Freeze

Freezing a hatchling is when someone chooses to stop the hatchling from aging. In other words, they will never be able to grow up. This is often done in order to save the hatchling sprites, often because they are preferred to the adult ones, or for collecting purposes. Some people also freeze for description and roleplaying purposes. To avoid abuse, this cannot be reversed.

Although dragons do not gain views once frozen, hatchlings frozen at Stage 1 (the stage before wings or gender) can mature to this stage if they have enough views. If you want to collect non-winged hatchlings, it is suggested to let the egg hatch with as little views as possible, and freeze as soon as it hatches.

On the "Actions" page, the freezing is specificed only as an action that will "Permanently prevent the hatchling from maturing into an adult," leaving substansial confusion as to what exactly takes place with regard to the hatchling. Similarly vague is the text given when the Freeze action is taken, which says, "You cast a spell on the hatchling that stops any aging." Because of this, each user has a specifc idea as to what freezing entails and how it affects the hatchling. Some users are against freezing because they believe it to be immoral, similiar to killing and stuffing an animal. They interpret the Freeze spell as something that either kills the hatchling or locks it in suspended animation, so it can no longer go about its life. Other users see it as giving the hatchlings eternal youth, and allowing them to continue living, just never reaching maturity. Some don't care either way, preferring not to consider the hatchling as anything more than a picture.

There has also been some debate about the possibility of freezing eggs, although TJ09 has been trying to work out a way of doing this without abuse. One suggested method is to collect egg shards and forming them back together to make an egg after a dragon hatches.