Friday, July 19, 2013

SD is changing; but is it for the better?

This post isn't going to have many shiny graphics, I'm afraid. I want to talk about something that has been on my mind for a while, and that I was just reminded of while shopping the Bazaar -- the declining quality of clothes on Stardoll. I've been noticing this for a while now, but lately it has reached what I think is an all-time low. We barely ever get any new regular stores or collections for existing ones anymore, and when we do they are mediocre or just downright bad (Fever, anyone?). Yet, I wouldn't even mind this as much if Stardoll weren't also rapidly closing down older stores simultaneously. If they want to remove so many stores from Starplaza, they need to replace them with something of equal quality and value.

And sure, right now the tributes are rolling out, but with the exception of GV, many members of the Stardoll community have been disappointed so far. Chanel was mismatched and underwhelming, and while Louboutin looked good initially from the spoilers, the majority of the shoes ultimately had all the graphic quality of a bunch of cheap freebies. I can only hope there's better stores to come and that we haven't seen the end of the tribute season yet.

To be honest, I think the lack of high-quality, fashionable pieces in the Plaza right now is a major contributing factor to the exorbitant prices in the Bazaar. People value older items at such high prices because everything new coming out is garbage, and they need the large amounts of money they make from those sales to buy other Bazaar items priced even higher, thus perpetuating the cycle.

These days I see more people who are Superstar and Royalty than ever, people who, like myself, were non-ss for a long time and decided to give Stardoll our money to contribute to a site we have enjoyed for many years. When there are so many of us helping to keep Stardoll afloat and affluent, why is the quality of the user experience constantly, persistently being lowered? Stardoll should be improving, not declining. I miss the days when they actually put effort into the clothes and stores being released.

...Okay, I lied. Have a shiny graphic:


Feel free to disagree with anything or everything I've said here. My intent is not to offend people, merely to state an opinion.

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