2023 State of the Union Address

Welcome to the 2023 SOTU Address, coming to you after skipping last year...oops! (lol)

For those of you unfamiliar with what a SOTU is, it basically allows everyone to look back at the past year and what happened, reflect on that, address anything we want to address, and as well allows each of your HP admins to reflect on our jobs and what we hope to work towards in the next year. 

Before we get into things...

June Featured Breeds

Fennec Foxes and Silver Foxes are now in the store until next Sunday, June 11th! As well, I failed to add the two new custom breeds to the calendar after they were created (Sionnach and Allimoose), which means I completely forgot to move the Allimoose to the store last month when I moved the Thoresians. So they too will be in the store until the 11th, and next year will go back to being one of the May featured breeds! #fail

To learn more about the Allimoose, check out THIS forum thread.

Fennec Foxes and Silver Foxes are actual fox types out in the real world. Fennec Foxes are found in the deserts of North Africa, and their most known for their giant ears, and being the smallest fox species. Silver Foxes, also known as the black fox, are a melanistic version of the red fox, meaning they have an increased amount of black pigmentation/melanin in their genetics.

Now that that's done, without further ado...

Game Updates

(As always, you can find changes to the site itself in the Change Log).

• Animal pages now tell you what day of the week the animal ages on.
  
  

• The horse and dog breeds were purged for inactive ones, and reorganized as to what is in the Store vs. Cash Shop vs. is "Breed-to-Achieve" (aka crossbreeds).
  
  

• Reorganization and purge of clubs.
  
  

• Update/overhaul of the HP Gallery
  
  

• Rule developed pertaining to AI-generated content.
  
  

• Started having featured Cash Shop breeds every month where that month's breed(s) move to the store for a week.
  
  

• (Re)implemented the Anonymous Suggestions/Feedback form.
  
  

Staff Updates

In the past year, we've had to say goodbye to Saturnia and most recently Ephemira as Content Moderators. We have and will continue to miss having them on staff helping to make our game safe and great!

To counter that, we have welcomed Skell last December, and will hopefully soon announce who our other new mod will be! Applications closed this past Friday night, and we admins are reviewing all of the applicants, before we will announce who will be joining staff, so stay tuned!

And now, short notes from each of the admins...

A note from Blitz, your Director of HP

Back in 2021 when we last did one of these, I said my goal was to make the changes as seamless as possible and how I'd achieved that, and that going forward I was going to work at cleaning up the game and work on bug fixes. I feel like that's a bit of an endless job that I have continued to do in the past 2 years, and will probably continue to do for the next 2 as well (lol). At the end of last summer, I started to work on a revamped, more streamlined and less wordy help area, and of course promptly had the code not work the way I wanted it to, because coding never does work on the first try. It is my hope to take another crack at revamping that area of the site this summer in hopes of actually bending the code to my will this time, and making it easier for both new and seasoned players to find out information the ins and outs of our game. I will also continue to clean up things like messages, super old inactive accounts, etc., as I already do periodically. 

Now to address something else. Not to take a trip to negative town, but this has to be said. In the past year or two, we have noticed an increase in negativity and unnecessary drama amongst some of the players on the game. An increase in pettyness. An increase in "mememe" attitude and behaviours. Even purposely grossly overbidding on something without regard for how it's going to affect other players and the game as a whole, and creating more in-game inflation that we really didn't need. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then it's probably not you I'm referring to (lol), so thank you! To the rest of you, this really needs to stop. We are a kind, welcoming community, that has had so many helpful, kind players in its history from all over the world. Please, return to that kind HP of a few years ago. Stop with the unnecessary drama and negative vibes. It's unnecessary and exhausting for everyone!

To end this on a positive note, here's to another year of fun activities, training, and a great community of players! -clinks glass-

Inbox, always open btw!

A note from Binny, your Marketing Manager

Hey guys! What a few years it has been eh! Hope you are all keeping safe and well. Our social media following has done well over this past year. Still working on raising our IG followers!! If you do not follow us on IG, please do so!https://www.instagram.com/horsephenomena/

If you think of any hashtags I should include let me know! This is our current:

#horsephenomena #onlinesim #onlinegame #horsegame #horsesim #virtualhorsegame #photography #photomanipulation #animalshows #animalgenetics #doggame #dogsim #virtualdoggame #virtualgame #virtualpets #horseanddoggame #horseland #animalbreedinggames #dogshowinggame #dogshow #horseshowinggame #horseshow #horsebreedinggame #horsepeople #dogpeople #horselife #doglife #horsemanship #dog #horses

Over all I try and get something posted daily to help with our algorithms... UGH!!! But thats where I need your help!! To be successful with our social media, people need to SEE IT! 

According to Facebook, if a post has a lot of activity on it, it means that it is great content, and people want to see more, therefore it is shown more on peoples feeds - not just your friends, but in general to everyone! I need you, the players to please interact with our posts, so that it goes to more newsfeeds, thus creating more followers! More followers may mean more new players! YA! 

So please, if you see our content on your newsfeed, a simple emoji like (the more non thumbs up ones, the better!) or even comment! Thank you!

Also! I love the participation so far for player of the month! Dont forget it works off of the pet photo and descriptions, no players are named unless they won! So get in there and nominate your pets!!

A note from Koni, your Head Administrator

Hey there everyone! Wow, I gotta say it has been a crazy two years. It’s been amazing to see some of you grow into yourselves as players. I love seeing all the returning faces in the last two years, and the the few new ones that I see! 

In 2020, I wrote a SotU blurb and said “One main goal that I have for 2021 is to have a lot more participation in both Embassies and Clubs.” and I managed to get a little bit more participation in both. We re-did our clubs and slimmed them down, and so many of you reached out to become breed ambassadors! This year, I will be working on starting back up our Breed Spotlights from a few years back (Which Mango picked up for a bit as well) but my main goal this year is to help you! “What do you mean by that Koni?” Well I’m glad you asked! It means that I am going to make it my mission to be around more, and be available to you players for anything you may need when it comes to the game. As the Head Administrator, I want to make sure you are all ENJOYING your time here on HP! Got a question on how something works? Has a player made a rude comment and you don’t know how to respond? Notice someone has incorrect credits on an image? My inbox is always open and all reports/comments/etc remain anonymous. 

I cannot convey in words how amazing this community has been as a whole. There have been some bad eggs, sure. Everywhere you go is going to have that, and that is OK. As long as we learn, and we grow from those interactions! I look forward to growing with you all this year. Here is to a fabulous rest of the year!

A note from Broken Vow, your Community Manager

Over the past year or so I've grown more confident and comfortable in the role as your Community Manager, while you guys have been there every step along the way! I very much appreciate your excitement as each event comes and goes. The participation in the larger events has risen, which is awesome to see! Let's keep it going even for the smaller activities! Every little bit of participation helps you out and it helps your fellow player out! I mean, who doesn't love earning prizes? Haha! 

I've been able to make recommended alterations for Player of the Month (P.o.t.M.), the Mascot Contest, and am working on the Photography Contest! My goals are to keep improving as we go through the seasons! Help me help you! The more you guys speak up about what you want to participate in the better details I can gather in order to bring things to life for you all to have fun with. My inbox is always open if ever you want to talk community shop! Or if you would feel more comfortable staying more private, I've put together a Community Event Anon Feedback Form for you to fill out.

Here's to another year of awesomeness on HP!

-Blitz, Binny, Koni and BV ♥

-bump-

Thank you for all the hard work you all do! I love that HP is constantly changing and evolving to keep up with the community. Here's to another great year, and all the exciting things to come.

Thank you, guys, so much for all the hard work you do! We appreciate you!!!!

Thank you guys for all the hard work you've all put into making the HP community and HP in general a wonderful place to be!
I love my HP friends and I love you all that make it that special place for everyone to come to and make new friends. Appreciate all that you guys do!! ♥

So far, this game, while emulating another game's former shell, has managed to exceed the longevity and community of the former. Kudos to you all and kudos to the admins who have cultivated such a lovely environment :)

Thanks for everything you all do on a daily basis! 

Big hugs and an even bigger thanks, staff 💚 

Suggestions for hashtags: #horselover #doglover #instahorse #instadog #horsesofinstagram #dogsofinstagram #horsesofig #dogsofig #ilovemyhorse #ilovemydog #horsesdaily #dogsdaily