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Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly! September 5th, 2013 5:30:49pm 4,333 Posts

First and foremost, I would like to remind everyone that Patriot Paints and Liberty Labs will be available in the HP Store through the 11th in honor of 9/11, but then they will be out of the store until next year, so make sure you stock up now! Secondly, make sure you enter our bad drawing contest! So far we only have four entries and you can win a 30 day upgrade and 100k points on any animal, plus an achievement for participating in an art contest! You don't have to be a good artist to enter! It's just supposed to be fun :). And at the end of the contest we will put everyone's entry up for a vote! You can see all of the rules here. And finally, if you have been keeping up with the forums, you know there's been a lot of debate regarding the fate of associations. We got lots of feedback on our topic about getting rid of associations, and there are a lot of opinions on both sides of the issue (keeping them, versus getting rid of them), so we think we have come up with a compromise! Instead of keeping separate clubs and associations or getting rid of associations and keeping clubs, we thought it might be best to take the best of both worlds and create "societies" (brownie points for anybody who can come up with a better name!). So basically we would take the basic club/association format, but instead of cycling through presidents each month, or keeping one owner for the life of the association, the presidency would last for 2 months (could be 3?). This would give everyone an opportunity to save some money to run, and give the current presidents a chance to actually do something with the club before it goes out again for the next month. But it also means that anyone who was upgraded could have a chance at running a club, which is something I know some people don't like about associations. So then we could have the following categories: "Horse", "Dog", and "Other", and each new society that we added could be voted on by the community (maybe current associations which are popular could get first pick) to see which ones they wanted added. And then at the end of each term we could make it so that the layout doesn't reset for things like the directories. We could then add in some new features like being able to send out an achievement in your club to people who have participated or won contests or something, and then presidents could collect donations to pay for "upgrades" to the club, which could give them the ability to make more shows per week, or for their members to gain more points when registering their animals. I think that doing this would make it much easier for them to stay active as a community feature and be far less confusing on what the differences between each are. Thoughts? Suggestions? I've created a discussion topic here.

 

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`starcrossed 💫🔮 September 7th, 2013 2:24:25am 249 Posts

the thing about us having our association pages on personal accounts is that I'm sure there's going to be quite a few of the same ideas and there could possibly be some "fighting" for lack of a better term. I think doing that could create some conflict that should/could be avoided.

 

tronic ϟ love me back to life ♥ September 7th, 2013 8:45:55am 4,524 Posts

I spent about half and hour and tried to read all the replies but wasn't successful. So... sorry if I repeat myself.I think the major problem with associations is there is no major incentive to keep them active. Aside from keeping your registry active there really is no other determining factor of your association getting cut. In my opinion I think there should be a limit on how many associations that should be allowed and they should be controlled by popular vote.15 associations allowed in only by what the HP community votes for. I am OK with that. I feel that this is something that would be hard/expensive to monitor but I think it is something that would please the association owner community. It forces them to fight for the associations, and it makes the prune fair. Regardless of how it's done, or recorded (that's for future discussion), I think popular demand is the way to handle the associations. Give them a limited number of allowed assocs and let the community vote. Not only does it allow the owners to fight, but the community as a whole. If you've done a good job as an assoc owner there's not much to worry about!

 

primrose •• 15 years!? September 7th, 2013 12:32:10pm 86 Posts

Don't like it one bit, I'm sorry. What is going to happen to the associations that are already there? I don't like thinking that all my money will go down the drain that I've put into this, including the 15mil start up fee.

 

alyphira ; ill, please contact on discord for best response September 7th, 2013 6:06:35pm 242 Posts

I'm not going to read through every reply, so i'll just put in my two-cents, and then people can continue the opinions as they wish. As for associations being cut, I would be fine with that. Personally, i'm not active with any association, except for one. I find that most of them are inactive, and incentives for people to keep participating in them is low. Most of them, and clubs, rely on donations from players to get a decent raffle going or contest. If the ante isn't high, most people won't participate. Even looking at ones that run monthly mascot contests, which all you have to do is own a horse, most people don't participate in. I would see no problem, again, with them being cut, and moving to more centralized and longer term-running clubs. However, I do feel that all the association owners should be compensated for the effort that was put into the associations, I don't know how that could be done, but at least, a 15m refund for creating the association. Now, for the clubs. I do agree with the prune of them. Most of them right now are just clubs that are like "Here's information about said club and president..... here's a registry: all animals accepted". That doesn't give much motivation to me to keep up with the club. So I think having less clubs, and longer terms, would get people more time to rebuild funds between terms, and to have a more prominent effect on club as a whole with the extra time. I also feel that with this, the basic players should be able to vote also, that way, the player base that usually has no say in clubs, can help keep the "fun" and active presidents of the clubs in. Like for every 5 basic votes, you get 1 vote, or something of the mind if it makes sense. If we DO keep associations, I think they should be more organized. Right now, i'm too tired to even go through them all because of the extreme amount of associations that do not interest me (such as breed-specific associations and activity clubs pertaining to real life). So it would be a lot better to keep them in categories. Also, I think that players should vote on associations that go in from now on. Lets say 10 people or whatever want an association, the players vote for 3 of them that they like, and the ones with the top 3 votes get added. I also think that there should be more strict rules pertaining to the prune. There should be a certain number of activity and contest going, because I feel like accepting the horses in registry and putting up a layout only defeat the purpose of an association. I apologize for the length of this post. 0.o but I finally found time to type something up.

 

Krystique. ◈ Starter of Texas Heelers. September 8th, 2013 7:25:33pm 227 Posts

So... Should I even bother putting up a layout for the my new AQH association? or will it just be deleted anyways /: Don't want to spend a great amount of time on setting the association up when its just going to taken away soon.

 

a z a l i e - 🌵 2024 APHA World,Reserve and Bronze Champion-blitzy still watching- September 8th, 2013 9:31:04pm 1,856 Posts

Will we be refunded our 15mill creation fee?! If my associations get takin away I doubt I participate in the societies. I have 3 associations one which is fairly new, so like Navi said,should i spend time putting up a layout and setting up contests? Im aware that some of the breed associations are inactive due to the lack of breeders... Like the Paint Assoc. There are only a few players actually training their pixels to a decent amount. So its hard to host contest for that(like a mascot contest that has requirements) but like the Halter Horse and Performance Horse association, those will be easier to keep alive since every breed can enter and participate. i think it would be easier to access all of them from my main so i wouldnt forget to make shows, do registry, and host contests... We all have lives outside of HP and cant always be on... and if there isnt much interest in assoc/clubs now, im sure there will still be a lack of activity if everything gets combined.

 

Krystique. ◈ Starter of Texas Heelers. September 8th, 2013 10:45:04pm 227 Posts

Yes, I agree with aza, will we get are 15 mill back? I wont be be participating in the Societies either.. I wouldnt of made the association if I knew they were going to be deleted..

 

Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly! September 9th, 2013 12:33:43am 4,333 Posts

No body's associations are being taken away, so no one's creation fee will be refunded. This is just an idea we had based on the feedback on our other thread about this, it's not anything set in stone. We just put it up for people to discuss, we haven't said we are going to do it or that we are going to take them away, they're just ideas. So I would say you're safe to put a layout up.And on that note, based on the feedback for this, we probably won't be going this route. We might update clubs with some of these ideas, but for associations we'll see what happens after we stop accepting new ones and what other player feedback we get.But, I don't know if you saw it, in a later post we suggested that if we WERE to combine them, we could make it so that the current owners would stay the owners until they either gave it up or they became totally inactive (at which point it could either be deleted like now, or put up for re-election to elect a new owner), so it would solve the issue of ownership. That way the creator could stay the president for as long as they wanted without re-running, but the entire thing wouldn't be deleted if they gave it up. If that makes sense.

 

BLiTZ 🎆 hello, 2025 September 9th, 2013 12:50:23am 6,522 Posts

Starcrossed, you make a good point.Tronic, I also keep track by looking daily to see if a show was created that week for each and have a chart. If they don't create shows for the month they get pruned.I love having associations on here...I think they have the potential to be a good way to help people interact, find other breeders, etc. The problem with them is that it's like pulling teeth to get people to participate in contests a lot of the time. So if someone could come up with a way to get people to be more active participants, it would def help us allow them for sure to stay.But! We also need some sort of incentive to motivate association owners to be more active other than the threat of me pruning...what about if every month or two we hold a poll where you all get to vote for which association you think is going above and beyond, and the winner's owner gets a prize (a free upgrade or something)?

 

Blitz -- Stellar Gypsy Vanners September 9th, 2013 1:27:40am 1,308 Posts

I don't like that idea, personally. :( I think that people should participate or being an active owner because they want to, not because we're going to give them stuff.

 

Mobius // is admiring her new layout with her TBs September 9th, 2013 2:24:34am 316 Posts

I like that idea,blitz.Players aren't being active because they want to,and it could be a fun thing,competing for a prize of some sort for being the best of the best...it could be the only way to get players active.

 

• BlackFire • September 9th, 2013 4:45:34am 307 Posts

I can see offering prizes as causing issues. People would end up dumping lots of money down just to win which in turn would not be fair for the not so rich players.

 

Gothika - SEA's ( Happy Holidays! ) September 20th, 2013 11:25:07am 1,200 Posts

Ok.. So this will be a pretty long post, sorry for that!I've been reading trough all your posts and I thought I'd give my opinion on the Associations and clubs.Ok so right now, there are only 8 players on. This means, we don't have too much players, and with the huge amount of associations its really a problem to keep them active and alive. I've had one myself, and it was about Dutch breeds only. Hosted contests, but no one would enter. Advertising did not really help alot, but at least I had a few entries in. I think what we should do is 1) Sort them, so they wont look like 'just a huge list'. Pruning associations when inactive is fine by me, but I love the Idea about putting it up for election so a member who hopefully is active can take it over when unactive. Maybe they should also pay a small fee to take it over?Also, The reason why I never enter associations, is because the training makes no sence to me. You HAVE to be in the club or association to enter the show, By hand, By looking at the date of the show, then go to show, then enter the associations show, and then go on to the next one. If you have a lot of horses, its A LOT of work entering association shows. Maybe a list of Associations you are in would be easier to follow ? Then you can just click your own 'Association memberships' button and click all the associations to have a quick shortcut to their shows and page. Or when they hosted a show, a link to the 'new show' could be put up with an 'enter show' button next to the name of the club/association on your own association membership page? if that makes sence...Maybe list on your home page (Like with 'Archivements') Which associations you are in. And give out Archivements for actively participating into something in an association. Maybe associations should be in the spotlight from time to time on the news page, so it also makes it worth being seen when active. Because I feel like they are a bit 'put away '. Not only associations, but clubs too. Clubs should defenitly have more attention... Maybe a 'Club news page' with all the Club contest ? (With an option on the club page for shouting to 'news board' I also think we should vote for any new associations. So we can actually see if there is interest in the association. Say you have 10 associations that people want to make, And you put them in a poll so we can vote, Then after a week you count the votes and the 3 with the best interest will be accepted?As for clubs, I�d vote for them to be a seasonal term or 2-3months. It makes you have more time hosting your contests. Also what ladyrancher say about a small bonus by entering your animal into the association would be wonderfull. It doesnt really have to be a big amount of points. And you can only enter your animal once anyway, but i think because of the extra bonus points people would be willing to enter their horses and dogs quicker into an association or club.I think some Associations and clubs need to send out a mass mail more then only once in a year at christmas.... -The President of an association may choose to have an election for Vice President. The Vice President term is for a set amount of months (1-6?)-Presidents/Vice Presidents can give out achievements to participants.-Associations should have "level ups" depending on how long they stay active. Perhaps more shows per week, larger budget, reward a set amount of points to all registered animals once a month, etc. ( I was thinking, maybe some 5 level archivement... Level 1 wham! archivement for creating your first association... Level 2 Wham! Archivement for keeping the club active longer then say.. 3 months. Leven 3, wham! Archivement for keeping the club alive for 6 months... Etcetera... Archivement for 500 animals entered... or 1000 animals entered... well you get the idea, more archivements! ) These are 3 pretty good ideas in my opinion. I�d be willing to join associations and clubs i fit where like that.directory-type associations should defenitly stay.

 

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