Samanayrs

I'm torn on what to do for next month! I'm not going to have time for NaNoSamMo so I'd really like to do a breeding season, but that would probably take the entire month and then it'll be December. If I do work on gifts for December that means there probably wouldn't be too much else happening. Or I could do a smaller-than-usual breeding season and a smaller selection of gifts. What are your thoughts?

I missed out on last year's gift-giving and would love an opportunity to give back to the awesome people here, so even though breedings would be great I voted for gift-giving prep.

Oh goodness gracious, I don't even know how to choose! I absolutely ADORED the last Christmas, and seeing what everyone got was just great... I'd definitely love to see a big ol' Christmas extravaganza (I don't know what else to say XD XD), but babies are great too, but you can get babies through Christmas too... though there's always an abnormally small breeding season, then there's February/March to do a Breeding season too... I'm going to return to this later tonight, though I believe that my answer will be the Gift-giving prep... XD

I put both because... well... I LOVE SAM BABIES! And maybe... the two can be incorporated into a single big event?

I dont know about you but I would LOVE to be gifted a sam baby from someone else! There are a BUNCH of people I have in mind that I would like to gift this year and I can only imagine the squeals and screams that would come if they opened a box and a baby sam popped out! <3333

Just a thought. Either way Im really excited to gift this year. I want to put alot more time and effort into this holiday season because of the things i have gone through and the appreciation I have for my friends and family!

Oh I love that idea Rikku! Christmas breedings but you have to submit the breeding for someone else!

That would be really a neat thing to do! Then it would be a surprise for all involved. Almost like a big secret santa!

The ULTIMATE secret baby Santa extravaganza!! :3 I'm glad its a good idea....I was second guessing my thoughts when i posted ^.^;;

How would that work though? I mean, I have Sams that I don't want people breeding, and I have Sams that I want a foal from, but not yet.

Would we submit a list of Sams that it's okay to have foals from? Would it be from our own Sams, or someone else's Sams?

Ooh, that's a fun idea I'll have a think about how that would work, since I wouldn't want to step on anyone's toes permission-wise and I know there's lots of breeding plans!

I'd be happy to state my permissions. And that would be a looooot of Sams right there!

Would it be only breedings for Christmas if it went this way? (AKA no 'customs' or anything?) and what if (by some weird chance) two people choose the same pair to give someone a foal from? Like, would you say something or what? XD And would people be able to buy twins for others? Like if someone had some roleplay/idea for that?

That is an interesting idea! Hmmm... maybe everyone submits two lists: one for their pairs they'd be willing to allow breedings for and then, once that list has been posted, a list or pairs they'd like breedings from?

I think the list idea is a good plan.

Sushi, I'd be willing to help organize the lists of sams/songs people would be willing to allow others to request breedings from for Christmas gifts to help take some of the work involved off of you.

well my thinking was you could do either. give a sam from a breeding of your own sams or have a pair from someone elses. 2 lists i guess like you guys said.

have a lists of your sams that its ok for anyone to get a breed and a list of ones youd prefer not to, so that even people with no sams can get a baby ( from a random open sam from someones list!)


like if im picked to be given a sam. on my form there should be a : which would you prefer? one of your sams breed or anothers? then if youve been dying to have one from your own (that isnt on the open list) your gonna be happy and surprised at which ones from your list breed.... and for those who dont have sams at all they could get a random or possibly pick someones open list. you wouldnt have to put all your sams on the lists, so this helps to ensure getting one youd like or have been waiting for (say maybe 5 on the list your dying for and as many as youd like on the open list?)

im happy to do what i can if helpis needed.

I'd assume an Open Song would be, well, Open to gifting foals regardless who did the asking ^.^ But if someone wanted to make a restricted pairing available for anyone to gift to anyone that would be wonderful too and that list could be really handy

I like this idea.

Sorry, playing Devil's Advocate here a bit more XD

What happens if you have a stallion from one person, and a mare from another person in a song together. The mare's owner doesn't want her bred, the stallion's owner is fine with him being bred. What happens then if a third person wants to use the pairing?

It honestly sounds like a fairly complicated doing XD I'd love a breeding season, truthfully. I'd be okay with gift-giving prep too. The whole gifting a foal just seems too complicated right now. Maybe another season it could work, once everything has been thought of. Just seems a bit short notice right now.

I agree with Lv on this one, I mean this stuff needs to be thought about a touch more before anything else happens.

I mean if you wanted to have three lists, ones that are open, ones you have plans for (like ones you wanted for yourself/for you to breed and gift at a later point) and not open at all. But I still think that this is a bit more complicated to think about and plan, so I'd be extremely leery...

I would think not open at all wouldn't need a list they just wouldn't be available to choose from. This is a gift giving not a oh but I'd love a breeding from so and so but I want it just for me. I think that those kinds of breedings should remain for normal breeding seasons and not be a part of something like what we are discussing. It's too personal and confusing to keep up with. I think that while giving and getting foals is fun, it should not be over complicated.

Here is what I propose:

• Any open song or semi-open song in the database could be used
• Closed songs that have given special permission to participate would be kept on a separate list
• It would be up to those involved in closed songs to decide if they want to participate and have the stallion owner contact the person maintaining the list letting them know the song wishes to be a part of it and of any restrictions. ie - all sams available except [insert name here]
• Once the lists are up there could be a wish list thread that individuals could post their top 5 wish list from what is available for all to use as gifts for them

What do you guys think?

To put my two cents in, while I think that gifting breedings are fun, I think that doing normal christmas gifts is probably optimal (at least for this season.) It's just very very complicated.

If someone REALLY wants a breeding, you can always gift them a breeding token, right? This way that people who'd rather gift customs/items/pets still can. Plus, some of the random sams Sushi makes are just awesome. <3

I don't know I think I got even more confused than ever. I mean this whole thing (in my opinion) is really complicated, plus what if someone wants a baby from a specific pair, but it isn't open to anyone else? That could be taken in a bad way. And still I maintain the question of 'what if someone buys the same pair breeding'

I personally do have some plans for some custom gift giving, and through the Christmas gifts I can do that much more easily (since as far as volunteer points go I'm probably years away from being able to cash in a custom/twins breeding from volunteer points XD). But I mean I am totally open to buying a breeding token/straight into a baby for someone if that's what they really wanted!

Yeah I'm not too keen on breed-gifting, it just seems unnecessarily complicated. My vote had been small versions of both to allow for the fun of a breeding season and the excitement of holiday gift giving.

That's true. It may be simpler to just do two smaller ones.
And you are right that breeding tokens might be an easier way to gift sam babies in general.

I think it's a fun idea, I just think that it's a bit complicated. It might be nice for someone (Like Ora, if you wished) to organize a list of people who specifically want something: I.e., if someone has their heart set on a breeding token, someone could see their name on the list and order it for them.

Sort of like the wishlists Sushi normally does, just a bit more specific. :3

*laughs sheepishly* I may be completely off-base here, but I think we're all making this much more complicated than it was intended to be. My first thought was that this would be run exactly the same way as a regular breeding season- open Songs are open, closed Songs need permission (only this time someone might ask who you intend to gift the Sam to before granting it or not), and forms are all posted in the breeding forum so you can see all the potential pairs and choose to either try for the same one or go with another pair. There are two potential problems I can see with that- one, is that it might not be very secretive, and two, that a random draw might mean that someone ends up with multiple gifts, when it would be more fun to spread them around. It probably could be managed if everything was done by pming (and I'd be willing to help out with that too!), but I think it might be easier to do this instead:

Instead of random free Sams for gifting, the Sam foals from a November Breeding Season would just be put into the prize pool- if anyone is uncomfortable with the foal from one of their Songs going to a random person later, they can just keep their Song closed, and it might be a good way to give less popular open Songs some loving too. In December, gifting lists would just work like normal, and people would win the foals by random draw. Paid customs I'm assuming would also work like normal- I don't think that people who can pay to gift others should be restricted on what they can give, except for species you can't buy of course. ^^

I kind of like this way better than random Sams actually, since you have the chance for even more excitement- if your entry is chosen in November, you get the thrill of seeing a foal from a Song you wanted, and if chosen in December, you get the thrill of seeing a Sam go to someone you think deserves it. *grins and shrugs* I don't know if that makes sense or not, but I think it could work smoothly enough!

Janalee wrote:*laughs sheepishly* I may be completely off-base here, but I think we're all making this much more complicated than it was intended to be. My first thought was that this would be run exactly the same way as a regular breeding season- open Songs are open, closed Songs need permission (only this time someone might ask who you intend to gift the Sam to before granting it or not), and forms are all posted in the breeding forum so you can see all the potential pairs and choose to either try for the same one or go with another pair. There are two potential problems I can see with that- one, is that it might not be very secretive, and two, that a random draw might mean that someone ends up with multiple gifts, when it would be more fun to spread them around. It probably could be managed if everything was done by pming (and I'd be willing to help out with that too!), but I think it might be easier to do this instead:

Instead of random free Sams for gifting, the Sam foals from a November Breeding Season would just be put into the prize pool- if anyone is uncomfortable with the foal from one of their Songs going to a random person later, they can just keep their Song closed, and it might be a good way to give less popular open Songs some loving too. In December, gifting lists would just work like normal, and people would win the foals by random draw. Paid customs I'm assuming would also work like normal- I don't think that people who can pay to gift others should be restricted on what they can give, except for species you can't buy of course. ^^

I kind of like this way better than random Sams actually, since you have the chance for even more excitement- if your entry is chosen in November, you get the thrill of seeing a foal from a Song you wanted, and if chosen in December, you get the thrill of seeing a Sam go to someone you think deserves it. *grins and shrugs* I don't know if that makes sense or not, but I think it could work smoothly enough!

The idea of random foals used instead of random samanayrs is rather cool actually. People who've wanted their samanayrs to have foals but have too many breeding plans could move these sams to the front. I.e. I have a couple samanayr pairs that I would love to have foals, but since I have some larger breeding plans they keep getting put on the backburner.

It's something to consider!