RIP General

[kitsu]

I'd just like to say something, here... The removal of the General chat does have its pros and cons, as would any other decision made to update the game, but it isn't necessarily all about what's being argued about here. I mean, in my opinion it isn't.

Anyway, to a large amount of us, the General chat was some new way to break out of our shells for once; we were able to actually speak out and enjoy the company of our fellow roleplayers. Every time I'd log onto Feral Heart, I'd make my way into Fluorite just to have a few laughs with the regular General-goers. Granted I didn't speak much, but when I did, I felt like I was finally apart of something.

If you really think about it, General was an iconic thing to Feral Heart, and to take it away would be like ripping the heart out of a wolf and expecting it to go on living like normal. It just doesn't work.

Most of the wonderful people I've had the greatest chances to call my friends were made on the General chat, to be honest.

Another point to be made, about the whole "you'll be able to socialize more" thing. You can't simply force people to socialize. There are those people, like myself, who are afraid of saying anything to some random stranger. It's a pretty tough thing to adapt to, let alone be forced into without any warning. I would know, too. I'm sure a lot of people would feel the same way.

But, you know, I'm just another whiny face in the crowd. Same old story, same old ways. If this makes some sort of difference to anyone, that'd be great. If it doesn't, oh well.

I hope the friends I'm losing from all of this will eventually come back..

[Von-Stabby]

I'm going to apologize in advance cause I know I'm going to sound rude.

     I'm not sad about this, I'm not happy with this, I'm not ok with this, I'm highly angered by this. You made a dumb decision. I'm not happy that this was an update FH was much better off before this. Its already very hard to find members for an rp and you don't realize how much harder its going to be. And advertising with movies? Well I'll let this picture answer that question:

VonStabby, you can fix this movie clip issue by restarting FH and not changing the width of your chatbox. You can make it taller, of course, but this will make sure the movies play.

And as for the rest of your post, I understand a change like this can be a little bit jarring, but General hasn't been gone for even a week, yet. As Raz said, give this a chance before you automatically assume it's a terrible idea and protest it all.
This puts a stopper on a lot of trolling, and of course you can use party chats and other means of advertising your roleplay. Get creative! It's not the end of the world, and do remember we're just testing the waters with this update. So relax, and it'll be okay. c: After some time (weeks or months of time) of this change, you still have some concerns over it, you can give your constructive feedback to the staff via PM.

I guess I'll try it out, once again sorry for my rudeness I guess it was just the heat of the moment. I'm not one that really likes change and I stick to my opinions but, since this is the way it'll be for a while I'll try to deal with it. :T

[Vessan]

Another point to be made, about the whole "you'll be able to socialize more" thing. You can't simply force people to socialize. There are those people, like myself, who are afraid of saying anything to some random stranger. It's a pretty tough thing to adapt to, let alone be forced into without any warning. I would know, too. I'm sure a lot of people would feel the same way.

I mentioned before that people are shy and generally don't like to talk to random people they just came to pass by, you never know how they will react, with me it wa generally a ratio of good to bad stranger reactions about 2:7.
What you mentioned is also true. People should generally stop complaining about recruiting as that can be solved with ease. Something like this that is based all the way down to the deepest corners of a players mentality cannot be changed, nor forced to. Best thing would be if general would have been removed at the end...that at first players get encouraged to to do such things, if its rushed we will get results like now. All this complaining comes from the rushing and sudden changes and made worse with the unchangeable player's mentality.
This change should rather be taken slowly, first with encouraging people to meet more 'in person' on the maps, give out harder bans for rule breakers etc.

[Woofley]

I'm an Australian. I normally can't get on when most people are on. Yesterday, when I came on, guess what? Cape portal was EMPTY. N/z was EMPTY. NO-ONE was speaking a word at stone-bridge, there weren't even any rps to be found. I commented on how quiet it was there, and ONE person answered me. Then the chat died again. None of my friends were on, none of my pack was on.

To the people saying that "you should get off your furry butt and go find people" We're ALREADY sitting on our butts on our computer. Some of us are TIRED when we log on. We don't want to go to strangers that MAY or MAY NOT ignore us completely. We don't want to scour a MASSIVE map like fluorite plains for a role-play, that MAY or MAY NOT even be ACTIVE!

And fyi, saying turning off general chat isn't a STUPID EXCUSE, it's the LOGICAL thing to do. Geez. If someone's bothering you, do you COMPLAIN about them when you could make them disappear at a click of a button? If a chat's bothering you, do you start COMPLAINING about it when you could make it disappear, AT THE CLICK OF A BUTTON?

This change is SELFISH.

Yep, I'm angry. I know I must sound incredibly rude, but seriously.

[CloudFeesh]

i debated on even coming into this conversation but i havent seen enough of what i am in favor of ( communication) so here is my thoughts on how this is, how its handled and what is being done wrong.

the first thing i think that needs to be said here is-- what kind of news is this? what is this "community" driven on, and more importantly where do you want it to go?

 i believe it has been since march? maybe before that there has been a "monthly news thread", and its june. thats three months of virtual silence as far as communicating with your members. the only "news" that i have seen anywhere is a bunch of drama over feral heart digging into things that should just be best brushed off and left to lie instead of jumping into; and this.

for a game staff and member-base to be proclaimed as so community based and to go without as much as a "hey this is whats going on with the forum, or hey this is what we're thinking about-- what do you guys think?" i dont know. people who know me know how i feel on certain things but even i can see things from multiple points of view. maybe there hasn't been much to report on. but even if this is the case, its nice to let people know what the hell's going on. the only way you can even get onto whats going on is to sit on the rock in the n/z to find these guys who run things and harass them to a point of where they just don't want to interact with users. the "community" part of feral heart has been greatly depleted

even your alternate methods such as deviant art or the tumblr/twitter whatever it was has fallen into a slug and this could be because of some busy schedules but not everyone of you should be that busy that you cant alert your users in some way or another about what you have planned for this.

but really, you guys cant greatly impact the game with "updates" because of the source code and thats understandable. there are somethings that are questionable about this though. it could always stem from general distaste or just distrust but there has to be a question of why not. if kovulkd wants nothing more to do with the game as far as putting out updates why wasn't it given to the people here. or more so, why wasnt it taken when it was offered. these arent our questions to really dwell on and make up answers for, but answers none the less would be appreciated. from either parties both of which has shown obvious hostility-- even if you'd like to deny it.

this is the vibe i have gotten for a long time. hostile. its either one side or another or your oblivious. more often then not i wish i could be oblivious. and i have recently returned in an attempt to be so. this applies not only to the staff and the game creator, but amongst the users and the staff and even amongst the staff themselves. but then i see things like this and it just makes me wonder how sheep really do like to mingle with wolves.

the news this game staff and server host are presenting as actual news to players needs to be something that isnt biased or claims made on a whim just because of a thought. I don't care about this crap. I dont care what AroKai's doing or what some real or fake user is saying. Because that shouldn't be something handled by US-- whether she was or not, isn't for us or Razmirz to decide-- and that is my opinion. what you think is different depending on your sheep or wolf status.

What news I would like to see? Hell, who won the member of the season? Who's making presets? Which staff have we gained and which have we lost? Why? Are they free to even share why? I backed out of this community for a good many reasons but coming back in complete to see only it stir down further into this crap is disheartening.

It doesnt take much time at all to type out a short news post into getting us involved, but we cant do that you guys need to if it is truly your concern.  its an easy thing to do, really and i know from experience that even when there isnt much going on, that people like to know you still give to shits. just judging as an outsider and occasion forum looking the past few months my thoughts were "...do they even really care any more?"

as far as the ontopic of this: general chat, when i found out it was removed this morning in game, i thought initially: hey this is a good idea. but then of course like others i thought how this would affect some things. of course the roleplaying is going to be hindered but really..

feral heart? its a giant 3d chat, we have no gameplay elements. its a chat. end of deal. no thought about it. a chat that lets you make your own character and edit your own map to your liking. its a little artist hub in some areas and in others its for players that like to play as animals. whatever the case, its still a chat.

firstly, the way i heard about it was not a good one. there was a user who said "the staff got rid of general chat because they were tired of watching it." being who i am and feeling as i do about you guys as a whole, you should know that yeah, i could see that. but i didn't wait to make any judgements on this until reading what you had written here. and let me say that even that was a disappointment. reading over this again i see no real "reason" other than what can be worded from the user above. the chat was out of hand and the staff couldn't handle it. whether you want to or not i will not dwell on but i think you should consider considering the sticks you wave around, and i'm not trying to down talk anyone, i'm just saying that with the title does come the responsibility and upholding. so why not bend the rules to how you want the things to be ran with a benefit to yourself? I understand this completely, i do, i see the logic. but it isnt something that should be made simply with one party in mind, and i'm sure it wasn't but.

i forget who it was but someone made a good point of this. it is a chat. the rules are to respect the chats-- all of them and not to abuse them. the following of these rules are left to the staff and the occasional instances when there are no staff and the user is left to report this.

the pros and cons weight out depending on who you are. if your a staff member, honestly guys, do you not feel some relief of having not general chat to watch over now? you'd be lying if you said you didn't. because even regular members are glad not to have the troll hop in and wreck havoc. but as a member, who like many have stated, use the game for roleplays, it is a great change, and a great hindrance.

i have read every post up to this point, and people are saying opposite things. some have had great luck with their roleplays, and thats good, but from being on today and just watching, i have seen that it is harder on small groups. you know the ones that used to form for on the spot roleplays. and it may just be it takes adjusting to.

not everyone has time to sit down and run around for hours on end to find one roleplay. in the same sense not every staff member had the time or desire to sit and watch the general chat the entire time they are online. because as they have stated, they play the game to play too. So no guys, i dont think its fair that you have to sit and babysit the general chat all the time. but the way i see it:

you guys let it get out of hand. maybe its just from limited viewing, but i havent seen that red chat in a long time-- or at least not like it used to be.. and maybe there are other reasons behind this but heres the ones i can possibly think of. the red chat is no longer used because certain mods used to abuse it in a way. to avoid mod spam.  you guys dont want to put yourselves out there so you can just enjoy the game.

but you know at least when the mod spam was used users knew they were being watched, they knew if they acted out in general chat they could very well get a ban. as for trolls who pop in  when it wasnt being used in general chat, they had no ways of knowing if they were watched or not unless they knew the staff by users (which face it if your here to troll you dont give two rats arses) they feel like they can act out in the chat anyway they please. this shouldn't be the case I know, but it is. but now you guys just sit in the map and say "calm down floof". i know you got complaints when the rules were more strict or when you actually held to them ( and i mean for legit purposes here, my bias if it is called that still sits) but at least it was you saying it and not some one of your friends that have no authority what so ever to do so. people shouldn't fear you. but they should at least respect what you are doing. and to an extent i see a lot of that falling through because of these behind the board plays that are going in or not being voiced at all.

one thing i think you all have a problem with in total is seeing this from someone else's view. i know you can say "as a roleplayer and not a staff member" but you know, you can't say that. you are a staff member and your opinions will be leaned one way regardless of what is right or wrong. i'm not here to bash for decisions made, but more to say that as much as you try to talk your way around into it-- you cant see things from our point of few

because as a normal player, just a regular player with no ties to anyone-- they have no voice. they have no weight behind what they say. even me, i have little weight behind my words as far as how people view them. but that doesnt mean i dont want to be able to say them in such a "community" based game. if this is the case, the community and not just the moderators  and their close knit of friends should be involved in important decisions concerning the game.

i have seen on small servers for impressive title that this is being handled with more care- as far as getting peoples opinions, granted they can control the game more and its a MUCH smaller community, but it never hurts to let us know what you plan to do. it only further depends the cut made when you dont.

you guys will never be able to see it as we see it on many things. we have our intentions and our values as you have yours. ours are based upon what we feel is justified as you do. the users of feral heart use the general chat for many things good and bad. and its been used for the past two or so years. having it jerked from us with no warning or our say-- that is going to upset people. its not change thats bad. its forced, unconcerned change that messes with and angers people. while i do concur with what is said-- that it should be waited to see how its played out, i know it will cause a lot of problems and even issues with things that could be avoided if a hammer was just slammed down a bit more.

maybe a few things could have been done in accordance to this. perhaps making a poll on what general should or should not be used for. your damaging a lot of users who use it for one purpose because of the abuse of others. i'm satisfied even after a while it could be swayed in the other direction but right now it is leaning towards anger and resentment towards this choice. some people like stated before dont want to be forced into being a social butterfly-- some like to hang back and make decisions based on observation. which will have to be put on a much less large scale now.

while this has turned a lot longer than i intended im having a hard time making sure im asking all the right questions and doing it in a way that doesn't get my say brushed off with little to no response. because you guys are bad about doing that to. we never get direct responses. you dance around things like a politician or a really good prosecutor would-- and sometimes i feel that on this staff there are more prosecutors than defense attorneys. this isn't a court of law, its a game and it shouldn't be that way, but the way its handled makes it so. though personally i think it should be handled differently but i have no say in how or what goes on here.

i have to wonder who was consulted in this? was it purely a staff made decision, or were your friends made aware of this as well? where did the regular user get a say in this if at all?

my beef here isn't with the general chat being gone, no, but per usual, the way things are handled here. while i will find great trouble with the chat being gone ( advertising for a group of course hard, and doubling in my schedule even harder) but its more with the lack of communication between your staff and your users. silencing general chat is just another means of silencing the users as a whole. and i know it isnt the case with all users, but i'm american and the freedom of speech is one i hold in great value as long as it isn't misused.

because while a great majority of the users dont flock to the forum until something is wrong, there are a great many here who use the forum as their only means of an "update". and i consider these more important than any game update would be. i could care less for one. you guys may be helping us in one ways or the other, but your also failing these users you are claiming to be here to help protect from malicious users and trolls, and those who view you as idols.

So in closing i hope this doesnt have to be "PM'd to a staff member" because I'm showing concern over the SECOND communication table youve thrown out to users in the past three months. if this is a thread for discussion then it should be addressed here where everyone can see your responses.

[KJ-52]

Honestly, I'm not welcoming the new change at all. I think its unnecessary to say the least. I understand the fact its removing spam but spammers can easily be blocked. Also, do you not understand how many people love general, myself included. Sometimes, when I'm bored, I just like to come on FeralHeart and watch general roll by. People get so funny and creative in general. To be quite honest, this change drives me away from the game. I don't even feel motivated to come on anymore. Some of my closest friend I met through general. My pack, who I love dearly, I found through general. Without general, I would not have the friends I have today. I know that sounds corny but its true.

After seeing CloudFish's response I'd also like to add that you are Admins and Moderators. You have responsibilities. If you can't handle those responsibilities. Pass it on to someone who can. .  

[i1vet2b]

Per usual, Cloud, you've a talent for cutting right to what I think bothers most everyone here. The community itself wasn't really involved. Maybe it's that mindset of how parents are with children. Parents always know best and yadda yadda. I noticed the same hostility with anyone who disagreed and I feel that perhaps staff isn't being quite as open-minded as they are demanding of the users. I read quite a lot of good points that are either ignored or given a roundabout answer that doesn't really ease anxieties.

I dunno. Maybe this will be taken poorly as well. Not trying to throw blame or anything and make people feel like crap. Definitely not my intention. But as Cloud said, there has been a lack of...community in such decisions that affect the entire community.

I'm one of those users who doesn't use the forum unless something has gone horribly wrong. Obviously, something has. In game myself, I had a really hard time even enjoying being on at all which isn't usually like me. So I guess just wanted to throw some of my own weight - which is none, really - behind what Cloud had to say because I think it's a great assessment of how a community can be broken.

[Superlollypop299]

THANK GOD!!!! I was getting absolutly SICK of people chatting they're butts off about how they can seem to "make fun with eachothers moms" In Geberal! (yeah I call it Geberal. DEAL WITH IT!) Although, drama is going on all around FH EVEN THOUGH Geberal is dead. But I am just happy as a cat with a land full of catnip!

[_-Phantomwolf-_]

I agree with most of the posts here....General chat frankly, was what keeps most of these rps going. Every one of my groups that have been long established did perfectly fine socializing within our packs and circle of friends.....While I understand the reasoning behind it, I think it a bad idea to keep gen from fh. In my opinion, it will kill most of the rps, and in the end the game itself. To me, this is very much like shutting fh down for a week because of the 'rapists'.... I understand this isn't meant to be a punishment, but that is what it's become for each and every member of the groups I've been in for well over a year now. Frankly, if we wanted to run around and make friends with everyone, we would..we aren't on fh to simply make friends and hang out..we are here to rp, and in order to keep the rp going, we needed gen.   I respect Raz and the mods decision, but I definitely don't agree with it at all. So, just like most who've replied, I hope that gen comes back..maybe with another chat as one person said solely for advertising.

[EnderStar]

It's been a couple days and I feel as if this is getting worse. I know, it does get rid of spammers and inappropriate conversations but seriously, there are tons of interesting things General has to say. It's only been a couple days and I'm sick of seeing white all the time. General had actually pretty funny and interesting conversations most of the time. I'm mostly in South Pole and I still find myself laughing at some of the jokes they say in General. Advertising in Local? Beh! Looks terrible through my eyes. It's nice to see green once in a while... I used to think that most conversations and arguments are annoying but now that you don't have it... I have to say I miss it. What I seriously want to know is why? What caused this conflict? Are too many people breaking the rules? Are too many people swearing? Are people having inappropriate conversations? Is it beginning to become a large spam conflict? I've heard too many rumors to know. I've seen more swearing, inappropriate conversations, etc. in local! But hey, that might not even be the cause of this. And plus it's increasing more movie spam, and that's probably more annoying. And if people were arguing then why don't they just block the person or turn of General instead of having a curse war.

I'll give this a couple weeks and see if I can still find great role plays without having to search through every movie in each map in each map.

And why I completely don't understand is how you did this to the game without Kovu. He's the game creator and I thought only he could do things like that. But eh, guess I was wrong and General is now completely dead. All those times General 'died'... This one's for real.

Adios.

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