easy new ways to contact people

[darklass]

make contacting people easier so those who cant afford a premium account have a way of contacting people they need or want to talk to

[Argent]

Chat is great.

[Sognatore]

I agree with darklass, it would be good to give everyone messaging. I feel like the lack of ability to message people is stunting the growth of the game as it makes it hard for people to work together. Chat is great but trying to be online at the same time as another player is really finicky and just makes people frustrated. Especially if they actually need to leave a message for someone in order to continue their breeding program. I think it will just end up with a forum stuffed with irrelevant messages, making the forum difficult to navigate, and it will prevent people from getting the most out of the game.

I understand that there are some good reasons for not wanting to have lots of chat messages. It is hard to moderate and can cause more work, but I think in the long run it would defiantly be improving the game.

[Tjigra]

Chat is great until you are on different sides of the big ditch with whomever you want to communicate with. I've been through this on the other horse sim I play - if I want to talk to people in chat, I need to stay up at least until 2-3am..

[FrostyViolet]

Seconding all of the above.
Messaging is such a basic thing, it really shouldn't be restricted to upgraded members only, in my opinion. It's a thing that's really bugging me, to be honest.

[GoldenLotusStablesII]

Agreed chat is good when players are on and even then, if player doesn't log in to view messages on chats what is the point of having one. Any game I have known or played on has email available no matter account, so I do think it is fair to make it available for all to use.

[stephanie111]

Chat is great until you are on different sides of the big ditch with whomever you want to communicate with. I've been through this on the other horse sim I play - if I want to talk to people in chat, I need to stay up at least until 2-3am..

Ah I agree. I live up north so contacting others is quite hard, they usually come on the game at 3-4 am, and some days I can't afford to stay up at that time.

[Farant]

Agree!
It's very important to give all of us the possibility to communicate. Game mail shouldn't be for premium only. If we can't talk, half of fun is cut off.

[BlackOak2]

I'm not so sure about this. I've been on the receiving ends of a lot of different types of mailings. If I was forced to choose... Yes, having the ability to mail someone is very nice, but I also like the ability to not get some mail from some player asking for a horse that isn't posted for sale or stud. Or some other unusual nonsense.
Perhaps an alternative to both of these problems is in order, maybe make a breeding partner (or friends) be able to mail privately, but unless they are a friend or breeding partner, they cannot contact somebody through the private mail system.
This would alleviate both problems in my opinion. But then again, this is my opinion.

[BHR_Remuda]

I'm not so sure about this. I've been on the receiving ends of a lot of different types of mailings. If I was forced to choose... Yes, having the ability to mail someone is very nice, but I also like the ability to not get some mail from some player asking for a horse that isn't posted for sale or stud. Or some other unusual nonsense.
Perhaps an alternative to both of these problems is in order, maybe make a breeding partner (or friends) be able to mail privately, but unless they are a friend or breeding partner, they cannot contact somebody through the private mail system.
This would alleviate both problems in my opinion. But then again, this is my opinion.

I agree with this. Maybe you have to 'allow' folks to message you? You can enable or disable your pm, but I really like the breeding groups idea. Besides, it's not difficult to warn the 500 pony tokens of you play regularly, local shows being most of my income anyways.