HP Community > General Discussion > Post Reply
Associations!
  Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly!September 1st, 2013 1:09:57am 4,333 Posts |
As everyone knows, we have been trying very hard to make clubs and associations more active because they're a good community feature and there's a lot of potential in them to create more activity on the game and keep people online for longer playing and entering contests and such. However, it seems like no matter what we do, people still aren't interested. And I think a lot of that is to do with the fact that we have both clubs and associations and there's just not a big enough market on the game to support both. So for awhile now the staff has been thinking of ways to make them more different from each other, and asking members on surveys and in forums topics, etc. But no one seems to have any good ideas when it comes to associations. So, this has been running through my mind for awhile, but it should obviously be a community decision, how would you feel about just getting rid of associations? If you're unsure, here are my thoughts: 1. With no associations, there would be more incentive to run for president in the clubs, which would mean more competition and more activity. 2. They obviously need to be redone anyway, but we have no solid ideas, and not having them re-programmed leaves a lot money open for other features to be revamped (like the graphics auction) or things added in. 3. For current association owners, there would always be the option to keep the ones you have, or maybe we could offer you some sort of compensation to give it up. I don't know. If you think they should not be taken out, please let me know why you think this. I am listening to all suggestions. Also, if you're in favor of them staying, how do you think we could boost activity in them? If you think they should be taken out, do you think there should be another upgrade feature to replace them? Please let me know and discuss below! |
 Audacious & Blitz [Andalusians] September 1st, 2013 1:18:17am 558 Posts |
Honestly I don't do anything with associations really as is...and it's easy enough for players to use their own accounts for association type deals as is that I don't think we really NEED them. |
 ๐ฆ๐ถKaly :: doggies? September 1st, 2013 1:18:55am 254 Posts |
Hate being the first to post, but I am undecided on getting rid of the associations. The points we get off of the association shows really help out, but otherwise for the most part they aren't popular. If there were a way that club shows awarded more points, I would say yes get rid of associations. Having ran clubs a few times it is a huge pain having contests and only getting one entry, it would be wrong of you not to give a prize for that one entry, but it also feels (to me anyways) like I'm throwing away my money. |
๐ฆ๐ถKaly :: doggies? September 1st, 2013 1:19:20am 254 Posts |
and im not the first *eyes lemo |
| Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly! September 1st, 2013 1:20:04am 4,333 Posts |
We could adjust for the shows maybe by allowing clubs to make more than one per week, or something like that! |
Blitz -- Stellar Gypsy Vanners September 1st, 2013 1:21:01am 1,309 Posts |
I agree with Lemo in that I don't use associations. At most, I just like having more things listed on my animal's page saying that I registered. :P But I never enter contests or anything with them.They just don't DO anything in-game. And if anyone is still interested in having something community-building like that, they'd be welcome to create an account to have something similar on its page. They only thing you wouldn't have would be the registry, really. I've fought to keep them in for awhile now, and I just don't see the point anymore. They either need to evolve and become something else, or we need to stop accepting new ones, and let the ones currently in existence slowly go away as people eventually become less active and they get cut. -shrugs- |
 LLUVIA - it's corona time September 1st, 2013 1:28:30am 102 Posts |
One of the biggest reasons why clubs and associations haven't had much activity is that it's a pretty big time (and money) commitment to run a good term.- Voting - paying, TVing, and checking up on your vote tallies a few times a day the month before- Layout- Planning competitions- Offering prizes/money for competitions- Registry & shows- Advertising for the competitions- Judging the competitionsI alone spent about 6 hours the night of the 1st making a layout and planning out contests for a term once. (This isn't even counting the time I spent voting, doing registry, or judging contests.) While I don't expect that to be the norm, I think it should be a decent reflection that it does really take time if presidents put their heart into it. With the gradually diminishing player base paired the fact that many people have real life (school and work) demanding their time, it makes sense that competition and participation in clubs has diminished. Perhaps we could look into driving even more traffic into HP? Maybe offering even more prizes for referrals? One thing I've seen though, that does work: presidents are putting more thought into the kinds of competitions that people would enter - and those are the competitions that don't require a big time commitment (for example - graphics and training contests often do, but something like a photo, caption, or mascot contests don't).edit;; And I guess it seems like I'm one of the only ones who does use club and association shows regularly, in addition to actually participating in contests (assuming I have the time and energy for them)... Sig by the amazing {Veradaine! {deviantART | HP: #841 | AP: #130 {on hiatus} |
 Mobius // is admiring her new layout with her TBs September 1st, 2013 1:34:55am 316 Posts |
I don't like the idea of getting rid of the associations at as.They are different than the clubs and they bring a sort of variety to the game,whether people are active in them or not.I like the shows and I think that if you got a bonus for participating in associations they could be more popular...say,if your animals placed in the top 10,15,or even 20 in a show a specific amount of times you could get a bonus of game money and an achievement badge.To clear it up in case that was hard to understand.(The oncoming explanation is based on if you needed to place in the top whatever 5 times to get a bonus)I have five dogs.Over time,they placed in the top ____ of a certain association's show.I got a "bonus" because of it.The player bonuses could get bigger and bigger,depending on how many times your animals have come in the top whatever.Every time a player reaches these goals,the association could get a bonus as well,in which the owner could use towards contests and such.Clubs are just too different compared to associations and I would be very disappointed to see the associations gone. |
 uni September 1st, 2013 1:38:37am 1,338 Posts |
I wouldn't say our player base is diminishing.. Sure, we've lost some of the older players, but just as many, if not more new players are joining and staying with the game. Sometime activity takes a hit because of school exam season etc. but hp is as active as it's ever been and more.As for associations, I can take them or leave them. I've run them before and spent tons of money of contests and still I had to BEG people to participate. I do like the idea of them and think they could be great for the community, I wouldn't be sad if we got rid of them. No one seems all that interested and if, like you said, we could use the money that would be spent on associations for other features or updates that will be used more, I'm all for it! |
 Navi โขโข Back @ work. :( September 1st, 2013 1:46:43am 207 Posts |
I love having the association!!! They are fun to run and seeing the different ideas! I don't do anything with the clubs but I do with the associations. Taking away the association probably wont change much for clubs cause many people like owning their own association then having to run in clubs every month. Im in for keeping association. Associations you can own for months and clubs you can run only for a month so you spent so much time/money in a layout and for planning things and then they end quickly..I say just take more control over associations. If you see not a lot of action going on with a association or someone owning like 10 associations delete them so we don't have that many or something of the idea. As for clubs, I was like the whole idea for taking some of the clubs away and keeping the important ones. Side note: They are another fun thing that was added to this site as it does get boring with not much to do on here..  |
Blitz -- Stellar Gypsy Vanners September 1st, 2013 1:56:49am 1,309 Posts |
But even the association owners mostly don't do anything with them. |
 a z a l i e - ๐ต livin the dream-blitzy still watching- September 1st, 2013 1:58:42am 1,855 Posts |
I like running an association(or two) hate how you can only have one per account though... it is hard to get any participation....even with extravagent prizes..i got 3 entries for a one billion dollar layout contest...I wouldnt mind getting rid of associations....maybe just offer more in the clubs...I think there are way too many as it is and some of them are silly....I dont use the shows in either assoc or clubs sooo not a big deal to lose them. I also think people like to have assocs because they dont have to run and spend money to be the owner.  |
Blitz -- Stellar Gypsy Vanners September 1st, 2013 2:01:26am 1,309 Posts |
Part of the problem right now that is that BASICALLY, clubs and associations are basically the same thing. And I think it's important to keep clubs in BECAUSE the presidency changes monthly. That way if you don't like how someone runs it, you just have to wait, because it'll keep changing, unlike an association. If the owner has high standards, you might never get in. Which is why associations either need change, have a different purpose from clubs (Sam just spent a great deal of money updating clubs, so they are not what is going to change, here. :P ), or go away altogether, and let all of that attention go to clubs instead. |
| Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly! September 1st, 2013 2:10:37am 4,333 Posts |
If associations do stay, then they will need an update which changes a lot about them so that they're set apart from clubs because at the moment other than shows they really aren't serving much of a purpose.Associations were originally designed to be an official way to list your player-run clubs so that you could offer extra perks and stuff (kind of like SNOB or whatever way back in the HL days, it was on a player's account instead of being in any way official). So in an update, I think we would try to AIM them in that direction, so that they had a different purpose form clubs, rather than just being a copy of them that no one participated in anyway.There was actually a conversation in chat the other day about getting participation in contests and it seems to be a site-wide issue. I think people just aren't interested in the prizes and part of that is the economy on the game. We have better luck with our own contests because we can offer deages and accounts and points, and even then we still have some issues, so for regular players who can only offer HPD it'd an issue. But that's kind of a discussion for another topic. |
LLUVIA - it's corona time September 1st, 2013 2:17:53am 102 Posts |
I still think the two biggest reasons behind the lack of participation in clubs is that the contests either require too much time to enter, or that they aren't being advertised enough. Are there any other reasons? I've typically found that if you stick with easier contests (ones that take less than 15 minutes to do), offer a prize most people want (anything from HPD to private shows to graphics), and then keep on advertising that, people will enter. Just this past week, the owner of the one of the associations I was in ran a little contest where you just had to go and find a particular silly picture, and she said she got so much participation that she had to sit for quite a while to look through the mountain of entries that was sent in. It was a pretty simple contest that didn't require much effort or time and the association-wide message got people's attention - so as a result, lots of participation. Sig by the amazing {Veradaine! {deviantART | HP: #841 | AP: #130 {on hiatus} |
 trig โจณ welcome to the new age September 1st, 2013 4:00:51am 3,464 Posts |
"Associations were originally designed to be an official way to list your player-run clubs so that you could offer extra perks and stuff (kind of like SNOB or whatever way back in the HL days, it was on a player's account instead of being in any way official). So in an update, I think we would try to AIM them in that direction, so that they had a different purpose form clubs, rather than just being a copy of them that no one participated in anyway."90% of the associations accept all horses/dogs no matter what which I think directs away from this. That's really why I don't bother with many associations anymore because everyone and their mother can register/enter in shows. It just really gets annoying when the "registration" is the same for like 20 associations. The few that do have actual requirements you see a ton of the owner's animals in the shows whether they actually fit into the association or not. I also think there should be a limit of maybe 5 associations per player so other players have the opportunity the run associations.I really like having the Breeders Almanac just because I'd like to think it's a handy tool for other players. While I don't host mega contests, I'm continually awarding players for registering animals and replying to messages so I'd say we're semi-active. I don't get much as far as advertisements from players but every once in awhile.Contests in clubs and associations still suck for me. I had one this month where you could play this silly little animated "find the bone" game and not one person tried it. Only one person enter the mascot contest which is as simple as messaging me a dog's number. I don't know how much easier you can get. 
 |
 โข BlackFire โข September 1st, 2013 8:35:46am 307 Posts |
I don't really have anything useful to add except that I want to keep associations, I have grown too attached to mine over the years :( |
 Kaly :: Learnin' to fly, but I ain't got wings. September 1st, 2013 1:44:30pm 123 Posts |
I was actually thinking about this the other day, I think I'd be more active in come clubs if there was a chance to run them myself from time to time. As it is now, it's pretty much just a list of random things to me, I'm not really interested in them. I've started to try and be more active in them 'cause I believe some of them could actually contribute to HP community in all. I'm all for removing associations and readding certain clubs. |
 ๐๐ฑ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช โญ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ The Artist Formerly Known as xxCHAOTIC September 1st, 2013 2:41:56pm 1,853 Posts |
I think most of the associations should go.I've never liked having breed and discipline associations, when there's already CLUBS for most of them. We already have pretty much everything covered (not so much for dogs, since the AKC groups are almost all being removed).I definitely DO like having associations for things that there really can't be clubs for. Breeder's Almanac, HP Studbook, Designers Arena, HP Services Association, RP association, Charity Chicks... These are all associations meant to be a resource, more than a pseudo-club.Here's the changes I'd propose. Pretty extreme and bound to make more people unhappy than happy, but it'd solve the problem of clubs and associations being too similar:-Remove the ability to register animals to the association. Make registries club exclusive.-Remove the ability to make shows.-Remove all breed/discipline specific associations. Big Dogs, Arabian Breeders, Magnificent Ladies...-Remove all associations that have NOTHING to do with HP or sim games. Bookworm, Traditional Artist, Gamers Allied... Link Tree |
 Kyliga |:| Whimsical Wolves September 1st, 2013 3:00:56pm 77 Posts |
Personally I rather enjoy the associations, and do my best to be active in any I join. I will be honest I am quite picky about the ones I join, and I will not lie that I do enjoy the shows. I do not know if this could be part of the issue, but maybe limit the amount of associations a player is allowed to enter? I know that would be extremely difficult to implement because so many people have multiple accounts. Or maybe make a member have to enter so many contests a week before they are eligible for the association shows. To be honest I cannot think of very many good ways to truly improve them that would be simple to code, but like I already stated I have a personal enjoyment of them.While I can see Chaotic's point up there and think her suggestions would probably do the trick, I do not think there would be a point in having associations at all if most of them were followed. ~Removing the registration ability and show creation would sort of ruin the point of an association page because players could then do the same things on a spare account they do not train on and have what would basically be an "association". ~Removing the breed discipline associations would not be particularly effective either under her reasoning unless you were to add MANY more clubs and those are being downsized as well.~Discarding associations that have nothing to do with HP would just limit the community and the I personally enjoy getting to get on the game and being able to discuss life, talents, or whatever. It assists in the friend making process I believe which makes a tighter community. -Carl Sagan |
  blitz ๐ชฆ truly deviousSeptember 1st, 2013 3:02:23pm 6,134 Posts |
I use associations mainly for shows, but I have participated in their contests in the past. What I like about them is that, because they're permanent, they allow for contests to go on longer than a month (ie. layout contests, training contests, etc). I do question if maybe limiting the # one person can have and/or making them more breed/breed type-centered instead of breeds AND disciplines. Leave disciplines to clubs or something.As the monitor of the associations right now, there are some that just sit there and all the person does is create shows, while others go out of their way to have unique contests and events every month. For example, the Endangered Breeds Association focuses on a different breed every month and has a raffle at the end to give away a pair of them.   |
