Community Reminder November 2020 - Release #2

[BlackOak2]

This is a two-parter... apparently it's a little long.

Part 1

It's that time again for another one of these.

This time, I will be covering a lot of definitions and more specifically some definitions that appear to be getting a little confused with certain actions. I will also be focusing on simple internet safety and also basic game protocols for playing. So this will be a bit all-inclusive especially since it appears we've been having some difficulties with these things recently.
So first and foremost, I want to start off with some personal thoughts and considerations.

This game is a haven for many of us. Especially right now in time when we're going through so much heartache and pain, both as personal people and as an entire species. Our world is torn apart by this virus and yet we still experience hate, hurt, prejudice and bullies throughout all walks of life. So it's just adding more ... nastiness on top of what we already must strive to survive.
This game, as I have heard from many players (I'm including myself in this), is a place that we can go to harmonize our personal self. It's a type of psychological aid that we use to build up a resistance to the outside world again. And this is ingrained in us. Even as kids, the first thing we do when we're under unusual stress loads, is to play. So this is what we do, what we want to do and we revert to it, when stresses become too much. It is not a failure. It is simply an expression of balance.
So, when we, as a community, move to settle in peaceful manner, the drama, upstart and strike-back of other members of our community, it is to reassert that which aids us all in ways that other games and the real world just cannot offer us. Understand that tempers have become frayed, short, nerve-endings stomped upon, emotions rubbed so bare that it's like fire upon the skin. As the community we are, I will continue to aid in supporting where I can and in ways I can so that this community can continue to serve itself and support the game.

Now for the rest.

Basic Game Protocols

Community Reminders - a service provided by the community for the community.

This is to offer every player on HWO a simple reminder of what we may have forgotten or haven't yet been introduced to. Anybody in our community can offer these. Please remember to use grammatically correct language and check spelling. This makes it easier to read and when using a translation device (like Google Translate), it can be understood in another language. Speaking of other languages, the game is in English (primarily at least), but that doesn't mean a member of our community can't type one up in another language. We do have players that don't speak English well or can't understand it at all. So if a player chooses to do so in German, Russian, Cantonese, etc, just please remember to do so using grammatically correct language and check your spelling.

Hijack - defined in game as replying to a topic authored by another player that is off the topic heading.

Though some of us don't mind this and answer such responses kindly, please attempt to keep this to a minimum. It is not okay to hijack another topic. By hijacking another topic and by continuing to do so, you are saying in simple terms 'I don't care about the HWO general etiquette, I don't respect the topic's author and I choose to be rude about my game interactions.' We have help about how to post your own topic, please utilize it. If you still have questions, ask in the questions forum.

Spamming - on this game, defined as posting a topic multiple times, posting the same response throughout multiple topics or posting the same emoji or notation in repetition.

A couple of examples of repetition of an emoji or notation is as follows:

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Try to keep it to three and under, or ten and under. This offers respect to the community that you're playing in. This doesn't just cover the forums, this also includes the Chat.

Harassment - this is defined as 'aggressive pressure or intimidation'. On this game it also includes pinging more than perhaps three times for the same request, asking multiple times for the same request and offering more times for the same request.

Such things like requesting for a lower stud fee multiple times, not just on the same stud but on multiple studs owned the same player; requesting lower prices on horses, constantly; cheap or free services, constantly; or otherwise repeated unwelcome behavior is not acceptable on HWO. A response of 'No' is a response of 'No'. Each one of us is allowed to use the word and allowed to uphold the word. Some societies allow a 'three time response' as an acceptably defined consideration for others. So please also remember that 'three might be the charm'. However, for those societies that utilize this, please keep in mind that other societies do not.

Begging - on this game, this is much the same definition as 'harassment' with the exception that the pressure is designed to make the target feel badly.

I used the word 'target' to drive home the point that begging is an attack and is either done by the passive aggressive, the underaged or by somebody manipulative. This is unacceptable behavior both in life and on the game.

Bullying/Cyber-Bullying - 'to use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants'. On this game this is a serious offense and any signs of this should be immediately reported to admin through the forums or private messaging.

Typically, this is redefined as feeling scared or fearful, so that people can understand the different between being bullied and being teased. It is quite a fine line to walk, but the conclusion of it is the intention and the recipient's emotional response. We should never fear to use the statement 'Please don't do that, I don't like it.' And such a statement should be respected.

Trolling - 'make a deliberately offensive or provocative online post with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them.'

Although this is along the same lines as bullying, this is done with a different agenda in mind. Whereas bullying is often done to get what one wants, trolling is done with the sole purpose to change the emotional state of the target. Usually done for a very negative reaction and defined in such a way, this is also an unacceptable behavior.
Don't do it. If the actions are defined as 'Trolling' it is a reportable offense.

Confidence - 'the state of feeling certain about the truth of something.' Also: 'a feeling of self-assurance.' On this game, understand that this is defined as the ability to 'speak forth.'

We are allowed on this game to express our opinions (as long as they don't break any game rules, i.e. offensive language or content). If you see something not right, define it. If you see an unanswered question, try to answer it. If you are a victim, target or... even the person that was the aggressor and you feel differently now, offer yourself voice. Though we, the community and even in some cases our admins, may make a request to not share certain real-life events, or at least censor such things in certain ways; especially if it happens on the game, please give yourself a chance to move forward. And also the community too. We are all forgiving, we choose to be, so when we make moves to do so, it helps all of us in ways that perhaps can't quite be explained.

Calling Out - on HWO this is defined as offering community knowledge about a situation or event that happened in-game.

Most of this, though we've had voiced very few incidences of this, is generally defined as a horse sent for training that didn't come back. But this can also cover studding, sales, champing, pretty much any service or contract that didn't go down correctly. This is NOT against the rules. When doing so, please remember to reread before posting and correct passive aggressiveness, out-and-out aggression and personal knee-* responses. This can also be used to offer appreciation. So don't forget that there's two sides to this.

Reporting - this is defined by forwarding an event or situation that broke or is suspected of breaking the rules of HWO.

Explicit language, bullying, harassment, email addresses. Things like these should be reported directly to admin through the forums, private messaging or the Help Me button. Things that aren't generally reportable are those that aren't rules (an accidental sale horse or a private stud horse, neither of these break HWO rules and are NOT considered reportable or actionable by admin). But... questions can still be left. Ask the community, or forward it anyway to admin and you'll be set straight.

Questions - pretty much self-explanatory. All in-game questions belong in the questions forum. All non-game questions belong in the general chat forum.

Don't be too afraid of looking up answers. But if you can't figure it out, ask the question, the community might not be quick in the response, but we're generally fairly helpful. If it's unanswered for a couple days and you haven't yet found it yourself, bump the topic, it's entirely possible the community overlooked it, not because 'we' are choosing to ignore you, but because it might be a difficult or long answer and those that can or are willing to, somehow missed it. Plus, not all of us are on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, an immediate response only happens when certain or particular players are on at designated times. Hopefully, as the community and the game grows, this will continue to expand.

Nosiness - defined as an over inquisitiveness in personal or private affairs.

It appears I do have to include this. This shouldn't be happening in-game. This is an internet safety issue and should never happen here. Questions about in-game projects might be considered being 'nosy' however, sometimes it just gets too involved to discuss at length. But that's not the distinction here. So if somebody chooses not to share an in-game project, please just accept the 'not now' or the 'no' that's received.

Venting - to express emotional upset.

This shares similar beginnings with Confidence and Calling Out as well as the flip-side of Harassment and Bullying. But in this a 'Vent' is the expression to release so that it can be let go. Like with Confidence and Calling Out, we are allowed on this game to vent. Please keep names out of it and even, if possible, linking or descriptions of specific events. We vent to release, not to bully or harass. This is the difference. We vent to share an aggravation that many of us have experienced. And in the end, if we can instead laugh at it, it can effect a positive change.

Laziness - 'the quality of being unwilling to work.'

It's fine to want things to come easy. There are a lot of things that the community does make easy on the game. But 'laziness' is a different aspect. Not bothering to apply any effort at all is both annoying and frustrating to players that want to help and aid other members. We, the community, want to make things fair, but essentially easy when necessary and at the same time, offer a difficulty level that still makes things challenging when desired. And I think, for the most part, we have been able to find a good balance.
A 'Try' is sometimes necessary to show that you're willing.

'Snatching' aka Purchasing Under False Pretenses - to offer a contract for a service or event with no intention of fulfilling it.

This really hasn't been too much of an issue, when it comes to the sales of horses. Generally, I can think this would happen when searching for trainers or champers. But I have heard almost none of these incidents from the time private sales was introduced. Please keep this up.

Transferring Horses - moving a horse from one account to another

This can be done for horse's going for services, such as training or champing, and can be done between accounts owned by one player or by accounts owned by multiple players.
ALWAYS USE PRIVATE SALE OPTIONS.
I suppose this hasn't yet been drilled into us. We need to minimize this as much as we can so that when accidental sales occur, we increase our chances of getting the horses returned. If these accidental sales always happen, people will take advantage of it and we'll have a significant decrease of returned horses.

Private Sales - offering a horse to a specific account.

Use this option when needing to send an horse to a specific account or person. I suppose it hasn't yet been said enough, so I'll repeat it again.
ALWAYS USE PRIVATE SALE OPTIONS.
And also check to make sure you're choosing the correct new home. Many of us have additional accounts but not many of us keep mental track of who owns what. Never Send A Private Sale To An Account You're Not Sure Of! It takes a simple ping or a chat visit to check.
And before I continue, I must also remind all of us that HWO rules state:
[quote]As far as selling horses goes, if the game lets you do it then it's okay to do. If you put a horse for sale and someone buys it, they own it and can do whatever they want with it. That's what selling is, the horse doesn't belong to you anymore.[/quote]
If an accidental sale happens, you're allowed to request the horse returned. It is expected that at least the sale price is offered back (that is the minimum of being fair), but the former owner can also 'sweeten the deal' by offering more money.

Ransoming - on HWO this is the act of withholding a horse from a former owner or prospective new owner (accidental sale to the wrong account) for a large sum of money.

This is a delicate line to define. This is not 'sweetening the pot'. The 'sweetening' deal can only be offered on the former owner's side (or an account trying to help) and canNOT be requested on the current owners side. Such a demand can be considered holding for ransom and IS AGAINST HWO RULES.
I think I stated it best when I replied in another topic with this:
[quote]The part about ransom, is when a person asks for a horse back, because of an accidental sale and the respondent (current owner) says something to the extent of 'If you give me X amount of dollars, I'll return the horse' By responding in such a way, it's considered 'holding a horse for ransom'.[/quote]

Private Studs - a stallion offered to cover only chosen mares.

This is a continuing problem on HWO and appears that it will continue to be so until the 'Approved Mares' option comes into play. According to HWO ruling, there is No Such Thing as a 'Private Stud'. To keep the peace, to continue to allow for community aid and to offer both community and personal respect, please consider observing the request.
Ways to avoid a private stud from being used by undisclosed mares is to apply the horse at-stud for minimal times (a minute or less restricts the chance of others seeing it), send the stud over to the breeding farm, or bring the mares to the stud. You can also apply an exceedingly high stud price to the stud, this way, the owner will still be paid for the covering.

[BlackOak2]

Part 2

Some Basic Definitions

Upgraded/Basic - applied to an account. This is the act of using PT to access certain things on the game otherwise unavailable.

I have always said that even a basic account can reach the upper tiers of the game without ever getting the upgrade. The upgrade is handy and can make the game move quite a bit faster, but it's not necessary. Plus, admin has been very gracious to allow us to earn PT without ever spending real money on the game. This helps to level the playing field and if utilized correctly and wisely, one can continue their gameplay on an upgraded account without worrying over when they'll be able to spend their real money on the game again.
However, by supporting the game and purchasing the PT or other upgrades, we support the game, the game development and our admin work.

Grinder - any horse used in locals to grind for the bread and butter monies of the game in addition to PT and day drops.

Grinders can be any horse of any HGP, state, age or training. Certain things help to increase the effectiveness of grinders. By training the grinder and finding the grinder's best competition type, a grinder's usefulness will not only pay for your farm, but also earn enough in his or her lifetime to purchase the next replacement grinder.

Newbie - a player new to the game.

Generally, this is used to describe somebody at and under one month but can easily extend to six months or beyond, depending on how often they play the game. But it's a personal evaluation as well. Newbie's are really anybody that doesn't yet feel comfortable with the gameplay and still struggle with understanding how to move forward. We try to support our newbies through community aid, free horses, free grinders, free finances, etc.
The community works hard to keep these services alive and optional. If you need aid, please ask for it. But if you don't need aid but instead want to be greedy, you can single-handedly shut down all of our newbie services. Please refrain from that.

Junior - a player that is no longer a newbie, but not an expert in the game.

Many juniors find a mentor to help them along. Juniors know how to navigate and play the game. They understand how and where to seek help if they need it and they can even start answering some gameplay questions. A junior is usually an account somewhere between one month and a year gameplay. And again, it comes down more to the feeling of the gamer on their overall abilities and less on what the community defines it as. I was playing for a little more than two total years before I felt I no longer fit into this category.

Senior - a player that is no longer a newbie or a junior.

Pretty much any member that is somewhere between a year and older account age. These members of our community know the game well enough that they can answer most or all questions poised to them. They are able to figure things out, mostly, on their own and often times will collaborate with other senior members on projects that aid the community at large. Many of our senior members will also mentor juniors and newbies and provide aids to get them going. Our senior members help to define and run the community as well, leading the rest of us and offering an overall role model. Teach by example.

Powerhouse - on HWO, generally defined by a dominating force in competitions.

Although the word can be used to describe different types of community members, for the most part, a Powerhouse on HWO is a player or account that regularly dominates in competitions or in records. Unlike some games, we have many on HWO and there is regular, though not in all competition types, turnover and movement in the upper tiers of the rankings.

Tier - on HWO, defines the level of playing

Often a tier is defined also by player level (newbie, junior, senior), but I generally only end up talking about the 'top tier'. Such a place is somebody that manages to achieve their name on theRankings Boards, such as panka33/SilverSaddle that has six horses in the overall general leading horses board, or breed a horse that breaks a record, like the infamous Bitapetrone lines that just end up taking all or most of the records in one fell swoop. And there are many rankings that break down yet further by discipline, wins and points. So anybody can achieve those top tiers and in relatively short order, with a little bit of diligence and a little bit of luck. The playing field on HWO is decently fair. Admin has been able to code and program the game and has created rules in such a way that it is fairly equal footing for all of us.

Moderators - 'person who moderates an Internet forum or online discussion; arbitrator or mediator.'

On HWO, there exists NONE of these. I am not one, no other player is one. Admin doesn't offer such a position. There is no asking to be one. The job, the title, does NOT exist on HWO. Will that change in the future? That's unknown. But if or until that does, see what I just offered.

Admin - owners or operators of the game.

We only have two. That is larissar and Tom. They own the game and manage the game. It can also be offered that they are our official Moderators. They are the rule, the law, the 'say-all, end-all' of everything here on HWO. By grace and rule, they have offered us access to the game and as long as we respect their game, we'll continue to have access to it for as long as they can provide it.

Directly Concerning Internet Safety

Internet Safety - self awareness of the possible dangers that can be encountered online.

Tough subject, I suppose.
It does keep coming up. Internet safety is about protecting the self from damaging influences. These can be body, psyche or belief and can even include other areas that I just won't bother mentioning, because they can be vast. It's basically about keeping the online life separate from the real life. By making such a wall, we can protect our real life from the unknowns of what the internet can smack us around with. We have enough in our waking, walking lives that we should want to avoid adding to it, that nature of the internet.

Personal Questions - questions asking about a person's real life.

Why would one ask about such things? This is not the generally accepted 'How was your day?' or 'Are you feeling better?' or 'How was your birthday?'. Although these can be considered personal questions, these are also fairly generic questions that can be answered in generic fashion. These are okay to ask as long as they remain generic and if somebody offers a response such as 'I choose not to answer.' Then please stop such questions. Not all of us are comfortable with sharing even such generic information.

Phishing - originally and still heavily in use, the sending of an email by falsely claiming to be a legitimate organization for the purpose of defrauding the recipient in some fashion. In some cases, it is more broadly used to define any such action of searching for personal information for the same outcome.

On HWO, I would define it as the 'personal questions' one, except that it is asking about such things like birthdays, real names, addresses, schools, emails, phones, etc.
This is NOT okay!
Though sometimes done in innocence, we must offer aid to those that stumble into this that it is a very serious and dangerous matter.
It is NOT okay to ask!
It is NOT okay to answer!
Simply Do Not, under any circumstance, share such information!

***********************************************

I think that pretty much covers it for me. So I'll finish up with a general personal opinion. I think I offer one of these with most of my community reminders and since this one is the second one of November that I'm writing out, I have an additional thing to say.

I feel like we've need too many of these community reminder recently. It feels like certain things are starting to get out of hand. I don't understand this. Though we've had a few newbies come in, it doesn't explain necessarily why so MUCH seems to be slipping. Perhaps it's just a snowballing affect with everything that's going on and it's finally starting to impact our individual gameplay. But that's not quite what it feels like.
We are a community that must uphold itself. We've been doing gorgeously these past number of years. We've taken a gaming community that could so easily have been lost to the nastiness, like other gaming communities, into a place of acceptance, tolerance and fun.
Don't allow that to happen here.
Have pride in what we've developed here and keep it moving forward along the established lines we enjoy. It may still be an uphill battle, but we've come much farther than any other gaming community I've played. We can't just be a select few that will fight for it. We must be 'many' that will.

Note: Senior and Junior members, I want this to be acceptable by the entire community, so if you have a different way of saying something, or a better way of doing so, or you don't agree with something, please let me know and I can change, update or debate it with you. Thank you.

**Sorry, some of my chosen descriptions and word choices might have been influenced by the movie that was playing in the background. Pitch Black.

[PeacefulOreo]

I feel the need to bump this up

[PeacefulOreo]

Everyone please make sure you read/reread this

[NekoCookie]

Everyone please make sure you read/reread this

Thank you! I was trying to find this to give it a bump as well

[PeacefulOreo]

Everyone please make sure you read/reread this

Thank you! I was trying to find this to give it a bump as well

No problem!

[BlackOak2]

Everyone please make sure you read/reread this

Thank you! I was trying to find this to give it a bump as well

I've been linking these reminders in my quick-links.

[BlackOak2]

I have highlighted and enlarged the section about internet safety for further reminder to our community.

Please also see the following link:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=9954

These Are Important Issues! If somebody asks for personal, PRIVATE information, this could be a phishing technique. Remember to take precautions. This could affect your life, your families life and could So Easily lead to life-and-death situations!
Please keep in mind the black market trading of... let's just say 'people', and leave the rest of it unsaid.

Protect Yourself!

[BlackOak2]

Bumping.