Subeta
3.06
RATE IT:
.: Style
Subeta is an incredibly popular virtual pet site, and it is not difficult to see why. With almost 200,000 users and 450,000 different pets, Subeta has become more than just a pet gaming site – it has becoming a miniature online community.
You start the game by signing up and choosing a pet from over 75 different pet types. After you have chosen your pet, you can go immediately to the store and purchase accessories or start your game play without delay.
Although the game is meant to focus on pets, there is ample opportunity to focus more on yourself. There are avatars that can be dressed up and edited to look like any character you want. They are anime style and you can view what your character looks like every time you enter your home page.
Despite its many positive attributes, Subeta often feels very clunky. It is a game that uses nothing but images, and its layout is simple, which is nice, but despite its simplicity it often has some very slow loading times and glitches. In addition, there are several misspellings all across the site, though this is to be expected as the site is run solely by the owner and volunteers that attempt to keep this large community together.
Subeta’s set up is highly addictive and overall the game is entertaining, especially for younger internet gamers. The older gamers may not be as wowed by the style of game play, but this site is well designed for students and young adults that enjoy spending their time on simple gaming sites.
.: Plot
Subeta is known for many things, but plot is definitely not its strong point. There is very little story line as the story is, in a sense, the care and presentation of their pets in the community. While there are many things to do and often times small events are held in the gaming areas, but there are no quests available and rarely does one need to interact with anything.
There are, however, several goals for the Subeta enthusiast. Not the least of which is helping your pet gain the strength and power it needs to defeat other pets in battles.
In addition, you can give your pet gifts, play with your pet, even give your pet minions – little creatures that interact with your pet and become your pet’s tiny friends.
There are several games that have various sub-plots. Some games ask you to find certain items, and if you do you get sP’s as rewards. There are other games that ask you to go fishing for rare items, and still other games that ask you to play a competitive card game that tries to take someone else’s cards.
You start with 5000 sP (though more can be purchased if you choose be become a paying member) and a pet with a heath, strength and defense of 10 each. As you play the game, your character starts to level up and you try to get more SP’s over time. Getting sP’s is not difficult, though some games prove to be more difficult than others, and if you’re not careful, you can lose most of your sP’s very quickly. Luckily there are many ways to continue to both feed your pet and earn more sP’s even if you find yourself completely broke.
Each of these sub games has a purpose, but not necessarily a plot. The purpose of the Subeta world is to enjoy your pets and interact with the community, and that is what the Subeta world has set up.
.: Safety
Members are supposed to be over 13 and monitored by the volunteers of the site. There are no guarantees that the user is 13, because the site is free to join and thus no credit check is needed. It stands to reason that it is possible for children under the age of 13 are participating on the site, as well as adults of all ages.
Forums are monitored and you can see when a forum topic is deleted for violating the terms of service, but the monitors are volunteers, some of whom are under the age of 18, so there is some inherent risk when trusting the safety of others to underage individuals. It is also possible to contact other members, so parents of younger players should be wary of any and all communication between two members. Though there have been no reported problems of adults taking advantage of children on the site.
Subeta also asks your real name when you sign up and makes it viewable to the public. Ideally, this option would not be available, and is definitely a top item in terms of safety and privacy violation.
There are also online journals where people may post personal information. A quick click in the journals section will reveal individuals that are venting about their parents, talking about their day, etc., and all of the information is available to the public for comment, which can put younger children at risk for - if not predators - then negative comments that may leave the younger individual depressed or unhappy. Luckily, the community is thus far filled with only positive minded individuals, so the risk is severely lessened.
Additionally, the images section is carefully monitored, so any non-Subeta image is removed almost immediately, and no one is subjected to any objectionable content. Subeta also has a very strict single sign on policy, allowing only one account per person. This cuts down on the number of people that can abuse the system and try to set up multiple accounts for spamming people.
Subeta itself has no naturally objectionable content, with all of its stock images being appropriate except for a few scantily clad anime characters, though none of it should be considered inappropriate to children over the age of 13.
Finally, since the site is free, there is very little risk to losing or risking any of your own finances, and there are no reports of Subeta ever scamming money out of its users.
.: Gameplay
Subeta is a culmination of several different aspects of gaming. It has
dozens of different mini-games that can be explored both in the Subeta
universe as well as on the sidebar. These games range in difficulty
from “Rock, Paper, Scissors” to games of chance (such as slots and
dice), to more interactive matches, like the battle coliseum.
Unfortunately most of these games are standard "reload the page" or
"PHP" games, that do not utilize more modern technology such as flash.
Each of these games gives you the ability to earn either sP (game
tokens) or various accessories that you can keep in your inventory.
The gameplay receives a mixed review, due to its overall positive entertainment value but a variety of irritating glitches.
The simplicity of Subeta is a unique counter offer to many other BBMMO's. It is does not require any constant attention. Instead, you simply press a button telling the game what you would like to do, and you receive a result.
Students, for example, can simply click a few buttons in between homework assignments, or while they are waiting for a response from an instant message.
The side games take some form of intelligence and strategy as well. Bones is one example of a game that takes some thought if you expect to beat the computer. There are many games that takes some type of strategy while others take none, such as slots.
Battling is strategic, but also relatively simplistic. You attack by choosing what weapons and spells you wish to fight with and you see the result. In the beginning it is very easy to lose, so stocking up on equipment is advisable, and you will likely have to go through many battles if you hope to level up high enough.
Another goal of the game is to try to find and create rare items. For example, you can help create an item using the “Decanter of Indestructibility” where you choose various items in order to create a new potion.
Finally, “Subeta” is actually the name of the planet in which you can explore. The planet is made up mostly of games that you can play out of the planet as well, but some of these games have themes that relate to where they are on the planet. Most of the gameplay tends to be off of the planet using the sidebar games menu, but on the planet are more of the difficult games or the games that can help you earn more sP points.
One glaring issue with the gameplay, however, is how prone it is to bugs and errors. Playing through the game you will find that you are often receiving some type of “oops” page, due to clicking on a broken or lost link. Some of the links to the FAQ section are broken as well, making the experience surprisingly frustrating.
Still, as frustrating as the broken links can be, the gameplay is still incredibly addicting and one can find that a great deal of time has passed without noticing it. .: Community
Subeta has many different ways to interact with its
members that have greatly contributed to the site’s popularity. As a
user, you have your own mailbox to communicate with other members and
there are popular forums as well as journals and groups. Each of these
you can customize yourself, creating your own groups and posing your
own threads.
Since signup is free, there are a lot of members that are not currently operational, but the community is still very active. This is most apparent by how often the items found in shops are sold out almost immediately after they have been added to the inventory.
The community of Subeta is one of its strong points and a part of the world that Subeta tries to emphasize. There are so many different ways to interact that Subeta is more like a combination of other niche sites like DeviantART, Xanga and Anime Forum. In the forums, players discuss the games and gameplay, their own pets and avatar names and designs, as well as the occasional side topic. There are two different art sections. The first is an art gallery, which resembles more of an online portfolio. People can share their Subeta related art, created on the computer or by hand.
The second is slightly more interesting. Known as Oekaki, it is an internet forum where the users make drawings using programs on the Subeta server and post them to the public. As a mixture of a forum and an art portfolio, Oekaki is unique in that it allows all the art to be part of one bigger project, rather than other people’s separate portfolios.
Subeta also has online journals, so many users have begun participating in online journaling much like many people do on Xanga. The journal entries are posted to the community and receive comments from other members. Anyone can create a journal and anyone can comment, so journaling is not a private place to store thoughts but a way to express yourself to the entire community.
Subeta also has groups, known as “cults” which can be customized to add friends, family, or complete strangers in order to build a bigger sense of community. There are customizable layouts for new cult creations, and these cults are open to the public, allowing anyone to join and discuss the topic of the cult in its personalized cult forum.
Overall, the sheer number of community options makes Subeta a great community experience. And since the community on Subeta is currently a very positive one, all of these options provide a healthy way to interact with many other friendly members.
3.00
You start the game by signing up and choosing a pet from over 75 different pet types. After you have chosen your pet, you can go immediately to the store and purchase accessories or start your game play without delay.
Although the game is meant to focus on pets, there is ample opportunity to focus more on yourself. There are avatars that can be dressed up and edited to look like any character you want. They are anime style and you can view what your character looks like every time you enter your home page.
Despite its many positive attributes, Subeta often feels very clunky. It is a game that uses nothing but images, and its layout is simple, which is nice, but despite its simplicity it often has some very slow loading times and glitches. In addition, there are several misspellings all across the site, though this is to be expected as the site is run solely by the owner and volunteers that attempt to keep this large community together.
Subeta’s set up is highly addictive and overall the game is entertaining, especially for younger internet gamers. The older gamers may not be as wowed by the style of game play, but this site is well designed for students and young adults that enjoy spending their time on simple gaming sites.
.: Plot
2.00
There are, however, several goals for the Subeta enthusiast. Not the least of which is helping your pet gain the strength and power it needs to defeat other pets in battles.
In addition, you can give your pet gifts, play with your pet, even give your pet minions – little creatures that interact with your pet and become your pet’s tiny friends.
There are several games that have various sub-plots. Some games ask you to find certain items, and if you do you get sP’s as rewards. There are other games that ask you to go fishing for rare items, and still other games that ask you to play a competitive card game that tries to take someone else’s cards.
You start with 5000 sP (though more can be purchased if you choose be become a paying member) and a pet with a heath, strength and defense of 10 each. As you play the game, your character starts to level up and you try to get more SP’s over time. Getting sP’s is not difficult, though some games prove to be more difficult than others, and if you’re not careful, you can lose most of your sP’s very quickly. Luckily there are many ways to continue to both feed your pet and earn more sP’s even if you find yourself completely broke.
Each of these sub games has a purpose, but not necessarily a plot. The purpose of the Subeta world is to enjoy your pets and interact with the community, and that is what the Subeta world has set up.
.: Safety
2.00
Forums are monitored and you can see when a forum topic is deleted for violating the terms of service, but the monitors are volunteers, some of whom are under the age of 18, so there is some inherent risk when trusting the safety of others to underage individuals. It is also possible to contact other members, so parents of younger players should be wary of any and all communication between two members. Though there have been no reported problems of adults taking advantage of children on the site.
Subeta also asks your real name when you sign up and makes it viewable to the public. Ideally, this option would not be available, and is definitely a top item in terms of safety and privacy violation.
There are also online journals where people may post personal information. A quick click in the journals section will reveal individuals that are venting about their parents, talking about their day, etc., and all of the information is available to the public for comment, which can put younger children at risk for - if not predators - then negative comments that may leave the younger individual depressed or unhappy. Luckily, the community is thus far filled with only positive minded individuals, so the risk is severely lessened.
Additionally, the images section is carefully monitored, so any non-Subeta image is removed almost immediately, and no one is subjected to any objectionable content. Subeta also has a very strict single sign on policy, allowing only one account per person. This cuts down on the number of people that can abuse the system and try to set up multiple accounts for spamming people.
Subeta itself has no naturally objectionable content, with all of its stock images being appropriate except for a few scantily clad anime characters, though none of it should be considered inappropriate to children over the age of 13.
Finally, since the site is free, there is very little risk to losing or risking any of your own finances, and there are no reports of Subeta ever scamming money out of its users.
.: Gameplay
3.00
The gameplay receives a mixed review, due to its overall positive entertainment value but a variety of irritating glitches.
The simplicity of Subeta is a unique counter offer to many other BBMMO's. It is does not require any constant attention. Instead, you simply press a button telling the game what you would like to do, and you receive a result.
Students, for example, can simply click a few buttons in between homework assignments, or while they are waiting for a response from an instant message.
The side games take some form of intelligence and strategy as well. Bones is one example of a game that takes some thought if you expect to beat the computer. There are many games that takes some type of strategy while others take none, such as slots.
Battling is strategic, but also relatively simplistic. You attack by choosing what weapons and spells you wish to fight with and you see the result. In the beginning it is very easy to lose, so stocking up on equipment is advisable, and you will likely have to go through many battles if you hope to level up high enough.
Another goal of the game is to try to find and create rare items. For example, you can help create an item using the “Decanter of Indestructibility” where you choose various items in order to create a new potion.
Finally, “Subeta” is actually the name of the planet in which you can explore. The planet is made up mostly of games that you can play out of the planet as well, but some of these games have themes that relate to where they are on the planet. Most of the gameplay tends to be off of the planet using the sidebar games menu, but on the planet are more of the difficult games or the games that can help you earn more sP points.
One glaring issue with the gameplay, however, is how prone it is to bugs and errors. Playing through the game you will find that you are often receiving some type of “oops” page, due to clicking on a broken or lost link. Some of the links to the FAQ section are broken as well, making the experience surprisingly frustrating.
Still, as frustrating as the broken links can be, the gameplay is still incredibly addicting and one can find that a great deal of time has passed without noticing it. .: Community
5.00
Since signup is free, there are a lot of members that are not currently operational, but the community is still very active. This is most apparent by how often the items found in shops are sold out almost immediately after they have been added to the inventory.
The community of Subeta is one of its strong points and a part of the world that Subeta tries to emphasize. There are so many different ways to interact that Subeta is more like a combination of other niche sites like DeviantART, Xanga and Anime Forum. In the forums, players discuss the games and gameplay, their own pets and avatar names and designs, as well as the occasional side topic. There are two different art sections. The first is an art gallery, which resembles more of an online portfolio. People can share their Subeta related art, created on the computer or by hand.
The second is slightly more interesting. Known as Oekaki, it is an internet forum where the users make drawings using programs on the Subeta server and post them to the public. As a mixture of a forum and an art portfolio, Oekaki is unique in that it allows all the art to be part of one bigger project, rather than other people’s separate portfolios.
Subeta also has online journals, so many users have begun participating in online journaling much like many people do on Xanga. The journal entries are posted to the community and receive comments from other members. Anyone can create a journal and anyone can comment, so journaling is not a private place to store thoughts but a way to express yourself to the entire community.
Subeta also has groups, known as “cults” which can be customized to add friends, family, or complete strangers in order to build a bigger sense of community. There are customizable layouts for new cult creations, and these cults are open to the public, allowing anyone to join and discuss the topic of the cult in its personalized cult forum.
Overall, the sheer number of community options makes Subeta a great community experience. And since the community on Subeta is currently a very positive one, all of these options provide a healthy way to interact with many other friendly members.
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