Is FH Dying?

[wolfdog01]

I joined this game back in 2012, had loads of lag but also made a ton of friends. The rules were pretty simple and everyone was pretty relaxed. I'm not sure how old I was...I'm 19 now and in college...so...I remember having bouts of drama too, and when the game went down like EVERYONE posted it on the forums lol. There were a ton of goofy roleplays and characters. It was nice.
I just recently got a bit back into the game. Couldn't delete my account after all these years because of the memories. I still have some of my OCs and my fursona. I still rp them with a close friend who also used to play this. I know during a high point in my life on the game people began to know my character called Maxwell at Bonfire Island. It was awesome.
I got onto the game last night and I got to admit, it felt a little cold and bland. Not so much the maps, I liked the fresh taste plus I downloaded all the old maps back so...win-win lol.
As for the people in game, they all seemed very serious and quiet. I talked to a few people and made a friend, it was a pretty good time. Was it like it was in 2013? 2014? No, but nothing is ever the same after so many years. I think the staff did what it could and are trying their best to keep the game alive. I remember when I joined, there were the usual 600-700 people online, sometimes 1,000 and hardly anyone could log in lol. Now you have to sign in through the website and keep the tab open, it doesn't bother me too much, I think they said it was for security or something...so I can live with that. I just think that everyone grows up eventually. All of the olderish generations had to move on at some point, the newer generation can be so spoiled that they don't have to dig around for fun games when they have a console with brand new, high tech, gorgeous video games. I think FeralHeart is aging, not dying. And it's aging well. We have survived this long with everything we have been given and if some of us need to let go then we should.
I don't believe FH will ever be as big as it used to be. There is too much technology moving too fast in the world and FH doesn't have the means to keep up...aka SOURCE CODE, ain't that right Kovu? lol
I don't really know what could change about the forum or the game anymore...Maybe a forum app? Logging in through phone on the internet is a little tricky lol. Never imagined getting new maps...I will say, the one thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the new forum layout. Mainly because I liked seeing the banner art and watching it change when you refreshed the page. Plus I got to see who was online and if I went to the right I could see where everyone was at. I still have the original site bookmarked just to see the number of people online but that's about it...I also noticed some of the markings changed on characters from before, had to edit a few OCs to match but no biggie, just caught me off guard.
Maybe create a group where once a week everyone meets up in game to talk about random stuff or do stupid things? Maybe start it on the forum and take it to the game then slowly expand it, so it's like a public party for everyone lol. I dunno, might get more people talking if it was something silly like that. One thing that was fun was store rps, people would pretend to be McDonalds or Burger King and take orders in a funny or crazy way. Another fun sight was when a group of all of the same color, marking, and name would come in and just sit around people in silence before running off. I always liked the mini me groups. Watching the Mate Center was pretty fun too, or making a dance line.
Just some ideas...I guess...
I got a few screenshots from the game if anyone wants to see them. Might give some inspiration for ideas...or something.

Sorry for rambling, it's been a while since I've been on the forums

[Crowtesque]

I'll add to this, I've been playing FH since early 2014? I believe took a 2 year break because of tech and certain issues within the game and friends. But I recently returned. I believe personally that it's due to the registration being closed, I love this game and have been playing it forever and would hate to see it die. If the registration was open i'm sure the game would be a lot more active with a bunch more players, most of them new perhaps but regardless the community would grow and have a large spark in new people and old users returning due to the fact new people have come on to FH.

Then a update would also spark old users to come and join back, I would love if the team got the source code again but KovuLDK has been very quiet about it and reluctant to give it to the team which is understandable, but you never know the good ol' boy might come around one day, so lets just enjoy FH for now and hope he does come around.

Having a registration open would put stress on the servers but I remember when the game got 1,000 users online during somedays, and honestly it would be amazing to see that again, it would make the community more alive and a lot more vibrant. So I do hope and wish the staff team would open registration all the time rather than have it pretty much ever 6 hours.

Just a suggestion thooooo

[Valrin]

Been playing since 2011. I think it's natural FH has lost steam. A lot of the old players grew out of this game, and there isn't a whole lot of advertisement or talk about FH outside FH anymore.
There are a lot of new alternatives and games out there for people. Like Roblox. I've never played it, but I hear a lot of FH players and kids go on it to RP kinda like FH. I never would have thought you could do that on Roblox.

Also FH is stuck behind. The game's mechanics/models/everything will be a decade old and still unchanged. Which I personally, think is cool and might be useful. If FH's server stays alive till we hit the 10 year mark, it'll become a relic?? And it'll have more nostalgic value.
(Also it would be cool if we had a big celebration for the 10 year anniversary. Not just a small ingame thing no one would care about, but maybe stretching outside FH and throwing out advertisements, maybe even opening the floodgates for new players and bringing back the old maps for a year.)

I dunno, I just wrote what immediately came to mind. Maybe this post can be useful LOL

[SpazPaint]

I think that this is a problem with most animal roleplaying games. They used to be the new big thing, since no one had really done an MMORPG based on wildlife before. Back in 2010, stuff like Impressive Title was unheard of. But after a while, people moved on to other games & trends. People started to lose interest---IT and FH just weren't new and exciting to people anymore.

I do think that the amount of players peaked around 2012-2013 and sorta dropped and flatlined since then. Especially after the update, the hacking, lack of updates/content (which I completely understand, especially without the source code), and drama leading to a mass exodus of players. And the irregular registration makes it hard for new players to come in to replace the old ones.

 I want to stay hopeful that FH can become as popular as it used to be. Maybe if the registration was opened and someone were to make a viral YT video, who knows what might happen?

[Scottishy]

feralheart had its run back then.
it's only natural that after all this time it's slowly coming to a stop, or is really going to remain static.
of course, there are still active members, the game is still running surprisingly well and the community is still lively.

maybe one day this games inactivity will spice up.
maybe if the fh registration was opened more, it would gain more opportunity. i've known people who've waited months and/or years to catch the registration open and still haven't managed.
bringing back general? fh has matured the last couple of years and i doubt this'll be a problem with a few moderators watching over the chat.
making public advertisements about fh. i swear, i haven't seen one advertisement about fh around on other sites lol
* removing the black screen login. i understand that there were hackers but that was YEARS ago.

if feralheart admin/mods considered the feralheart's communities suggestions that they have been asking about for years (like again, adding back general and opening registration for longer periods of time) i believe feralheart could slowly start to form back how it was years ago. this community.. still wonderful as it is, has become so much 'stricter' and 'serious'. i simply miss the old days when there were neon sparkle dogs running around everywhere, the occasional trolls wearing the 'troll face' mask, mate centers, adoption centers, dance lines, the multiple variations of simbas in bonfire. it's just gone..

thats just my opinion though >u<

[Jixmix]

Feralheart might. Back when FeralHeart in 2011 was a new site, so many people loved it and the good memories of those years back. Sometimes I do miss the Impressive title back in 2008 and when I joined it in 2009. IT was a great community where everyone was friendly. I have heard some people want to bring it back but its just never going to happen, and if you look at the page with a screenshot website you cannot register because the site has been offline for over 6 years. Back when FH started it was like a brand new thing, but now its about almost 7 years old and just not brand new anymore.. But If FH one days just shuts down, it will make everybody kinda nostalgic from the good memories of when IT was out, and the start of FH in 2011. The old maps were fun, And in 2011 people talked and did roleplays and nobody just sat around doing nothing, which happens in maps today with the doing nothing. I mean sometimes I see people talking and roleplaying but most people are not talking and having fun. I do think this game was meant for people like roleplayers to socialize and have fun. It does make me sad because this game back then just made me so happy when I am having a bad day. And sometimes the registration, people dont feel like they will ever get an account. And the hacker issue was causing some leaving,  People also miss the old maps, Animations, And so much more. As for the old animations were fun but were removed because of people using it innapropiately. Thats what I say.

[spicy]

After seeing thousands of members during the year of 2012 which was when I first joined the community, I myself have noticed a change. A good sized chunk has been taken out of the current players online. Going from a whopping 600 to 100-200 is.. A little worrying. I've thought fh was going to die LONG ago yet the active members of the community have proved me wrong.

As many of said, it could. Things that could help regain more members is indeed having the registration open longer and have more contests than just one running. For example, not everyone can make FH AMV's. It'd give others a chance to participate in a contest instead of waiting for the next one to pop up if they are unable to attend the one currently running.  Another thing would be to get rid of that sign in page. Not everyone's internet runs so smoothly. Even keeping a tab open can causes the game to not connect. I understand that it's for hacking, but really.. Why the heck are people hacking fh? They aren't gonna get anything out of it.

Also, they say the source code is required to 'update' the game... But wouldn't completely changing the game itself aka adding new maps completely be considered an update sort of? Yeah, you can't edit the models but it is a major change.

[DancingWithDeath]

I'm worried as well. I remember being an idiotic little 9-10 year old in 2012-13, playing this game. I wish I was more mature back then, maybe a lot of people wouldn't have blocked me from powerplaying and I would know better, but, I also miss powerplayers as well, as much as I hate to admit it.

[Siarczek]

I second what others are saying about removing the black log-in page. It's a nuisance for a lot of people, and many players probably left when it was implemented because they didn't check the website and never figured out why they could no longer get into FH. The hacking issue was a long time ago and stemmed from the drama-filled cesspool that was Tumblr's FH community, which no longer exists- I think it's time for the login page to be removed.

[KayKay]

People are still playing, you just need to be on at certain times.
I think its probably the fact its really difficult to get an account now - that and most players have probably moved on and a lot of old regulars have grown out of it.

But maybe, just maybe the next patch will bring people back. That's all we can hope for now.