Edit: I am glad the reason for all the errors and lag was found! Kudos to the team for their hard work and updates!
It seems I am the only one, who would be perfectly fine with having goldmining permanently disabled and no new options added to earn gold. I like the focus on earning gold for raising eggs & hatchlings, and less gold in the system (or let's say a less steep increase of the total gold) could be beneficial for prices (even though that's no priority or motivation for me). In this picture, events (with fast-hatching eggs as usual; not asking for any new events) would be the thing where a lot of gold can be earned in a win-win situation because it actively helps the critters and thus the community.
In my opinion, adding mini games just for the purpose of replacing goldmining, shifts the focus from the MS experiences to something that does not really belong to the MS world, and this would leave a bad taste in my mouth.
I'd be okay with things that fit to the MS universe, though, and this by no means should replace the thousands to ten-thousands of gold that some users seem to have mined per day/week. For example:
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A (daily?) quest where one can find a bit of gold (not always the same amount, sometimes nothing, or some egg or rarely one of the items) in exchange for a companion (any adult, has to be in main tab) that is necessary to do the quest. The quest and the possibility of certain rewards could vary also with the type of creature you choose (terrestrial, aquatic, affinity to a certain element etc.).
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Drunken bet: You meet at Remy's Inn and where you can win some money in a (drunken?) bet. This could be without doing anything at all and just probability for winning or a drunk quest: Example: "It's early in the morning but you are having a hard time opening the door of Remy's Inn because everything around you is moving and twisting. Yesterday's party was it all worth, even though this is the only thing you remember. You decide to stay for a while at the Inn and perhaps get sober with one of Remy's special brews. The Magi next to you is at least as drunk as you are and after minutes of silence, the other Magi glances at you, suddenly starts giggling and snorting. (1) He leans towards you and with his hand waving in front of your face whispers: "I bet ...hic... you can... can... cannot ...hic... tell me howmanyfingersh, eh ... hic?" --> you accept --> probability (you pay 1g if you fail, but can win more). (2) He leans towards you with xxx g in his hand and whispers: "I bet ...hic... youarewaaaaay too drunk... to to to catsh mee an egh, eh... hic?" --> you accept --> stumble to the river bank but it takes you several tries with messages like "you try to grab an egg but suddenly there are two of them and you miss them both", "you splash around and try to hug the beautiful water because you have no clue why you came to the river; luckily, your actions do not harm the eggs in the stream" ... "you are soaked and the pebbles in the river are slippery, but the cool water seems to have a similar effect as Remy's special brew and finally you lift the egg gently from the water".
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Requests: There could be a display in Remy's Inn with are several (always different) requests from (NPC) merchants etc. you can chose one/two/three per day/week from, e.g., "earn xxx g if you go to the Jungle of Raza and hatch a [species] egg", "[Someone] pays xxx g to any brave Magi who collects fire of a hatching Anaugi/mist of a hatching Mist Stalker" (both mean you have to hatch such an egg), "If you are foolish enough to hatch 2 cestodas within the next 48 hours, [Someone] will reward you with xxx g".
This turned out much longer than I intended to reply. Anyways.