Problems with Pony Island Online Pony-Breeding Sim

Pony Island, or PI, is an online pony-breeding sim. The art is loosely based on the popular My Little Pony toy line. It is a very fun game where you can breed highly unique ponies of any color (body, hair, eye and other colors are all calculated separately). You can breed, buy, sell, or trade ponies with other players. Contest your ponies to raise their levels and complete quests. If this game sounds fun, that's because it is. But sadly, it is rather poorly and unprofessionally run. The two admin, VeeZ and ZarqX (aka V and Z) are in over their heads and unwilling to admit it.

Lack of Updates/Communication

Looking at the dates of the News posts, you'll quickly notice some gaps. Periods of nearly two months when apparently nothing was done with the site. Well, that is not entirely accurate. Minor updates are made, rules are tweaked. But they are announced in threads in various forums, with no mass announcement made. Sometimes the announcements are not even stickied. The betting system was taken offline with no announcement. Why? Because people had figured out how to set up contests so that ponies with 1/10 chance of winning usually won. Okay, so it's not unreasonable that they would want to fix this. But an announcement should be made if features are just removed. When it came back online, there was still no official announcement. Just a single post that was not even pinned to the top of the forum.

Players are being left to wonder why posts are not being made in the News forum. As far as anyone can figure out, it's just like posting in the other forums, except only admins can do it. Why not, instead of posting in Discussion, Friends, or Bugs (which nobody reads unless reporting a bug), post in the News forum, send out the mass PM, and let the paying customers know what's going on?

Promises were made and never kept. Items would be rewarded for the completion of Impossible quests. Water breeds would have their own unique sgene. Those were promises made years ago. If they were doing other stuff instead of this, we could probably shrug and say "Well, you can't have everything." But new features are rarely added, and then it is usually during PI's anniversary or some other holiday. Not all items show up on some breeds, because the art has not been done yet. One of these has actually been in limbo for over two years. New breeds were released without the item art being done. After a couple weeks, an announcement that the items now worked was made in the Bugs forum. New shading for the male flutters was promised. When reminded, VeeZ said it was done and she simply forgot to implement it. Several weeks have since gone by, with the shading still not implemented. So when the admins promise something, take it with a grain of salt.

There is also a lack of communication regarding player bans. Players are not notified when they receive a ban. Instead, they will get an error message when attempting to do something the ban does not allow, such as posting on the forums, sending private messages, or feeding/vetting their ponies. (These vary depending on the nature of the ban.) Often, players will not realize when one of their accounts as been banned. They might post from a different account during this time and have their ban extended for trying to get around the first ban. There is an email address that can be used to state your case for bans. Sometimes it is helpful, sometimes it is not. Often, players are given a reason for their ban, such as swearing or mean spirited remarks, but are never told which thread earned them the ban. This, of course, makes it pretty hard to defend yourself.

The Vetting Bug

This infamous glitch causes vetting of ponies to not always go through. On many, many occasions players have lot ponies because their attempt to vet them timed out without them knowing. The admin say that it is not a bug in the programming, but something going wrong on the player's end. Thus, it is their fault and the admin are unwilling to even look into doing something to prevent it. They say it is the players responsibility to double and triple check that the vetting went through properly.

The CF Conflict

The CF (or Ponyland Cat Fights board) is, despite what some on PI seem to think, is not actually a PI forum, nor was it established by PI members. It is an all-purpose My Little Pony board, with only one of its twenty-something boards used for PI. Several members who rant about PI on that board were there before they were on PI. It claims no affiliation with PI.

Like any other 18+ site, the CF cannot be linked or talked about on PI, which is understandable. At least in this respect, CF is treated like any other site. However, it is known that the PI admin watch that board. Get too vocal there, and you're likely to be banned as soon as you put one toe out of line on PI. Originally, the admins official statement was as follows "Misbehavior off of PonyIsland does not result in punishment on PI, but it can (and should) disqualify you from rewards." Meaning, you won't get banned for what you say on CF, but you won't get to own an association, become a MOD, or whatever other "rewards" the admin see fit to deny you. Despite this, it seems that CF-ers are banned much quicker than others users. With one exception, the PI rules remain the official reason for their bans.

This one exception came about when a well-known player was given an MOD account, as the MOD in question was leaving PI. In this account were PMs between V and the ex-MOD in question. With the ex-MOD's permission, the player decided to post these PM's on CF, and got banned for it. The official reason was that she had shared MOD secrets. It is important to note that at the time of the conversation, the MOD in question did not have MOD status. It was a personal conversation between her and V, having nothing to do with the privacy of other players. Yet, when it was brought up in the Discussion board on PI, VeeZ told players that it was a private MOD PM that compromised the privacy of PI's players.

Some of the highlights of this PM conversation include VeeZ openly professing her hate for a paying customer, and that CF and the people who post there are beneath her: "But never mind, it's all history now and I just won't be bothered with any of these people anymore, the stuff they said about me, Z and PI I'll never forget and they're not worthy of our attention anymore." Pretty strong words, considering most CF-ers own multiple accounts.

Whether or not you think it was right for this player to post what was supposed to be a private conversation between too friends is not relevant here. I would like to point out that VeeZ was sending these PM's through her administrator account on PI. That is the equivalent of a business email. As such, it was an exceedingly unprofessional thing to say. If she wishes to have those kind of conversations, she should be having them through personal emails or IM's. If not, this is exactly the risk she takes.

The MOD Squad

The choosing of MODs is a delicate thing. Perhaps too delicate, in the case of PI. You must be over sixteen, and you must have an absolutely clean record. This means no bans whatsoever. Even if it was when you were a newbie three years ago, any ban puts you in the same category as the worst of scammers, whiners, and trolls. Presumably, active CF-ers are disqualified as well. Not that there are many CF-ers who have not been banned over something or other.

Refer to the "Misbehavior off PI" quote. Basically, anyone who has ever expressed frustration with younger users, whether it be on PI itself or a site where the younger children are not supposed to have access to, is deemed unfit for the responsibilities of being a MOD. Think about that. It's like saying anyone who has ever ranted about a child, whether in a child's presence or not, is unfit to be a teacher. Even the sweetest, kindest elementary school teachers aren't rainbows and sunshine twenty-four/seven. But that is what's expected of the PI MOD Squad. Responsibility is not never getting mad. Responsibility is knowing there is a time and a place to vent, and a time and a place to put on the professional face.

Yet this is not the end of the requirements. The MOD applications (when they bother to take them) are first reviewed by VeeZ. Once she weeds out the unlikelies, they are then sent to the MODs. If even one MOD objects to your application, you're done. That's right. Rub even one MOD the wrong way and you'll never be a PI moderator yourself. After that, if there are still more applications than MODs, they're voted on by the rest of the MOD squad.

So, with all these rigid rules, it's little wonder there's only thirteen MODs. Yes, thirteen. On a site that anywhere from three hundred to over five hundred players are logged on at any given time. And that's assuming all MODs are active. They are allowed to take long hiatuses whenever they want, with no penalty. The MOD tag stays were it is, which is a common source of confusion among players trying to get help from one of them. Also, it is worth mentioning that one MOD has said that she does not know what happens when a player receives a ban. One might assume she is not the only one, but in a squad numbering only thirteen, maybe she is.

These thirteen MODs are clearly not enough. There are many times when there are NO MODs online. Trolls have exploited this on several occasions by making free trial (TRI) accounts to post inappropriate content. Some of this content is actually inappropriate, but some is deemed inappropriate only because it criticizes the admins or shows them in a bad light. Rather than attempt to hire more MODs, they have simply suspended the ability for TRI accounts to post messages. They say it is temporary, but who can tell if they'll just "forget" to turn it back on.

Sit Down and Shut Up

"Your sole remedy for dissatisfaction with the Site, Site-related services and/or content or information contained within the Site is to stop using the Site and/or those services." That quote is from PI's Terms of Service. Sure, one could argue that it is just to cover their end legally, but that does not make it sound any less harsh. Perhaps it would worry players less if this were not the attitude displayed by the admin.

The admin claim that a majority of PI's players are satisfied, yet how can they know for sure when players voicing ill opinions are constantly punished? Many of the things I have said in this article are not things I would say on PI, because I know I would quickly find myself in deep trouble. I am sure I am not the only one to watch events quietly form a distance while keeping my head down and trying to stay out of trouble.

Threads criticizing anything about PI are often locked or deleted. The reasons used are varied, but usually the official reason is they use is "mean spirited remarks" or "flames". Sometimes they also say that there is already an open discussion in the News thread, or you've mentioned a previously deleted post or discussed a specific ban (even if it was your own) which is not allowed. Under these guidelines, it is pretty difficult to voice your opinion without breaking any rules.

The Manual

The manual is extremely out of date. Rules are clarified in forum posts (and presumably on the MOD-only forum) but the manual is never reflected to update these changes. How can players be expected to obey the rules when the rules are so unclear and hard to find?

I will not dwell on this issue long because it seems as though it is actually being addressed. As of this writing, applications are being taken for a manual committee. This group of players will be charged with the daunting task of updating and polishing the manual. Only time will tell if they are successful. However, this group will be held to the same rigid standards as the MOD squad, which eliminates many good writers on PI. So, the results of this venture remain to be seen.

COPPA Compliancy

PI has recently become COPPA compliant, after operating for several years without being so. Now when signing up for Trial accounts, players under thirteen will not be required to give their email address. The also will not have access to the forums or private messaging until a parent pays for their account, which will count as their consent to use these features.

To some, this seems like to little too late. Users under thirteen who had their account paid for before this are not affected, even though many had their accounts paid for by other users. No effort is being made to ensure they have parental consent. Also, if the parent objects to the use of the forums, there is no way for them to have a paid account that does not allow forum posting and private messaging.

It is also interesting that the admins claim they have been working towards this since PI first began. Yet this newspost appeared only after a mention of PI being in severe legal trouble if they were not COPPA compliant.

Staff

The staff of PI consists mainly of V and Z. V does most of the public relations, Z does the programming. There are also two artists. One does ponies, the other does items. The artist doing the items seems to have a lot on her plate, though. She is also a MOD, and a colorist for one of the most popular adoptables on PI. The art for items has been consistently late due to this. Scarves were supposed to come out in winter, but could not be released until summer. Items did not work on the new breeds for several weeks.

Several players have offered to help with this for free. VeeZ refused, saying that their styles would clash too much with the existing style of PI. Even though it's plain to see that the item art and pony art already clash. It seems the implication here is that the two artists on staff will always be the only artists drawing for PI. Now, I realize that not accepting player-made content does not seem unreasonable. But bear in mind how little other content is actually released.

It seems to many that PI could use at least one more programmer, and maybe even more artists and public relations. Yet, when this issue was approached with VeeZ, here was here response: "You can't just "hire PAID staff", you need to proved an office for them to work in, salary, sick pay, pensions, you have to do provide health care and insurance, it's not just to "hire PAID staff". We don't have the ability or knowledge to do that - it's as simple as that." I'm sure I don't need to explain how inaccurate that statement is. In response to programmers specifically, she had this to say: "I don't think you understand, when you develop something you can't just hand over code to an unknown person and tell them to fix it "it". I don't know what the issues are that you say we can't fix but for example the vetting bug isn't a bug, it's a matter of this being a web game and not a local game as we've explained over and over in a number of threads already, there's really nothing more to say, I don't know how to explain it so you understand." Again, this statement seems to imply either a lack of knowledge on the admin's part, or an underlying problem with the programming.

Conclusion

Despite all this, it seems unlikely that PI will truly go under. Most of its user base is under sixteen. Their inexperience often leads them to assume that these things are SOP. They are grateful for anything, and many seem to believe that V and Z can do no wrong. On the other hand, the older users often have more accounts, so this may shift the balance in their favor. But hopefully this article will urge users to voice their dissatisfaction with PI (whether on PI itself or off-site), and maybe, just maybe, the admin will be able to recover PI from its downhill slide. Despite what probably comes across as harsh criticisms, I (and indeed, most of the people who have criticized it) do like PI. A lot. It is a fun game and nice community and has a lot going for it. If only the administrators were willing to take better care of it.