That Registration tho...

[kiaz1st]

Right, Ima go about this very carefully, as I know how it is very easy to come off as rude or naggy in such topics.

I just wanted to bring up the area of the registrations, and throw out a few points of my own, and I will gladly receive any other opinions and thoughts on the matter.

To cut to the chase, I was just wondering if it is still necessary to keep the registrations limited. I myself have witnessed the 'FH population' dwindle after (Oh, here comes the touchy stuff) General was disabled, and comparing the number of members online, on average, it just seems barren compared to how lively FH used to be.
This in mind, it doesn't seem necesary to still withhold the Registrations.

Though, I do like to be thorough when I bring up topics such as this, so I had a good think about it, and here is one possible turn of events that seems to play in my mind if Registrations were brought back to it's normal self:

It might take a bit for non-members to realize that the registrations are open.
We would have an influx of members through a period of time.
Things should start to level out.
Anything beyond that is going to far out of our reach to envision without hazard. It could either die down again, or remain steady, or possibly even just continue to climb, no one knows.

I was, of course, a bit hesitant at bringing this up, yet I would like to hear you, the communities, view on this. Is it time we let the Registration out of it's constant trap? Or is this still a bad idea? I always like a second opinion to make a topic clearer, and to get a different angle on the subject.

[WolfQueen]

I think the population of FH has declined because the game hasn't been updated since 2011[?]. It's the same thing over and over again and players start to get bored and move on to the IT servers out there, which is basically a more active FeralHeart with a weaker code and less quality models.

I personally think the registration should be dropped because I don't think the server is going to fill up again like it did when the registration thing was thought up (2 years ago?). And it would obliterate the hassle of dealing with deaf-eared newbies crying "bawwww when is duh rejistrashun gona b up? ((((((".

[kiaz1st]

While you say may be true, that people have become bored of Feral Heart, there is no point in closing down the registrations, if there are still some people who want to play Feral Heart.

It wouldn't be fair if we just took Feral Heart away from everyone out there who wants to join, and just leave it for those who already have an account, as then FeralHeart would die out for sure.
If we were to take your prediction, that FeralHeart would die out anyway, we may aswell leave the registrations open so some may have a chance of signing up and keeping the game alive, as that should be what the community wants.

[WhiteLightHeart]

Much of this is perception vs. actual numbers.

Many users have stated that FH seems to be declining in number, and that fewer people are playing FH due to this. While some may have left due to lack of proper updates (beyond our control) and removing General, and some who have yet to find registration open, this isn't the entire reason for some who perceive the game to have fewer users online.

According to our Forum Statistics page, registration hasn't really declined terribly much. As of the end of September 2014, we had over 2,026 new accounts registered, and 2,200+ in the month before it. Four days into October, we've already had 77 new accounts registered for this month.
This said, there isn't a lack of people being able to make accounts, nor a lack of interest in users signing up.

As far as activity goes, there is only about an average difference of about 100 users since 2011-early 2012. During this time, peak hours (peak hours occur at about 5-9pm EST) would see around 900 users at most logging into the game during summer months, when most of our userbase (school-age and some college kiddos) is on summer break, therefore having more free-time. This decreased to around 700-800 users online during peak hours of the game during fall/winter/spring months, with the exceptions of various holiday breaks.

This past summer, we sat solidly around 800+ users online during the summer months (occasionally spiking up to 900, though more rare) and, now that school is back in session, we get about 600-700 users online during peak hours. This said, there is a slight change in the number of users, but majority of them are online less due to school.

Some may perceive this to be less, however, if your time zone/normal playing time doesn't match up well with peak hours (such as those in Australia, Russia, or even the western Americas). Their normal playing hours may be during inactive hours, where numbers will drop down to about 100-300 users online. It's the game's normal cycle, and it's been this way since its release.

So, while there may be a small difference of 100 users on average, we don't exactly have a huge drop in interest by any means. This said, registration is also there to benefit the server--many users will sit there and make 20-30+ spare accounts, which not only takes up usernames, but they end up being abandoned, abused, and when given away to other players, we end up with account-sharing, which ends up with users getting in trouble due to someone else's actions on their account (or a shared account). This ties back to the "Your Account, Your Responsibility" bit in the game rules.
It helps people be more mindful about their account usage, essentially. And, put simply, less wasted accounts taking up space in the server means that the server has more function to reduce lag and bad tokens in the game itself, for those are playing.

I do understand where you're coming from, Kiaz, but there isn't really a dire need for change in this. o: Not right now, anyway. It's ultimately for the benefit of the game and server as a whole, even if it does take a little more effort to get an account--but a great many are still finding it open. The Forum Stats page I linked up above will show you when users are registering each day/week/month, and so you can see that it's still very open for users to catch registration if they're persistent.
(Still doesn't make it fun, though, we know. :L )

[kiaz1st]

Thank you for the insight WhiteLightHeart, it has cleared allot up for me now ^^

I only presumed that numbers seemed to be decreasing, as that's how it appeared for me myself. Yet, as you have shown me, that is not the case as much,  and your points have helped me understand. I see that the registration limitations still seem to be needed in place, and are still helping.

I have never wanted to complain about the registrations, as I understod how they helped, I only brought this up as it seemed that the restrictions no longer needed to be in place. Yet obviously, by the statistics you have given me, they still do, so I wont be questioning it for a long while yet, hopefully never, as if I did need to question it, that would mean FH would be dieing, and we don't want that to happen :x -touch wood-

As long as we still need the registration restrictions in place, it means Feral Heart is as large as a community as ever, and that's what we like, no? ^^

[WolfQueen]

While you say may be true, that people have become bored of Feral Heart, there is no point in closing down the registrations, if there are still some people who want to play Feral Heart.

I mean the way that the registration open and closes should be dropped. Sorry I'm an idiot I don't know how to explain things right lmao

[jay warfang]

I wish more than anything that a sort of invitation system could be introduced, allowing a player to send some kind of code to a friend or anyone they may want to invite to put said friend in a fast lane for registration. Like a bypass, now I suppose some kind of system is required to keep people from abusing this, so maybe a player has like a month long cool down between invites and there is also a cool down for new accounts? Or perhaps if the player brings in a certain number of other players in a certain time period they will be placed on a "suspicion list" and have their right to invite revoked? I dunno I'm spit balling ideas here.

  Maybe if this is imemented it would also be that anyone you bring in is temporarily your responsibility, and if you bring in horrible undesirables who are reported within I dunno the first month of their accounts life span for something serious the person who invited them has their ability to invite people revoked. After all we don't want horrible, undesirable jerks in the game Do we?

[fullmoonwolf]

I do understand the cons of this topic, although I did have a suggestion. I do agree that registration shouldn't be open all the time like those other websites such as animaljam, but non-users that would like to join, it just didn't seem quite fair when I read that you have to "catch" the registration being open, in witch case you miss it and then you have to keep your eye on it again well my suggestion is having FeralHeart registration on holidays or something like that. Like Christmas, Thanks Giving I think you get my point. If FeralHeart likes that idea and carries it out I would love to know 

~fullmoonwolf