[A] Boosting Mini/Mer Visibility/Interest

[Kamiki]

There have been some issues recently with the viability of minis in the shop. Basically, regular sized Soquili outnumber them greatly, which is to be expected since they have been around longer, but they have continued to outnumber them since most people will chose a regular vs a mini. One can argue the reasons why or why not, but the simple fact is: people generally prefer regular sized Soquili to Usdias.

I have a few proposals that might help the situation, but are pretty drastic so I don't know how well they will go over. But the first one is:

Putting minis (and/or mers?) on a separate cool down. As it is, customs are VERY hard to get. It usually takes months, if not over a year, to get a slot. And even if you do win, you have a 2 month cooldown before you can try for another custom. Taking all this into consideration, most people put more work into a regular size Soquili concept. I think this is in part to “well, they are rare anyway, so might as well go for the big prize.”

If minis were on a separate cooldown, a think the interest level would stir in them greatly. Basically, you could have 2 concepts as a time: a regular Soq, and a mini Soquili. They would be on separate timers completely – kind of like the familiars are now. (ie, winning a mini custom would not affect your ability to try for a regular sized Soquili the next month and vice versa. You only couldn't enter for a mini for 2 months). In addition, you should be able to enter for both a full size and a mini slot per custom opening (assuming both slot types are being offered by the colorists).

You see... I think if more people were free to design a mini and not worry about it “replacing” their regular concept, more people would get excited about them. They wouldn't have to worry about (for lack of a better term) “wasting” their custom slot on a mini. I think MORE people would put more effort into more mini concepts. More people would be excited about them and overall I think it would highly mobilize the interest in them. Yes, it WOULD make minis harder to get, and I know the original intent was for them to be easier and cheaper for newbies to get. But the fact of the matter is, even most newbies go after regulars more than minis (money is not usually an issue thanks to the generosity of the Soquili community).

The second suggestion (and this would be kind of an either/or scenario) would be to blow out the breed restrictions completely. The lack of RP and breeding opportunities is one of the biggest complaints I've heard about minis/mers. I, personally, don't see why a mini and regular can't breed. In most species were there is dwarfism (including people), they can still interbreed freely with the regular sized member of their race. If a female dwarf gets pregnant by a regular sized male, her babies are born generally the same size at birth – regardless of they will grow up into regular or dwarfs. I know the Usdias are more looked at as a separate species rather than just a dwarf of the regular ones, but it's something to consider. As far as the mechanics and lineart goes, I'd figure, just like the races, the babies would be rolled to see if they would grow up to be a mini or a regular.

The same argument could be made for mers. They can already breed with kelpie (yeah I know because they are better swimmers...)... so while the, hrm, physical mechanics might be complicated – hey – true love no no bounds, right! Again, the babies would be rolled to see what they will be as adults... for IC purposes a female mer could lay her shells in the sand of the beach, like sea turtles, and the babies that are mers could make their way to the ocean and the ones who walk on land would already be there.

Again...these are suggestions based on what I've been hearing about people concerns/complaints with the minis and mers, and ways we can increase their visibility in the community in a long tern way. Sure, having a mer and/or mini only event tends to create a bubble of interest, but it tends to fade shortly after.  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

This is slightly off-topic and....kind of...very creepy. LOL

I had typed up this long speil that I had been working on for weeks about this exact thing and I was in the process of posting it when I saw yours pop up.

Do you have AIM, I'd like to show you what I have instead of like...making a huge epic post 0_o

They're reasonable. I like them incredibly. I don't personally see why can't they can't breed. But even if the cool down as the only thing added, it would help. Or to extend Mers to ALL kelpies. Though like I said I don't see why not.  

[ATh e a r t]

Also~ More of a question~ Why wouldn't a Mer x a regular make a kelpi? @_@?  

[Kamiki]

ATh e a r t

Also~ More of a question~ Why wouldn't a Mer x a regular make a kelpi? @_@?

Actually I was just discussing this with Sabin. I think breeding a Mer x Regular should spin off a chance of a kelpie, and a Mer x Usdia (that would have been an awkward courtship o_O) should spin off the chance of getting a Seathi <3  

[Nyx Queen of Darkness]

This i my math XD I did this right after the new owner's list came up. XD

Let's use my Nessie for example. She's a female mer. I want to breed her, ONCE, to a kelpi. Because it's how her character would develop.

So take those 33 males. By taking out all 2nd gens, that aren't pure. I've come down to 25 possible males! Still not too awful, thought nothing like the Kalona or earth list.

After taking out the 8 that I've contacted, I'm down to 17. Then one that's mislisted (it's not pure). That brings me down to 16. Of those 16, I don't even recognize some of them as people I've ever seen in the shop or who aren't oldbies with tons of breedings already.



And this was what I was going to post XD

Things I'm looking/hoping for.


list of what rights we are seeking by raising awareness.

1. More kelpis for mers or possibly accepting those that LOOK full-blooded. More Seathi and Usidia.
2. Eventually Elder rights, if not new lines then maybe a tattoo or more baskets. Something to represent that our character is worthy and has worked hard.
3. Not to be excluded. We want mixers too! We don’t want breedings that are JUST about us, we just want the right to be able to try for things too. It’s hard enough finding a fling, why can’t ours have a separate mixer sometimes too?
To branch off about this. I like mixers. There should be more mixers for EVERYONE. But I would next time, like to see a seperate thread (provided everyone can't breed together) where one usidia random pairing was rolled and one mer random pairing was rolled.

Now, I do not know if this was done in the past. I wasn't active in breedings till October. If it has been, great! I just would like to see more of them all round.

Raise awareness, not problems.
 

[USS_Galactica]

I love the first idea. I have at least two Usdia ideas that I'd love to go for, but haven't gone for because I have been more focused on getting my bigger Soquili ideas. Right now I can't go for anything since I am on a cool-down from my twins.  

[CheshireKttty]

I'm loving both ideas here. Mini's breeding with regulars seems a little... odd to me. But I suppose not much odder then anything in actual real life. If you look at it I mean, donkey's and zebras and horses can all breed, and same with smaller ponies and larger horses, though it might not be very common.

I do love at least the idea of removing the limitation on the mers breeding with kelpies. It's just a lot of work to try and find out who's pure bred and because of the pure bred issues, a lot of people don't want to have anything to do with breeding to mers.

I for one, know I gave up ownership of my seathi to my co-owner because of the lack of interest in minis. There doesn't seem to be much going for them and I had issues even trying to find rp for her.  

[lysia_nyteblade]

i actually like both ideas and have pondered why certain breeds couldn't "get together" so to say. I mean if a mule (granted a mule is sterile due to one chromosome diff between the horse and donkey) is the result of a horse and a donkey breeding then why can't there be breeding between some of the other species of soq?  

[RockerWolfie1616]

I think people would be more interested in lovely mer and seathi soq if they had the same options as regulars. Like more hairstyles or even little tiny edits.
I love idea/plan two since yes horses and smaller breeds do mix breed some in real life so it's not like it couldn't ever happen.
They do something like what your speaking of in a shop I'm in where dragons. foxes and tigers breed together. The colorist just rolls like..a fox x dragon for random example if bred would have a higher chance of getting fox babies over dragon ones. So when they roll they put that into account. It's not like asking for males and males or females and females to be able to have babies together. It's something that could occur in real life. Though I could see issues..would traits pass down to minis? Like..if a kalona and a mini have babies would the mini babies get mini kalona wings? o - o Or would a mini and a unicorn have a mini baby with a little unicorn horn? How would they determine what traits to pass and, what ones to not pass to the mini offspring? What would be too much? That's the only issue I could see some people having with the idea.
Still I am all for it! <3 I would love to get a mini one day..not a mer or seathi just cause I personally..don't like the look of them XD  

[Kamiki]

RockerWolfie1616

I think people would be more interested in lovely mer and seathi soq if they had the same options as regulars. Like more hairstyles or even little tiny edits.
I love idea/plan two since yes horses and smaller breeds do mix breed some in real life so it's not like it couldn't ever happen.
They do something like what your speaking of in a shop I'm in where dragons. foxes and tigers breed together. The colorist just rolls like..a fox x dragon for random example if bred would have a higher chance of getting fox babies over dragon ones. So when they roll they put that into account. It's not like asking for males and males or females and females to be able to have babies together. It's something that could occur in real life. Though I could see issues..would traits pass down to minis? Like..if a kalona and a mini have babies would the mini babies get mini kalona wings? o - o Or would a mini and a unicorn have a mini baby with a little unicorn horn? How would they determine what traits to pass and, what ones to not pass to the mini offspring? What would be too much? That's the only issue I could see some people having with the idea.
Still I am all for it! <3 I would love to get a mini one day..not a mer or seathi just cause I personally..don't like the look of them XD

That's a good point.

I guess that would be something the staff would have to work out. Personally, I would suggest that if your baby is rolled "Usdia" then they are straight-Usdia. They could take colors/accessory inspiration off their Kalona parent, but not have any the physical traits like wings/horns.  

[Kamiki]

Just random thought, as some people have brought up the size difference to me, especially involving Seathi as they are supposed to be like the size of housecats, another OPTION would be to have Soquili be able to breed with -/+1 their size category.

Think like this:

Smallest - Seathi
Small - Usdia
Medium - All Regular races
Large - Mers (I figure like most marine mammals they are probably massive in weight/density if not just pure size)

So, a Seathi could breed with other Seathi & Usdia, but no one else
Usdias could breed with Seathi, Usdia, and Regulars
Regulars could breed with Usdia, Regulars, and Mers
and Mers could breed with Regulars and Mers

It's not AS OPEN as just blowing out the restrictions completely (again this wouldn't help much with events like singles mixers), but if people are more comfortable with this system, it should still GREATLY open up the breeding pools for people who play the fringe races.  

[StarieMichie]

Can I just say that I'm in love with this idea? Because I am.

I love minis, and I totally love mers too (I just don't have one of those yet). Seriously, the mer lines are so gorgeous, but one of the drawbacks is that whole less people to breed with thing. I know, horses aren't baby factories, but I really enjoy breedings.

Although, I would put Seathi in the same size category as Usdia just to give them the choice to breed with regulars (if it was decided to go with that idea, that is). Otherwise, they're still kind of cut out of the breeding ring.  

[ATh e a r t]

@kamiki; i think the only thing wrong with the idea is that people would go "Seathi is a mini like Usdias too, but Usdia can breed with more!" type of thing o.o  

[Kamiki]

Again, they are ICly supposed to be significantly smaller than Usdias. But I, personally, wouldn't care if they wanted to be grouped with Usdias myself (I'm the one suggesting everyone can breed with everyone XD ) just if they ARE going to separate them out, it makes since they would be in their own size category considering how small they are.

It might be too complicated, but I also think that Flutters should be able to breed with all size categories since ICly they can switch sizes.