[A] Customer Reward/Credit/Loyalty System

[ATh e a r t]

Do you know why staff gets staff credits? That's kinda the first thing for me, and is partially offended by this suggestion. Like... This is a hobby for us and it takes time. I don't know about others, but depending on the edit level of a NON MUTANT, it can still take a while to color.

Most of the 'fluffy' that has come out recently is due to our Staff Secret Santa. Should we not be allowed to have them?

And that's not true about hyper hybrids =/ We have them as freebies. Not all the time, but we do.

Did you know that some staff actually want to use their credits for others, or have already? Suggestions like these are the reason, I for one, haven't openly given people things minus a couple.

Although you can't get ears, you can get a custom floofy tail. It counts as a uni-tail with extra fluff, as long as the shape of the tail is similar to that of the templated ones. You can also get added fluff to a soquili (ie. chest hair, leg fluff, bum fluff). A lot of people wanting fluffier ears used the cerynei ears.

How do you think we could do this without people calling out 'bias' left and right? People already do with the staff giving stuff to friends.

I can't even reason to how a customer could 'earn' these said credits. There's already RP incentives (extra baskets/breedings). There's already incentive of posting in the soq threads (random in-thread giveaways).

Sorry if this sounds at all mean, but I am irked. And this is just coming from me, not official or anything =/

edit; If you want an example of a custom tail that was do-able in customs, Coeur tail is one. She has the shape of the basic uni tail, just thicker. I paid extra credits because I wanted her to have the heart wing anklets/head ones. Ones you couldn't have would probably be Faustine's because the basic shape of the uni tail was lost.  

[Kamiki]

Honestly, I think a simpler solution would be to allow mutants/hyper hybrids in customs (as super rares, or maybe even their own "rarity").

I'm not against the principle, but its just seems complicated and could cause hard feelings.

@Heart: No one said the staff doesn't deserve anything. Quite the opposite, but at the same time its a bit discouraging for some shop goers to see mutants, after mutant, after mutant, after mutants....all for/from staff. And not everyone is "friends" with staff, so if they don't have a friend on staff, the chances dwindle even more.

I've been WAY LUCKIER than most, but there are some people who haven't been as lucky so I kind of see where the frustration comes from.

EDIT: I think the main issue is the fact that staff has access to types of Soquili that other customers don't. They already get the advantage of "If earn X many credits, then I get the custom I want" They don't have to compete against 200+ other people to get a slot.

Which I don't really have an issue with, I mean... they deserve it.

BUT...not only do they get an "instaslot" when they earn the credits, they get to custom types of Soquili most customers don't have access to. Purewalkers, mutants, hyperhybrids.

Customers rarely get a chance to custom their own mutant. Most customer-obtained mutants are breedings or premades.

I think the issue here is just the accessibility.  

[ATh e a r t]

Customs take a damn lot of time even without the mutations. I can see possibly hyper-hybrids being allowed since that's a mixture of more templates, but mutations are not. They're extra time. Extra edits. Hence the bribes of mutants, because they take a lot of time.

Did you know that some of the heavier mutated soq, even the ones that staff get, we wait for ages for them? I myself cashed in for some back in the middle of 2012 and I'm still waiting. Do you really think the customer base would be willing to wait that long? I -highly- doubt it because we even get enough pressure for not doing breedings 'quick' enough.

That last statement might not be something people say publicly, but I -know- it is said.

We've been even ADDING things to breedings like the twisted halloween breedings and the vday breedings in order to throw in random mutations (if we want) for people. For how much? 12k a breeding.

Still not enough?

We're having an almost completely free event coming. I don't know how many have custom wings and such, but I know there's the phoenix girl as well as a mutant wind/flutter that I did.

Custom wise, I know Mind shared her credits with people, at least once. She also gave people stuff too. I think the most recent thing she said was she hasn't been because others have told her she's doing too much for others and not herself.

Edit; I'm pretty sure, if we opened up mutant slots, it won't just be "I want mutant wings!" "I want fluffy kitty tail!" People have a lot of edit monsters in -regular- customs, let alone bribes.  

[Sabin Duvert]

I think a "credit" system for customers would be way too complicated. There are too many (at least 200 active people if I had to guess), and earning them would be complicated, let alone keeping track.

Staff earn the credits through their hard work put into the shop. Especially with how gold's been devalued recently (not that many/most colorists were doign it for hte gold to begin with) getting soquili is their own "payment" for making pretty soquili for everyone else.

That being said, I think that there should be opportunties for customers to be able to get hyperhybrid or even occasionally mutant concepts made real. As it stands, as Lyda pointed out, there are very few opportunties to actually be able to design and get one of those concepts - and it's tough because those opportunties currently COST colorists credits that they could be using. Those credits are their "paycheck", and it's rough to use ten thousand of them (or was it 20k? Regardless, a TON) to open up big bribes like DD did.

My suggestion would be instead, allow senior colorists to once a year take a month of customs ( no credit cost for them, but can earn credits doing them, just like customs), done in the same format that DD did, but maybe at fixed prices (custom prices, with a set price for mutants/hyper-hybrids/megamutants) Plus the normal cost of edits ((a heavily edited mutant would still incur the heavily-edited price raise on top of whatever "base" price getting a mutant is) - since letting them take bribe prices might be a bit too much to do without credits? Still have to finish one custom before taking the next, but opening up restrictions, and letting them do as many as they can.

OR tie this into a big shop event customs month where multiple colorists can take from posted custom concepts.  

[Kamiki]

Why so much animosity towards people for just making suggestions? There's no reason to be "irked" or angry. You can say why you agree or don't agree without being accusatory or condescending.

Honestly, NO ONE IS SAYING THE STAFF DOESN'T DO ENOUGH.

This is a feedback forum so people can give their ideas and such. It was a good idea. I don't think its very feasible, but its a good idea.

Staff are awesome. Staff get paid. Staff get to spend their payment how they want to.

But yeah, it does kind of create a "class" system when there are certain type of customs that only staff or their buddies can get. Or the rare, occasional, random gift.

I don't see why mutants would take any longer in customs than any other "insert edit level here" custom. There would still be "edit" levels you'd have to adhere to. You could do hyperhybrids as unedited even.

Or say you only want to take up to moderate level edits - that's moderate level edits whether you're making a regular cosplay or a Soquili with a a cat tail?

So yeah, you could easily curb mutants from being edit monsters, by restricting how "edited" they would be. EDIT: For example, custom wings could be "default" extreme edits, which not every colorist does  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

For the purewalker thing... one of the reasons purewalkers have been so limited is that there have been so many RP issues with them in the past. They have very specific personality guidelines and have caused lots of headaches for the RP staffers trying to keep people from doing wacky things with them. I honestly don't see them ever becoming more openly available for that reason, even in something like this...

As for mutants, a lot of things are considered mutations because they're difficult and time-consuming to draw onto a soq, like custom wings. Having to draw a new set of custom wings (onto a soq that could now have 50 tails and a 5 trees growing on it too) could quickly result in colorist burn out...  

[.Tortured. .Pumpkin.]

I like Sabin's idea. It gives the colorists the option, without having to take on more than they feel they can chew.
I feel, though, that people should be limited to one concept as opposed to the two that DD allowed.

And from a customer's point of view, we understand that you guys do a *LOT* of work here. And that most of the drive for doing that work is usually based around that pretty custom you've been wanting from a certain colorist, or that mock breeding you've been thinking of for ages.
However, seeing so many staff mutants, and not having any chances to obtain one, is frustrating. I've wanted Midori's mum for *years* now. I've tried in all the bribes that have been opened without any luck. I don't have colorist friends to gift me stuff, and I've seen no events other than bribes in which I can obtain her. And that is incredibly difficult. I've got plots and ideas and so much stuff surrounding this one character, but I can't get her here.
It just seems sort of ridiculous to me.

Yes, there are mutants that are given out in events and breedings and such. But I want this particular character. And she so happens to be a mutant. So I would like more chances to try to obtain her.  

[saedusk]

It gets tiresome seeing such animosity in response to someone making a suggestion. While I've posted my disagreements to suggestions in the past, I try to keep my responses calm and non-accusatory. No one said staff didn't deserve what they have. Quite the opposite actually. Seeing these kinds of responses from staff (official or not) is off-putting, especially because, as I remember, one of the reasons this forum was created was for people to speak their mind, no matter how out there the idea may be. This is why people are afraid to say things in the first place.

On topic, I think a customer loyalty system would be a little complicated. There are a lot of systems in place already that take time to calculate, like stats, and I personally believe a lot of Soq related things are complicated enough as it is.

However, I think it would be nice to see the possibility for more custom mutated horses, be it through an extremely rare normal custom slot or some kind of event. Like Sabin's idea, for example.