FeralHeart servers down until Tuesday over 'rape' dances
Staff of 3D role-playing chat simulation game FeralHeart (successor to Impressive Title) have taken it offline for a week, from 24 January 00:00 UTC until 31 January 00:00 UTC.
Owner and founder Razmirz posted a thread on their forums explaining the suspension:
The reason for this is the increasing number of complaints regarding the game/forum. I don't refer to the ones about the game not working. I'm referring to complaints from users parents.
You might think these are about the staff not doing their jobs well I'm sorry to say it isn't. Mainly because while people are listed as "staff" we have none. Instead we have some trusted VOLUNTEERS. And as far as I'm concerned its more a case of If you are under 18 and don't have a parent or guardians permission we are hereby revoking any access to the site and game. If you persist in accessing the site you are in fact stealing our resources without permission.
You all are aware that Feralheart is not designed to accommodate any user under the age of 13. Therefore, the language used both on the site and in game should reflect this. A typical example of this is the term "rape", despite our kicks and bans over the matter people still return only to persist the same behaviour, so we will be taking some more drastic actions in order to prevent such things happening or being discussed within our community.
What you need to do.
First off, any member of Feralheart who is under the age of 18, you are to have a parent or a guardian check over our website and take a look at the game to judge its suitability for you. If they are not happy with the content or are unwilling to check we henceforth refuse to provide you access to the site and game effective immediately. As stated in out terms we cannot be responsible for the actions of the users here though we do our best to curb users actions with our limited resources. So if a MOD asks you do do something please follow the instruction(s) there will be good reason even if you are not sure why.
As for the inappropriate behaviour. It has reached to a point where users who have been banned before simply return or create new accounts and continue with the actions of which got them banned in the first place. So, as of 00:00 UTC 24/01/12 , any one seen dancing over another user in the appearance of “rape” will be permanently removed from the game and possibly the forum. The same punishment will apply to the simple mention, threat, or implication of the matter. These bans are not up for debate so do not attempt to contact us over them. Again as it states in our terms we can revoke access for anyone with any reason.
This is a very serious issue, which is why the game was taken down for everyone to be able to see this thread.
Hopefully with this new, strict, guideline, you will be forced to listen. Feralheart is to be kept a safe and friendly place for everyone, and this is how such will be enforced.
Members of popular forum Something Awful recently discovered the game as well, and discussed trolling the game earlier this month:
I have found that doing the butt shake in front of people really pisses them off, for the record.
About the author
banrai (Andrea Brooks) — read stories — contact (login required)a freelance artist and Monster from Old Fort, NC, interested in art, music, literature, nail polish, perfume and betta fish
A late-20-something woman from Western North Carolina with plenty of opinions, and very willing to share them.
Comments
I feel for the guys running this. The game's theme has a natural appeal to young users, so I doubt they can exclude them without losing a big part of their user base; probably volunteers, too. Yet how many kids ask their parents to play a game?
I have played this game for a while now and noticed alot of inapropriate behavior and swearing, Younger children play this game and it disgusts me to see people acting inappropriate infront of little kids. It is not Feralhearts fault at all, I feel bad for the FH company... BTW if the FH to make more games they should make a warrior cats one, that would be the most popular game ever! Good luck with these problems!!! :P
You know though, if they didn't want people to be doing a 'buttshake' dance, why the heck did they code it/animate it in the first place?
+ Banrai
FurAffinity
why don't they just get rid of the "buttshake" thing or reanimate things so they won't be doing a humping motion??
"This is a very serious issue" - factually incorrect. This is a quintessential first world problem.
I don't know, I think the fact that apparently people still find the concept of rape to be funny is arguably a serious issue.
what about people roleplaying wanting to have a pup/cub? XD
i see where these guys are coming from but banning someone for using one of the actions they created is going too far.
There doing the "rape" thing with your headbang and buttshake dances you guys made, you should of seen what people are doing with it and taken it away or changed it if your so sick of seeing people do that with it....
well if their parents dont like it then dont lwt them play. simple.
and why did you even keep butswing? just remove it -___-
if someones doing it it is quite easy to use the BLOCK BUTTON and move on. no need to take down the site for a while for something that could be solved easily
*let XD
Guys, the buttswing animation by itself isn't the problem, any more than the crouch move in Halo was really meant to be a teabagging animation. I mean, swinging of the butt is a bit saucier than crouching, but at the end of the day the move isn't the problem, it's how players are using it.
I say We should have age groups such as 6-9 10-14 15-18 anybody above those ages should not be able to play in certain parts of the map or something like places the groups of 10-14 and 15-18 should not be allowed and others where 6-9 are not allowed please do not take this too seriously I am just speaking my mind, but also there is a BLOCK button for a reason just block the people and get on with life.But What you horrible people are doing is wrong have some sense do you really expect to get away with that.I will not respond to any reply's or anything I am just speaking my mind.
The only reason this happened was because of the immature 11 year olds playing FeralHeart. If they hadn't figured out what the "buttswing" dance was like, they wouldn't have used it like that. The actual dance/motion itself is no problem; it's a fun dance, and it is very appropriate when used in a dance line with friends as a cool dance move your lion/wolf/cat/dog can use. The only problem is that some users see it as a sexual movement, and I believe these people have been exposed to dirty sights/thoughts. They tend to use the movements to "create pups/cubs/kits". The way you can look at this is: "The dance isn't bad, the players are."
Hello, It is under construction at the moment I am happy that new stuff are coming ^^ but I just hope that it will come back soon. Registration is randomly open my sister got in because someone said 7:00pm and that was the time so I screamed at her to go check and it was open. ^^ maybe this will work for you. I hope they will bring it back soon. Sincerely, Koolwolfe in game.
So the site is still down. Your dates must have been moved. Will it still be open at 7 pm and if so in what timezone?
I have recently discovered the site and I was interested in registering.
I am not sure, HOWEVER te game still allows you to do a map maker, or anything like that and test but the game is still not back especially the forums. I only wish that if you wished so hard it would come back. :( Is it ever coming back?
How long has it been offline exactly?
4 days or something like that. -sigh-
YAY! I read the title and understand it now they are coming back today! -le dances- sorry XD They said the 21 and today is that where I live so they are coming back today! ^^ Just need to know what time. Anyone know that?
Also the 21 where i live. Where did they say the 21?
If you look at your messages it says Tuesday it way passed that where I live so I am guessing they are back up. ^^
But they're not.. :(
Neither. What I choose to believe.
Needs to hurry up...People are going to get pi**ed off about this...Its unfair on the loyal members that are only treating the game right..
Unless those loyal members actually pay for the service, they're not really owed anything . . .
(Note that this story is about downtime from January 2012.)
The site is back up! Hurray!
It's not back on -sigh- well at least not in my country -.-"
Listen people stop your complaining and wait, it's already back up. -.-
Only the site is back not the server.
I was on at 9 am. (US) It was still closed.
I would just like to say thank you to everyone. I was accepted. Hope to see everyone around.
It's BACK UP JESUS CHRIST JUST STOP POSTING!
I wish the registration was open more often... I guess i'll just sit here madly refreshing my page until it opens up...
I agree to what most are saying about the dance moves that are in the game that could be removed to prevent such events from happening, but I don't think it's necessarily the 'butt swing' as much as it is the 'Head bang'. Maybe if the 'Head bang' were altered to where the character would remain in the sitting position, lightly bobbing the head how you might bang your head slightly when listening to music, but completely standing up and inwardly motioning the lower portion of the character can easily be used as other than what it was created to perform.
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