Author Topic: The Future of Feral Heart  (Read 18553 times)

Offline razmirz

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The Future of Feral Heart
« on: July 12, 2019, 09:44:49 am »
I'm aware the rumour mill is turning once again.

So to clarify. As of last night I no longer feel that I can hold up the commitment to Feral Heart that I have for the last 8 years. For one the role I came in on has changed beyond recognition. I was only meant to look after the servers. But as time has gone on I have ended up wearing many many hats.

I'm not going to start detailing the problems as there are many and I don't really want to start pointing fingers.

The crooks of the matter is now have a short period to decide what to do with Feral Heart. I am on the clock here because I need to either resume the site for the ads to pay for the servers or cancel the servers entirely.

Options being.

1. Re-attempt to carry on with it as it stands. If I can find the energy.

2. Hand the the entire thing onto someone else. Though I don't know anyone else who has both the technical know how and I trust enough with all of your data.

3. Drop the project back to how LKD designed it and pretty much abandon it to run itself.

4. Shut it down and release all the info required to run a blank copy.

5. Come up with some insane new idea about how to deal with this project that I'm not adverse to doing.

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

In case I end up with option  2 or 4.

I've got a few things I'd like to say as things may just disappear.

Firstly thank you to all those who helped on this project over the years. Feral Heart has been a better place for it.

Also I'd like to take this chance to apologise for a few things. I do have a few....

Firstly I'm sorry that we didn't have the source when LKD left. He actually offered it for Reds keeping back in the day. I told Red that if we take it now LKD will have passed it on and that would be the end of the updates. I didn't anticipate that he would just leave regardless.

My second regret even though it technically wasn't my job was that I didn't really pay any attention to the 1.15 update. I guess I just took it for granted that it was going to be the right thing. I really didn't look over it until after it was released like the rest of you. Maybe if I had it could have been tailored somewhat differently.

Moving on I feel you should be aware that getting a copy of the source code is not a new thing. In fact I have been sat on a copy of the source for years now even the rest of the staff were not aware I had it. It probably would have remained that way if I didn't feel that the servers needed certain security updates that could only be achieved with alterations to the client also.

The unreleased 1.16. With my lack of attention on 1.15 I knew I needed to to pay more attention to this update. I outline a requirement for this one and i hear work was going on. But even then I didn't pay too much attention to the ins and outs. I heard work was still going on so I let it go on. I hadn't realised work was going on on completely different things. If I had such things wouldn't have been started and the time wouldn't have been wasted.

I haven't treated you the community very well over the years. I still hold a grudge back from when I was hosting IT. Which is why when Feral Heart came in I opted to a background role. A lot of the times when I posted I've been harsh sometimes it was for good reason to keep eyes where I needed them to be. But on occasion I'll admit I was simply doing to to have fun and that was wrong.

On a final note. I'd like to point out while I haven't always agreed with the communities opinion. ( I don't believe just because a lot of people want something it makes it the right thing to do. )  I have always had the communities best interest at heart even if I don't explain my side. Where there has been community wants there has always been alternative ideas to address these issues without generating the problems I see in the idea handed to me.

Well I guess we will see what happens from here.

Should this be my last communication good luck to you all.

Raz

PS Sorry the site looks broken I didn't feel it warrented the fix time.
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Offline razmirz

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Re: The Future of Feral Heart
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2019, 11:59:26 pm »
The staff problems I caused.

Rewind to October

I’m going to reference new and old staff as its easier.(for reference Ressy is kinda both)

Most of you already know why the old staff left in October. I made a massive post about it at the time and I’ve referenced it above. But lets drop into what actually happened after they left. A new staff team was selected mostly by Ressy who returned. These new staff being completely fresh had an enormous amount of energy. The first thing they wanted to do was the Halloween party in their eyes that would prove themselves a capable team to the community. And they achieved it god knows how it was complete chaos from the angle of the staff discord. I expect it was completed more by sheer will than actual skill.

At some point in this timeline the old staff had realised that they didn’t want to leave. Actually I’m not completely sure they ever wanted to leave. It was more a going on strike but gone slightly wrong. I was trying with this new team to create a democracy. So I provided them 3 options. Not letting the staff back. Letting the staff back in their original positions. Letting the staff back stripped of rank. However with this decision I made it clear that the old staff would be joining their team rather than the other way round.

So the we know how that vote went. In the knowledge of what occurred prior to the old staff leaving and the number of staff we then had that I needed to spit up the team. I seeded and randomised the staff so there was an even number of new and old in each team. Each headed by an admin. I thought I was diluting the potency of the old staff. Instead I had driven the new team in with the old where methods and ideas immediately conflicted.

This conflict I believe stems from a much older disagreement. Red and I always had a very different approach to staffing. Which actually answer the question why retired staff retain their powers. I believe that each staff member as a volunteer should be able to do as little or as much as they wish so long as they are not completely gone and doing nothing. I have a very relaxed approach to training I rather people figure things out for themselves rather than being told what to do. If they wish to ask questions or are unsure about something they can still ask. Its a very relaxed system but people do say I’m fairly chill.

Reds approach on the other hand was to thoroughly educate each staff member as they joined his team. One staff member at a time they were slowly integrated with a tight knit team. He had requirements about work being done. He would very closely manage every project. Nobody can deny this approach works. It was very successful for years. I personally don’t have the free time to achieve this.

Perhaps most of you by now have figured out where this is going. Sura’s team was all brought up on Reds methods. And Sura is an unstoppable force. In fact I suggested long before before she was an admin that she should be because of the endless drive and motivation. She has done an excellent job with her team. This should not be tarnished simply because maps were made that she and her team spent months on. I told them at almost the point of completion did not fit the game. I’m sure that any of you who put so much time into a project thinking it would be a welcomed surprise would be heartbroken when it was rejected immediately.

This fight  I had with them had a second consequence. I broke Sura, and on return she was not the same person who left. I had hit back so hard that she had lost the drive. Not only this she worried about creating anything that I might not approve of. Keep in mind I have caused this.

The new team has been operating pretty much unchecked till they returned I had tried to give them the tools to do anything they need to. Suddenly they had admins who were operating under Reds methods. Things now needed to to be ok’d and a lot of things suddenly needed to be authorised by me (so not to have a repeat of the maps). This caused a huge hang up to working processes as I’m not always available.

As you might understand for the new staff this would be extremely irritating. They felt that couldn’t get done what they needed to do. Everything occurred so slowly. The old staff would be looking at the chaos of the new staff and trying to rein it in and educate them on what they knew. But Red only trained one staff member at a time. This is a whole new group that out numbered the old staff 2 to 1. The system was never designed for this.

To try and remedy this issue I pushed for regular staff calls so I could authorise say a weeks worth of work in advance and get decisions made. This alleviated the issue somewhat. But things were still to slow. It also meant if some work wasn't done within timelines that week was wasted. There were occasions where if something wasn't done when it needed to be I would simply authorise someone else to “just get it done”. Some staff took offence to this stating they were going to get the work done. While they were authorised by me blame was pointed at the old staff.

Other decisions that occurred in the calls got missed by some staff who were unable to make them. Some just couldn’t make the times and as the calls were at set times on set days. It just wasn’t viable for them to be involved. But I myself only had limited times when I could conduct these. Sometimes things which were thought to be sorted in a previous call completely turned around in the next one due to different attending members.

Another issue that unfolded came from the freedom I gave the new staff. Projects were started that didn’t appear to have a goal. More a create this and it can be used “sometime” You can see how when there’s other projects going on some might be annoyed at time spent on such projects when there are other things to be done.

The final issue that stemmed from the mixing of teams was the micromanagement stemming from the days of Red.  A project was picked up that had been laying dead in the staff room for a couple of years. Wolffox offered to take up this large project and I gave her oversight on it. The project commenced and she was getting results. But perhaps it wasn’t perfect the old staff were seeing flaws. They are perfectionists. Where I will allow correctable mistakes and let people learn from them. The teachings of the old staff is to fix first. The pushed for changes in a project that technically wasn’t theirs to change. But they were only looking out for its best interests.

In hindsight I shouldn’t have even tried to combine these teams. If I had allowed them to operate completely independently I’m sure by now I would have had two highly effective teams. I took two incompatible systems and forced them together.

Now a side note about the old staff while some of them have given up they still want that October patch. I understand why and if anything they want it for you.  Its not out of some sense of pride or for popularity. They want it because they truly believe its the best thing for the game. Giving you what you ask for so much. Adapted versions of the original maps. They really do push for what you want. They try to champion your requests. They shouldn’t be hated for this. They shouldn’t be forced out.

A final note in regards to how we got here. There is word going round that xSpirit is being used by the old staff as a bargaining chip. While they do take up discussion with him about things that I have clearly stated will not be happening. It is purely speculation on my part that they could have been influencing his decisions.  I must admit I haven’t been overly happy being challenged on things by a staff member who is so “green” even if they are a developer. The fact of him bringing up the maps was kinda the final straw. In a previous meeting about these maps the old staff dropped the item from the agenda before it was even discussed.
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Offline razmirz

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Re: The Future of Feral Heart
« Reply #2 on: July 15, 2019, 12:02:11 pm »
Further information to come
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Offline Jango_Fett

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Re: The Future of Feral Heart
« Reply #3 on: July 15, 2019, 01:44:45 pm »
Hijole the mad lad did it

i don't know nothing about mopeds
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Offline Machungwa63

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Re: The Future of Feral Heart
« Reply #4 on: July 15, 2019, 02:12:55 pm »
It's great to see Feral-Heart back up but we are well aware that there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes and we appreciate you all taking time to get this sorted and back running again. Feral-Heart is held very dear by a large amount of people and I think I speak for many when I say it would be sad to see it go. Thanks again, and I hope all goes well in the future so we can continue to make memories on this game for years to come.
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Offline Ame88

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Re: The Future of Feral Heart
« Reply #5 on: July 15, 2019, 03:16:31 pm »
I don't have anything to say cause I've already poked you about those in past days lmao but I'm eager to see what you have next for information. Let's see where this goes me hearties.
« Last Edit: July 15, 2019, 05:55:49 pm by Ame88 »

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Offline Telluric

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Re: The Future of Feral Heart
« Reply #6 on: July 15, 2019, 03:36:49 pm »
though my words mean but air.. thank you.
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well maybe it's about time!
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Re: The Future of Feral Heart
« Reply #7 on: July 15, 2019, 03:43:48 pm »
Thank you for your honesty, I think it was a good idea to leave the site down for a few days after these posts to let everyone read them thouroughly before rage posting lol. Whatever happens, I am glad that I was a part of this game and community. No matter how many times we leave, some of us always seem to come back. Please just keep us updated.

Offline NinetalesStar

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Re: The Future of Feral Heart
« Reply #8 on: July 15, 2019, 04:22:27 pm »
Hey raz, thanks for posting the information out there to us. I really appreciate it. As wolfdog01 meantions, keep us posted ;)
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Offline Lady_Alizarin

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Re: The Future of Feral Heart
« Reply #9 on: July 15, 2019, 04:46:45 pm »
Thank you, Raz. Thank you for your honesty, and I hope all is well.
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