I joined this site because I thought it might be more broad based. I occasionally visited VPL, I assume most of the people who were there have migrated here, given the questions about whether that site will ever return. Looking at the numbers for the first two questions I have to chuckle. On one hand the results say this site should remain solidly VPS/Sim, but just as solidly it should not be rebranded to focus on VPS/Sim. Huh?
Purely a personal observation, but I think that pet games are fairly limited and that the audience for those games will cannibalize other games. When Marapets crashed recently, a number of players left and joined other sites, such as Neo, Subeta and Flight Rising. All of these have had "oops" moments causing players to abandon ship. It is my belief that players are less devoted to individual sites than the owners might hope. When I look at the sheer number of people playing those games I realize the audience is limited; I'm not sure interest is growing.
As a marketing professional, I understand it is very difficult to create a new brand and entice people to flock to it. That is why most companies use line extensions or borrowed interest to attract users, examples: Pokemon GO and Mario Run. Familiar names and characters require little effort to "educate" potential consumers (as opposed to creating an entirely new universe). Also, the two examples (albeit not pet games) are attempts to capitalize on the growing popularity of mobile devices. "New" is important to consumers, also. Look at how often new versions of familiar franchises are released to great fanfare - COD, GTA, Mario, Pokemon, The Sims ... When I look at pet sites I see a lot of fragmentation. Even Disney took the bold move to abandon Club Penguin and create Club Penguin Island so they could capitalize on mobile. (This when gaming computers are growing like mad, but typical Disney miscalculation. They will be crying when VR/AR becomes a thing.)
I know people here think I'm negative. I apologise. But I see a lot of people who want to build their little pet game and invest so much in it. It makes me sad, because I've been among the alpha and beta testers on several sites, including Flight Rising. And I've seen more failures than wins.
So what's my point? I think for this site to grow it needs to expand its focus beyond beyond something so narrow. Perhaps there are non-pet people who might find what TGL has to offer is interesting, engaging and something to build on if the door is opened wide enough to embrace other interests. Think outside the box and stay open to more ideas.
I'm grateful to be part of this community and can't wait to see what is in store for it.