Game! - Where the stick is mightier than the sword!

Is this a bug?

Everyday when I visit the Pack Rat Trainee he tells me something like this:

"Hey cool, you're only missing 203 items. You've seen 196 of them, though."

Now, the first number properly goes down everyday like it is supposed to (as I acquire more items). However, the second number has also been going down. Is that a typo, or is that a grammatical misunderstanding, because shouldn't as the game progresses I see more items?

Thanks!

EDIT:
I created a new Character and it said this:
"Hey cool, you're only missing 300 items. You've seen 0 of them, though."

I then visited the market and went back and it said this:
"Hey cool, you're only missing 300 items. You've seen 286 of them, though."

Why would the number from my older character be lower than this new character?

The second number is the number of items you don't have, but you have seen, rather than simply the number of items you've seen. It's likely a more useful figure when you're closer to having at least one of each item.

Ah, okay that makes sense.

OK, let's see if I understand this: if I look at something in the Market, it's another item I've seen, even if I don't buy it. The first number only goes down when I acquire something for the first time, right?

sideburns wrote:OK, let's see if I understand this: if I look at something in the Market, it's another item I've seen, even if I don't buy it. The first number only goes down when I acquire something for the first time, right?

Correct. More specifically, if the item's in the Market when you load the Market page, then you're counted as having seen it.