RIP General

[ZelosWilder]

I don't like this, man... not exactly the best of choices.
I mean, come on... think about it. People troll on local, too. In fact, there are more trolls OFF of General than there ever were ON General. The little sparkledogs buttswinging in your face, little trolls who cuss at you... there are trolls EVERYWHERE. Removing General will not solve the trolling issue.

Besides that, you people made this game for the community to enjoy, so I think you should listen to our opinions.  There are now 62 pages, and most of the comments don't like this change. The majority of the community who have commented wants General back, so why not give it to them?

Though, I know, I know... I'm just the idiot Chosen who has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. .-.

[Rasha]

I don't want to seem rude or even make it sound like a whine or an offensive post.
This is my opinion:
Well i do think that this is exactly a really sad and bad thing, because FeralHeart always had general chat, and for me, it was good also for chit chat (That helped me a lot for know how to move) And for advertising. Just think about, i'm italian, and for know how to understand an rp i had to look at General Chat Rp advertise, and that's how i understand how to do it. Also, General chat made me a not-shy member, because i saw a lot of people chatting together and then i said: ''Why not?'' and i started to chat a bit too. So the general Chat thing help also for the not native English People.
This is a very big bad thing for me, that's why i'm not anymore a frequent rper, now i will just sit down and look if the things change. If they will change i guess i'll come back as a frequent member, if it wont, then i'll just go away i think. But i'm not sure.
Since i guess i'm one of the first members who puts a paw in the multiplayer Feralheart i will really miss General. That's it.
Don't judge me for my opinion please, this is a community after all.
Also i rarely comment posts on the forum.

[Padgze]

I'm going to set my opinions here and speak out for myself and others that agree that taking out General was actually a bad idea.

The reason why, on what I believe, is because it has dramatically altered the FeralHeart role-playing world. This sort of impact is unacceptable to us role-players. With the General chat removed, this is as it follows:

- General chat removed would mean less role-plays to find.
- General chat removed would mean it is very difficult to find a role-play that finds your interest.
- General chat was a morally 'good' side to interact with other role-players.
- General chat was a very useful tool for advertising, thus the large increase of role-playing activity.
- General chat was an easy way to advertise compared to spamming movies.
- General chat was a place where most users are able to successfully grow their packs/prides/clans/other for role-playing.

These points prove that General chat was the vital and the heart of role-playing in FeralHeart, and just remember that FeralHeart's intention was to encourage role-playing, as stated by KovuLKD.

But with the removal of General chat, people are relieved. But the thing is, why were they relieved? They were mostly relieved because General chat proved to be a nuisance to some users. This nuisance was supposedly of spamming, trolling, and generally annoying topics.

However, those that were annoyed by General chat should've done the most simplest thing ever, turn it off.

The removal of General chat is absolutely absurd and illogical because this does not improve the environment in any way. You will still find trolls, annoyance, and spam. The only main difference what I am concerned about is the lack of Role-play activity and this is a huge problem with FeralHeart. Moderators, just simply accept you will have these sorts of feedback within the game always, no matter how hard you try to contain it - it is everywhere. (It is not your fault!)

Now I really hope that soon you can return General chat so it is really convenient for role-players on FeralHeart to find other role-plays through advertisement. It is really stressful to see the movies flow roughly fast and not knowing the distinctive role-play. The only thing to find a role-play these days is to click on any movie without knowing what it probably is.

But of course, the reason to remove General chat was because some people thought it would be a good idea to remove General chat. I don't believe that these people gave second thoughts about how the impact will desecrate FeralHeart even worse, and even if they did, they didn't take things into consideration before the act took place. It is always nice to warn others and have a sort poll/petition to remove FeralHeart's general chat and giving the reasons WHY in full detail as possible. But the way this went on, it was complete ignorance as there was no warning to when General chat was going to be removed. Instead, it was carried out by those that only listened to one side of the community and not the other.

The results with FeralHeart's role-playing no longer carries out what it's ambitions were and I am disappointed with the way Admins have run and carried out this game's performance without good thought. It is truly a shame that I cannot even criticize MODs because I can get a ban, and so will others if they dare speak up for themselves.

Please consider the return of General chat for the survival of role-playing. If you are really wanting to maintain less trolling and spamming in General chat, at least do something more appropriate that doesn't destroy the Role-play.

Pros and Cons for removing, but in the end, it was a bad choice.

[Senrova]

I do not think any mods or admins will look at this now. So its no more general chat and thats that I'm afraid. To me it looked useful. You wouldn't have to whisper to someone to find them. Ok. Good point Padgze. Rp is nearly dead. The thing the mods could of done was ban the trolls. Bye general. My pack may not get many members now. *Sniffs*  .

[LordSuragaha]

I don't like this, man... not exactly the best of choices.
I mean, come on... think about it. People troll on local, too. In fact, there are more trolls OFF of General than there ever were ON General. The little sparkledogs buttswinging in your face, little trolls who cuss at you... there are trolls EVERYWHERE. Removing General will not solve the trolling issue.

Besides that, you people made this game for the community to enjoy, so I think you should listen to our opinions.  There are now 62 pages, and most of the comments don't like this change. The majority of the community who have commented wants General back, so why not give it to them? 

Though, I know, I know... I'm just the idiot Chosen who has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. .-.

Although I'm tired of repeating myself and I'm sure plenty of the other staff are as well I will explain some things here & address some of the things you guys are stating.

You guys keep bringing up the whole topic of trolling in local now and saying how removing general is just causing the trolls to look for trouble in local now etc... Truth is that the trolls have always been in this game since it's start, from local, to general, to vid clips & even random whispers. They aren't getting worse because of general's removal. It has always been difficult to manage them especially when more and more just keep coming on constantly. For these reasons removing general chat was a HUGE benefit to both the players and staff when it comes to trolls & rule breakers because it cuts down one major avenue that they were using to raise trouble and annoy others on the mass scale. 

Lets also remember here guys that it's just a chat for heavens sake... when we joined this game we weren't all like "OMG THEY HAVE A CHAT THAT GOES ALL OVER THE MAP!!! I'M SO JOINING THIS GAME NOW 8D!!!"
General chat did not make this game as popular as it has become, it was just another feature that came along with the package and sure it has it's conveniences but if you are truely a mature member of this community that loves and supports the game for more than just a chat you'd understand and be willing to over look some of your usual in game comforts to make a sacrifice that would benefit most. Do you guys think we really wanted to remove a feature from a game that is already so lacking? No! Not at all but it was done because many users continued to grossly abuse of the feature, from swearing, name calling, bullying, hosting inappropriate as well as nonsense discussions, mocking staff, & spamming etc. People were warned, kicked, and banned many times in fact half of our in game time was spent focusing all of our moderating time on general chat. How productive is that?! Users complain about how we staff just "sit around" right? Did it ever phase you guys that all the sitting around is because we have to babysit chats just to keep things friendly and respectful around here? Without general chat we can focus our attentions now to local much more and the behavior going on with the rest of the maps much more efficiently. Trolling in local is not nearly as destructive as it was on general. Trolls & rule breakers in general chat reach out to many users faster than we staff can crush the problem. You guys think alot of people left just because of general being removed how about all the people that left or were hurt by things said in general? Priority of this game & its staff team is to maintain integrity, safety, and friendliness for all above all other things. 

Let's also not make claims that the entire or most of the community are against the removal of general. None of you can prove that and not to mention there are quite the number of posts here that are made by the same user using multiple accounts. Those who are for the removal of general wouldn't have much reason or desire to write here so there really is no accurate way to see exactly how the entire community feels about this. So many of you need to stop throwing things around as if they are fact.

If you guys want to point fingers at anyone point it at the large part of the community that abused the feature and gave the staff no other choice than to remove it. Don't complain and or down talk us staff when we are investing so much of our time to come up with solutions to better your game play experience. We're far from selfish so please don't insult us anymore. If you're not dealing with the kind of stuff we have to deal with everyday while still getting bashed by many of you you have no right to talk.

This thread has been kept open for you all to share your RESPECTFUL, MATURE, & CONSTRUCTIVE feedback on the removal of general. We staff really do appreciate your feedback but please mind your manners when doing so.

 (This is directed to everyone here by the way not just Zelos here)

The results with FeralHeart's role-playing no longer carries out what it's ambitions were and I am disappointed with the way Admins have run and carried out this game's performance without good thought. It is truly a shame that I cannot even criticize MODs because I can get a ban, and so will others if they dare speak up for themselves.

Most of what I needed to say to you Padgze is written up above. As for mods banning you for speaking up that's ridiculous. We don't ban people for speaking their mind but as a said above we do ask that you are respectful when you do so. Rule breaking & down right disrespect is ban worthy but not opinion sharing. If we just banned people for speaking their minds everyone who has posted in this thread would be banned. Don't be silly. 

Now you also said "Admins have run and carried out this game's performance without good thought." I'm very disappointed with that statement because that is not true at all and it's very inconsiderate of you to state such a thing. We staff constantly work to make the mass of the user base happy, it's why we are always coming up with new ideas for contests & community events, etc. The choice to remove general was no different. We had plenty discussions together of it's pros & cons and ways to help everyone since we know plenty of the good users like the RPers had to make sacrafices as well as the people who used general respectfully to chat etc. We pay close attention to this thread even if we aren't always responding on here. None of your voices go unheard so please stop painting the staff out as cold & uncaring because we are not. We are trying to make everyone happy at our own expenses.

[ZelosWilder]

LordSuragaha, I was not stating that it has gotten worse in local BECAUSE of the removal of General.. you misunderstood me there. I meant, there have ALWAYS been trolling in local, and often it is more than there was on General. I was not speaking of just after Gen-Gen's removal, I meant overall. Even before General was removed, there were a bunch of trolls all over local, even if you guys don't see it. Removing General has not solved anything. It has not solved the trolling issue, or made it worse. It has made no effect.

There's also another point I wish to make... on General, you could see trolls, making moderating easier! With General, you could just ban the trolls, because you know what they are doing. On local, if they aren't near you... you can't see them harassing other players, cussing, trolling, etc. On General, you could.

With this change, more trolls can now get away with trolling and cussing, breaking the rules, etc. Because... the mods can't see them if they aren't NEAR them. Sure, there's a report option... but how many people ACTUALLY use it? Not very many, so the trolls and rule breakers get away with murder with no penalty. (Not literally murder... you know what I mean.)

So... I think you guys should consider that not only does General help the community, but it also helps rat out the trolls/spammers/rule breakers, etc., thus helping the mods.

I think General should come back, but that's just one opinion. .-.

[LordSuragaha]

There's also another point I wish to make... on General, you could see trolls, making moderating easier! With General, you could just ban the trolls, because you know what they are doing. On local, if they aren't near you... you can't see them harassing other players, cussing, trolling, etc. On General, you could.

With this change, more trolls can now get away with trolling and cussing, breaking the rules, etc. Because... the mods can't see them if they aren't NEAR them. Sure, there's a report option... but how many people ACTUALLY use it? Not very many, so the trolls and rule breakers get away with murder with no penalty. (Not literally murder... you know what I mean.)

So... I think you guys should consider that not only does General help the community, but it also helps rat out the trolls/spammers/rule breakers, etc., thus helping the mods.

I think General should come back, but that's just one opinion. .-.

So now you're trying to make it seem like General made it easier to get trolls & so it's beneficial to the mods? Did you not read everything I wrote above? Sure it's easier to see users who are breaking rules or starting trouble in general if they are dumb enough to broadcast their stupidity there but the fact is if it's easier for mods to see the trouble in general so is it easier for everyone else to see it. Removing general cuts down on the broadcast distance of these trolls & troublemakers. The problem has never really been finding them but rather silencing them. If people are acting up in local its far less destructive than if it was happening in general. Less people will see it happening in local and therefore less people will be disturbed. We can easily handle trolls & troublemakers in local however in general often arguments would rise and situations would escalate faster than we can handle the situation. Often in general one trouble maker or troll would start a torrent of trouble that would send the chat flying by. Remember in general everyone who is on the map can write so if drama starts that chat flies and I've witnessed it plenty times. Trouble in local chat rarely gets as chaotic as general chat.

Also please I've said above that you guys shouldn't claim anything unless you guys have the specific experiences we have when it comes to moderating. When did you guys learn what mods can and can not do? What maybe impossible for you guys is very possible for us so please no more stating facts unless you know for sure what can and can not be done.

[Goldilocks]

There are more downsides than upsides to this... I wish Kovu was here to see this. :/

[Padgze]

The results with FeralHeart's role-playing no longer carries out what it's ambitions were and I am disappointed with the way Admins have run and carried out this game's performance without good thought. It is truly a shame that I cannot even criticize MODs because I can get a ban, and so will others if they dare speak up for themselves.

Most of what I needed to say to you Padgze is written up above. As for mods banning you for speaking up that's ridiculous. We don't ban people for speaking their mind but as a said above we do ask that you are respectful when you do so. Rule breaking & down right disrespect is ban worthy but not opinion sharing. If we just banned people for speaking their minds everyone who has posted in this thread would be banned. Don't be silly.

Actually, believe me or not, it is considered to be 'disrespectful' to the MODs and thus the MODs may ban that person for being disrespectful to a MOD - When the person wasn't even directly speaking to a MOD. Because of some opinions by some people would be offensive to a MOD if they heard it, their natural reaction is a simple ban. Some people have experienced this issue and I assure you that this is the way it is these days. Even though the feedback and opinion would be negative, it is a sad fact that no matter how hard they try not to offend or disrespect a MOD about it, they will likely be banned anyway. So to say, if you were in Ghost-mode running around the Plains and saw two people communicating with each other, minding their own business, but then talk about MODs and talk about anything about them, but more specifically if they were talking about them in a negative way sharing their opinions and agreeing with each other. If they were giving negative opinions about you, would you ban them? Because that is what it usually is. This major experience played a while back when Red RaVage was mistaken to be 'trolling' and when any member began to criticize the MOD for banning one of their members for absolutely no reason, they too would be banned, because they were disagreeing with their actions. I won't really name any names.

Now you also said "Admins have run and carried out this game's performance without good thought." I'm very disappointed with that statement because that is not true at all and it's very inconsiderate of you to state such a thing. We staff constantly work to make the mass of the user base happy, it's why we are always coming up with new ideas for contests & community events, etc. The choice to remove general was no different. We had plenty discussions together of it's pros & cons and ways to help everyone since we know plenty of the good users like the RPers had to make sacrafices as well as the people who used general respectfully to chat etc. We pay close attention to this thread even if we aren't always responding on here. None of your voices go unheard so please stop painting the staff out as cold & uncaring because we are not. We are trying to make everyone happy at our own expenses.

They've had their ups and downs. The greatest one is the removal of the Bad Token, as the Bad Token was a really irritating fault. whilst attempting to log in. It would last up to 2 hours considering on how many players, however, Kudos to Razmirz for rectifying this issue everybody is pleased about it gone. Perhaps I should've been a little more considerate what I stated as well, something more like the lazy moderation (But not all the time, this depends on the Mod's mood) and the prejudice/grudge against some players. If you have had plenty discussions about the removal of General chat, then that is not the best discussion so far as not many people were even aware of it being discussed. It should have been made public for the FeralHeart users to see if they would appreciate General chat as removed from the game. It is only a shame that it was announced of a planned removal by the time it was removed. Now looking back, you can see many players disagreeing that the removal was good. I'm going to leave FeralHeart soon as I cannot find many role-plays anymore to keep up with the fun. Wetpaint isn't even my style of role-playing since they speed role-play, and FeralHeart was the only place for paragraphed turn based role-play - Until now it is ruined for me and many other role-players. Many more people will wake up and see that the removal was bad, even though they though it was good at first. Until they wake up, I do thoroughly advise to bring it back since the removal just does not work at all. You cannot keep everybody happy but by the looks of things now it seems you've kept a lot more people unhappy than happy now.

P.S. My criticism of Moderators does not mean all the Moderators are considered to have negative influence. Some actually do their job properly and respectfully.

[LordSuragaha]

Actually, believe me or not, it is considered to be 'disrespectful' to the MODs and thus the MODs may ban that person for being disrespectful to a MOD - When the person wasn't even directly speaking to a MOD. Because of some opinions by some people would be offensive to a MOD if they heard it, their natural reaction is a simple ban. Some people have experienced this issue and I assure you that this is the way it is these days. Even though the feedback and opinion would be negative, it is a sad fact that no matter how hard they try not to offend or disrespect a MOD about it, they will likely be banned anyway. So to say, if you were in Ghost-mode running around the Plains and saw two people communicating with each other, minding their own business, but then talk about MODs and talk about anything about them, but more specifically if they were talking about them in a negative way sharing their opinions and agreeing with each other. If they were giving negative opinions about you, would you ban them? Because that is what it usually is. This major experience played a while back when Red RaVage was mistaken to be 'trolling' and when any member began to criticize the MOD for banning one of their members for absolutely no reason, they too would be banned, because they were disagreeing with their actions. I won't really name any names.

Now you're just taking things off topic and going on a mod/ban rant. You mentioned in the past post about mods banning people for sharing their opinions and that's what I already addressed. Same goes for these claims you are making now. If you've got a personal problem with some mod or mods then you should message them about it and get that sorted but I can speak for every staff member here when I say that none of us ban people for no reason. In every situation there is a valid reason for the action taken and it is always because the user is taking things to extremes and just being rude, uncaring, and breaking rules. As I said before sharing opinions is fine but harassing and shoving your beliefs down peoples' throats will not get you any where. If you want to keep claiming that mods are banning unfairly or whatever else you are insinuating then send me some solid evidence with screenshots etc and then maybe we could actually discuss something. In the meantime you know the rules about ban/kick conversations, if not read here:

• Discussion on Bans and Reports
  You are prohibited to make a thread or mention in a post about being kicked and/or banned from ingame or on the forum. If you were kicked and/or banned, then it was for a reason. If you have a question about it, however, then you are referred to a moderator or an admin. As for reports, do not go and make a thread reporting a user. When you are reporting somebody, you are to send a private message to a moderator of an admin for them to handle it. Any threads discussing a kick/ban or reporting a user will be deleted upon sight.

It should have been made public for the FeralHeart users to see if they would appreciate General chat as removed from the game. It is only a shame that it was announced of a planned removal by the time it was removed. Now looking back, you can see many players disagreeing that the removal was good.

While that would have been nice nothing in this community would change if we staff always sat back and just let the users decide on things. Many people are afraid of change even if it has the potential for good. General chat was removed as an experiment and it has proven to work for the greater good of this game regardless of the few inconveniences it has caused for some users. In time users will realize the benefits but while some continue to complain about what was in the past they will never see forward and work with something new and therefore progress will be slow. Instead of wasting so much time complaining about the change we should discuss ways to adapt to the change and improve upon the few things that have been effected by general's removal like advertising etc.

Many more people will wake up and see that the removal was bad, even though they though it was good at first. Until they wake up, I do thoroughly advise to bring it back since the removal just does not work at all. You cannot keep everybody happy but by the looks of things now it seems you've kept a lot more people unhappy than happy now.

I'll just quote what I said before again:

Let's also not make claims that the entire or most of the community are against the removal of general. None of you can prove that and not to mention there are quite the number of posts here that are made by the same user using multiple accounts. Those who are for the removal of general wouldn't have much reason or desire to write here so there really is no accurate way to see exactly how the entire community feels about this. So many of you need to stop throwing things around as if they are fact.