I have sat here and literally read through every single reply on this thread. There are so many valid points being made here but also some assumptions and misunderstood statements... I hope to be able to clear some things up here. I apologize if I miss any points as there is a lot being addressed here.
Firstly I'd like to thank you all for your care for this community. Regardless of how one has presented their ideas or opinions here it is apparent that you all share a love and deep concern for this game and it's community. The fact that you all took the time to share your thoughts and discuss things honestly speaks volumes. The staff here at Feral Heart hear you and respect you all and appreciate the continued devotion this community has to its preservation but overall betterment. So thank you all for helping us do our best.
1.) There seems to be a consensus that Feral Heart is in need of more staff power:
This I agree with. We can never have enough staff for this game. There are many hours in a day and many maps that need monitoring throughout the day. As of right now we are severely short staffed, although I do strongly believe that our current staff make an incredibly commendable effort at managing things around here (the FH game, site, Tumblr, and DeviantArt.) Though we may be few we are prideful of the standard of quality that our staff hold true.
And quality is what we value here most.
Quality over quantity.
Quality is why we take our time to do everything from selecting staff to the slow but steady process of renovating the site. We want to provide the community with only the best that we can manage. If we simply focus on filling the empty spaces we will never focus on cultivating and growing the few good staff we do have to their full potential.
2.) The staff fail to see and appoint qualified users to staff positions:
Qualification for a FH staff position is different in everyone's mind. Qualities that staff may seek and value, other users may not see as necessary. Qualities that staff may consider negative may be overlooked by others... and this is often why it seems as though staff are "failing" to see "potential".
I guarantee you that every user with a decent amount of "staff material" potential has been observed and scrutinized by the staff at one point or another. The problem we most often come across when we've sifted down a good few candidates is their age. We have an age limitation for a very good reason and we intend to uphold that requirement no matter how qualified the user may seem in all other avenues.
Other issues that arise are the users rate of activity, general interest in the community, attitude towards others, understanding of the game, maturity, etc.
Managing Feral Heart is a huge responsibility. It's not just about being a good person. It's about understanding and balancing the needs of the community but also the game & server. It's about making time and investing your efforts fully. It's about teamwork but also leadership. It's about sacrifice and understanding that things will not always work out but trying your hardest to see it through for the best of everyone. It's about good and bad times...
and so much more.
Many of these concepts aren't fully tangible unless you've worked directly with Feral Heart and you know what's required. This is why at the end of it all it's the staffs' final decision who becomes staff from what the community recognizes and offers as it's best.
At first glance some users may seem qualified but at the end of the day they fall short as they involve themselves in petty dramas in the community, lie about ages, pretend to care, etc... Truth is most like to gild themselves and aren't all they try to prove the community out to be. It's the staff's job to see through that... and that's why we value few but quality staff.
3.) The staff only select friends to be staff:
Not true.
Back when I was asked to be a member of the staff I was not friends with any of the staff team. I knew who was who and respected them as individuals and strangers but we were not friends. Back then the staff team was Red, BigSkippy, Ramine, Wolffox, Delay, and Crin. In fact I didn't think I'd get along with a number of them not because they were mean, because they weren't, but because they seemed to have personalities incompatible with mine. Of course as I came to work with them I grew to understand some of them better, and even befriend some but that was because we were a team.
What staff do try to do is befriend users they see potential in so that they may get to know them better, get more comfortable with them, and feel the person's qualities out. This is what I think people mistake as staff only picking their friends as staff.
Truth is we aren't going to elect strangers into such a delicate place in the community either. So no we don't select friends for staff positions, but we do try to get to a level of friendship with potential "staff material" users.
4.) You have to be a member of the staff for anything to happen or change in the community:
Again not true. I don't understand why people think that a staff title gives them any more or any less "power" or say in the community. If you care about the community that is all that should matter regardless of what position you hold in the community. You don't have to be a staff member to influence the community. Look at this thread itself, it's not written by a staff member. Most of the replies here aren't by staff members but it's threads like these because of users like you all that influence the staff to do and think differently. We staff are here for the community. We represent the entire community. We staff depend on YOU.
So when users get upset and say that they're not being recognized for their potential and what they can offer it's untrue. Worst is when users quit simply because they worked so hard to get noticed, to get a staff position but it never came. This just proves the point that some "qualified" users aren't exactly "staff material" if they don't see any use in standing by the community unless they have a staff position.
There's so much more that needs to be said and can be said here by me... but I'll leave it at my main point.
Quality is what we need and work hard for. It's why we take our time with the site update as we did with the game "update" itself. We don't want to rush things simply because there's empty spaces that could be filled or because we want things a certain way already. Part of being a staff member is patience and understanding that the game and server has its own needs just as the community does. Quality can't be rushed. We must all make sacrifices like (ex: keeping registration down for now) while other things are worked out. Staff are as much a Feral Heart user as anyone else and we too are eager for progress, but we have to be understanding.
Things will come together again in due time... in the meantime it's our job to stand by Feral Heart as we make our way into this transition. Bumpy journey or not, Feral Heart has had its ups and downs and it's the collective community and staff strength and support that pulls it all through.
<3
