As not just a staff member but a very old user of FH who has seen and misses the better times I can agree to everything you’re saying here Hooli. I truly am sorry that you feel this way and that you’ve had to share in this unfortunate experience of watching a beloved game slowly change into a shadow of its former self. I don’t think anyone here really enjoys how it’s become nor has wanted or intended for things to become this way, however due to a series of reasons here we are.
I’ll start by saying I’m not trying to point fingers at anyone or push off all the blame on any single person or thing done. I don’t like doing that sort of thing and honestly I feel like that’s another reason why things never move on, because this discussion doesn’t go much further from people pointing fingers just to shove off the frustration and responsibility somewhere. Most of the time most haven’t been around long enough to know the full stories before taking sides and or assuming things.
What’s important is that we realize and acknowledge that a majority of people both staff and users alike are expressing the same grievances... and those who hold the weight of responsibility and the ability to make these changes act by them... hopefully sooner than later.
As for my personally opinions on the specific points brought here:
I agree the registration needs to be more accessible and actually functional. I’ve already stated this before that the random thing just doesn’t cut it anymore, and I’m not really sure if I ever believed it did. At the time when it was changed by the persons who changed it I understood their reasoning but never really agreed to it. I still don’t agree with how it works but alas it isn’t within my power or choice to “fix” that. Although FH is an endearing experience for us all here it isn’t as much for new comers. For new users in a world of better games of a similar genre that offer better mechanics and substance, and are easier to join FH’s registration system just comes off as a nuisance for an already lack luster old game. (xSpirit is also not to blame for any of this as he has only come abroad recently and is working very hard to not only come up with new ideas but also fix old issues on top of many other things. Just want to throw that note in there.) This registration system really can discourage a lot of new comers if they don’t have the patience or time to be persistently checking for when it’s open. Long and short of it is, to keep the game at a stable population we either need to gain back what we lose in users if not double that... and this current system just doesn’t cut it when combined with all the other issues of the game.
As for old maps, I’m not going to go heavily into this as I don’t want to upset Raz especially after we attempted to do this with the “No Mod October” version of our patch. I don’t want to stir arguments anymore amongst staff. Raz has expressed that he believes the community wants the feeling that the old maps gave and not the old maps themselves. He has his own plans for the game and in the end it’s up to him what he wants us all to do as he is the server master. He believes that perhaps if newer better maps that offer more activities were put in place of the old maps that perhaps the community would like that more, if not come to peace with the removal of the old maps.
The return of general chat... yes another topic I have strong feelings on but don’t want to touch much either for similar reasons. I would love to see it return because I do believe that it’s removal was the beginning to the end with ruining not just the dynamic of general communication but also disturbing the roleplay advertising. I can go on for paragraphs with this topic alone but I’ll leave it as is.
As for staff bringing back some more little events, contests, etc. I don’t have anything objection to this and staff has already been throwing out some new little bits with the Screenshot content:
Check here if you haven’t already btw <3:
https://feral-heart.com/smf/index.php?topic=67086.0And there are other things being planned for hopefully soon. (Possibly a movie night or two :3) A few staff are a bit away or on a busy spike due to work/school/personal life etc but things are being discussed. You should see some more fun stuff very soon <3
Again thank you for sharing all your opinions here, this goes for all of you. I do hope some more can be made of all this.