The Disastrous Downfall of Fer.al

Remember when "Nft" stood for "Not for trade"... Me too, me too..

hearing that a game shut down overnight (while its community imploded) and got replaced by an NFT-based knockoff was just the tip of the iceberg filled me with dread

The final day was awful. We were only given 3 hours and they had disabled text and voice chat so nobody could even say their goodbyes to each other in the game. They shut the severs down half an hour after the scheduled time and simply put a “sever has been updated” error. No goodbyes, no special party in the game, nothing. I jumped on the game and supported the game via the season pass and buying avatars and it hurts seeing how they pushed it to the side for an NFT reskin of the game with no compensation or warning of it shutting down. Thanks to wildworks, I now have little trust in any future social MMOs that pop up.

The irony of a team that partnered with National geographic to make an online kids game to teach kids about animals getting in to NFTs cannot be understated.

The Animal Jam to Fer.al to Cinder pipeline really is just the embodiment of "you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain"

NFTs take enough energy to power a small country to make one. The idea that someone who's against that must use no energy is fucking absurd. The epitome of "yet you participate in society"

I'm here from the "future" to let you all know that Cinder has been unceremoniously shut down in February 2023. It was not announced really, there are no big statements apparently but the servers are shut off and the whole team has apparently been let go. So much for that dream of big money, I guess.

Not that wildworks guy saying turning the lights on in your house is the same as investing in a frivolous and ugly icon that produces massive amounts of carbon emissions 💀

Man, the graphics and the artstyle of the game are absolutely gorgeous, I feel so fucking bad for the artists that got shackled with shit management

She's gone from throwing her phone at a wardrobe to getting sponsored by SwitchCraft and Genshin Impact. That's a glow up if I've ever seen one.

This whole situation is literally so ironic because animal jam, their first neglected game was a game all about saving the environment but fast forward 2 years later... and Cinder pops up, a game about NFTs right after they neglect another game of theirs that had so much potential

Didn't realize fer.al had actually shut down until I saw this a month later. My dad and I always played together, as well as animal jam, and when I shared this with him (after keeping him updated on prior controversy), I am pleased to announce that on behalf of my father, Clark Stacey is now a professional "slimy jerkbag". (I'm pretty sure he would have said more choice words if my mom wasn't in the next room over)

Imagine destroying an entire community, throwing away countless hours and years of work, dragging your company through a latrine. just to chase a dying pyramid scheme / scam. I've heard of a shooting oneself in the foot. But this is sawing off the dam leg.

Currently experiencing the final hours of Fer.al. Despite chat being taken away, a group of players have all just kinda agreed to sit around the fire at the kobold camp in mugmyre swamp. It's oddly comforting. To those who couldn't make it whether it be schedule or bad device, I am sorry. Waddle on, guys, waddle on.

No idea why Wildworks ever thought their audience of LGBT+ neurodivergent kids would ever like the idea of an NFT game, or even have the money to support it in the first place. Sad to see this company fall from grace so tragically... Edit: For all the replies saying 'I'm not LGBT or neurodivergent!!' good for you, I don't need to hear about it. And yes, I did watch the video. I know they were not trying to captivate their audience with whatever they decided to do with NFTS. My comment was saying this was a very strange idea BECAUSE of their fanbase, who typically would not run in with the NFT crowd. And their choice to go against their fanbase clearly did not go well as their NFT game was a failure.

I would’ve played the crap out of this. I’ve so desperately yearned for “high fantasy 3D neon dog game” since I was, like, ten, and this looks as close to what I want as could reasonably be hosted on a web browser. If I win the lottery, or get stupid rich somehow, I’m going to finance “high fantasy 3D neon dog game” so that the clearly popular niche can finally be filled with a proper long standing sparkleanimal RP-MMO.

At this point i really don't see how executives see every NFT proyect fall off (+ ratio) and decide they also want to make their own NFTs.

Ex Moderator here, and I sneakily contributed some images which I was happy to see here. On behalf of the moderators who did not have the time to share added perspectives, it's very relieving to see your recognition of our blood sweat and tears during this terrible event. It's been difficult to even see this ourselves, while we were literally gaslighted in areas to feel "okay" about it, or being told "everything will be fine." While WW ghosted our concerns for announcements, concerns for community awareness, (It has been 7+ days since our messages were "passed down" and still left in the dark) WW has additionally failed to communicate to us on the many friendships we've created. On an emotional perspective, we were also greatly affected. From admins banning innocent members in front of us, having another WW administrator telling us to grow up, (literal evidence we have) we had to sit and watch most of the time. Some of us were vocal about it and addressing our points directly to staff with some avail to none. This was more than just an "unpopular business decision," it was punishment honestly

Ex- Server Helper here. I believe that if they had listened to the amazing community feedback and ideas and actually communicated in the last year of the game, it could have been saved from failure and dare I say it might have become profitable. It certainly had potential; a big and active community, players willing to engage in the game, it just didn't have the substance to keep players engaged.

Here's an update: Cinder shut down on February 8, 2023. So they got their money and ran... like virtually all NFT scams.