Print Page - Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?

Game & Forum Discussion => Game Discussion => Topic started by: AeropostaleWolf on February 21, 2014, 07:20:50 am

Title: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: AeropostaleWolf on February 21, 2014, 07:20:50 am

I am usually an active member in-game, for example, about everyday I would see at least 5 Warrior cat clans, 4 prides, and 2 packs all at Stone Bridge around 4:00p.m (MT Time). Throughout this entire week, I've seen only 1 clan, 2 prides, and 1 pack at the most at Stone Bridge every hour or so. Did I miss something? I figured maybe the members would like to play Feral Tales, but once I got onto Feral Tales, no one was there. So, I was just wondering where the members went?

Also, another example: I've got many friends on my friend list, and usually I would see about 10-15 on at a time. Throughout the week, the most that was on at one time was 6. Seriously, did I miss something here? @_@

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: Feareh on February 21, 2014, 08:28:32 am

I highly doubt that Feral Tales is the soul main reason why people arn't on as much. You have to take it into consideration that people just have other business to take care of besides FH at times such as personal life with sickness and family. Or just school in general since its very very normal at night it would be less people online due to the majority of the people plaything this game are individuals who are in middle school - high school...( some college :P)
So really, it all depends on the person too. Since this game is for alot of the majority, people outside from the U.S do play this and have very different time availability as well.

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: LordSuragaha on February 21, 2014, 12:08:51 pm

Indeed it depends the hours you're online and the time of year. We get a flood of activity on site and in game most often during summer vacation times. Most people around here are either at school or work so you probably shouldn't expect to see as much people around. The constant shift in population active on the game at any one time is ever changing and normal so don't worry about ur.

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: shusuke on February 22, 2014, 07:01:19 am

It could also possibly be the weather we've gotten recently.

For example, in my state we've got a heck of a tone of rain over the course of the week, and the snow's partially melted and blocked off all the drains in the roads, so there's a lot of flooding and sidewalks and roads are incredibly icy underneath all that water. Traffic in general or busses may take longer to get to their destinations because of this (detours via other roads, or just driving slower than normal). The power's gone out in a few areas too from the high winds and other things.

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: Bellagirl5 on February 23, 2014, 02:08:19 am

Its getting empty cause this game SUCKSSSSS

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: Sir Equius on February 25, 2014, 04:25:54 am

Quote from: truckdoggy on February 23, 2014, 02:08:19 am

Its getting empty cause this game SUCKSSSSS

D--> So why are you even here playing it? :I

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: ~Stargazer~ on February 25, 2014, 07:56:02 pm

The weather as well as school can be an issue at times, I used to be active and then I went back to school. School took it's toll on my activity so, you could say that other users are dealing with school. Weather, is also bad where I live right now. 7 snow days (and we NEVER get snow :O) and a short power outage.

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: Bellagirl5 on March 04, 2014, 02:42:25 am

Quote from: Sir Equius on February 25, 2014, 04:25:54 am

Quote from: truckdoggy on February 23, 2014, 02:08:19 am
Its getting empty cause this game SUCKSSSSS

D--> So why are you even here playing it? :I

I'm not I just want to get banned :P

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: WhiteLightHeart on March 04, 2014, 02:55:48 am

Quote from: truckdoggy on March 04, 2014, 02:42:25 am

Quote from: Sir Equius on February 25, 2014, 04:25:54 am
Quote from: truckdoggy on February 23, 2014, 02:08:19 am
Its getting empty cause this game SUCKSSSSS

D--> So why are you even here playing it? :I
I'm not I just want to get banned :P

Then don't log into the forum or game? We're not gonna force you to be here, fluff.

Just as well, let's not discuss bans on the forum.

Back to the original discussion, I think it's safe to say that we have a few lower numbers because of school. My guess is that they'll rise briefly while some people are getting out of school for spring break over the next few weeks, and then go back down until summer, when we always get our biggest boom of players online. (Which is always the most fun time, honestly.)

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: DeadlyWolfQueen on March 04, 2014, 03:51:54 am

There may be many reasons why our Feral Heart is so empty. As a personal knowledge, I have not been able to get on due to many different things. School, Homework, Familial, and finding a job. Also, perhaps its the lack of time given to those who want to do things. Days roll by quickly. I would suspect in the summer days when many have a bit more time, that the game will be much more active.
~Desdaemona

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: AlphaEclipse on March 04, 2014, 04:03:47 am

There could be many factors contributing to the 'absence' of players on the game. A few of these could be school, work, college--life in general.
Many people also feel that Feralheart is becoming 'old and boring.'

Personally, I love Feralheart, and I couldn't imagine leaving. But, life comes first! ;S;

Anyways, I don't see Feralheart becoming 'empty', I mean, more people are joining everyday! As long as the game stays up, so will our hopes. <3

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: Silhouette on March 04, 2014, 05:42:22 am

As someone who's pretty much quit this game [and I usually only return for the sake of keeping in touch with friends who have decided to stay here, once in a while] after playing for several years, I think I can answer this question easily. Before I get to that, however, I do have to agree that the issue of the huge ice/snow storms and internet being knocked out is definitely a part of the problem, but not the entire problem.

Now ignoring some more controversial subjects such as the staff or the fact Kov is neither updating the game nor decided to make it opensource yet, let me just point out some little things could certainly cause some big problems.

1. The too warm of a welcome to under 13 yr old children.

I'm not sorry when I say I firmly stand by that a game designed in a manner such as Feral-heart, whether intentional or not is not suitable for anyone under 13 years old. Notice that a few of the Impressive Title servers forbid this and most of the younglings either learn to "Act like the grownups" in order to blend in so that they don't get caught or they just flat out don't play the game because they know if they act up, guess what? They're getting banned. Ever notice on online games, there are disclaimers saying "Online interactions not rated?" Heh. Yeah. There's a reason for that. I feel safe in saying that a 13 year old knows enough about right and wrong to make a decision on how to behave. Anyone under that age range [And I could care less about those little ones or their parents who think they're "more mature." You're never "more mature" as a solid whole, only in pieces.] on average is not and the hell that comes from giving them the freedom to make those stupid mistakes without consequence does NOT outweigh the good and joy that comes from a few "more mature youngins" who get to play. They can wait. Afterall, for every under-age you let in that is "more mature" there are likely ten or more immature brats that come with them, all of which if they only caused one problem each, is STILL ten problems. Children under thirteen still need to be on restricted games and websites or at least on ones that are tightly supervised. Feral Heart is not tightly supervised and that combined with underage children is a recipe for disaster.

2. Terrible Roleplay Trends. Now this, I can't pin on the game's fault. Its not the game's fault but this game is the point of origin for a lot of things that I can safely say were not present [or if present, nowhere near as extreme] in the original Impressive Title game before Feral Heart.

A. Realism is everything....too often. I can recall in the months before I left Feral Heart that I would be ignored and branded as a n00b roleplayer for having a character with *gasp!* an unrealistic color on it.

B. People have somehow gotten the idea that different species can't roleplay together. And before anyone opens their mouth and tries to say that its more realistic to keep the same species together, lets get our heads out of population mechanics and go to a slightly bigger area in biology. Community mechanics. Species in "real life" interact on a very frequent basis and it is what makes our world go round. Bacteria are interacting with you in your gut right now. That's not realistic? And for a more similar example, a wolf chasing a coyote away from his kill is not realistic either? Please. Save your breath. Personally I like to see species interaction on an unrealistic level [Cat's and dogs living together *insert quote-pun here*] BUT thats my personal preference but regardless of that, even on a REALISTIC level, species interact. All the time. So why does everyone seem so freaking bent on keeping them apart? Might be the problem below

C. The desperation to run a disorganized pack/pride/clan/group. Or not even that, its the way the groups are run and like letter B I have seen this spread to similar games, usually because FH players tend to head to similar games and take their bad habits with them. No big surprise. On Impressive Title, there was NO group system. If you wanted a group you had to make a thread with some actual effort put into it, not to roleplay but to keep track of your members, and you would have between about 10 and 40 and they were close knit groups. You knew all the people you RP'd with and they had to actually apply [and I don't mean just a RP sample] and make an effort. With the group system, people just add you at random regardless of whether or not you will commit. Everyone has become so number's focused and trying to be "big and awesome" when really all they have is a long virtual list of names, half of which won't play for more than five minutes. I'd rather have a close knit group of ten people to RP with regularly than a 100 I would lose in two days. Oddly enough for most of my time here I had that in a group of my friends but I know that most people do not. Consequently? That's more than enough reason to leave.
[[And don't tell me a 13 year old cannot be relied on to do something like that because when I was 13 and playing Impressive Title /EVERYONE/ did that just fine. What they didn't know, they asked and learned. Being a kid in that respect does not equal being incapable, ESPECIALLY in this generation.]]

D. Dang'd if you do, dang'd if you don't. What do I mean by that? Well for starters let me begin by talking about the novices. There are a few who want help and ask to improve. The problem? Anyone nice enough to do it is expected to play teacher all the time. So they lose. And the novice RPer? They tend to lose too because when they're /not/ around that one nice friend, they're getting bashed by /supposedly/ more experienced roleplayers [Though to be honest I've seen these bullies and their posts are usually filled with so many errors, its laughable to call them experienced.] for not being that good. And the other way that the "Teacher" loses is that BECAUSE they are one of the few experience roleplayers who is trying to help when asked, when they get too tired to play "Teacher" and just want to RP with someone on their level, they're branded as being one of the bullies. That's a seriously vicious cycle going there. And sometimes, even when they exhaust themselves to help out the novice roleplayers and do not refuse, this /still/ happens because goodness forbid that they post better than "how u doin?" and that automatically makes them a bully. Because of COURSE anyone who knows how to make a proper roleplay post is a bully. *Much sarcasm intended there* This is among one of the many, but main reasons why I left.

And can I just say that its incredibly sad that the novices can get branded as n00bs, those of us who were on the side of being experience roleplayers who were NOT bullies and got bashed, labled, and ignored by both novices and bullies alike did NOT have a rabbid-foaming-at-the-mouth support group unlike the little novices? Yeah, chew on that for a while because I can tell you from experience it sucks. At least someone sticks up for the novices, but anyone else? They're thrown to the wolves. [Not making a joke there.]

3. Overall presentation. Partly due to the clinging of players to same-species same-looks but the downhill roll of creativity is startling. I'm more than a little annoyed that the vast of variety of maps made in the early versions of the game, particularly the ones that took a great deal of effort [the ones that still work in the current version] are far superior to the ones being made now. Yes, I made a lot of complex maps but I'm talking about mine, I'm talking about everyone elses. How many people have actually bothered to learn how to use object maker? Or even use a downloaded mesh? [That one is a slightly more frequent skill in the FH population but still not frequent enough]. The better maps are getting buried by billions of copies of "LOOK AT ME! I put 100 trees of the exact same size, facing the exact same way, on a /grass/ texture. Its a bootiful forest!" No its not. Its ugly and its been done about a 1000 times before, why didn't you just save yourself the five minutes it probably took to work on it and download the carbon copy on the next page? Or does anyone even look on the second page anymore? I don't know but the lack of attention to detail and creativity is startling.

And thats even if you ignore the number of "Warrior cats maps" although I ignore that simply because /that/ is up for interpretation and Im all for different interpretations of the same thing. Fair enough. Now I would blame it being kids allowed on the game but this started happening long before Feral Heart got overly warm and fuzzy with letting under thirteen year olds in, so I won't place blame on that. And also, is there anyone even ALLOWED to download a map on the game anymore? Or willing at least? I ask that question sarcastically because toward the end of my time on Feral Heart, when asked if someone wanted to do a downloaded map RP their answer was "I don't know how [and it takes zero effort to learn, even for a 13 year old Its copy and paste!] and I dont want to learn, or its "My parents wont let me" [which is understandable in some cases but Id hope to god you're old enough they trust you. I take this one lightly], or its "My parents have to help me because I dont know how [again, if you're 13 and can copy and paste, I HIGHLY doubt this is true. If you can download a song on your ipod, you can download a map or preset.]

3. Availability of other similar games WITHOUT as many of the problems I've stated above. There is a vast array of Impressive Title servers, Last Moon, Wolf Soul, Royal Skies, etc. as well as other non IT-server games in the making such as Feral Tales [though as others have said I highly doubt that is accounting for the sudden drop in attendance but it is a possible factor for a few people], or Primitive Call.

That is what I did, I found a game with less of these issues and left. And you know what? I'm happy. Its sad when someone has to leave a game they were happy with for several years just because of a few silly little things that turned into huge problems because they managed to get out of hand. And as mentioned at the top, this is only addressing a few issues, not all of them. So yeah, I can see a LOT of reasons why Feral Heart is empty besides the bad weather.

And interestingly enough, several of the folks who vaguely claimed in the "leaving threads" that they were "leaving just because" or kept their reasons or where they went vague, I've run across some of them in other games. So yeah, there are definitely some things driving people out/elsewhere going on right now.

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: WolfQueen on March 04, 2014, 06:56:47 am

Quote from: Silhouette on March 04, 2014, 05:42:22 am

Dat honesty.

I actually agree with most of your points. I honestly think the game is getting empty because of what all you had said. But, NEWS FLASH, age doesn't always level you maturity. Judging by your post, you seem to think that kids under 13 are always immature brats, when in reality, there are some decent mature kids 13 and under. Quite a couple of them really. I don't mean they can strut their butts on games that prohibit them because they are "more mature", by the way.

I don't want to meet another ageist jerk (STOP RIGHT NOW! NOT THAT I'M CALLING YOU ONE!).

rant. don't attack me about it

Title: Re: Is it me or has FeralHeart suddenly become very empty recently?
Post by: Silhouette on March 04, 2014, 07:52:48 am

Quote from: OhKelseyYou on March 04, 2014, 06:56:47 am

Quote from: Silhouette on March 04, 2014, 05:42:22 am
Dat honesty.

I actually agree with most of your points. I honestly think the game is getting empty because of what all you had said. But, NEWS FLASH, age doesn't always level you maturity. Judging by your post, you seem to think that kids under 13 are always immature brats, when in reality, there are some decent mature kids 13 and under. Quite a couple of them really. I don't mean they can strut their butts on games that prohibit them because they are "more mature", by the way.

I don't want to meet another ageist jerk (STOP RIGHT NOW! NOT THAT I'M CALLING YOU ONE!).

rant. don't attack me about it
I knew one ageist jerk of a moderator on some game that I knew when I was on my old accounts. I had to be stuck with for more than a year, and dang he got on my last nerves. But, since he thinks he's so cool, he would insult everyone that doesn't agree with him. I got under the pressure so badly, but I had to live with it because I liked the game. I didn't want to be attacked by other "oh-so-cool" staff members ether... So, I zipped my lip and had to pretend that I liked them.

You completely missed that part of my post. I said for every "mature" under-13 year old, you get about 10 [or likely more] immature brats. Yes I think that /most/ of them as in the MAJORITY of them are immature brats, not all of them. But even so that is how most children today are. Its like buying a bushel of apples for only one or two good apples, while the rest are bad rotted and nasty. You wouldn't buy that would you? Similarly, I did't like putting up with unsupervised children who DON'T behave just because someone wanted to let in a handful of them that do.

So my point is, they should all be prohibited for the majority being immature brats and that exceptions simply cannot be made for the minority few. Simple as that. And yes, I do judge people based off of age unless they can prove otherwise. Whining "I'm more mature than my peers" is the first step in the wrong direction. In one of the games I left to, there is an age limit and I am aware of several players who are just under the age limit but they're extremely cautious about their shenanigans and don't act up because they KNOW they'll be identified. So even if it doesn't keep all of them out [which it never will] in the very least an age limit can frighten them into behaving themselves, otherwise they end up banned/booted from the game until they turn 13.

I know because I was one of those kids years ago who had to put up with it growing up. You know what I did about it? I sucked it up and dealt with it. Yes, being under an age limit sucks but you realize down the road that there are reasons for it. If the majority of a group causes a problem for the rest of the age groups, I see it perfectly fair for them ALL to be penalized. Afterall, we can't separate one from another say "He's more mature, keep him" and then "Shes less mature, dont't allow her." That wouldn't be fair at all now would it? But permitting all of them to wreck havoc in an unsupervised environment is also unfair to those who are at or above the age requirement. Since that is also not fair, so you structure your system around how the average behaves and do it for the age range that it is aimed at, not the minority, not when you're working on this large of a scale. "That quite a couple of them" as you put it does not excuse the whole age group.

ANYWAY back on topic. Point being age limts can definitely influence who sticks around and who leaves. I was rubbed the wrong way when Feral Heart grew very open warm and fuzzy with allowing kids. Pardon for having to put it like this but shouldn't they be playing something more age appropriate? Animal Jam maybe? There are people there and other children there who would probably welcome their antics with open arms whereas in a game like this that's very vast, not very well supervised (lets be honest. I'm not pointing fingers and saying its anyone's fault and yes, people have lives but regardless of those things, that is the current state of the game. It IS poorly supervised.) and that is just begging for problems.