The thread is now open again. Depending on the volume of followup questions, we may exercise the lock-and-answer method again so that we can make sure to devote thoughtful time as a team to the replies.
While we are not able to answer everyone, I did my best to provide insight to as many questions as possible. Please remember that if your question was not specifically answered, it does not mean it was ignored, as we are documenting everything that comes through this thread.
Quote:
I've read the naming guidelines but I can't find anything against the name Mulch. Is it still banned?
It is an ongoing task for us to remove contextual/innocuous names from our banned names database. Should you have feedback about this name or any others, please let us know via
Contact Us (as laid out in our Naming Policy) and we will re-evaluate whether the name breaks our rules.
Quote:
And I was curious as to whether renting out flight nests for users who are not of your flight would be considered a banable offense since they are technically lending you their dragons, but in the section (the only one I found in any of the documents that come close to this particular problem) it only says that its 'not supported'.
Renting out your nest to other players is not against our
Terms of Use, but it is not a transaction that has gameplay mechanics to facilitate it. Should something go bad in this type of transaction, the staff will not be able to provide support in the form of reimbursements. That is what we mean by "unsupported."
Quote:
So is it okay when I give dragons names like, "Frank, Bob, Susan, Mary, etc." or should be avoid RL names for dragons from now on? I mean literially hundreds of players on FR could be named Bob or Susan in RL but I as player do not know that so what if someone gets upset over that?
I don't quite understand what non-Flight Rising entities refers to? I sometimes I use names from dieties from other cultures/old cultures, is that also not allowed anymore? Are we also not allowed anymore to name dragons after like RL things like rivers, cities, mountains, flowers, etc?
Our policy does not prohibit giving dragons human names, place names, etc. Our policy prohibits dragons being given names that contain private real life information on specific real people, entities (things like companies, websites, organizations, etc.), and the staff members. Due to character limits, this would probably be very difficult to pull off in a dragon name anyway, but the rule is in place to protect the private information of those listed in it.
Quote:
I'm thinking there might still be room for a little more clarification on the policy of linking to sites with inappropriately violent, sexual or pornographic material. For example, FR has a group on Deviantart, yet there is a lot of user-submitted content on that site which is extremely violent or sexual. Youtube also has videos that openly promote hatred towards some groups of people (even if it tries to remove them asap), yet FR has an official channel there too. Both are linked on the main splash page. Could the policy be refined to specifically exclude content submitted by other users to sites that weren't created specifically to host these things? Lots of FR members have links to deviantart or other social media accounts in their profiles and signatures.
Thanks for the input. We're very cognizant of sites that host lots of varying user content, and will of course be weighing that against anything that is reported to us. As with all reports, we'll take situations like you mentioned on a case-by-case basis, but to clarify what we mean in the actual rule: it refers to linking directly to a website page or section that has inappropriate content clearly visible upon following the link.
Here's some examples: linking to one blog entry that--on its own--does not break any of our rules is more than likely going to be completely fine. Linking to the index of that same blog where inappropriate posts compose the majority of what the user will see when following said link is probably not going to be fine. Or, linking to one piece of non-rule-breaking artwork hosted on a website is likely going to be fine. Linking to a gallery where that one image is in a sea of pieces that do break the rules is probably going to not be fine.
In the end, it's all about context, and we will always take that into account when investigating.
For instance, if someone were to link to a blank internet page that had a link that said "this is totally not a blacklist" and following that link led to a blacklist, we're probably not gonna be okay with that. At that point the offending player knew what they were doing in circumventing the rule and was simply trying to mask their link.
Like we have said before, we're not on a proactive witch hunt for this stuff, but we'd like everyone to exercise good judgment in the URLs they link. More often than not, these cases are going to result in warnings or educations, unless the behavior is becoming repeated/excessive.
Quote:
Is changing/mapping hotkeys are bannable offence? (Several users have been doing this because of the severe wrist pains caused by Coli grinding.)
For the time being, we have asked players to not use third party programs of this nature as most that have been brought to our attention allow for automation of gameplay, which is against our
Terms of Use. We understand that there is and has been a desire for players to use keyboard controls in the Coliseum, and that is feedback we are watching, gathering, and discussing. Ideally we would like to provide a solution that can both help these players and protect the integrity of the site, and if we have more information on that in the future, we will absolutely share it. I can assure you it is not falling on deaf ears, and is something we're taking seriously.
Quote:
The ToS forbid everything that "alters the appearance of the site"? By that logic, shouldn't adblock also be against the ToS?
Adblock does not alter the visual state of Flight Rising, it toggles the visibility of ad content on websites in general. Flight Rising's ads are placed in layout containers that remain in place whether or not Adblock is being run in a given browser. We understand that there are security and personal preferences for people about what or how much ad content (which isn't created by Flight Rising) is displayed to them, which it is not against our rules to use.
Quote:
Regarding multiple accounts sharing an IP address, gifting, gifting frequencies, etc.
I'd like to call out the passage in our
Multiple Account Policy:
"Gifting, trading, or sending items/dragons/currency between accounts (regardless of whether they share an IP address or not) are all acceptable forms of gameplay. It is when one player registers or uses "side" accounts that exist solely to benefit another that it creates a skewed and unfair gameplay advantage."
I think what is being confused here is the context. If you are gifting items to your family members or friends, and also autonomosly playing your account, that's completely fine. If your friend or family member is no longer interested in the game enough to pursue anything other than moving all of their item/currency/dragon accumulation to your account, that is what we take issue with. Your account is essentially receiving double or triple the benefits; something that cannot be accomplished normally.
The frequency isn't really the heart of the issue here. We made the recommendation of moderating that frequency as a general warning so that players could be aware of what looked like funneling behavior, not because gifting itself was a rule-breaker.
As stated in our policy,
the vast majority of these cases constitute evidence that one account is overwhelmingly benefiting from several others (most of which have little to no activity other than messages and transfers away from them). Additionally, we will be more than happy to review cases again via an appeal, with the understanding that thorough investigation takes place before these closures are rendered. As with all account actions, we correspond privately with the account owners only, and specific issues are not for public discussion.
Quote:
Who are the people behind the Contact Us? Is it the admins and mods or outside representatives hired to do this job?
The customer service ticket queue is handled collectively by the staff members of Stormlight Workshop. We have a dedicated Customer Service Manager whose sole duty is to provide replies to customer service tickets.
Quote:
Have you been asking for people's IDs and if yes, are you aware that you have minors playing your game and asking for their ID is shady at best?
We take account security extremely seriously. In order for an account to be altered or manipulated, we ask for several forms of verification to ensure we are talking with the registered account owner. Government-issued IDs are presented to the player as an option or extra avenue for verification, but is absolutely not required and can be declined. This is actually a very common option of ownership verifiaction for account-based websites.
For an example, Facebook utilizes this as an option for account recovery:
https://www.facebook.com/help/182439941814828
We don't require players to send us their ID, it's simply an
option that is open to them. Any scanned document attachments are deleted immediately following the verification.
Quote:
The pastel colors of the Tidal Trouble bubbles makes them really hard to discern for colorblind users (or users with similar eye problems). This issue has been brought up before and nothing was done. Comments?
When Tidal Trouble was first tested in beta, we received this feedback. One of our aims in the next iteration of the game (the one that has been released) was to make sure that in addition to colorizing the bubbles, we would add the elemental runes to further distinguish them from one another. This is the same reason each block in Shock Switch has a little symbol (triangles, stars, etc.)
If the runes on the bubbles are still not distinguishable, that is something we can look into. Thanks for the feedback. :)
Quote:
Can we have a concrete sign on the suggestion forums that you actually read them? (And generally better, more straightforward communication? A vague "we're working on things" every now and then is not a valid form of communication.)
We have stated this in previous iterations of the Q&A thread and Words on the Wind. While we do read this forum, we are keeping our communication within it limited.
Quote:
Can we bring back the 'already suggested' thread? At least then players would get the illusion that admin cared about the suggestions forum.
As with my answer above, we have stated before why we removed this thread, and we do not have current plans to bring it back.
Quote:
Is the admin team aware that people are unhappy with their policy of never commenting on threads in the suggestions forum.
We understand it may not be a popular decision, and players are not required to like or agree with it, but it is the stance we have decided to take to avoid misconceptions/expectations of future content or functionality releases and to prevent discussions from being altered or stopped.
Quote:
Would you ever consider removing or revamping the stickied threads made by ex-admins and ex-mods?
This is definitely something we can do. Cleaning up and updating stickied forum posts is already an ongoing process, so you can expect that we will do our best to make sure this continues to happen as the site matures.
Quote:
On WotW: In the beginning it was supposed to be a place for admin questions and feedback, which is wonderful, while lately it seems to just be a place to put a few community spotlights in and some news. Will we ever get it as a place for questions and feedback again?
Words on the Wind has had to evolve a little, as one could argue that the questions & feedback people desire are now being addressed in threads like this, on a much more frequent basis. In the beginning, we weren't doing that as much, and wanted to somehow field some of those discussion topics. Because we now have a questions/concerns thread, to many, Words on the Wind referencing those discussion is feeling like reiteration. We get that.
While we would like to continue hosting discussions within Words on the Wind, sometimes those discussions take place before it's published, making the actual content a bit light. That's going to happen from time to time.
Quote:
In regards to several questions about staffing or hiring.
Flight Rising is a large website with a lot of different pieces that are continually in the process of being optimized. Adding more people to the staff takes money, trust, and a lot of acclimation time, and those are all things we need to consider.
While we are not immediately hiring, we welcome resumes via the
Contact Us page.
Quote:
The first page mentioned that the www1 is a long term change... As in, permanent? My SO and I cannot get on FR at all on any mobile devices due to the www1 address.
The previous answer in this thread is accurate -- the www1 subdomain is a long-term fixture while we continue site optimizations in pieces. We are working hard to understand and address why some players are having trouble interacting with the site through it and will provide updates as often as possible.
Quote:
Are you guys actually fixing bugs that have been around for months or are you just changing the site to run smoother?
We are. While optimizations are a very high priority, we are still working to make progress through our documented/reproducible bugs.
Quote:
Will we ever be able to equip an accent over a skin or several accents at once?
At this time, the system doesn't really support it, but if you feel strongly about having it as an option someday, I encourage you to join discussions about it in the Suggestions forum!
Quote:
When the lair space will finally get increased (hopefully soon), will it be like last time - the overall cost staying the same and the lair space getting adjusted accordingly to what people already paid?
We are always discussing how we might expand lair space (performance of the site permitting), but don't have any concrete information about it right now. :)
Quote:
How far do we have left to go until open registration?
Sorry if this sounds like a broken record! We are still working hard on preparing the site for more users through multiple windows, and will let everyone know the moment we have a date decided on the next one on our front page and social media. At this time, I can't really provide anything concrete on open registration, though it remains one of our highest priority goals.
Quote:
Is there any way to say when Baldwin will arrive? As in, this year or first half of next year or anything like that?
Nothing concrete yet.
Development of this feature had to be slowed down during Akiri's recovery, and a variety of more pressing issues that needed to be addressed in the interim. We hope to continue on it soon, while in the mean time continuing to shore up bugs and quality improvements to the features that already exist.
Quote:
Will the "eggs discarded" stat ever be removed from the account settings?
Honestly, it's not really something we've discussed!
Right now it remains a relic of an earlier time...
Quote:
Do you have any idea on when the Adventure section is arriving, or if it has been scrapped entirely?
We do not have any information to provide on Adventure or when it is releasing. It has not been scrapped.
Quote:
Are there any plans for widening out the trading options of the crossroads? Such as gem for treasure or dragons for items, etc.
We are actively discussing and working towards developing a method by which players can exchange items. Whether or not that will integrate with the Crossroads system has not yet been decided.
Quote:
The harassment/defamation part of the rules and guidelines mentions 'Insultingly refer to other players, Stormlight Workshop staff, or groups of people'.
Now, on paper, that's great. What worries me is the potential applications - will this rule be used in future to shut down any kind of frustration with the staff, as people have been displaying in the past few days? Is it against that rule if we comment on the staff providing terrible customer service and communication (something that these policies are helping with, but not solving 100%)? Is it against that rule to complain about a particular staff member being bad at their job?
There's nothing wrong with disagreeing with how we are conducting our processes, or having feelings of discontent towards our decisions; and we respect that. We know full well that there are going to be those who voice those feelings, and we don't make it a practice of just shutting that down.
That being said, the rule you mentioned has been in place since the Rules & Guidelines was written and stickied in our forums. It is merely a means to offer the same harassment protection to our staff that we extend to our players. Naturally, we have to develop a thick skin, but verbal insults aren't cool or acceptable for anyone. Now, we certainly don't aim to brandish that rule like a draconic sledgehammer to censor or silence those who are upset, but we also hold the hope that players who disagree with us will choose to speak in a respectful and constructive manner. Many, many of you do, and that is awesome, and we appreciate it more than you know, as it helps us grow.
If someone feels uncomfortable doing that in our forums, they are also completely welcome to speak with us via Contact Us, too. We're receptive to feedback, no matter what avenue.
Thanks again for fielding your questions!
