Samanayrs

2016 was the first year I did the monthly birthday draws, with a draw each month for folks born in that month. Although it was a lot of fun coming up with a different-yet-similar birthstone Sam each month, I'm wondering if I should go back to the regular monthly draws instead? Customs, semi-customs, etc, open to everyone. I didn't end up doing a lot of them this year but it's also been a super stressful year, and hopefully 2017 will be a little kinder XD;

I'd still like to do an item gift every month, even if there's not a Sam draw

Honestly, I REALLY liked these events. :3 It made me want to be around each month just to see what new one you come up with! I like that the year had a theme with a different one for each one. This is a neat idea that might help with sam story building too! In my mind.. 2016 was year of the Gemstones. Next year can be something else...

We had that one event a long time back with the constellations/horoscopes Which was really neat! Idk...that is just what I thought. ^_^ So many possibilities for the whole year too! ^_^; Just my thought!

Year Ideas:
Year of the Bloom (Flowers)
Year of Steam and Metal (Steam-Punk)
Year of Magic (Fantasy)

Either way is fine with me. . I really loved the birthday month Sams.
Having a different theme each year would be cool.

The only downside to birthday draws imo is people born less "popular" birthday months have a higher chance to win their birthday sam.

But it's not a serious concern compared to the awsomeness of seeing twelve variations on the theme. So really I'm happy either way!

I think my biggest concern/complaint with the birthday one was that it really limited everyone down to entering a single monthly draw all year, such that once your birthday was over, aside from getting to see the new lovelies, there wasn't much reason to be excited about the draw every month. And granted it did make each one more special for those who won them, but it also limited participation.

I do absolutely adore the idea of year-long themes for the draws, though! Getting to see what each month's gem Sam looked like was very exciting, and I'm 100% in favor of doing that again with a new theme. 83

ETA: Ooh, maybe have the guest artists do a monthly themed birthday draw with pets, alongside regular monthly draws? Then there'd be a draw for everyone each month, and a special pet draw for the birthday people where the cake could be given out as well? :3

Yeah, my two problems with the birthday draws are that the chance isn't as fair for the months where there's a lot of birthdays, and it leaves out everyone whose birthday isn't that month. But if the guest artists wanted to get together and plan something that would be totally awesome ;D

I think I also need to do more of these 'variations on a theme'-type Sams because it's been a lot of fun coming up with the gem Sams and trying to keep them similar yet different! I also think I learned a lot about drawing gemstones this year XD

Speaking as one that missed my birthday draw last year I have to say I have not had much reason to log in this year since I couldn't participate so I am voting for open to all. Cause if you miss your month you have to wait a year+ to participate. Just my two cents.

Definitely agree with the points about the exclusions from the birthday draws. But there is something sort of enjoyable about the limited pool - makes the sam somehow feel more exclusive? If that makes sense?

And I did love the themed sams! Would love to see more of them in the future!

So here's what I'm thinking for 2017: each month there will be a draw for an exclusive themed pet (maybe even a new species?), an item for the year (like the rainbow cake), and most months there'll be a draw open to everyone, unless it's a breeding season or big event month or something like that. We'll see how that goes for this year Thanks so much for your feedback and suggestions!