Author Topic: Priorities  (Read 22593 times)

Offline Hakumi

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Re: Priorities
« Reply #60 on: June 25, 2019, 11:37:26 pm »
After reading everything, all I will say is this and I hope no one from the staff, community, higher ups take it too personally, but,

I'm truly disappointed.
I'm not surprised that something like this is still happening and even I was hoping for some bit of change overall with the relationship between staff members and the community. As I said before a long time ago, the community is what's keeping this place alive and not just the staffers. There needs to be a solid and strong relationship. As I see it, the relationship between the two is abusive and toxic.

There's nothing wrong with transparency. With it, there's trust. You TRUST your community and it's members by keeping them up to date with the updates and you TRUST them with the knowledge you're giving them. No one asking you to spill a whole bag of tea or be as descriptive as possible, they want to know their value and their worth and so far we are WORTHLESS..

I have ran communities before and even forums and I can say with certainty that there should be a waaaaaay better relationship than what's happening right now. I've always wanted to return to a loving and happy community that I once enjoyed while I was naïve but not to something like this. Not to something where members are being given THREATS to keep their mouths shut or else something happens if they dare go against a higher ups wishes, where members don't feel like absolute garbage because they're being treated like little kids...

Personally, I see there's still some growing up to do around here and not from the community members themselves..

I still plan on returning and being more involved because I refuse to see this place crash and burn and I just miss some loving friends I've made on here since way back then.

Keep on traveling across this road called 'Life.'

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Offline ThatBlueOreo

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Re: Priorities
« Reply #61 on: June 26, 2019, 12:56:33 am »
Sweeping this issue of transparency under the rug to hope it will pass will not do much of anything. It will fester, and it will eventually grow into an even bigger issue. You as the staff asked for our opinions, well here they are. And I know many people who will agree that transparency is very important in a relationship between staff and members in any game.

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and if I had any other outlet would certainly play this game much less.


I honestly agree with this statement. Why? This exact issue. If we want FeralHeart to offer new members the same (hopefully) positive experience that we have had in the past, then I believe members and staff alike need to appear more friendly to the younger audience and anyone else, no? For this to work we should first start with restoring relationships with our current staff and members.

Anyway, that’s my TED Talk.
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Re: Priorities
« Reply #62 on: June 26, 2019, 01:07:04 am »

Offline silverharp

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Re: Priorities
« Reply #63 on: June 26, 2019, 02:03:11 am »
I basically left during the whole drama last time, this is an account of mine that I barely used, I was known as DarkLustyHumor before and helped out a lot on the forums for a time. Anyway..this is what I have to say about this:

Raz, I understand wanting privacy, I do. But you're currently treating this game like it's being run by a large corporation, which it is not. The staff members and the users are very important, as this game isn't overly popular, this is an isolated community. How the staff reacts can make or break the game. This is a game directly connected with social interaction, role playing, and there's nothing else that would keep people here other than that. So there isn't a lot to fall back on. You can't run this game in the dark, it's just not possible with the type it is. Transparency is very important, when the game itself surrounds so much around social interaction, then there needs to be a healthy relationship between the staff and the users. There's no income for this game, there's no special features. The staff that work here are volunteering their time and should be treated as more valuable than people you can just throw away. I don't know if you keep up with gaming, but if you're aware of the heat that Blizzard is going through right now for their value for their employees? They themselves are a huge company that is underwater for destroying the morale and going after hundreds of employees, when they have hundreds and hundreds to spare. Feral Heart doesn't have that, what Feral Heart has is a very few amount of staff members that are supposed to have a presence within the game and bridge the gap between staff, a terrifying hierarchy, and the other users. You can't rule by fear, in fact you shouldn't be ruling at all. The staff should be working together but still be free to enjoy themselves in the game. Without a connection to the users, why should the users trust the staff? They don't know what's going on most the time without the staff telling them. Then rumors go out of control. Just let the staff be friendly with other users, don't force them to be silent, allow them to be seen, let the users know that the staff is invested, that they care.
      You already lost one group of staff. I think it's time you set your pride aside and look at things from a different perspective. This isn't a corporation, you aren't seen as royalty, you are just some person that we don't know that controls the server and may as well be a robot to the rest of us. And that's because there's such a divide. Allow the staff to be seen as people. Because this game can NOT handle this drama and survive. Eventually something is going to give if things stay this way with you feeling the staff should be so distant. And when it gives, Feral Heart is done. Your actions, how you speak, what you choose to do, will say whether you have staff that will be loyal to you and stay, or leave. They have no incentive to stay on as staff here other than nostalgia. So give them a reason to stay, give them a reason to be loyal. Be fair to them AND the other users.

Otherwise we can say goodbye to Feral Heart.

Offline razmirz

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Re: Priorities
« Reply #64 on: June 26, 2019, 12:53:00 pm »
@ame

Firstly its not a threat if i had every intention of removing them from their posts without the warning if anything its a courtesy.

This is not the place to bring up such an issue it as stated in the proposal provides no benefit to the community in fact it does the opposite.

The MOTS are treated equally so its down to what the MOTS do rather than what the staff does.

There is nobody to blame but the MOTS and as the MOTS and ex MOTS have decided to point fingers I'm simply pointing out that its the MOTS task not the staffs.

It would seem if the MOTS doesn't work I suggest we pull the additional powers if a working MOTS  team cannot be found by the end of the year.

------------

Regardless of what else is said here I find it absolutely laughable that people are actually attempting to demonize me in all of this. Apparently my past deeds have been forgotten. Oh well you may all continue digging :)
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Offline G4RG0YLE

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Re: Priorities
« Reply #65 on: June 26, 2019, 01:26:27 pm »
If the issue had brought up to only staff then I am sure both ex and current MOTS would have been given the, "we'll talk about it. hang tight" reply and then the reality being it is only briefly covered and then hardly (if at all) spoken of again. As it happens with quite a lot of suggestions that are brought up.

There is nobody else to blame but the Staff for not putting in more ideas that are then implemented if agreed upon with this issue in particular. I'm not sure why this topic came as a surprise to some of us. It's not just them pointing fingers, it's everyone. Staff have pointed fingers as much if not worse than the MOTS and community has put together and that's a real shame.

Just because people bring up issues does not mean they are ungrateful for your past deeds also. I don't think it's fair to assume that whatsoever.

I'm not going to address all of your paragraphs when it is obvious you do not do the same. I'll treat your replies exactly how you've treated everyone else's in this thread.
Especially when there is no point considering last time I tried to address everything it was met with a message calling my argument invalid. Therefore, if you do not owe us 5 minutes of your time then we do not owe you any of our time until you're willing to talk without acting as if your job as a Server Master makes you some sort of god.
Thank you for your replies nevertheless.

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Offline PrettyReckless

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Re: Priorities
« Reply #66 on: June 26, 2019, 03:25:22 pm »
If the issue had brought up to only staff then I am sure both ex and current MOTS would have been given the, "we'll talk about it. hang tight" reply and then the reality being it is only briefly covered and then hardly (if at all) spoken of again. As it happens with quite a lot of suggestions that are brought up.

I just want to clear something up here.
Just because it's briefly talked about in chats /calls only certain people have access to, doesn't mean it isn't spoken about further.
An example is that Sura and I do speak a lot more than it comes across, and we do speak to Raz about things too.

For whatever reason suggestions have been shot down, or put on a waiting list as we have grander things to deal with.
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Re: Priorities
« Reply #67 on: June 26, 2019, 03:30:07 pm »
I guess what me and others are struggling to understand is why MOTS are being held accountable for something that we as a community should expect from staff members. I don't think it should be up to three people selected for a season to ensure communications between user and staff. However, this conversation will keep happening (as I feel like it has been for years) until something changes. We can't expect change overnight, but we'd at least like something. Like more transparency, or a little monthly update on how things are coming along, or better yet if the staff themselves can't come to a decision, ask the community.

We are after all the playerbase, and there should be some consideration into what they want from this game.

And likewise, this isn't a shot or suppose to come off as ungrateful. Feral Heart is a whole is a strange situation, it's a game that's source code can't be accessed, and I think ex-staff and current staff have made the best of that situation. However, I think if we as a community and game want to move forward and to ensure some survival for a few more years, it wouldn't hurt if the community (not just MOTS), had a say in it's future developments.

Offline razmirz

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Re: Priorities
« Reply #68 on: June 26, 2019, 04:15:38 pm »
Perhaps your expectations are a little skewed maybe that the problem.

There's some kind of community assumption that these staff members you point at are supposed to be providing you some kind of information????

In the staff room there's a thread we actually call it "The Staff Thread" its dated 08-July-2012 written by Red and updated since where needed.

This thread defines 99% of a staff members role. How to perform certain actions etc and what a staff member should be doing.

It covers everything from updating parts of the site to moderation on the forum and in game. Even relevant use of social media pages.

What isn't in there is updating the community on game progress.

See, it's not a moderators job.

Now, let's look at the admin structure we have me who looks after the server and keeps things running.

You also have two forum admins who by definition look after the forum.

Yes there is a little overlap with forum staff having powers to moderate the game. Though even this is not a given, it's assumed. There have in the past been forum moderators who did not posses in game powers. And game moderators that have not had any powers on the forum.

So as you see there isn't anybody with a role to provide the answers you seek. You as a community just made an assumption.

Even if you go back as far as when LKD was providing updates, nobody knew exactly what he was working on. Things just appeared and people were just happy to have them.

Coming back to the present we still don't have a staff allocation for information passing. And talking to everyone is a heavy task. So we allowed you to pick 3 people each season who can speak for you and look into what's going on. Their powers are written and agreed to in the MOTS proposal. Its quite clear what they can and can't do.

Please stop assuming its peoples job to do things that isn't their job. Maybe they will do certain things for you that isn't in the job description. If that happens be grateful but don't sit and point fingers at people who aren't even responsible.
« Last Edit: June 26, 2019, 04:21:22 pm by razmirz »
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Offline Bawfle

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Re: Priorities
« Reply #69 on: June 26, 2019, 05:03:48 pm »
It's funny you mention a thread that is yet again another thing users do not have access to in order to obtain that information.

It's also funny how you feel users shouldn't expect updates from staff that they used to get. Updates people looked forward to getting, and actually wanted. Whether or not it is their job. The current staff clearly under perform compared to staff that were here maybe 5 years ago. The present admins cannot say at all that they have a passion for this game or the community when they put no effort into it that works, and are leaving the community unhappy in the majority. This isn't how a community should feel.

Here are some things quoted from the MOD FAQ and I'm going to highlight the things that the majority of mods/admins are NOT doing.

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A moderator is usually someone who helps the community with various tasks, these are here to keep track of the users and their behavior making sure they keep the rules that apply, along with keeping things organized and up to date. They have powers on either the game or forum, and can use these to engage with players* not behaving or *in need of assistance. You can say MODS are really the ones trying to keep things in motion and set the lines required for "you", the users. Moderation work is done* both on the Site/forum, as it's done *within the actual game, and tasks can vary. Their main purpose is really to help as much as possible and put up a good example for other users within the community.

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Here's a few things that's common for a MOD:
- They're very active on Both within the game and on the forum. does only logging in to play forum games count 'cause if it does why isn't everyone staff
- They've shown themselves as helpful towards the community and game and has a great interest. lolol
- They're known to and have done positive actions in this community and game. you're givin me a laughter
- Know their way around the game fairly well, both inside and outside. the community is part of the game too, and they clearly don't know us at all with the way they act

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Admins - Are the ones in charge of the majority of the site and staff and their work is to not only help as any other mod, but also to help the rest of the staff when needed, keeping things structured.
Moderators - Are the ones defines the word moderator. They move and lock threads around the boards, suggest things within the staff, keep users within the boundaries and do what we see as moderating. so if a moderator sees staff/user transparency as moderating, it's all of a sudden not because you say so raz?

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Can a MOD get fired?
They can, but it's nothing that happens too often exactly. The only way a MOD would get fired would be if they misbehaved greatly towards the staff or community, or even abused their powers to such an extent that the Admins and the rest of the staff would be needed to take action I can name at least one other than yourself raz, and when it never got dealt with the way it should have. Activity could also be a factor if a staff member is away for very long time without letting the rest of the staff know.

When KovuLKD left, the game became the community's game- so we should be listened to and the popular things that the community want SHOULD be taken more seriously. Transparency is not as complicated as you're making it out to be. You're just giving staff a reason to be lazy and do the minimum for a game they are apparently sooooo passionate for.
« Last Edit: June 26, 2019, 05:05:26 pm by Bawfle »


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