Suggestion/Feedback Summary, June 2023

Every month, by request, I will be making a post summarizing that month's anonymous suggestions/feedback, and my response to them. Each submission will have also been shared with the other admins for their feedback as well (especially if the submission specifically pertains to their job), and their views are also expressed here in my summary, as indicated. Feedback from other admins is in their words...I just copy and paste it into the post. 

All suggestions/feedback was anonymous, into the Google Form pinned to the top of this Suggestions section of the forum. The only two questions on the form ask what the suggestion/feedback is, and what today's date is, in order to help sort out when something was submitted. No player information is exchanged.

Submission #1: I think that the form should be reworded and that's why people did not realize this was an anon feedback form. It says suggest a feature.

You are absolutely correct, Anonymous player! I have re-named the form, and re-written the instructions/info text at the top of the form in order to reflect that it is indeed meant for suggestions and feedback. I also added a second question to the one question in the form as well. Thank you for pointing this out to me!

Submission #2: I would love to see the prizes changed slightly for the mascot contest, mainly the prize of matching points on an animal or with a new store with those points. The way it is now, the all-time rankings end up clogged with just the mascots and their prize animals and it's pointless to try to get an animal on this otherwise.

(response from BV) Regarding matching mascot winner points to mate/store: Those were a part of the prizes for before I took over running the contest, so I just kept up the tradition. I am open to adjusting that however seeing the rankings fill up with the mates of the mascots overshadowing players' projects. Would you guys like to have a poll to help me hash out the finer details for a compromise that way mascot competitors still receive a solid prize for their hard work and that non-mascot contest competitors would be happy with to try to climb the rankings in the future?

Submission #3: It was a pretty shit move to reduce the HPB trade in value on the day of the sale. Some players purchase HPB ahead of time to trade in during this sale, and you effectively made it much less cost effective than selling upgrades directly. I'm sure this is your intention; however, this change needed to be shared sooner, such as after the previous sale. Real money is involved here. The staff are paid employees, not volunteers. Frankly, do better. Do not punish the players by giving zero notice for changes that affect real money transactions. Announcements like this quickly make players feel they cannot trust anything to plan financially. And in a game like HP where saving and planning can take years, this is a problem.

I want to acknowledge that this suggestion was made, however I am not going to give more of a response other than this, as this suggestion was made when the same thing was blowing up being discussed on the forums, so I feel like this has already been addressed and I'm not going to re-hash the topic again now that we've (hopefully) moved past it. 

I didn't want to exclude it from the fact that it was said, however, for full transparency and to demonstrate that I don't pick and choose what feedback/suggestions to post about!

Submission #4: Hold people accountable for their actions. Lately it feels like players are getting away with bad behaviors or breaking rules that others wouldn't.

(response from Koni) Hey HP Fam! We got some Anon feed back recently regarding rule breaking. I will say I was very surprised by this, as nothing has been brought to the moderators attention about rules being broken recently. The Mod team and I can only do something about rules being broken if we are made aware of the issue. Please, if you see someone breaking a rule, let myself or one of the other Moderators know. Either hit that ‘report’ button on their home page, or take a screen shot of the rule breaking, and shoot it over to us in private messages on HP. Even if we’ve already dealt with it behind the scenes, we would prefer being told two or three or even five times vs not being told at all. As the Moderation team, our goal is to ensure that everyone is following the HP rules. We can’t do that alone! Please, PM me if you have any questions on rules as well. My inbox is ALWAYS open! - Koni

Submission #5: It makes me a lot sad that the admins of the site just aren't around. We have Blitz and that is it. The other staff are rarely there and if they are they seem to be being negative. It is a little disheartening to look at advertising chat and see an admin complaining about stuff like upgrade prices. That's the only time I have really seen Binny post anything is to complain about prices. I would just really like to see them all be active like they were before, actually be a part of the community. Perhaps an activity requirement for all staff? While the admins are the least active in the community, the mods are pretty absent as well.

This one requires multiple responses, so each person's will be indicated, including my (blitz) response, for ease of clarity!

(response from Blitz) Thanks, anonymous player, for noticing that I'm around (lol). Honestly it sometimes feels like I'm running around HP like a chicken with my head cut off! One thing though that I want to acknowledge that I could do better on is posting in chat (the actual chat, not ads!). Last fall, I was diagnosed with ADHD after basically hitting a wall of "I can't cope with my brain anymore". While the diagnosis has been great for me, it does explain why I struggle with chat. I always go into chat with good intentions, but often get distracted on another tab and forget I'm there for 5 minutes, half an hour, sometimes even hours later. It's an eternal work in progress, and any ghosting in there is not intended at all! 

Two other comments I'd like to make on this feedback:

- News posts...while it might look like it's me posting them all... a) I do any posts I make with feedback from the other admins, and b) it isn't actually always me! I have made a slight edit to the author text on the main news in particular just now, and it now states the player # who posted it, not just "HP Staff Member", which the Community News already has. I'm hoping that helps to differentiate who's doing the actual posting.

- Mod activity...Moorf was literally just modded. She's definitely around lol, if you're breaking a rule you may just get a message from her to find that out ;P. Skell is in Australia. She is definitely on and present, but it's when most players are sleeping, which is probably why you don't see her unless you catch her in the early-ish morning of HP when she's heading to bed, or later at night when she's just getting up. 

(response from Binny) Regarding the feedback about my activity...my role as a HP Administrator is Marketing, which is basically running the social media accounts HP has (Facebook and Instagram). Most of my "socialization" energy is poured into that...making social media posts and trying to get people to engage with them. I also run the HP Facebook Group and moderate it to make sure people aren't posting inappropriate things. I have also started the Pet of the Month contest, where if your pet wins the vote, it gets a spotlight on our socials. 

On the engagement front, I feel like I say this A LOT, but pleasepleaseplease like and/or comment on the HP posts you see on the socials! The more people that like or comment on a post, the more likely it is to show up on other peoples' feeds, which we hope will entice more people to join us on the game. If only one or two people are liking posts, then very few people will see them...it's the unfortunate way social media works...it's all about engagement! If no one is engaging, it's a bit like yelling into the void. It makes you feel defeated and what's the point, you know? 

I also offline have multiple jobs and two busy boys to take care of. So I may not be in chat or on the forums a lot, but believe me, I am around and engaging elsewhere (even if no one engages with me!).

(response from Koni) I'd like to address my activeness on HP as a whole. While you may not see me in Chat, or in the forums, I am around! I do have a full time job outside of HP, that regularly works me over-time, along with being a full time Chicken-Tender (I have a flock of about 90 chickens to tend to daily), and Sport Dog mom. I do check my messages a minimum of 3 days a week. If there is no title to the messages, or they are regarding something simple such as adding a breed or embassy, I may wait on them for a day or 3, so that I can tackle them all at once! I did stop hosting the Raffles and Jackpots, as I was getting less and less interest in them. Is this something that the HP community would like to see back in the game? If so, I'll happily start running them again! What sort of prizes would you want to see? As always, my HP inbox is ALWAYS open. Please don't hesitate to message me! 

(response from BV) I'll be honest, I'm not in Chat very much, but that's because I'm all over the other places. I post the weekly Community News post detailing what events/activities are happening each week. I participate in Clubs and run as president of a couple each month to help boost their activity. I run the monthly photography contest, player of the month spotlight, and also try to host either Bingo with an forum friendly alternate activity for players who miss the live run times or another themed forum activity. I pop into the Forum Games and try my best to respond to other Forum threads if something catches my interest or needs attention. My lines are actively in training and getting up there in generations. Big project horse coming up! Then doing a bunch of behind the scenes work such as awarding prizes, responding to Welcome to HP messages that new players get auto sent to them, responding to other HP messages in my inbox, assisting the Mods & other Admins with anything that gets reported to the Mod Panel. All the while having 2 other side jobs and volunteering jobs, so my time gets pretty stretched here and there, but I am online HP every day sometimes multiple times each day!

-bump-

Bit of a longer post this month!

I love seeing all of the suggestions and comments that have been submitted and the responses to them.

The only way things may be able to change, is for people to submit the thoughts/suggestions/feedback!

I'm currently on my phone so forgive my short response here - but I would love to see submission #2 explored! 

Can confirm Skell is always around! I work deep into third (processing them good reading mats) and hear from her about every day or so. Usually because I'm an absolute pest 🤭 and we play lots of video games that are similar or the same (even if on different platforms). I'm also interested in #2 but haven't seen a mascot contest yet so that'll be exciting 

I second what Lacey said!

Also interested in exploring #2 further. I very much agree and will have to think on this some more.

For #2 - Please share with me any ideas! :D


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Should I create a similar thread for my HP Community Events Anon Feedback Form?
Or tack it onto this one if ever I get anything for whatever month?

I finally got a resonse though!
Thank you player for coming forth and saying something!

...What do you think needs the most improvement on?...
"Please offer a VARIETY of activities. Every month it's the same things on repeat. It is so utterly boring. Each EC has one activity each week, and the next month it's the same things again. That was the fun part about epic quest, was how varied it was on a monthly basis."
-The EC's are responsible for deciding which activities they want to run and how many they'd like to host per month. Based on their availability and online time management is what might be behind something that is nice and easy to complete, or as elaborate and challenging as the Epic Quests. There are no restrictions regarding their creativity. I do encourage diversity amongst the activities and as well as fine with what gets hosted as long as it's not the same type of activity as another EC during the same month.

...Anything Else in relation to the Community Events that you'd like to talk about?...
"Can the prizes be addressed? I understand the economy is an issue, but when HPD is a prize it's so small that it's pointless. Points are given out so often that animal points don't even matter anymore. Find something else to do, please."
-The EC's are also responsible for deciding which prizes to award and are provided with a page of suggested amounts of each type of prize to award out. Such as Points/Energy/Tickets/Store Pairs/etc.
-In recent times players suggested that we offer more points, so that's where the prizes have leaned towards.
-Prizes also vary based on the difficulty of the individual activity. The more effort involved by the player to complete the larger the reward. Minimal effort equals small award.
-HPB & upgrade time are only offered for any potential big site-wide events. They will not be offered for the general run of monthly activities.
-Players do not have to participate in anything that they don't like. The activities provided are an additional option on HP to help spend some time while helping your pixel creatures out or lining your piggy bank.


I will mention since we just added Sat to the EC team we are all in the works for something to help refresh activities as a whole, so stay tuned as we work on the details! :D

For #2, my two cents is that the bonus prize of getting a matching pointed mate is a good 50-75% of my motivation for joining the mascot contest haha. It's a fantastic prize to offer, especially when the possible prizes staff can award on HP are limited to begin with (which is a different but contributing issue: the player base is getting bored of the available prizes, I get it, but there's no suggestions on what new prizes could be, so that's not gonna be changing in the forseeable future). As we saw with the HPB trade-in, changing/removing something that's been a part of the game for so long is never gonna be a popular choice, and will result in massive backlash from one group of players or another. So middle ground is the best option, and keep in mind that in a good compromise, nobody is happy.

I also understand that getting project animals onto the rankings is a huge motivator. So maybe a middle ground on this issue is somehow eliminating the mascot mate from being listed on the rankings? It may not be something that can be programmed to happen automatically (and I always hate suggesting more work for admins knowing how much they have to do behind the scenes already), but even if it's something that can be done manually for each mascot mate - that's only one manual adjustment a year (or two if there's some miracle tie lol). This makes sense to me doubly for the fact that, usually, minimal to no effort was put into the training of that second animal. So from an energy/resources/good old fashioned hard work standpoint, it doesn't deserve to be on the rankings. 

Then there are cases where players put equal resources/effort (sometimes more) into the mate animal to keep it level with the mascot entrant. In that case, this prize is matching the mate's points to the mascot's points, and if the point difference wasn't very major to begin with, then the mate too deserves to be on the rankings. This situation can be addressed on a case-by-case basis (which is a good reason to keep the process something manually done).

All of that assuming it's even possible to manually remove an animal from the rankings, which it very well may not be x-x

Please no! Unless there's a separate rankings page or something (one with mascot animals one without?). But when I look at the rankings, I want to see where something accurately rates. 

I'd almost rather the points were added onto the mascot animal itself, rather than the mate. Or maybe not the full amount?

Maybe for the mascot prize, a table can be made of possible prizes and depending on the category you win or place in, you can pick a certain number of prizes out of it? Points, HPD, HPB, upgrade time, cash shop items, stores with points (or maybe add points on the offspring of your mascot animal?)? Also, consider limiting the age-back to 2. That's where the HUGE point gain is. A de-age, sure, but THAT far?

Just throwing ideas out there.

edit:

again, thinking out loud here. What if for all events on HP, you earned prize points (or hpp?). And then we just had a prize table ready to go at all times (like the cash shop+ whatever else was added in) , and you could save up for the prizes you actually want? small, easy things are 1 point. Winning the mascot contest would be quite a bit more. 

I really like Jaya's idea of a selection within a prize pool. I don't mind seeing the mascots in the rankings, echoing Jaya's sentiments again here, as I also like to see where everything places, regardless of context. It gives me something reliable to aim for. 

My two cents in regards to the staff visibility issue:

While the admin may not always be actively posting, chatting, or making their presence known, I can promise you they are there in the shadows, ensuring everything is running smoothly for the rest of us. When I became a content moderator, I was illuminated to the sheer volume of work admin have to undertake. I really had no idea that it took so much to keep this little corner of the internet turning each and every day. I feel it may be unresonable to suggest that they need to spend more time making their presence known, as they also have commitments outside of HP. Also, in regards to the 'complaining,' everyone has a right to post their thoughts and opinions on matters regarding HP, admin or not, so long as it is respectful. 

There are already 'activity requirements' for Event Coord's, in the form of rotating contests posted on the forums each week (such as Pants' puzzles and City's trivia just to name a couple). In addition to this, Mango worked tirelessly running the Epic Quest every month, BV does Mascot, FPC and more, Binny does PoTM etc... Just to name a couple that come to mind in this instant. So, I cannot agree with the observation that 'mods are pretty absent.' 

Sorry for the novel but I've started and stopped this chunk of thoughts like 5 times. Here goes nothing xD

I'm not sure what a solution could be for #2, HP is such a single focus game really so that makes it hard to not stick with the current formula. With points being the only measurable attribute for the game, it's hard to get the focus somewhere else without uprooting the core of what HP is. I don't want to take away from those that spend years planning these projects but as much as we constantly speak on the economy being so inflated, points are inflated as well. Sure, HL was of the same formula but they did not have these big events and their prizes that make the playing field more and more uneven. All other animal SIMs that I've played have more attributes that get factored into the animals to make game play more challenging but also encourage player collaboration for longer periods of time. Right now there just isn't that much realistic competition on HP for the average player, let alone a new player. You could literally gift a 10mil animal to a new player and after just two generations of average game play, they would be back to average points. By that time, there isn't any gain to having such high pointed lines because they no longer contribute to the offspring. The value is very specific to each individual and adds to the trouble with setting market values. I would hazard to guess that if that new player tried to sell a foal from the gifted 10mil horse, they would be lucky to get 50mil so the return is minimal to help player growth.

I didn't think about the rankings being full of mascot contest winners but you're not wrong for sure. Even for a seasoned player like myself, the rankings are one of those things that are extremely intimidating and I can't imagine what that looks like for new players joining the game. Five years ago, those animals getting 10mil points were a rarity and now 10mil won't even crack the all-time dog list. You could have 10s of billions saved up in HPD and still have to spend thousands of real life dollars to even come close to what some animals reach. Make a seperate list for animals that have not had special/rare perks applied and are a better reflection the norm? What animals would be displayed then? Get rid of the list all together? Would it matter?

Do we stop offerring points as a prize or reward for anything? Do we increase points awarded for shows and start bridging the gap between the norm and extra ordinary to create more inviting game play? Do you add in life events like foal death, failure to perform in shows, ect to encourage players to collaborate more?

Ps. Something that struck me this year was how many teams of 3+ players entered. Do we no longer allow teams? Limit the number of people per team? Would that have any impact on things in the long run? Not sure. 

I agree with Trig's first and second paragraphs. I think introducing variables that offer a bit of challenge/competition might be needed if points are going to be the only measurable achievement, whether it be more difficult to place in shows, occasionally resulting in zero points gained or something else. Back on HL, points were extremely difficult to come by to the point that 40k points on an 8yo horse was a massive achievement (to use my own experience for an example). But here on HP, it's all too easy to reach up to 2mil points just by standard enter-all showing on a store animal.

So that quick point gain will of course affect the rankings, which, yeah, the All-Time Rankings are a place I tend to avoid because it's intimidating to look at it. This, of course, doesn't discount the work and dedication players put into those animals, but, yeah.

In response to the note about teams, I think limiting teams would be beneficial. Three players in my opinion is workable and still requires team communication and collaboration. Any more than that I think creates a notable, unfair advantage. 

*Removes Mod hat to post as Moorf the player*

Suggestion #2 -

I definitely understand the frustration with this one to anyone who cannot afford to spend billions on a mascot entry as it does make it pretty much pointless to try to get an animal on the ATR lists. I've had a couple horses on the list, and they have both been knocked off. 

I do know how much of a part in the possibility of getting a mate points matched is a big contribution factor in people joining the contest, but a thought on how to revamp this is something to look into. I do think getting matched points AND aged back to store is HUGE. Maybe having the choice of one or the other, or even 50% of the points matched? 

*Puts Mod hat on*

Feedback #5 -

I'm not quite sure how to feel about this one honestly. We all have lives outside of HP just as everyone else, and yes, it is a paid position, but I don't think it's what everyone thinks, or maybe as much as everyone thinks? 

This is not a full time job, nor pays even close to consider being able to make it a large part of a person's income, for me, this is play money, something a little extra that I would not otherwise have. 

And I assure you, I am on every single day. I may not come into chat everytime and talk for long periods of time, but I am on and around. And usually various time and multiple times a day.

I LOVE being a Moderator, and there is a ton to do on the backend that the public does not see, so trust me, we are around, we are doing our jobs and following up and finding rules being broken and taking care of that. 

I'm not sure what you mean by if they are on they are being negative....the only "negative" I have seen is perhaps disagreeing with the HPB trade post or the comments that were made in there? Or saying that changes suggested can't be implemented?

We are still only human and doing our best to enjoy being players AND ensuring that the rules are upheld and the game runs smoothly. 

So, I've only been active for a few months, and am not familiar with the mascot contest other then what I've poked around in the old forums. So I can't really give any input there, but I can give a suggestion for the rankings from the view of a newer player. I'm not really one to strive for a place on the rankings, but I know some players do and it can be daunting joining and seeing players on both the all-time and current ranking lists with billions of points who have been playing for years, and knowing it can be almost impossible to ever catch up to them.

The game I used to play had multiple sets of rankings to help combat this and make players feel more accomplished no matter where they are on their journey.

There was Weekly, Monthly and Yearly rankings, as well as All-Time, for both players and horses. The All-Time ranking was like what HP's is now, a list of all the players with the highest amounts of player points in total. The weekly, monthly and yearly rankings ignore a player's total player points and only focuses on the points a player or horse has earned in that time period.

For example, let's pick Weekly Ranking. Blitz is closing in on 5 billion player points, she will most likely always be on the All-Time ranking list. JohnDoe joined a month ago, and has 5 million player points. Both players have been training their horses. Let's just say for easy numbers, for this week, JohnDoe earned 50,000 player points. But Blitz only earned 40,000. So for this week, JohnDoe ranks higher then Blitz. Then Sunday comes, and the rankings go back down to 0 and it all starts over again. The same method would apply for monthly and yearly, except they'd only reset to 0 at the 1st of the month or the beginning of the year. You could even keep a record of the yearly rankings to know who the top players/horses for that year were.

The same would go for horses/dogs. Secretariat already has 5,000,000 horse points. Zippy Chippy has 100,000. However it's the monthly ranking, Secretariat has had a bit of bad luck, being stuck unranked in classes and he's only gained 300,000 points this month. Zippy Chippy however got a couple of seconds and thirds (Because he is still Zippy Chippy and just can't get a win) and has 500,000 points for the month. So for June, Zippy is higher in rankings then Big Red.

This way every player can still see they are being competitive with other players regardless of their current maximum amount of player or animal points.

I don't know if this would help the situation at all in terms of the concerns people have. I also don't know if it's possible for coding. Perhaps if something like this is implemented, the points earned on the weekly/monthly/yearly rankings can only be earned from entries/classes and points awarded from contests and non-class sources wouldn't be included?

But anyway, that's my little suggestion. XD

I was actually just thinking of something like this Kiyoko and you worded it better than me xD

I do really like the idea of introducing a couple of other ranking systems as Kiyoko has suggested. Especially annual/monthly rankings - though I'm aware that it's likely that mascots from that year's contest would still dominate annual rankings. Even so, it's unlikely that you're going to get so many animals over 10mill in one single year as there are animals over 14mill on the all-time rankings, which would enable animals that have even 7mill points to have a chance at scoring on the annual ranking leaderboard. And if each of the new ranking systems have their own individual awards, then those animals will still be able to show that they have really achieved something.

For events - I love Jaya's idea of a 'prize points' system where players have a bit of choice in how they spend said points. It lets players tailor the prizes that they ultimately gain toward their playing needs, so I'm fully here for that.

With regards to the mascot-mate issue - I'd maybe agree with Moorf's suggestion that, going forward, mascot winners who also get the bonus prize could be offered a choice between having the mate's points matched or having both horses/dogs reset to 3/2?

As for the teams thing - I wouldn't want to discourage teams entirely, as I think it's the best way to encourage less experienced players or those who have more limited funds to participate. And also, it's just way more enjoyable to do as a team! The mascot contest can be gruelling and I can't imagine that I would have been able to last through it solo (certainly planning on happily spectating with popcorn and wine next year!). Creating the theme and story for Ringwraith in collaboration with City and Neke was honestly so much fun this year, and I loved seeing all the creativity from other teams as well - it was easily the best part of the whole contest. In my feedback for the contest I suggested limiting teams to 4 players - though I agree with Mako that 3 is reasonable, as well. That enables players to work together (and if one gets busy IRL or is unwell etc, there are still 2 to keep the ball rolling!) but stops teams from becoming so outsize that they're at risk of having an advantage.