Why do you like, or not like, closed species?

I'm kind of mixed between the idea of closed species, but I mainly lean more towards having a dislike for them. Most of the time, they aren't really that original, just being a mash up of two or more different creatures/objects, or just being a existing species (ex. humanoid/mlp cs) with some added traits and lore to make them stand out. Granted, I've seen a couple of closed species that are quite unique and even have interesting/cool lore/backstories to them, but they were always more obscure or not very popular.

Another one that most people can agree on is that they can cost quite a fortune, especially with very popular closed species. Depending on the price, I see it as being a waste of money just to gain permission to use a picture someone drew and/or rights to the species it's centered around on. If you're able to afford it, then by all means go ahead, I am happy for you. But I personally don't really like the idea of it.

Also this is more of a personal thing, but with a few how quick people are to claim, not leaving the slower people who may be interested in getting one a chance.

 I can agree on the whole "strict rules" thing, if there isn't a lot and are easy to follow, then I'll happily follow them. But if they heavily limit you, then that's a good reason for me to turn around and walk away. It's even worse when it can lead to whatever you own getting revoked. It's quite a scummy thing to do in my eyes in a few circumstances, such as if it's one you invested actual, REAL money into. Once they buy it, you do not have the rights legally to take it back, unless they explicitly agree they are fine with it, or you give them a refund.

As the owner of a really really small CS, I find that I tend more towards smaller CS.

A lot of the bigger CS are not my thing. And just have too many people in them for my taste. Not to mention stricter rules.

I'll say I've admined a very toxic CS in the past. It was a not-for-profit one that...honestly is better off staying shut down. It did have the issue of revoking characters as well as having some unsavory things in it that were probably illegal. And the lore itself was....actually kinda phobic? Or at least fetishy.

But I've found I love small CS. Especially open universe ones. Which is probably what inspired me to make a CS that, while there's a lot of lore, it's not only open universe but you can ignore 90% of the lore. But I also don't really focus on it as a business? Mine is more of just intended as just a fun hobby. It is still quite difficult to run...but I've only encountered a few problems. Like, I'll admit the designs aren't 100% original, but I love writing the lore.

I don't know, I think CS have caught a lot of flack due to the bad apples. THey're not really as bad as people make them out to be. The issue is with the mods, owners, or communities.

I got several qualms with CS. When i first started on deviantart (2016) i loved seeing these unique,creative designs and this community for these designs that were labelled species. I started to like the idea/premise of these and always wanted to join and genuinely love the passion/ideas behind some of them. Skip years later and my view of them (now that ive had a little bit of experience and knowledge on them) i feel they're so stressful, not as creative (this is just my opinion but humans with animal traits is NOT or SHOULD not be regarded as a closed species). I hate how restrictive some of the admins/creators can be with the rules and how if you do a small certain thing they don't like/wont tolerate it'll get you in trouble with the WHOLE community. Like i always try to make sure it can be voided somehow in order to use it as a one off cause man some of them do EXCELLENTLY as one offs! But if they can't be voided i just don't want to deal with it. Just now i compulsively traded for a birdfolk (regretting it) and just feel stressed having to potentially participate in a site where i no longer even have an account in. Its just sooooo scary the thought of these white knights coming over to harass you if you use the species incorrectly. It just kills all purpose of them for me.

Nope, do not contact me about this in any method. I do not want something like a random talk.

I enjoy a few of closed species ARPG in DA.(Not something like BagBean. I'm fucking dare to call the name.) like various games, there're many activities I can do even people like me who not very interested in do socializing in the community.

But sometimes, doing the activities can be exhausting. Even if I speed up with sacrifice large amount of quality(still meet the requirement), I can't make more than two per day. ..I wonder how others make that large amount of activity images.

(Edit : Some ARPG groups also contain lots of favoritism and hostility. As much like many CS groups.)

About "normal" CS, I like to see CS designs in TH. But, they're not appealing enough to buy for me. And the communities come across me hostility and favoritism are basic attitude toward others. 

I don't want to see people in CS communities gatekeeping and being  snobby. So I stay away from the communities. Plus, I hate rabid CS group community people hunt others down just because of vague design similarity or common ideas.

i like the closed species that have something that make them genuinely unique (like a bunch of developed lore behind the species), but i still wouldn't generally want to purchase them. the concept as a whole doesn't appeal to me because i would typically prefer to use a design for whatever species or ideas i have for it, rather than having to worry about whether or not it's in line with the species; if it were more commonly allowed to be able to use species adoptables out of species i would be more open to purchasing them. that said, i understand the appeal of unique closed species for people who want an OC belonging to that established lore, and i don't have any qualms with it even if it isn't for me.

what i don't particularly like is the closed species that don't really have much lore or anything around them, and fall into the "neko characters but with XYZ bauble/decor design element, original idea do not steal" and nothing else to set it apart-- no established lore or anything to really make it a species. i'm also not a big fan of the culture around closed species, and tend to feel more favorably about open species; the idea of having to pay upwards of $30 if not significantly more for certain species, just to have the right to draw a design myself, is absurd to me. paying for an adoptable design of a species i completely understand, but i cannot imagine having to pay money to draw it MYSELF, or pay doubly so that i can have the right to draw one and then commission someone to do the design for me. and if you want your character to have any unique features, well, that'll be another $30+ to have a unique trait! it feels like a huge cash grab and a means to artificially inflate the worth by making a species "rare"/hard to come by, rather than a community that someone is passionate about.

I love the beauty of some closed species and how much a creator takes into designing an idea of how they want characters to look, their theme, and different traits that apply to them! I dislike how many closed species feel.. Exclusive, though. Some really feel unwelcoming and that sucks because there's some CS I want to get into, but if you don't get an MYO or something really interesting for offers you're kind of SOL.

Okay, since I already posted my thoughts here multiple times, I'm gonna say this...

If an owner of a CS has done really terrible stuff outside of their CS group, like say that said owner is a(n) racist/lgbtqphobe/p*dophile/ableist, or did something harmful to certain groups of people, then I'm not interested in participating in that CS, because of concerns that I'm supporting a person that has done problematic stuff.

It's pretty important to be careful of what CS you're partaking in, because the owner of a CS might have done nasty stuff. This is one of my main gripes with CS, and the same should be said to the adoptable species concept as a whole. It's the reason why I had to leave a CS ARPG because of that.

(This isn't aimed at everyone, mind you)

I dont remember if ive posted here or not but..

I'm personally not a fan of them. But I'm also not a big fan of adopting characters in general, either, as I simply do not have the same attachment to character designs created by others than the ones I spent time designing myself. (Of course this isn't meant to sound like I'm saying bluh bluh adopting is bad and unoriginal bluh bluh this is just me personally aha) 

That's my main gripe with closed species too- theyre basically stuck in that world that their species is from, and it just seems like- there isn't much you can do with a CS other than having the right to own a species of a character you basically paid somebody else to have. 

Of course i'm not trying to sound like I dislike cs and I think theyre evil or whatever because theres a lot of closed species I think are super pretty, and the creative process that must go into creating a brand new species is something I applaud! but my characters and very interconnected to their own storyline, and closed species just seem like they just.... wont fit. 

i'm also in a bit of a love/ hate relationship w/ them lol

bc in one hand, i enjoy making "one-off" story characters. characters that really have their own standalone in a world that doesn't need that much establishing and their story is more or less a simple summary that doesn't need much fleshing out. i love my ocs but making a whole long winded life story for everyone and making them all connected and have a whole bunch of lore is just way too much for me to handle so these one-offs are more enjoyable for me. esp since i like drawing my ocs more than trying to write out their profile lol.

with cs, if they have an interesting design and lore, i like using that as a jump off point to my own one-off character. ... that's pretty much the only thing that i like about cs in general lol

the things i just hate though is the elitism feel on them, the "horror stories" of cs owners claiming a design trope that's incredibly common and going after users that unknowingly "copied" them, and just. really strict rules. the strict rules one honestly makes or break it for me to be into a cs. like, i just want to make my myo when i have the time, not be required to finish it in a time limit (i get the reasoning for this one so eh). or i just want to do my own thing w/ my cs character(s) and don't do rps, why do i have to join the discord? and i like being subbed to mutuals, why do i have to subscribe the owner (when i'm really just interested in their cs concept?)? yeah i'm being super whiney about those rules, but man i just liked the concept i don't want to participate in the community lol everyone can do their own thing i just wanna do my own thing

I'm honestly still in shaky ground with CS. I do like a few, visually, and even fewer if taking the lore into consideration. Sometimes I just think they look cool and maybe they don't have much lore but I also like the artist and want to support them that way (this is the most probable one). And even so, I'm giving my opinion as the owner of a small CS in the making.

But something that really makes me walk away from a CS are the really strict rules. More so, what you can or can't sell, gift or trade, or the fact that a lot of them don't take your own art as adding value to them and therefore you can't sell something you got by trade even if you raised their value to the clouds. I think personal effort does count, your time and work does count. And no one else can assign a value to your work more than you. But this is a problem not only from CS but also from a lot of adoptable rules in general. 

Redesigns! When you have to buy traits and items to change your design, be it changing rarity or not. Once the character is yours, my opinion is that you should be able to change it as much as you want as long as you let the mod know (to keep everything up to date). I understand this is an interesting feature when added to ARPGs as items, but it would be just perfect if these items also changed your abilities/powers/stats in the game rather than just the appearence. That would be a perfectly acceptable way.

I have a bit of mixed feelings about MYO slots. Because I do think it would be good that everyone creates what they want, but also I understand it is extremely difficult to keep track of so many designs. Personally, I'm planning to allow 1 free MYO per person, which can be redesigned, sold/trade/gift, and have different "skins" or "alt versions" of the design as long as it resembles the "original" one someway (keep in mind I plan to make an ARPG). I do believe this would give more freedom to artists and openings to participate. Another thing I like about some CS is that they have ways to earn in-game currency and use it to buy items, slots or characters; that is a very good option for people who don't wish to spend real money (of course, not that you're gonna make these tasks incredibly difficult...). 

And of course: you can't control what people make. I saw a lot of drama about the "Fan OCs of CS" thing. Honestly, I fully supported the artist who started it then. You can't just tell people what to draw or not draw, much less expect they follow through. Perhaps it'd be best to allow making characters but not use them in-game if not apprved. I think that'd suffice.

Anyway, if somebody got more suggestions, do DM me, I wanna be as fair as possible!