Monthly Meow XXXIX

Original Post: Ember, August 29, 2015

It’s been a fun month on the website! There has been a lot of drama across all of the clans. In MoonClan, Weepingtiger’s grip on his clan grew stronger after he fended off a fox while his clan attended a gathering. In NightClan, Coldstar welcomed in trouble by inviting a number of gang members to join his clan. DawnClan experienced a sudden and unexpected loss from a warrior speaking out against StarClan, little did they know he died of foxglove seeds planted by the medicine cats. SunClan’s leader and deputy began a quarrel that ended with the deputy forced into retirement and the leader being almost overthrown. And that’s only to name a handful of the events! Everyone, please stay up to date on the plot planning page so you know what events are planned. All ideas and opinions are welcome.

I’ve noticed an increase in the number of errors in Character Updates Page submissions over the past month and would like to give some reminders. Always follow the exact format provided. Don’t include notes with your updates, such as “will be redone soon” or what a cat’s future name will be on the name field. Character redos only apply to the description and history field, renaming characters or changing their clan or rank should be handled with character updates following “___ of ___Clan is/has ____” formats. A full guide to what is expected for each type of update can be found HERE.

Thank you to Angel for suggesting the topic of this Monthly Meow! This is the third clan statistics analysis I’ve done, the others can be found HERE and HERE. Please note that this Monthly Meow was written on August 14th, there will be some differences between the clans then and the clans now.

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There’s been a smaller shift in the total number of cats than in the past due to new registrations being limited. The more members there are, the more characters there are. If the member count is allowed to grow very slowly, this will be reflected in the number of characters. Between the individual clans, the number of characters is split roughly evenly. MoonClan is the largest right now, probably due to the NightClan apprentices and kits they recently took in.

While we’ve always run a female majority, probably as a reflection of the majority of roleplayers on the website being girls, the gender ratio is more skewed than it usually is. I’m not certain of why, the only reason that comes to mind is that I simply don’t report the gender ratio in the clans as often as I used to. Members don’t know there are so many more female characters and therefore won’t make a personal effort to even out their own characters. Between individual clans, my first impulse was to suggest it was correlated to the clan’s personality. MoonClan and NightClan have traditionally masculine characteristics and would have more male characters, while the more traditionally feminine DawnClan and SunClan would have more female characters. However, this theory falls apart because it simply isn’t reflected in the actual clans. MoonClan does have more male characters in relationship to the other clans and SunClan has a relatively high proportion of female characters, however NightClan has the second highest proportion of females and DawnClan has the second highest proportion of males.

The thing that stands out the most to me on this new round is the sudden spike in age. However, I think this also goes back to registrations being closed most of the time. Newer members have, on average, younger characters, and members who have been on the site longer have older characters. The largest shift is in SunClan, which isn’t surprising to me. Fewer members gravitate toward SunClan than the other clans. The threads are replaced less often and it usually has the least number of characters. The characters that are there don’t switch out very often, it has far fewer updates each week than the other clans and often has the most elders going through. Members who don’t gravitate there often either have no characters in the clan or the characters they do have are played less often. This results in fewer kits being born to those characters and the characters dying and being replaced less often, which moves the average age up. It’s also possible it’s a reflection of the clan’s personality, because of the importance placed on caution and cooperation with the clan, cats simply don’t die at young ages. Hot-headed, impulsive MoonClanners are likely to bite off more than they can chew; NightClanners are known for being violent and starting fights within the clan itself, or for being eager for battles with other clans; DawnClan tends to have more kits than the other clans. All of these things can bring down the average age of cats in those clans.

The proportion of working cats is higher than in the past, probably due to the average age being older. Most of the nonworking cats are kits, if the average age is higher it means that there are fewer kits in relationship to the number of warriors. It makes sense that in DawnClan, where there is typically the largest number of kits and queens, the number of working cats would be smaller.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on all of this. What stands out the most to you? What do you think causes the changes between clans or from the last samples?

Ceremonies

Due to all of the cats changing clans that we’ve had over the last month, some of these cats aren’t in the exact same order as they appear on the pages.

MoonClan

Apprentices:

Pricklekit, Dango, Riverkit: Early September

Melody, Patchkit, Dragonkit, Batkit, Mossykit: Mid September

Brightkit, Breezekit: Late September

Warriors:

Tigerpaw, Katydidpaw, Guardingpaw, Cinderpaw, Risingpaw, Forestpaw: Early September

Lilypaw, Scorchingpaw, Raggedpaw, Chillingpaw, Freezingpaw Stripedpaw: Mid September

Duskpaw, Widowpaw, Meltingpaw, Hickorypaw, Sparrowpaw, Redpaw, Burrpaw, Toxicpaw: Late September

Elders: Weepingtiger, Fireflyshaser, Scarwhisper, Warriortears, Dreamcatcher, Earthstorm, Swanflight

Deaths: Shiningshell, Feathershine, Cloudyeyes, Featherfoot

NightClan

Apprentices:

Nettlekit, Eclipsekit, Ivorykit, Swiftkit: Early September

Ebonykit, Willowkit, Honorkit, Tranquilkit: Mid September

Lightkit, Dark-kit, Dusk-kit, Owlkit, Viperkit, Alderkit, Softkit, Aerialkit, Seakit, Midnightkit, Havenkit, Nightkit, Murkykit, Runekit, Snakekit, Timekit: Late September

Warriors:

Thunderpaw, Stormpaw: Early September

Brokenpaw, Rivenpaw, Blackpaw, Hauntingpaw, Hissingpaw, Bleedingpaw Pumpkin, Frostpaw, Horizonpaw , Deathpaw, Sparrowpaw: Late September

Elders: Howlingmoon, Creepygrin, Prosperity

Deaths: Stonedust, Silkstep, Twistedleg, Rippleclaw

DawnClan

Apprentices:

Luckykit, Lightningkit, Hawk-kit, Electrickit, Dolphinkit, Wavekit, Rainkit, Whitekit: Early September

Tigerkit, Dustkit, Badgerkit, Runningkit, Skykit, Cherrykit, Dragonkit: Mid September

Shortkit, Dwindlingkit, Lagoonkit, Seahorsekit, Havenkit, Bramblekit: Late September

Warriors:

Bear, Coalpaw, Axolotpaw: Early September

Burnedpaw, Fishpaw, Peachpaw, Branchpaw, Streampaw: Mid September

Survivingpaw, Sacredpaw: Late September

Elders: Waverunner

Deaths: Troutfur

SunClan

Apprentices:

Ashkit: Early September

Boulderkit, Rabbitkit, Maplekit, Cheetahkit, Yuccakit, Swiftkit, Amaranthkit, Beetlekit, Grass-kit, Dartingkit: Mid September

Sourkit, Sorrelkit, Solarkit, Mintkit, Icekit, Gravelkit: Late September

Warriors:

Angelpaw: Mid September

Sunpaw, Bluepaw: Late September

Elders: Daniel, Tim, Goldenhaze, Goose

Deaths: Ryestep, Vanessa, Smallshadow, Fallingskies, Wishingwell