I roll my eyes anytime anyone complains about something costing Gem currency on this site. It is SO easy to get gems without spending a dime of real money. I don’t play a ton of other pet sims these days, but everything I hear secondhand tells me that FR is the exception to how premium currency is handled, not the rule.
The reason the charity Familiar is going to be for straight up cash and not gems is because this is not some million dollar company - if people can get free gems as easily as you can on the site, they’re not going to be using real money to buy it. And that means FR would have to use their own funds to match the donations, which would mean they won’t be able to donate as much.
Obviously we don’t have access to their financials to see how much they actually get in profit from gems/ads/merch, but I really can’t imagine they’re making that much bank off this site. They obviously make enough to keep running it and pay their staff, but it’s not like they’re making us donate to organizations for their tax breaks while they sip caviar martinis on their private jet yachts or whatever. (Then again, you’d have to pay me a fortune to put up with the nonstop whining from this user base, so maybe they actually are filthy rich off dragon pngs.)
as someone who played a lot of other similar webgames before staying w/ fr, i was genuinely so shocked when i found out how relatively easy gems are to get compared to other sites. i think it's a large part of what led me to actually stick around, since w/ other games it tends to be like "either purchase the currency or get a small, practically unusable amount for a disproportionate amount of effort" or the premium currency is just outright unavailable (and often makes large chunks of content paywalled)
"I roll my eyes anytime anyone complains about something costing Gem currency on this site. It is SO easy to get gems without spending a dime of real money. I don’t play a ton of other pet sims these days, but everything I hear secondhand tells me that FR is the exception to how premium currency is handled, not the rule."
Agreed. It's part of the draw of the site for me, that there's nothing you can't get with enough on-site time and keyboard grease. I've never spent a dime, and I have every familiar but the Boolean. (Getting it used to be my big goal, but I've moved away from spending as much time on the site these days, so I sincerely doubt that will ever happen.)
(Yes, I know FR has to make money to exist and I'm sorry to y'all for not contributing to that. And yes, I surely 'pay' much more in my time than I would plunking down some cash. But buying online content is too slippery a slope. I don't want to deal with the mental load of 'is this a valid indulgence' while I'm playing a game for the enjoyment of it.)
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Re: Wind Ancient
(Anonymous) 2025-05-07 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)The reason the charity Familiar is going to be for straight up cash and not gems is because this is not some million dollar company - if people can get free gems as easily as you can on the site, they’re not going to be using real money to buy it. And that means FR would have to use their own funds to match the donations, which would mean they won’t be able to donate as much.
Obviously we don’t have access to their financials to see how much they actually get in profit from gems/ads/merch, but I really can’t imagine they’re making that much bank off this site. They obviously make enough to keep running it and pay their staff, but it’s not like they’re making us donate to organizations for their tax breaks while they sip caviar martinis on their private jet yachts or whatever. (Then again, you’d have to pay me a fortune to put up with the nonstop whining from this user base, so maybe they actually are filthy rich off dragon pngs.)
Re: Wind Ancient
(Anonymous) 2025-05-08 03:32 am (UTC)(link)Re: Wind Ancient
(Anonymous) 2025-05-08 10:31 am (UTC)(link)Agreed. It's part of the draw of the site for me, that there's nothing you can't get with enough on-site time and keyboard grease. I've never spent a dime, and I have every familiar but the Boolean. (Getting it used to be my big goal, but I've moved away from spending as much time on the site these days, so I sincerely doubt that will ever happen.)
(Yes, I know FR has to make money to exist and I'm sorry to y'all for not contributing to that. And yes, I surely 'pay' much more in my time than I would plunking down some cash. But buying online content is too slippery a slope. I don't want to deal with the mental load of 'is this a valid indulgence' while I'm playing a game for the enjoyment of it.)