I think the achievements system demonstrates the problem with Subeta as a whole--there isn't actually that much to do. The achievements have temporarily revitalized my interest in certain areas of the site -- I enjoyed playing with stocks today, for example -- because I like having new tasks to do and being able to see the boxes get colored in. It makes me feel like I'm actually accomplishing something. But so much of Subeta is reliant on luck and/or a LOT of clicking. It tends to either become frustrating, or tiring.
I understand that being the richest user on Subeta is a pretty big deal, and I don't mind having some sort of recognition for that. After all, if you are going to invest so much time in the site, why shouldn't you be rewarded? Except...the users who have 2 BILLION SP already have a pretty tangible reward. They can basically do ANYTHING THEY WANT on the site. And they already have a lot of achievements geared specifically toward them. They can delete a 400 million sp weapon. They can create legendaries. They can collect any number of ridiculously expensive items and obtain a variety of achievements for that. I don't understand the point of this richest user achievement, especially if it's not actually going to be given to THE richest user, but merely shared between a select group of very wealthy users who already have everything they could possibly want on Subeta. It doesn't feel like they're being given more to do. It feels like an extra-special clique is being nurtured, and of course that's irritating. That's always irritating, whether that happens at school, in the workplace, on a virtual pet site...
Rah wrote:I feel like subeta is catering to some minority players here...purely because there is very little else for the minority to do.
.... It's not another way for the richest users to become cool or popular, it's just another thing for them to do.
I also understand that everyone gets bored on Subeta at a certain point--you eventually run out of things to do, even if you play every "game" and complete every quest, and not everyone enjoys spending all their waking hours in the forums.
Except, as far as I can see, checking your vault and immediately getting a new achievement doesn't actually give you much more to do on the site. It just shows that you've already done everything you possibly CAN do. It doesn't seem like adding achievements that take very little time to collect is the best way to maintain someone's interest in the site. If that's the only thing that you can think to add, that's actually kind of sad.
I think part of what makes these new rich-user achievements so irritating is the fact that the achievement system is one of the very few things that keeps Subeta interesting on a daily basis. I enjoy the holiday events--even though they generally turn into mere clickfests as well--but I have to say, Subeta is downright dull at other times. I honestly don't know why I spend so much time on the site. There's actually very little for ANYONE to do, not just the minority. So why add more achievements that only a certain group of people will ever be able to accomplish? Even if I spend all of my time on Subeta, there's no way I'll ever be able to earn 2 billion sp, unless I also invest a lot of cash that I don't have. It seems more productive to add things that will add to the enjoyment of the majority.
What about transforming the Games section into actual games, rather than using it as the "catch-all" area? There aren't many games that require actual skill, and that's one of the things that I have missed since I left Neopets.
I also really like Topher's idea of adding things to encourage working on your profile, or your pets' stories. I would love to see spotlights added. You don't necessarily need to add an achievement for them; even if I didn't enter immediately, I would enjoy seeing other people's entries.
And as far as not seeing our arguments...maybe that's because you're not actually reading them? Here's a quick summation of what I said in the previous paragraphs:
"IT'S. NOT. FUUUUUUUUUUUUN."