Jesse Spoke, and I Listened
Dear readers,
I am very proud to be able to finally write this article. It has been my hope for a fair amount of months now that I could talk to FooMojo, or currently Rivet, directly. To make a connection somehow and get some answers, seeing as there a lot of questions floating around. I first sent Jesse Janosov, CEO of Rivet Games, a friend request on Facebook back in either January or February. Myah felt this was rather a ballsy move, and I can’t disagree with that. I figured, though, that if he responded then maybe I could get an interview out of him. Respond he did, with the obvious question: who are you? I told him who I was and what I wanted, and he was very friendly about it and said he’d try to get me some time with his Product Manager, who would be able to tell me more about the specifics of the changes within FooPets. Suffice it to say that when that finally happened, she contacted me on the very same day that the pay-to-play announcement came out. Horrible timing does not make for a good interview breeding ground, and in the end that fell through.
To my great surprise and joy, though, Jesse contacted me about three weeks ago with the request to do an interview with him. Of course, this was a brilliant opportunity for both of us. For Jesse to speak more directly to a, let’s face it, somewhat estranged part of the user base, and for the Spyglass to show that we are not, to use an overstatement, a breeding ground for Foo-hating terrorists. I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to me that both sides get to speak, so this interview feels like quite the breakthrough for us. I met up with Jesse on Skype, and was faced with great enthusiasm and, poor fingers!, very fast talking. I asked him some questions and he asked me about FooPets and what they could do better. I think I answered that last question with a longer version of one word: communication.
You can download the PDF here:
http://www.4shared.com/document/HoRXiHpj/Interview_with_Jesse_Janosov_-.html
I can give you some short snippets of information from the interview, but of course reading the whole thing would be better than any summary. In any case, I think it is important to tell you all that FooPets has not made any money at all until recently. That’s right. Remember the $10M in investment money they raised in 2008? Gone. Basically, Jesse came into the story when FooPets was facing some difficult times. He had to make a choice: to shut down and move on or to preserve what could be preserved. We know what choice he made. Other than that, the interview covers who exactly play FooPets, some hints about the future of Pet Tales, and analogies involving architecture and sandwiches.
I hope you’ll take the time to read the interview. Mostly, though, I’m hoping to restore some perspective. Also, I hope that if there are any further questions you’d like to ask Jesse, you’ll post them here. I know for a fact that he reads the Spyglass, and I can always ask him for a second interview at a later time. Never stop asking questions, folks! Whether or not you like the answers, at least you’ll have them.
~Salendola
p.s. I just read in the latest FooPetter that they’re doing a survey about the website’s colour scheme that has caused trouble with some users. I am incredibly pleased! Please fill out the survey and let’s hope that the Foo-powers-that-be can prevent seizures from happening in the future.
Additions, Deletions, Etc… (Part 1)
Preface: This is going to be somewhat of an opinion piece and will touch on a lot of things; my opinion is just that – an opinion and I’m not forcing it down anyone’s throat. If you disagree, that’s great and if you want, post your opinion in the comments. Unless you’re being rude or breaking any etiquette rules, your post will not be “censored”.
There’s a new post in the Announcements Forum by Corie(A) that asks:
We’d love to hear from you: Please let us know what you’ve learned from FooPets and what’s important to you! How has FooPets impacted your life as a parent and/or your child/ren? Thanks for playing!
Ok, gotta say this kind of hit a nerve with me, and I don’t have very many nerves left now a days. After 18 or so hours, there’s two pages of posts and I’d say the split is about 60/40 of negative comments to positive ones. Most of them don’t deal with the question directly, but only touch on the first part of it. I read all the posts without trying to be biased to one side or the other and not let my personal thoughts interfere with the tone of the whole thread. But I know if I posted my thoughts on there, I don’t think I’d be logging in later tonight to care for my pets.
We all know that there have been a TON of changes, many spoken out against and many just noticed and filed away for later use as ammunition much like nuts stored for winter use by squirrels. Corie’s question falls into the arena of those changes because it is asking for input from the membership – a membership that contains a high number of very unhappy and dissatisfied people right now. Am I one of those unhappy members? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Do I foster an inane hatred for FooMojo/Rivet Games in my heart and a desire to bring down the company? Nope, but I can say that you won’t see me offering a toast of champagne to their new venture and I certainly don’t and won’t encourage anyone I know to join FooPets or download the new PetTales application from FaceBook. (As a clarification – I myself downloaded the PetTales app so I could get an understanding of it; I have since removed it from my FaceBook acct. and still have a post on my wall alerting my FB friends of it’s existence and my urging to avoid it if they don’t wish to support Rivet Games/FooMojo.)
I still don’t like the color scheme of the FooPets website. I’ve noticed that I don’t spend as much time on site as I used to – don’t know if that’s because of the colors or because it’s almost like a ghost town. I, personally, don’t have issues with the colors (other than the thought it looks like it’s covered in cotton candy), but I am aware that its design and glaring hues is dangerous and likely to trigger seizures in people with neurological problems (like epilepsy). It is this disregard for the users of the site that makes me unhappy with the people of FooMojo that are in charge and have the power to change items such as the color theme. It should not be a huge investment of time or money to get a programmer to change the images in a graphics program with a click of a button (and to recolor an image is just a click) and then upload the newly recolor images to the server in place of the old. Maybe get a programmer to change a hex code or two as well. This is the ONE thing that FooMojo could do that would be in their best interest as well as that of their members’. This simple little change would be a big show of customer support & customer care that really doesn’t seem to be an element of their business at this time. It should NOT have to be up to your customers to “turn down their monitor brightness” or have to hunt the web to find browser plug-ins to alter the color scheme of a website because it’s dangerous to the users. Bottom line, Foo changed the site, they should have enough concern for their customers to change it back. How does this relate to Corie’s question? Well, I’ve learned that it appears as if FooMojo doesn’t have concern about their customers and seems to lack compassion or common sense. As a parent, if I had a child with neurological problems, I can honestly say I would not be allowing him to come to a site that could physically harm my child and requires either myself or the child to find a work-around for an issue that never would have been had FooMojo not tinkered with what worked (that old adage of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” comes to mind). I hate to give my business to companies that don’t treat their customers with some modicum of respect, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. Since the color issue isn’t a problem for me, it’s just one of those tid-bits I store away for later decision making.
Next up on the list: Removal of user to user pet and item sales. This one hit a nerve with a lot of people, myself included. My reaction to the initial news, was “WHY?”. The ability of being able to sell pets and items to other users was something that made FooPets seem like a community. It allowed me to find new players who later became friends and afforded me the option to have items or pets that I just couldn’t get from FooPets’ channels. Why remove the ability of user to user sales? Why not instead alter the process if Foo was being annoyed with “scamming”? Either set a price range limit for items and pets being sold user to user or just add the ability to sell items or pets back to Foo at a set price for quick sale as another option. Neither of these two things would take a lot of time or money to set up up. The coding is already in place that sets a floor on the minimum cost of a pet, so adding a max price option is just as easy. Same thing could have been instituted for items – a min. and max. asking price. If a user didn’t want an item or a pet and didn’t want to deal with trying to advertise in the Trading and/or Breeding Forums, there could have been the additional option to sell the pet/item back to Foo at a price that Foo determined. Ultimately, every player is responsible for their actions. If they feel they must have a particular item or pet and feel that the price being asked by another player is fair, it’s their “money” to spend and be accountable for. If this reality is something that FooMojo feels uncomfortable with allowing younger children to deal with, the answer is what it always used to be – don’t allow younger children to become members of the site. I personally like having the ability to sell pets and items back to Foo, but I don’t like that it is my only choice, at least with items. As for pets, they can still be sold to other users, and I knew it wouldn’t be too much longer before Foo starting wanting a cut (tax) on pet sales as well, hence all sales need to go through the Adoption Center. This is a big problem because of the fact of all pets in the AC are available to the public. Foo needs to institute some way to make a user to user pet sale private again. I tend to think if the sales were private, there wouldn’t be as big a stink over it. Maybe they could set aside a section of the AC that is like a “holding pen” that isn’t open to the public – seller sells pet to AC holding area; gets pet link and sends to buyer;; buyer has 5 days to purchase pet or it gets released into the public portion of the AC. This way a seller has the opportunity to sell to the buyer of choice and if said buyer backs out, they can reclaim their pet (for what it was sold for and not the higher purchase price that would have been given to the buyer). This way, no one looses out and no one cries that a promised pet was “bought out from under them”. What did I learn? I learned that it would seem that Foo wants to be the go-to for everything on FooPets and only foster a sense of friendship and community in the forum area (and even there it seems they want to have complete control of the environment). As a parent, I think my child should learn how to communicate online with others and foster friendship and be involved with a group of people with the same interest. He should be exposed to the possibility of being charged too much for something (after all, if he’s 13 or older as was the original age designation for children to have an account), he’s going to be aware that not everyone out there is nice or “plays fair”. I’d rather he learn that lesson on a game site that will cost him a few measly dollars or a bunch of days’ hard work then learn that lesson after he’s gotten his first job and bank account and buys something online from an unscrupulous seller. Children don’t just learn by hearing and seeing; they need to experience things – good and bad – so the lesson/experience sticks with them for life. I’m almost 40 and I still remember the lesson I learned when I was 7 that it is NOT a smart idea to wear roller-skates while walking the Doberman! Was it a painful lesson? You betcha! I landed up with 2 missing teeth, 5 stitches over my eye and scratches everywhere (along with the loss of my favorite shirt) from the holly bushes I crashed into when I couldn’t get the dog to stop running and I hit an uneven patch in the sidewalk. I passed that lesson down to my son about 8 years ago when he wanted to walk the Great Dane while wearing his inline skates. If he hadn’t seen that small scar above my eye I think he may have tried to learn that lesson on his own (maybe getting severely hurt and my wallet getting a nasty blow from medical bills). Physical harm resulting from an experience isn’t a lesson that a child should learn, but there isn’t really any harm in getting a lesson online that may result in the loss of a little bit of money or time. Living is all about learning from the lessons we experience – if you don’t see both sides of the fence and learn what’s there, you just can’t get a grasp of the whole picture – and being able to see the whole picture is what life is all about.
There’s a lot more additions, deletions, and changes about FooPets that I’d like to cover, so I’m going to end Part 1 here. Keep tuned and I’ll have a Part 2 up in a few days (housework and music duties call and I must unfortunately obey those masters before my online one 
. Please post your comments and opinions, but remember to KEEP IT NICE! We have a great community of people here at the Spyglass and I want to see that continue.
Peach 
)~
The “Torch” Has Been Passed
Well, here I am, making a new post on the beloved “Foo Spyglass” blog. For those that aren’t up to speed (or haven’t gotten the news), the owners of the Spyglass are gracefully following the sunset and fading into the twilight. I’ve volunteered to become the new dawn and try to keep the torch lit and fueled.
torch
–noun
* something considered as a source of illumination, enlightenment, guidance, etc.: the torch of learning.
) . I hope that I can continue the tradition of fair and balanced entries and open-minded viewpoints that has made this a great resource for us all.Sunset
The light’s beginning to fade in my part of the world. In about half an hour, streaks of red and purple will mark the sun’s descent below the horizon. It’s a time of day, these few hours as day begins to transform into night, that’s given to musings. Remembrances. And, perhaps, just a touch of melancholy.
I still have an hour or so of daylight to enjoy. But for FooPets, with the expiration of my Club Foo account, my sunset has arrived. And I find myself… smiling.
In my time on FooPets, I’ve used several different icons. When I first joined, I used the artwork of an artist I love: Jessica Peffer. I was timid, unsure of myself. But the people I met there made me feel so… welcome. After some time, I changed it to a pirate version of me designed by an artist on deviantArt. After that came the icon I now use on Facebook: a picture of my Foo Marley, Apollo, in his preferred fashion show costume. For me, those two icons marked the golden point of my time. I grew comfortable in our little Sanctuary. I joined in the laughter, the tears, the jokes, the mischief. I voted for myself and friends- and found a simple joy in my pet’s antics. The day that Marley was joined by a pair of koi fish, although I didn’t know it, was the beginning of the end. This icon change lasted the longest. But when Foo went to hell in a handbasket, I changed my icon for the last time. I now wear the Guy Fawkes mask favoured by the revolutionary, V. I’m no revolutionary myself- never considered myself one- but in that time, I definitely came to understand him a bit more.
V’s icon still graces my profile.
In the end, I didn’t delete my account. I didn’t sell most of my pets. I didn’t give away my items. I’m… hopeful, I guess you can say. Hopeful that Foo will one day realise the mistake they’ve made and reconsider. Hopeful that someday, I’ll see all of my pets and the members I’ve left behind again. Hopeful that someone will benefit from the posts I’ve typed. The comments I’ve left. The thoughts I’ve shared. Hopeful that the fingerprint of better times I’ve left behind will perhaps, make some of you smile. Think, Remember.
With the end of my time on FooPets, also comes the end of the Foo Spyglass. After all, how can we talk about happenings on Foo, when we don’t have access to the site anymore?
Both Salendola and I have enjoyed our time with you. Along with the FooScooper, we’ve expressed our views, we’ve begged for change, we’ve pleaded with FooMojo (Rivet Games) to see the error of the direction they’re determined to go in. But in the end… well. In the end, there was an end.
It’s time for us to leave this frustration behind, and remember- or move on to- better things.
Howrse, a horse sim site where I currently breed Shetland ponies, Arabians, Irish hunters and Shetland Unicorns. Sal has a thing for her Hanoverians and crossbreeds.
SuperPokePets, where I’ve become the proud owner of an adorable white kitten.
DeviantArt, where it’s past time I reconnected with old friends, artists, craftsmen, website designers and writers.
Facebook, where Sal and I found each other… and others.
Alacrity, the dog sim where many fellow FooPetters have found a new, welcoming home.
But most importantly, my own dogs. My family. My friends. My life.
I may be gone from Foo. But you most definitely haven’t seen the last of me.
~ Myah
Keeping it Clean
The Foopets website itself has been unavailable to the non-paying crowd for over a week now. The Foopets Facebook page, however, is still available to all who, well, have Facebook. You can leave a review there, and many have done so. In fact, the overall score of Foopets has dropped by 0.1 out of 5, putting them at 3.3. I know, not very big news. Then again, can you really blame us?
In any case, they don’t seem to be touching the reviews. What you leave on their wall, on the other hand, is NOT safe. I’ve been keeping an eye on their updates, and it turns out that any time anyone leaves an anti-Foo comment, those comments are deleted from their wall. Of course, Foopets has the right to, as it were, keep their Facebook side walk clean. I would never dispute that right. That does not, however, make it any less entertaining to watch. Don’t believe me? Have a look at the evidence: http://www.4shared.com/file/_gDUKsAG/Foo_keeping_their_Facebook_cle.html. And before you ask: I just like to procrastinate. Anything is better at this point than academic waffling. Really. Anything.
~Salendola
No No, Excludie. You Can’t Play Where The Others Play.
At seven p.m. GMT, Foopets.com officially closed its doors to those who have until now enjoyed playing with their pets and interacting with other users for free. All the outcries, the anger, the hurt, have gone unheeded. To top it all off, they closed the website at about eleven a.m. San Francisco time, which is an hour earlier than announced. Some were not able to say goodbye to their pets. Feed them one more time, play with them, write something nice on their profiles just in case they would still be visible to those who stayed.
Those who remain have, no doubt, lost some friends. Maybe some where lucky and connected via other websites. Exchanging e-mail addresses is against the rules, as is exchanging links to websites, so some effort must have gone into that. Let’s hope frozen members manage to stay in contact with each other.
I have been collecting some bits and pieces from around Foo, but mostly from the thread that started it all: “Foopets will become subscription-only on April 26″. I have put these bits and pieces in a PDF file that you can download here: http://www.4shared.com/document/1PegKzNq/Leaving_Foo-_some_testimonials.html . I have to acknowledge that most of these are not very cheerful reading, but it’s not a very cheerful occasion anyway. Also, I think we can all agree that the outrage far outweighed any enthusiasm anyone may have felt at the change.
I hope those with frozen accounts find much joy playing and meeting up with their friends on other pet-related websites that are still free to all who want to join.
~Salendola
Foopets Positive
Since the proverbial bomb dropped, I think a lot of us, the regular posters especially, have been feeling a certain ill will towards Foomojo. I think this is a natural consequence of the decision they made and how bad a decision I, at least, think it is. However, I think that it would be well worth thinking of the positive things that came out of Foopets as well. That is what this entry is for. Not just for those who are going to be without their pets from the 26th onwards, or those who will stay, but also for those like myself who were no longer a part of Foopets before that.
The good thing that Foopets brought me can be summed up in one word: sanctuary. I think this thread requires no further introduction. Sanctuary provided me with a place to meet new people. When I first entered Chit-Chat, I had no idea what was going on and I found myself mostly surrounded by young people who, quite frankly, I did not feel I had a lot in common with. I have no ticking ovaries or the urge to reproduce, so it was mostly a bit disconcerting. I remember that the Haven for Parents and Grandparents was up on the front page, and I cautiously posted a sort of “hi, here I am, mind if I join?” message, explaining that I was not, in fact, a parent or a grandparent but simply an adult looking for conversation. LittleSparrow pointed me to sanctuary, and I’m still grateful to her for having done that. I met a lot of people there, the current co-editor of the Spyglass among others. I got a lot of laughs from Madnanny and the others, not to mention Badnanny, got upset when sanctuary got overrun with kids, empathised when people were feeling down and generally liked the place. A lot.
As I have mentioned probably more times than anyone cares to count, I left Foopets early. Obviously, I have had some letting-go issues since then, but let’s put that aside for now. I disagreed with their changes, such as the cessation of the fashion shows and the new rule against posting links and images on the forums. I felt that as an adult I was being put in the corner and, as any film enthusiasts here can see coming, nobody puts baby in the corner. I ended up selling all my pets, giving away some of my most valuable items and having a farewell party thread in which I broke the no-links-or-images rule more times than I dare to count. Leaving Foo lead to my friending some of the sanctuarians on Facebook and some on Howrse, which I still play.
As for what happened afterwards, I would like to share with you the following story: when I tried to get home last winter before Christmas, I found myself stuck in the UK. The weather at Amsterdam Airport meant that the Airport was closed, and I ended up spending the night in Birmingham. Oh my goodness, Birmingham, don’t even ask. In any case, the next day I travelled by train to London, dragging with me a large suitcase and, if I may say, rather a bit of anger. I kept people updated on Facebook, and that’s how I got a message from one of the sanctuarians, Anneb, who lives near London and offered to put me up if I was in need of a place to stay and sent me a Facebook message with her phone number in it. I tried to get a ticket on the train to the mainland, but all I got from the lady behind the desk was one of those “you’ve got to be kidding me” smiles that basically says it all. As I sat down at King’s Cross Station, I called Anne. She gave me directions concerning what train to take and where to get off said train, and I soon found myself in a hitherto unfamiliar part of the country with someone I’d never actually met in real life. I ended up staying with Anne for the total of three days and she even took me to her grandson’s first birthday party. I can safely say that I’ve no clue what I would’ve done without her. When I finally got a bus to Rotterdam, I was relieved to be able to go home, but I had a lovely three days with Anne and I’ll always be grateful to her for her hospitality and to sanctuary for allowing me to meet her and get to know part of her.
I think that, all in all, that is my most precious memory of Foopets. What’s yours?
~Salendola
Welcome…
Foopetters (and Foolurkers): welcome to Rivet Games.
We all know Foo takes pleasure in keeping us updated on their activity. In fact, how could you miss the message in your email inbox, the notice on the forum, or the change to the terms of service that now names Rivet Games Inc. as the owner of FooPets?
Then again, you could have easily missed the first two, since only the third truly exists.
The following is an extract from Scott Sorochak’s page on linkedin. Currently, he’s the only named contact for the company. And yes, Dr Ron is there as well. He’s named as the Founder/Senior Research Analyst on his page on Quora.
“FooMojo’s first game was FooPets, the world’s most realistic and emotionally engaging virtual pets. Now with over 9,000,000 members worldwide, we have branched out to become Rivet Games, a producer of fun, polished games that will exceed your expectations in every way from deeply engaging to ridiculously addicting . Games that you can be passionate about.”
Nice, guys. Let the world know. But of course, don’t tell your users a thing: even when the company changes its operation and name.
You can visit the main site of Rivet games here. It’s still rather empty but for the job openings. I am amused at their continued search for a Director of Business intelligence. I am not as amused at the search for a User Acquisition Specialist.
Not when in six days, you’re kicking so many off the site.
Ten Days Before the Exodus…
Possibly, this is an entry written to keep me occupied while Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is finding its way onto my laptop. Possibly. However, with the kicking-off date of the 26th drawing ever closer, I think the issue of who stays on Foo and who leaves is becoming more and more pertinent. I’ve been keeping an eye on the “subscription-only” thread ever since I found out about it, and it’s been filling up with people wondering how this came about, and general outrage at the way they are being removed from the site until they are willing to pay.
Seeing as I removed myself from the game in October 2010, I have nothing of my own invested in this issue other than that the account I use to ninja-stalk the forums with will be discontinued. Had I still been on, I highly doubt I would’ve stayed, though. I’ve never been that emotionally invested in the game, and with the changes Foomojo has made to the game of late I don’t think I would’ve even considered paying them a single cent. I would like to know, though, how you all feel about the 26th, now that it’s really beginning to draw nigh. Will you stay or leave, and why? Leave a comment and discuss.
~Salendola
Friends, Romans, Countrymen…
I’m going to ignore the fact that FooPets is being generally ridiculous. Or the horrible new layout. Or how it seems as if Dr. Jane is a hipster only doing this ironially.
I’m asking for your help.
With the new subscription only plan, there is no doubt that FooPets will be making money off of copyrighted images.
Let us pick some specific examples. Many of Kaylina’s “jeweled” items are, in fact, Judith Leiber handbags. She is using the images without credit, and without their permission. Last time I contacted the Judith Leiber corporation, I was told they were sending a cease and desist.
Unfortunately, FooMojo still hasn’t cleaned house.
Take a look at this lovely handbag, worth 3,500
http://beta.neimanmarcus.com/store/product.jsp?itemId=prod88310015
Now take a look at this object supposedly made by Kaylina
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v193/PlaidButterfly/JLCat.jpg
The original pillbox
http://www.outblush.com/women/doubtblush/doubtblush-judith-leiber-honey-comb-pillbox/
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v193/PlaidButterfly/JLBee.jpg
http://www.purseblog.com/novelty-bags/judith-leiber-parrot-clutch.html
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v193/PlaidButterfly/JLParrot.jpg
http://www.judithleiber.com/product.cfm?id=130
And… I bet you know the routine by now
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v193/PlaidButterfly/JLRose.jpg
The last time I informed them, a Judith Leiber representative told me they were sending a cease and desist letter. Unfortunately I cannot post her message to me in its entirety, but FooMojo doesn’t have permission to do this – neither does Kaylina.
Now, for selling haute couture handbags, Judith Leiber will probably be able to take care of themselves. But if you feel the need, please email them at info@judithleiber.com – especially if you find more of these handbags that have been used without permission.
However, I need your help.
Like I said, with the new subscription-only plan, there is no doubt whether FooMojo will be making money from these copyrighted images. They will.
Please find other instances of this. Please inform the companies. Please let them know their images are being stolen. They need to know.
~Harpalyce
