What makes them so nice? The niceness rubs off and I KNOW it does bc my hermit self now runs a free wolf giveaway that I never expected to run, but it's kinda just the way I want to play now. I've played other pet sims before, and from what I've seen, the kindness is standard. The rest of the internet does not operate that way lol

Either way, I really appreciate it and am happy to be part of positive and uplifting communities

I’m so close to some of my petsim friends + we’ve talked so long and often that I don’t even think of them as petsim friends anymore like why do they know the most intricate details about my personal life and also what I did for lunch today

Ikr? Lol, I have no idea why though.

I think it is just human nature for any sort of game or activity where you can get things through grinding and then share them! High level MMO players LOVE dropping what seems like crazy high level items on new players, if you get onto a survival minecraft server you're probably going to find some person who built a mansion and starts throwing stacks of food and materials on you, and of course on sites like this I can tell you can really build up a lot of inventory and then share your goods!

I've found over time, the regulars to a community, I'm talking games too, tend to be nicer, and want nice people to join. The real loyal players want others to love their game as much as they do. But I've also found, the less easy it is to "troll" in a given community, the more likely the unkind people find somewhere else to be. Most people are nice and friendly most of the time, it's just that trolls are loud and easy to spot I think. I mean, just look at the game Guild Wars 2... that game has so many players, yet despite the fact that it encourages working together with features like, reviving fallen players giving you achievements and experience points... it's also VERY difficult to troll someone in that game. I mean doing even 1 damage to something gives you full credit and your own set of loot, so you actually end up more often happy someone dropped by to fight the thing you're fighting rather than upset by it. Because of that, it's one of the nicest, and most friendly communities I think I've ever seen in an online game.

I think the funniest thing about GW2 is the fact that if you die, suddenly players swoop in from all angles to come pick you up... going out of their way to revive you because you show up on the map as a downed player. It's really awesome to see. XD

Also I know I mentioned that game a lot, it's just a fun example to me. MMORPGs are generally more unfriendly communities.

I agree with the Human nature side of it, because most people just want to enjoy their community, not disrupt it. The loudest people can sound like a majority when they're all you hear though. Luckily pet sites don't seem to be one of those places that regularly breed trolling. :D
The other side of that is when you have people kind to you, and you don't experience any bad from the community, there's no resentment. You're far more willing and open to sharing the kindness when you don't feel resentment towards a community, even for a small number of them. It feels safe.