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
This is because there
have been wrongful punishments handed out & this has been an ongoing issue for several years.
You state that your inboxes are open but again, I'd like to point out that a lot of Staff over the years have not made themselves sound approachable - while I'm certain they attempt to encourage communicative behaviour. Not all Staff come across this way but FH's audience is typically very young and they easily misunderstand the tone behind text and the sudden ban/kick messages that pop up... for some, it's quite scary (although I accept the fact that it's necessary).
It's not the policies being enforced that's the problem.
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
You & I both know that this isn't the entire truth.
During my time on the Team, bans were placed against players that then went on to challenge the case & that case was entirely ignored or met with a 'they're always a trouble-maker, just ignore them, kicking up a fuss as always' amongst the Team themselves.
This hasn't been a continuous cycle and I'm sure this has changed over the past 2-3 years, but the fact that it was a thing in the first place is what causes concern on my end.
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
I will quote this idea that I'd placed, as I've nothing else to say on the matter and, the point still stands:
Another issue I'd like to bring to the table is Training of Staff.
I don't doubt that Staff receive a very professional method of training. But I, for one, didn't during my time of appointment. The training itself was decent but, when I was working with other Staffers, it was clear that someone had been taught one thing and I'd been taught another, so decisions & actions were causing communicative issues & arguments to occur.
I'm sure this has been improved since and I've no doubt our current Staff Team are now all on the same boat but, I'd simply like to personally recommend that One specific person is assigned the role of Training new mods. A document should be made regarding topics to cover (i.e When to move threads (giving scenarios for MiTs to practice with, etc.), lock threads, when to warrant a warning via PM in-game or simply just kick/ban and how the context/use of profanity/or other things will equate to ban length) & this document should only be accessible to that person doing the Training, simply to avoid the spread of false information via other Admins/Global/Moderators. That way when things fall out of line, it is down to that Trainer to correct or relay the information back to this document and, you get the jist (hopefully).
If the Trainer later steps down from their position on the Staff team, then this document should be sent to the person taking their place. They should also receive a briefing as to what exactly to say, how to say it, etc.
Recording the training of each MiT could be worth the while, but I wouldn't suggest it be a requirement. More of like an optional recording, so that Administrators & the Server Master can confirm that individual was definitely trained. Just in case they take the wrong steps, yudda yudda.
Reason why the document should only be accessible to that specific Trainer is because I wouldn't want to see it edited by others and it becoming confusing, out of order or deleted by accident, or end up in the hands of the wrong people and then publicised.
Obviously, the Server Master needs to be the only ideal other one to have access to the document, just so Razmirz can overlook exactly what's being said & done, given the fact that he typically approves/disapproves of most if not everything and he also lacks the time to be able to train MiTs himself.
If there are going to be two Administrators again, maybe they can both play a part, but I don't see it being very fitting as they'll have different things to say. Sticking to one is kind of the go-to for now whilst the Team itself is very small.
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.
No one is being "dragged" into this from FHU. The battle has already been dropped.
But, I'll quote myself again to explain the reason why the game's name keeps being mentioned. It isn't because "we want drama every six months."
The reason why I mentioned Feral Heart Unleashed is because FH is technically it's birthplace. It didn't start in Feral Heart itself (as in start as a group in-game and expand to a game of their own), no, but it is named after FH with 'Unleashed' afterwards to indicate a new chapter. New staff, new everything, but essentially parts of the same community. Not everyone migrated but most of the people who've been around long-term have seen it as a new home, but a similar environment, to start over.
There are similarities that everyone can deny as much as they like, it doesn't change the fact that FHU/FH are very often confused in terms of difference, or how one came about.
I'm not going to stop making the comparisons, sorry. Why I won't is because it further validates the point I'm trying to make... it's not an attack or any sort of "this game is better than that because of ____" it's just to add onto the discussion being had here.
Bloo. was correct in saying I only mentioned it out of curiosity as well as concern.
We need leadership as well as establish a baseline where we acknowledge the factor(s) of what's caused FH to go quiet and how we go forward from here, after losing a lot of Staff members who valued FH's future just as much as we do, but have given up.
I'd love to know how FHU is
not a factor.
I don't mention the drama apart from the odd bit & bob to further a point I'm trying to make and opinion I'm trying to express. I want to see FH make a comeback, but this cannot be done without knowing what else is out there so we can ask ourselves... What do we do, to encourage more players?
Nevertheless, I'm glad we can all have a relatively civil discussion going on in this thread. I want to apologise if I've ruffled anyone's feathers thus far... it's not my intent!
I only want to see FH make a huge comeback and be strong again.
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