Hey guys <3
As most of you have noticed there's been a lot going on these past weeks, things that have affected the whole community. We'd like to explain some things, and also offer a sincere apology.
All that has occurred has been due to miscommunications and conflicts between the staff and the server master, conflicts that ultimately should have never been dragged into the community as they only caused unnecessary stress and worry to you all... For this we are truly sorry. These issues could have been handled more professionally from both sides. We want to apologize for the way these decisions have affected your enjoyment of the game and for any kind of confusion that has risen because of them. Hopefully, our explanation will clarify any lingering questions that you may have.
The root of the conflict between the staff and Razmirz stemmed from a lack and lapse of communication which began and has continued since many months ago. Having staff and server master comprehend one another and understand each other’s perspective is a crucial element in establishing the foundation for mutual respect and the coherent progression of a team-- without that, a slew of miscommunications can and did result. In the past, Raz had consistently suggested that he did not involve or authorize himself in patchwork. When production of this patch began, however, Raz showed more of an interest in oversight of the maps. We had no objections to his interest, and for a while, there did not appear to be any kind of concern with the way things were progressing. As time went on, Raz became increasingly busier with his personal life and did not involve himself with patch matters. Most all communication was limited to myself contacting him through Telegram, with him very rarely logging into Skype to look at the discussion that was going on. His participation in nearly all involvement in the patch business chats ceased. Apparently he had removed the Skype application from his phone, due to the fact that staff had commenced business calls during times which were proving inconvenient in his timezone. All of this occurred without him informing us of when he might be back around, and any attempts to reach out and suggest to him a call to discuss thoughts were either rejected entirely or ignored. Problems that arose from the server such as broken maps or a server freeze were dealt with in a timely manner, but whenever we brought up the mention of the patch, our messages would be neglected.
With little to no input regarding our direction of the patch and Raz’s absence, we decided to continue the progression of the patch. In the past Raz had informed the staff that he trusted us to make the right choices and collective decisions, thus there was no hesitation to continue working. Along with this, we wanted to make Raz happy and were willing to handle the responsibility of the patch to allow him peace of mind and to concentrate on matters in his own life. We were determined to make Raz proud but also to bring happiness to the community. We had observed an increasing number of disheartened “FH is dying” threads and general discontent in the community, and so with the stagnation of the patchwork due to Raz’s absence, we were further inclined to bring long-awaited requests to fruition. Throughout this time, we had been speaking openly in the Skype business chats about our future plans and progress.
Over a year from his absence we were finally able to conduct a call with Raz. He brought up many criticisms about the work we had produced-- many of them holding very little weight in our eyes, some outright rude/inconsiderate insults, while others were founded from a seemingly good place but appeared to be overlooking the interests of the community. It was our intention to introduce ideas that the community has been advocating for the past few years-- ideas that ultimately were overlooked in many forms in the past. Despite our trying to exhibit this perspective, Raz was still not satisfied with the version of the maps we had produced and blatantly told us that there was no way he would permit this version of the patch to be released. Amongst our offering to explore and discuss the maps together in a call (with him never resolving to do so with us), and even our bringing in old staff members to review the maps (which they approved of), there were many attempts to establish some kind of compromise or common ground with no results. It got to a point where we would discuss an idea with him or seem to get somewhere in terms of seeing eye-to-eye, and the following day, he would behave as if our discussion had not taken place and revert to his prior opinions.
Following this, it was made very clear to us that Raz had no intention of allowing these maps to pass unless our existing concepts were scrapped or redesigned in the way he wanted them. Most of the work that staff had put into the patch since 2017 was at risk of going out the door. We were incredibly hurt by Raz’s sudden decision to take control over what we had been working on, as in no way had there been an implication that Raz was the one to finalize or determine what the patch consisted of. We strongly felt that we, as staff who have been involved with and communicating daily with the community, had a far better understanding of the community’s desires than did Raz, who worked in the background with the server. The changes that we aimed to add were those we firmly believed would be beneficial additions to Feral Heart’s community, changes that were significant enough so as to not be tossed aside. These changes were a collective gathering of the suggestions made on mass by the community. (Reintroduction of the old maps being one in particular-- of which Raz had said himself he didn’t really want back in the game.)
With no possibility of a mutually agreeable compromise in sight, tensions increased. Staff were told by Raz multiple times that they were replaceable. Raz brought up the fact that he had shut down IT’s server, even though nobody wanted it to happen, which staff perceived as a threat. He made it apparent that he would be willing not only to lose the team who had worked alongside him for years but that he would do whatever he wanted in order for things to be done his way. A mutual bond of trust and respect was damaged even further with the sudden and unprecedented post of Raz’s “No-Mod October” concept. Raz did not discuss his idea with us before posting the thread (which should have been something everyone was on the same page with when it comes to making a big change in the community). We became extremely concerned with this idea as there wasn’t a thorough explanation of how it would work provided in his post. We then decided to post a notice that “No-Mod October” was not something that we were informed about or agreed upon and later that post was deleted by Raz. At this point, we felt like Raz was pushing us out of our positions and trying to spitefully instigate a reaction due to the fact that staff had not agreed to comply with everything he disliked about the patch. Based on Raz’s sudden hostility and impulsiveness in his actions regarding the community on a larger scale, we were concerned that the community would not be provided the chance to see the patch or experience what we had set out to make for them and that Raz would take complete control over the patch. We did not release the maps to provoke, but rather so that Raz would see the community’s feedback towards our work, as it was intended to be a patch for the community after all. We felt the community deserved the final say. Thus staff collectively compiled the patch and released it as a WIP, after which Raz removed the thread, banned Nynx, and cut off the maps from the server, which led to people losing their characters if they had entered the maps. He banned Nynx even though the decision was all of ours to post the patch to the public, and we felt that placing a ban on her was an extreme way to respond to what we had done. We felt it was an unfair action of him to do given Nynx’s hard work and dedicated service towards FeralHeart for several years.
Despite wanting to stay on the staff team, we felt that:
a). Years of long established respect, friendship, and understanding had gone completely out the door.
b). There would be a continued inconsiderate approach to the needs and desires of individuals on the staff team and the community.
c). There would be no chance of a compromise with Raz on the patch.
d.) Raz would continue to make impulsive decisions regardless of community and or staff opinions or concerns
Therefore a collective departure was taken by the remaining members of the staff team.
We know that there’s two sides of this and that Raz might not have seen this the way we did. And that this could’ve been solved if there had just been some kind of communication from the start. It takes two to argue, and we too did wrong in this, letting feelings take over. It’s also why it’s so important for us to have both you-- the community-- and Raz to understand how we viewed all this. It was never our intention to cause a disturbance to those playing the game.