We Need Leadership

[Kerriki]

I don't have much to say as the other staffers have stated/explained a lot of things very well. There are a few things I'd like to clear up, however

There have been claims of wrongful bans being handed out, as well as in-game kicks, etc. and there was even plenty of pages of evidence to prove this, Tumblr/deviantArt being the most popular. Of course, these situations were denied & ignored.

Users have claimed to be banned for "no reason" from the start of the game. Staff always save screenshot evidence whenever a user is punished for breaking rules. We encourage users to contact us to clarify any questions they may have. However, many players never contact us and go straight to telling their friends or mention it on their dA, Tumblr, etc. These posts rarely include legitimate evidence. The reason why staff don't respond to them is due to our punishment policy: we do not share any information with anyone except privately with the affected player. We want to help our players, but it is not our responsibility to scour the internet for these claims and explain the reasoning to the user. Not only is it impossible to find every single one, but the player should have received their reasoning as they got booted from the game to begin with. If a player has questions, our inboxes are always open and we are happy to assist
These policies have been in effect since the beginning of the game and have been enforced until today, and will continue to be enforced

When I talk about wrongful kicks & bans being handed out, I had to speak generally. I don't think the specific members of Staff that I know and have seen evidence of them doing this, would appreciate being named, as some people that linger in these forums for hateful purposes may slander them elsewhere.

Staff are people, just like the rest of the community. We do make mistakes. In the event that it does happen, it is reviewed, discussed, and fixed within the staff, and the affected player is contacted about any decisions and other new information
Outright wrongfully placed bans are rare. However, if a user strongly feels their case is an exception, they are to contact staff with evidence, and it will be handled privately

This is also a Leadership issue (to keep it related to the original topic). While we were all trained in some way, some of us were trained by one person with a specific way of doing things, while others were trained by someone else. & To add, they trained by what they thought was the best way to train, there was no step-by-step training guide for them to follow to ensure everyone received the same training.
I don't know if this has changed or will change, but I sincerely hope so if not done already.

Our policies have been passed down from staffer to staffer, and an eligible staffer will be taught how to train incoming MITs. All training every MIT has received, regardless of who taught them, stems back to one person's teachings at the end of the day. If staff feel a specific policy/approach is no longer effective, it will be reviewed by the team and a new "guide" will be decided and effective immediately

You say that most of the people would've been warned a handful of times, but this is simply not the truth for all cases (even though it should be). When I was on the Team, I witnessed people kicking for one reason, while others banned for the exact same reason. There was no set-in-stone system that said "if a user does ____ then they receive a kick/ban for ___ minutes/hours/days/months/years" and as a result, I was receiving reports from users left, right & centre of them receiving a severe punishment for something that their friend received a lesser punishment for doing the exact same.
Now this may have changed since the Staff Team were changed, but I know for a fact that this was a broken kicking/banning system that had been going on for a long time prior to me & others being appointed. It was an issue that may have been addressed behind the scenes, but never got beyond a discussion. Little to no action was taken.

Traditional amongst FH's MIT training system, an MIT will be highly educated and supplied with basic guides to use. These guides are straight forward and illustrate course of action for the simplest of rule breaks and other situations. They are intended to lay a foundation for consistency amongst staffers. They are merely a foundation, however -- not every case of rule breaking will be exactly the same. It simply serves as a guide to ensure a staffer's approach and actions in complicated situations will be as consistent as possible. Every MIT receives the same training, guides, and other necessary knowledge. However, I would like to reiterate that we are human, so every now and then some details may accidentally be left out. No need for the MIT to worry though, as staff commonly review situations and make decisions together, well beyond one's MIT days. It's in these team scenarios and continuing to ask questions where a recently-appointed full mod will catch up on anything they were still unsure about
This MIT training system is designed to only have one or two MITs at any given time. This allows for the admins to have the necessary time with their MIT/s to fully educate them in all of our policies/knowledge/etc. Any more than two, and more information may begin to slip between the cracks for some MITs. When you joined the staff team there were more people trying to learn than available to teach. There were policies or other explanations that may have never been fully clarified, despite that we were there to answer questions. It was simply a fault of straining the system. Yes, we were inconsistent at that time, more so than we had been in years or ever since. Consistency is much improved now
Kicks serve as warnings, and we've taken this approach for two reasons: so the user sees it, and so it's taken seriously. Sometimes players ignore verbal warnings given in local or whisper, and it's for this reason why we commonly save verbal warnings for preventative cases. In terms of harsher punishments, there could be a number of reasons why two users may be issued different consequences. Most of the time it's simply that the two users' actions are different. One may have taken part in it for a longer period of time, broken a wider variety of rules, or broken a rule more severely, etc. Even if their actions were similar, maybe one user has a history of bans, or a reporting player logged in half way through and didn't get a screenshot of everything they said or did, etc. There are countless reasons. Nonetheless, staff will judge each case fairly with the evidence presented. If we receive more evidence later, we will re-review the situation and handle it accordingly

[DylanCheetah]

Kiki is right. Someone who has broken a rule say 10 times really should have a stiffer punishment than another person who broke the same rule once.

Also, it is true that staff keep evidence to back up any punishment that was issued. And rule violations are not supposed to be discussed publicly. If someone was punished, there was a reason for it. This is exactly why I feel so strongly about claims of "unfair" punishment. And I have not personally seen any proof of unfair punishment. All I have seen is word of mouth. Which is not sufficient proof of wrongdoing. And even if there was wrongdoing, that doesn't justify treating all the staff as the enemy.

I feel that we all need to keep this in mind and treat all our fellow community members (staff included) with respect.

[AmarisMingan]

Assign new moderators, build an effective talent pipeline management, make community patches and advertise the game.
A community works when everyone pitches in and contributes. It's worth a shot - if it doesn't help, it wouldn't hurt either.

Heck. Well can't agree more.

I havent logged in here in forever, but I definitely feel like, if one wants to make progress, rich content should be a gateway to get the new generation to be involved with games such as FeralHeart (and even IT in general). If a fundraiser would help in this, then so be it. I'm happy to lend a hand and get both platforms up and living for as long as possible. If only the original creator would have taken a peek in here once in a while to see where it has stranded as of now, that would also help. Unfortunately this won't happen, and that's why it's in the the hands of the communities present today to solve this and create new leadership with new potentials.

[lilletanna]

so what exactly is the issue with FHU? i've been playing FH and left around 2017 due to the game declining in quality and so far FHU looks really promising.

[Oddonelynx]

Assign new moderators, build an effective talent pipeline management, make community patches and advertise the game.
A community works when everyone pitches in and contributes. It's worth a shot - if it doesn't help, it wouldn't hurt either.

Heck. Well can't agree more.

I havent logged in here in forever, but I definitely feel like, if one wants to make progress, rich content should be a gateway to get the new generation to be involved with games such as FeralHeart (and even IT in general). If a fundraiser would help in this, then so be it. I'm happy to lend a hand and get both platforms up and living for as long as possible. If only the original creator would have taken a peek in here once in a while to see where it has stranded as of now, that would also help. Unfortunately this won't happen, and that's why it's in the the hands of the communities present today to solve this and create new leadership with new potentials.

I also agree with this.

[Bloo.]

so what exactly is the issue with FHU? i've been playing FH and left around 2017 due to the game declining in quality and so far FHU looks really promising.

Hey there, welcome back! It isn't my place to give my opinion about FHU, though there has been some conflict between their team/community and ours. We want nothing more than to avoid any drama on the subject so ill leave it at that!

You could check out their website by giving their game a quick Google search if you'd like to find out more, but here at FH we're still looking towards bettering ourselves, our game, and our community c: I hope you stay, but definitely find where you feel comfortable!

[DylanCheetah]

so what exactly is the issue with FHU? i've been playing FH and left around 2017 due to the game declining in quality and so far FHU looks really promising.

They are simply 2 games with different ideals that must take separate paths in life.

so what exactly is the issue with FHU? i've been playing FH and left around 2017 due to the game declining in quality and so far FHU looks really promising.

Hey there, welcome back! It isn't my place to give my opinion about FHU, though there has been some conflict between their team/community and ours. We want nothing more than to avoid any drama on the subject so ill leave it at that!

You could check out their website by giving their game a quick Google search if you'd like to find out more, but here at FH we're still looking towards bettering ourselves, our game, and our community c: I hope you stay, but definitely find where you feel comfortable!

Couldn't have said it better myself Bloo. XD

[LadySigyn]

I seem to always gravitate back here, I can't help it, even after 10 years lol. This game and the community still means a lot to me and had a big impact on my life, so it's hard to let go of. I will continue to be on FH but I think for the game to get anywhere more than this, it needs to be passed on to somebody with time, experience and who is trustworthy enough to hold that level of power. I do understand Raz is very iffy on giving up his position as Server Master and handing over FH, and honestly a part of me doesn't blame him. Whether it will ever happen is not something anyone can forsee, but I am actually quite content with just having FH still up and running. Of course, there could always be improvement, but I understand the situation.

I personally think the staff are doing great considering, and from what I can see, they are doing the best they can possibly do with what they have right now. If they weren't around, this game would definitely be in ruin, so cheers to the staffers.

I'll be sticking around. I have hope things will turn around. And if not, then we'll always have the wonderful memories, as well as the friends we've made here over the years.

[LaughingWolf]

I don't have much to say as the other staffers have stated/explained a lot of things very well. There are a few things I'd like to clear up, however

There have been claims of wrongful bans being handed out, as well as in-game kicks, etc. and there was even plenty of pages of evidence to prove this, Tumblr/deviantArt being the most popular. Of course, these situations were denied & ignored.

Users have claimed to be banned for "no reason" from the start of the game. Staff always save screenshot evidence whenever a user is punished for breaking rules. We encourage users to contact us to clarify any questions they may have. However, many players never contact us and go straight to telling their friends or mention it on their dA, Tumblr, etc. These posts rarely include legitimate evidence. The reason why staff don't respond to them is due to our punishment policy: we do not share any information with anyone except privately with the affected player. We want to help our players, but it is not our responsibility to scour the internet for these claims and explain the reasoning to the user. Not only is it impossible to find every single one, but the player should have received their reasoning as they got booted from the game to begin with. If a player has questions, our inboxes are always open and we are happy to assist
These policies have been in effect since the beginning of the game and have been enforced until today, and will continue to be enforced

When I talk about wrongful kicks & bans being handed out, I had to speak generally. I don't think the specific members of Staff that I know and have seen evidence of them doing this, would appreciate being named, as some people that linger in these forums for hateful purposes may slander them elsewhere.

...

I have to say one thing, and that's about the wrongful bans.
There was a very specific public incident here on the forum here that was the straw that broke the camels back for a lot of players here. That is what jumpstarted fhn (place holder for fhu), not any in game moderation.

Fhu is a direct result of Raz' half-ass leadership.
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That said, I believe I can speak for both moderation and development teams when I say you all need to stop bringing up fhu here. Both teams are mutually exclusive and are no longer have the same ideals, drive or concept. Their only similarity is the base game. Please stop dragging fhu into these arguments; both teams just want to drop it and move on.

It's time for the community to do the same. What this team does, has absolutely nothing to do with fhu, and vice versa.

I want both games to succeed. But for that to happen, you guys need to stop with the drama every six months.

[Bloo.]

I have to say one thing, and that's about the wrongful bans.
There was a very specific public incident here on the forum here that was the straw that broke the camels back for a lot of players here. That is what jumpstarted fhn (place holder for fhu), not any in game moderation.

Fhu is a direct result of Raz' half-ass leadership.
-----------


That said, I believe I can speak for both moderation and development teams when I say you all need to stop bringing up fhu here. Both teams are mutually exclusive and are no longer have the same ideals, drive or concept. Their only similarity is the base game. Please stop dragging fhu into these arguments; both teams just want to drop it and move on.

It's time for the community to do the same. What this team does, has absolutely nothing to do with fhu, and vice versa.

I want both games to succeed. But for that to happen, you guys need to stop with the drama every six months.

Hey there, Jace! FHU was brought up by a curious community member and we immediately avoided stirring up any drama regarding it c:

I wouldn't call this thread an argument by any means, it's constructive in hearing what the community's thoughts are, thank you for your comments, but please keep negative talk regarding FH and their past with FHU off the thread ^^