are a *good* thing, because nobody likes a shop where it's impossible to get a single pet of your own. We can all remember what it was like not having any, but every single pet cannot and will not be aimed at newbies. There has to be a balance.  

[vballlvr5]

Nyx Queen of Darkness

I don't think the problem is with the idea, but with the...carrying out?

Rules are nice, I like rules but at the same time you don't want to over-define things if that makes sense?

The reason I personally am for the 3-5 is a newbie or if you don't have any to yourself or any full-sized is because ther person who has...6 may want more to RP, but it's not fair to reposition the numbers so that newbies who have none or very few can't get as many or people who fall JUST past the category from getting some?

So really what I'm trying to say is that, a newbie is a newbie, but categories after that are taking away from others if that make sense?

What I'd be really interested in, is a flaffle or random prize for everyone who RP'ed in a month, but not given out every month, just random months so that you never know when it's going to be or whatever.

I like your point, it's really very kind but I just don't think that trying to figure out other categories before we have a set definition is good. Maybe after that depending on a newbie is. If a newbie is only ONE full owned or two, then I think there could be more merit for a not-quite a newbie slot.

I think the random Rper thind would be good. 3nodding I think it would encourage more people to actually RP their soquili instead of having them collect dust in their teepee.

Im totally confused on what is or isn't a newbie. I have one soquili. In my book Im no longer a newbie now that I have one, is that what it actually is? Only if you have 0 or .5 a soquili are you a newbie?  

[Felmino]

Staff have settled on an official definition of "Newbie" -

• A Soquili Newbie shall be an individual who owns up to two, but no more, Soquili, counting each solo owned horse as 1, and each co-owned horse as 0.5. Familiars do not count.

This means that you can have up to two horses of your own, or co-own up to four (or solo own one, co-own two) and still join Newbie events/sales. Note this is for shop purposes, customers are in no way bound to use this for their own contests/rules - you can if you want, but you don't have to. No distinction is made between various breeds of Soquili.  

[lilmissy4205]

Thank you for answering this Fel.