Recent News
Breeding Limits Discussion
Posted by Mat on 2 Nov 2016, 6:08 pm
It's no mystery from looking at the Giving Tree and the User Shops that many common and uncommon animals have lost their value due to overbreeding. In animal husbandry, players should still be able to sell their common animals and make money from their breeding. It appears that exponential growth of animals, overbreeding, and unlimited breeding charges have devastated the value of animals, and will continue to do so as more players join animal husbandry and continue breeding.
So, the question is, how do we curb overbreeding to reduce the amount of animals entering the economy? There are a couple of good suggestions that have popped up over the last weeks and months which can be boiled down into the following:
1) Using the breeding charges. Some may have already noticed that the contest prize animals have breeding charges. This feature is built into all animals, and limited breeding charges ensure that animals cycle out of the economy and do not continue to produce more animals indefinitely. Common animals should have low breeding charges (say, 2-5) so they cycle out fast, while rarer animals should have more (upwards of 100 for Super Rare animals) so they can be used for a long time, as they took a while to be earned.
2) Stable Limits. It's been suggested that stable limits would help with the economy as players would no longer be able to farm animals of every type, and instead would be encouraged to focus on their favorite animals. This encourages trading as players focusing on one type of animal would trade with another player focusing on another, as both players cannot focus on all animals. Disrupting the massive breeding farms ensures that there isn't a large amount of commons being born and devaluing animals as well. One common suggestion has been limiting each villager to 50 Stables.
3) Account-wide breeding limits. Another suggestion has been simply to limit the amount of breedings a single account can perform per day. One common number has been 50-100 breedings per day. Similar to stable limits, this helps disrupt large breeding farms and limits the amount of animals entering the economy, while also encouraging players to focus on their favorite animals.
Our opinion is that some combination of #1 #2 and #3 would help the value of animals immensely. What would you change to ensure that common/uncommon animals retain their value?
Another idea: revamp the Breeding Potion to be required to breed a pair of animals. This would give Alchemy a good new kick in value. The Breeding Potion could use some adjustments like making the ingredient list simpler, but it would add a dimension of complexity to breeding and connect Animal Husbandry to Alchemy.
Knowledge Base Contest Finished
Posted by Mat on 24 Oct 2016, 8:56 pm
After encountering a number of hurdles, the Knowledge Base Contest has been finalized and we are thrilled to have a new batch of player-written entries in our new Knowledge Base. We thank all of the members who participated in the contest, and congratulate the winners! There are some grand prize winners (who received the Spiny Mouse) we would like to invite to contact us for their PayPal prizes.
Second, the moderation team had a meeting and have made some additional changes to the rules and infractions. Most important is that moderators have noticed a need for different infraction point levels for sexual content violations. We now have three levels of infractions to address different levels of violations so that players who make a sexual comment aren't immediately permanently banned for violating the rule, and instead the punishment better fits the infraction. We also split the "exploitation" infraction into two, the new one being a lesser infraction, per moderator suggestion.
We have also introduced some new rules, which you can review on the rule page:
- Don't post frightening or sickening content. Frightening content is defined as graphic real life photographs or photo-realistic artwork indistinguishable from a photograph depicting violence toward humans or animals. Please note this rule isn't intended to police Painties, and exists because of issues with players posting graphic photographs in the forums to disturb others.
- Players may not use the reports function to file false reports about others. Players may not file multiple reports on the same issue, or contact multiple moderators, to have another moderator review the report when a report has already been resolved. Escalation of a report may only be done by contacting Admin-Deinmaar. This rule was added because we have had instances of players reporting others multiple times to get them in trouble despite no rule-breaking behavior having occurred (a form of harassment, unfortunately).
We have also clarified a handful of rules:
- Don't sell, or attempt to sell, your account, items, villagers, or any other Furvilla content (this does not include Painties) for real money. We have clarified this includes attempting to sell account contents.
- Doxxing is defined as posting the personal information of others, including their real name, address, location, IP address, school, real life photographs, or anything that may compromise their privacy. This is not allowed. Previously, this rule stated that posting personal information of Furvilla members is not allowed, and this clarifies a person does not have to be a Furvilla member to be protected under this rule.
Last, here are a couple of general updates:
- The Paintie Team is currently interviewing a new potential Paintie moderator. We are looking forward to potentially adding this new person to the team and are working toward training them for the opening.
- We will be testing the Protection Quotient feature (that was turned off in early beta testing) soon. Please make sure your warriors are prepared for testing as we will be turning it on and adjusting factors as necessary.
- The majority of the features that have been released in the last couple of weeks (such as the Giving Tree and Quests) are not complete yet. While you are welcome to play around with them in the meantime, we will not be formally announcing them until the features are complete with all of their art and rewards. The Quest feature, for instance, will likely be getting its rewards in late November after the Plush feature has been complete.
- We have heard a lot of your criticism regarding the changes we have made the last couple of days. While we understand your concern, we feel that your goals and ours are unfortunately not aligning. Our goal is to ensure a healthy economy for the game and fixing supply issues that have cropped up in the course of beta testing. We are studying the economy of the game and ensuring that any problems in supply and demand are addressed prior to the game opening (and there have been many, as you may have observed from most materials having no value except to sell back). While we know that our decisions have not been popular among the beta testers, we feel they are important for the health and longevity of the game when it releases, and the ability of the players, upon the game's release, to be able to enjoy their game experience. Please remember your job as beta testers is to test features and help us simulate the game's economy post-release so we can identify supply and demand issues, and not to play the game as if it were already released.
When considering future changes we make, please do not consider how it affects you as a beta tester. Please think as if you were a new player in the released game economy, and whether these changes will allow you to make money off the items you collect and craft by ensuring they require time and effort to achieve. The purpose of restrictive changes in the game's design is to ensure that supply isn't wildly outstripping demand. Players will not be able to sell their items if every player is capable of making them in excess.
Thank you!
Moderation Changes
Posted by Mat on 12 Sep 2016, 11:24 pm
Our moderation tactics have been changed in response to player feedback. Many of you have come to us with concerns about bullying and attacks in the forums, and our new infraction system is our solution to that problem. From this point forward, moderators will be issuing infractions for behavior that violates our Site Rules, and an accumulation of infraction points will result in impartial site bans.
We need your help here more than ever in reporting behavior that is inconsistent with our rules. We want the game to be fun and relaxing to play, and if you witness any behavior that bullies or attacks another player on the forums, we encourage you to report it. In the past we had a very lenient system of flags and warnings, but our new system will ensure that rule-breaking behavior is swiftly and fairly punished.
Prior behavior has been expunged from every player's record (with the exception of existing bans). If you had a warning or a flag on your account, you are starting clean with a fresh record.
In addition, our rules have been updated with the following changes:
- We no longer forbid discussion of alcohol or drugs on Furvilla. However, players may not encourage or discuss the illegal or underage use of these substances in their discussions. They may also not solicit any drugs or alcohol on Furvilla. We have decided to relax this rule because Furvilla is not a children's website, it is a website that caters to a general furry audience without the sexual content common on furry websites.
- Players are now permitted to have off-topic discussions in the chatrooms.
- Clarifications have been made regarding off-site trade right now during beta, and after beta.
- We do not allow players to post threads stating they want to harm themselves or commit suicide.
- Players may not beg or severely lowball others.
- Players may not be vulgar, overly aggressive or abusive toward staff members in their communications.
In addition, we wanted to share some information about our future plans: we are in the process of implementing two major features, the plush collection feature and the indoor decoration feature. The majority of our focus will be toward these two features as they will both be major sinks for items and currency in the economy. In addition, one of our programmers is working on mini-games, per the suggestion of many players.
We would also like to announce that our official opening date is scheduled for December 1, 2016!
Have a nice day!
Contest Announcement
Posted by Mat on 31 Aug 2016, 12:47 am
This update brings a lot of fun news for all villagers! We're happy to announce that Furvilla is holding its first official contest - the Design a Knowledge Base Article Contest. Prizes include the rare Contributor Trophy, some exclusive mini-pets, and FurDollars! Read more about the contest by clicking here. This contest ends September 18th.
Our second contest involves selecting a new NPC for a feature we have on the horizon. If you're interested in having your character officially cameo in the game like the Shopkeepers, feel free to check out our Facebook Contest. That contest ends September 7th.
A bunch of new forum boards have been added now: Official Contests, Service Sales, Coding Sales, User Run Contests, Fun and Games, and Coding Discussion.
Finally, villagers have seen some changes. First, the Red Panda has finally been distinguished from the Raccoon and now has its own base. In addition, it has gained two new colors: Piebald Red Panda and Calico Red Panda. Second, the Corvid Species has been released and contains the Hooded Crow, the Magpie, and the Raven. Finally, some older species have received new colors: the Black Cat, Black Horse, Buckskin Horse, Donkey Horse, Secretarybird Raptor, Hog Nosed Skunk, and Tokay Gecko.
Have a lovely day!
Incoming Sales Tax
Posted by Mat on 15 Aug 2016, 2:05 am
Furvilla is in the process of implementing a FurCash sales tax for the user shops. When a player sells an item to another player for FurCash, a sales tax of 5% will be removed from the purchase price, and the remainder will be deposited into the shop till as normal. The goal of this addition is to help sink small amounts of FurCash and ensure the strength of the currency. When calculating the tax, it will be 5% of the total, rounded down, with a minimum of 1 FurCash.
This change will be implemented in forty-eight hours or at 2:00 AM Furvilla Time on August 17th, so please be sure to alter your item prices if desired before that deadline.
In addition, the Moth Morphing Potion has been released into Olde Foxbury, and three new species colors are released -- Culpeo Fox, Long Eared Owl, and Osprey Raptor. We have also completed construction of the Trades page, which allows players to trade villagers, items, and currency freely. The link to the Trades page is located on the Town Hall.
Moths and Mustelids
Posted by Mat on 9 Aug 2016, 10:13 pm
Today, Furvilla is excited to introduce a new basic villager species: the Moth! The moth has been one of our most requested species, and we are thrilled to bring you this brand new base and its colors, the Madagascan Sunset Moth, the Garden Tiger Moth, and the American Moon Moth. But moths aren't the only species rejoicing with new additions today, as the Mustelids have received three new colors: the Wolverine, American Badger, and Polecat.
Most of our programming energy has been directed toward constructing the upcoming Trading System. Trading Systems are very complex, and as a result it will take some time to complete. The Trading System will allow for swapping items, villagers, and currency freely by allowing players to initiate trade lots with each other. In addition, our Paintie Mods are excitedly creating a visual guide to all of the Paintie Rules, and they're looking forward to sharing it with you when it's completed.
Things have been quiet but we are happily chugging along with making improvements!
New Species and Rules Revamp
Posted by Mat on 28 Jul 2016, 6:30 pm
Good evening villagers, we are happy to announce that Olde Foxbury now has its own rare species, the Saggitari! This taurian species fits in perfectly with the atmosphere of Olde Foxbury, and comes in three initial colors: Giraffe, Quagga, and Okapi.
Second, our staff has gotten together to discuss and completely revamp the Rules pages. We have condensed the three rules pages (Code of Conduct, Forum, and Chat) into one single rules page, which is linked from the Terms of Service. As the game has been open for three weeks, we have gotten an idea of what rules are necessary to keep it functioning smoothly, and have made adjustments accordingly.
Following our rules update, we will be closing our forums for approximately twenty-four hours for clean-up (but we will likely re-open them sooner). One issue we have been tackling is the sheer amount of spam that has hit our forums, and as soon as the clean-up of spam is complete we will re-open the forums for everyone to enjoy. The chatrooms will remain open if you would like to contact other players, and our moderators will be diligently watching the channels.
Have a great evening!
New Species and More
Posted by Mat on 20 Jul 2016, 3:59 pm
Greetings, villagers! Furvilla has been joined by a new species: the Shifty! This is a new rare species that can be crafted out of Tigereye Peak, and brings with it a large change to the Paintie System. Because canonically the Shifty can mimic the appearance of anything it sees, Painties for the Shifty have a large range of artist freedom and do not require the use of a Furvilla base.
The full rules for the Shifty can be read by visiting the Paintie Rules page.
We have released Morphing Potions for the entirety of species available on Furvilla. The recipes for these potions are stocking in their respective village shops, as all potions have been split up among the villages In addition, an option has been added to the Potions Shop of your village that permits you to pay the shopkeeper to obtain a specific result out of a species potion. For those of you who have been asking for a way around the randomness of a potion, especially as we release new colors for our species, this should definitely help!
In addition, some Paintie Rules have been clarified or amended by the Paintie Admins:
- Rule 1 Amendment: When creating a Paintie for a costume, the Paintie must match the base of the costume.
- Rule 2 Amendment: Species changes allowed on a Furvilla base involve subgroups of animals that are similar to each other, such as deer and goats.
- Rule 2 Amendment (2): Masks are permitted as a head edit.
- Rule 3 Amendment: Players are allowed to use base artwork of Costumes that match the Costume they are designing a Paintie for. For instance, when designing an Aquatic Wolf, players are permitted to use body parts from other Aquatic Costumes, provided they are not a costume for a rare species (which does not exist yet).
- Rule 6 Amendment: Rule Six was changed to "Painties May Not Include Prohibited Content" and also clarify that our rules regarding alcohol and drug use apply to Painties as well.
- Rule 6 Amendment (2): Indicates that the Paintie Team reserves the right to reject a Paintie for sexual content even if the specific item is not listed, if the Paintie comes off as sexual.
- Rule 8 Amendment: Players may shrink the base slightly to accommodate edits to the head area of the base, provided that the base is not made smaller than 3/4ths its original size.
Last among the major changes is that we have uncapped the ability to create villagers, though the Villagers page has a steep cost to adding additional villagers. We know that you have wanted to add additional characters to your accounts and hope that this change gives you the freedom to do so, while also providing a good sink for FurCash. We are currently working on capping all careers to a reasonable level so that the unlimited villagers option does not have a detrimental effect on the economy.
Have a great day!
Community Features Open
Posted by Mat on 19 Jul 2016, 3:36 pm
The Community Features have been released again, meaning you can visit the Forums and Chatrooms freely now! In addition, we've added three new colors to our basic lineup -- Arctic Foxes, Grey Owls, and Vampire Bats. The original Arctic Fox in the game was a Marble Fox and has been updated to reflect that.
Also, please note the Changelog on the side of the News page. This lists all changes made to the game as they are made in real-time.
Rule Clarifications and MOD Updates
Posted by Mat on 12 Jul 2016, 12:26 pm
We have been consolidating and reviewing a lot of feedback on various rules we have, and are happy to announce that all of the updated rules have been released.
1. The Terms of Service no longer forbids breasts, but instead focuses entirely on nipple exposure. Breasts are now allowed on Painties as well as artwork posted on Furvilla provided they follow the nipple rule. We feel this best represents a SFW environment while also not implying sexualization of people with that body shape.
2. The Terms of Service clarify our position on game asset trading with other browser games. The short answer is, we are fine with trading, however, we would like you to wait until the game is out of beta before doing so.
3. The Code of Conduct now indicates that CSS should not be used to cover or alter game stat information, including hiding or altering your or your villager's stats, or replacing your villager's image with CSS.
4. Our Forum Rules have now been updated to indicate that the phrase 'illegal drugs' refers to United States federal law, as there are discrepancies between the laws of different countries regarding what is an illegal drug, as well as individual states within the US.
5. Finally, after taking in all feedback with Painties and speaking with our Paintie moderators, we have completely revamped the Painties rule page in a way we hope clarifies everything regarding Paintie rules. We have been struggling with the inventive ways that players are creating some Painties, but unfortunately some are created in ways we did not intend for our bases to be used. We hope that this guide clarifies what we consider permissible for the use of our bases and helps clear confusion.
That now covers all the rules that have been changed thanks to your feedback. We also wanted to let you know that moderator applications are now closed. We received over a thousand applications and have hired our team. We do not yet have an ETA on releasing the forums as the moderators are occupied with ironing out issues with Painties. We will provide you an update when we have an idea of when the forums will be ready to re-release.
Last, here are a list of changes that have been implemented since Monday, the majority of them from suggestions e-mailed to us:
- grayed out Change Career button when idle
- destroy unwanted recipes from career page
- removed white gradient on long Private Messages
- Transfer Currency / Transfer Item on user page
- horizontal scrollbar appear in the message box when needed
- view all recipes/their reagents for reference: searching items in the museum now provides a list of reagents (for recipes), or a link to the recipe that crafts the item, or links to all recipes that use the item
- placed a button in the blacksmith career page that straight away takes you to repair requests
- Villagers page indicates which villagers are sick and with what
- item pages now include links to NPC shops if the item stocks there
- Paintie Removal button to strip a Paintie from a villager at the user's request
- the following items can now be used from the inventory on villagers who are not the active villager: medicines, pets, recipes, costumes, species potions, hp potions
