Role-playing in Feral heart. A negative or Positive?

[GlaydrChyle]

I was in a meeting with my local school council a few weeks back discussing the impacts of Internet socialisation through engaged activities such as role-playing and whether it is having a negative- or positive impact on Children and young adults ( So between the ages of 12-18) The topic became quite heated, discussing several factors such as Maturity levels in some games, basic literacy requirements and other do-dads about the place. We looked at the most common games played in the school and Feral heart cropped up amongst them.

The main argument was that MMORPG's like this one prohibit many draw backs as well as perks.
( I'll go ahead and list the ones related to this game, however if you feel like this does not belong here, feel free move it to perhaps the off topic discussion board or something like that? My apologies for getting this wrong, I was debating amongst myself about this.)

Perks-
-Feral heart allows a range of literacy skills to be taught (Such as reading, writing )
- A well managed and moderated on-line server  allowing safe gaming
- A tagged based board allowing users to easily decipher a role-play specific to there tastes and audience
- A wide enough user base to allow safe connections and experiences between younger and older members of the online community

Draw Backs:
-Feral heart has a lack of common phrases, allowing the miss-interpretation of words ( Often known as people using wolf-speak on here. And if you are a user who also plays other games you'll be common with the phrase Lexicon.)
- Easy discrimination towards less-experienced users of the English language ( not limited to just foreign players but also those who may not have as much knowledge as others in general, like myself)
- A setting not allowing the filter of mature role-playing in game.
- No censors on specific words allowing language to be displayed and used unless having action taken by an in-game moderator.

In my opinion, I strongly disagree with the last two. This is because I know and have always known feral heart to be a very safe place. The creation of private maps is allowed for the minority of the players who do wish to seek a maturer plot and, even though many of us don't see it. Moderators are working Almost 24/7 and can-not be everywhere in one go. Because the site is role-play based too, Free chat has to be enabled other-wise it'd be difficult for so many to experience the joys of stories and plot lines.

How far do you agree with these statements? Baring in mind sadly, nothing can be done to change in game play and this topic is not to do that. It is a simple opinion and discussion thread. But please do tell me.

Is Role-playing in Feral heart A Negative or Positive function?

Personally, I think the game couldn't exist without it. And The fact that this game exists is a great experience for everyone.

[wolfsquad]

It's a bit like what you said.
Positive yet also negative.

Many people can learn literacy skills, meet new people to become friends with and have something fun to do other than gaming.

Yet there are certain words, phrases and types of people that just ruin it completely for some people.

[PrettyReckless]

A very interesting subject to be discussing in school, I must say.

However, to the point..
I've always found Feral-heart and similar games to mostly be a positive thing.
The game has taught me, personally, more and better English instead of having an imaginary language barrier.
Also, it has taught me how to use my imagination better.. I had never roleplayed in my life before I started playing FH.

Other pro's:

The game allows us to use our creativity a lot more than any other game.
Presets, roleplaying, map making, etc.

The community is quite active, and therefore you get the social part outside roleplaying itself.
Such as the parties, movie nights(at least there used to be some.. I don't know anymore. :c), meetups in-game, and so on.

The two last con's you stated.. I can and cannot agree with.
I've always considered FH to be a safe place, indeed.
However staff can't be everywhere at once, so it's up to other uses to reach out a hand/paw and help them by reporting.
This is a thing that will be in any game, anywhere you go..
Internet itself opens up these things for us, and we all need to learn how to deal with them.

If anyone thinks that internet brings a more negativity than real life would, I believe they're wrong.
The same behaviour that is on FH, is in real life too.
In town, on the bus, texts, parties, school.. Yada yada.

[StarrieNova]

I actually like this topic. Though I must admit I mostly agree with you Chyle, and other users. ^^

[hugrf2]

Oh boi, I probably shouldn't be thinking about this subject while as tired as I am right now. Oh well.

But yes, roleplay teaches both English and literature here on FeralHeart, and I believe it also teaches some creativity as well or in other words brings it out in us in a way we don't even notice until a little bit later. It certainly did that for me, and I'm extremely thankful for that.

It's improved me more it feels like too, taught me experiences and stuff just like an actual book might do. Roleplay brings many positive things to your life, but I also believe negative things as well and many aren't even included anywhere.

I don't think I really know how to explain some of them without feeling guilty and feeling like I really disagree with myself. One thing that comes to mind is addiction to roleplay itself, as any sort of addiction is bad really... I don't know what I think otherwise about the cons, though.

But I see many pros, including what I've already listed and even being able to spend time with friends like that like I do is good.

Yeah, though, I do find this topic interesting as well! ^_^

[GlaydrChyle]

Thank you for sharing your opinions everybody! it's nice to see people who agree and disagree with the statements made above! It just goes to show how sided this discussion is.

[Lady_Alizarin]

Those are good examples of the few pros and cons of the Feral Heart game and community. Like every online game there will be pros and cons, especially when it comes to the community.

The thing I like about Feral Heart is how well the rules are set and reinforced. Feral Heart is the only friendly community I know in the online world. That's really saying something. I'm part of other gaming communities, and they don't even come close to the type of friendly community Feral Heart has. No doubt there are members that don't like to go by the rules, or try to make things difficult for beginner roleplayers. However, if someone is caught being rude to someone by saying something like, "You're not literate enough us. Your grammar and spelling sucks, so you need to delete your account until you can type English properly!" there will be people who will step in and say, "That's not very nice!" So even if there are rude people in the community who will try to discourage less-experienced roleplayers, or rudely reject someone by throwing insults at them, other members will step in to stick up for the one being shamed.

In other gaming communities, you don't really see that.

[shayy]

It's a bit like what you said.
Positive yet also negative.

Many people can learn literacy skills, meet new people to become friends with and have something fun to do other than gaming.

Yet there are certain words, phrases and types of people that just ruin it completely for some people.

I totally agree, I love the fact that you have 'freedom of speech" in the game, which allows us to expand our literacy skills and personalize with others, yet some people abuse this and ruin the experience and fun of the game.