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Rarsan

Unicreatures

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Thanks for the updates folks.

I've spent a lot of $ at UC, I sure hope it's not gone for good.

Has anyone heard anything about Brint?

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I hope it's not permanent. It's the only forum I actually participate on.

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Same for me. When I was down, before I found a Facebook group for introverts, that was the place to go to find comfort. Donating items to random users and making them happy was my favourite activity.

 

I also bought a Cupid for every baby born in my circle - plus a couple wedding anniversaries - and was working on getting them a number of clicks matching the date.

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I hope it's not permanent. It's the only forum I actually participate on.

I know this was my favorite site. I shares it with my Mom and we had fun creating avitars. I really hope it comes back.

 

Does anyone know how to contact the site mods or owners other than on the site itself?

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Bah, getting a bit more worried now it's well into Monday and nothing yet.. I can imagine a not-too-expensive server, or a server running at someone's work place or something, not being tended to outside office hours. But if that was the case it should've been up by now. Well, still keeping my fingers crossed. unsure.gif

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Does anyone know how to contact the site mods or owners other than on the site itself?

Well, I asked via the email address used for Paypal, but I don't think that's going to be checked at all. There is also another email address in the site's "whois" information, where I also found that the domain unifaction.com won't expire before Nov 2017 (it was extended just 3 months ago, and obviously by 2 years instead of the usual 1, so I'm going to guess they didn't plan on ceasing service anytime soon).

Of course, a domain expiration date doesn't tell anything about the servers ... or the internet connection for said servers.

Edited by Ruby Eyes

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I've been chatting to friends on other places. All that is known is that the owner turned off all the sites w/ no warning early Sat. morn. Those sites probably won't come back.

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Poor mods worked hard for the Winter Wonderland event and we could barely enjoy it. What a shame.

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I've been chatting to friends on other places. All that is known is that the owner turned off all the sites w/ no warning early Sat. morn. Those sites probably won't come back.

That's a shame, so the owner turned them off on purpose? Really weird.. indeed there just was the recent winter wonderland that people made stuff for, apparently the domains were registered for quite some time yet, I do wonder what happened... Sad sad.gifsad.gifsad.gif

 

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I've been chatting to friends on other places. All that is known is that the owner turned off all the sites w/ no warning early Sat. morn. Those sites probably won't come back.

That is very sad indeed. The owner should have at least given us a warning. To see if someone else wanted to buy/run/take it over.

 

*heavy sigh* sad.gif

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Do any of you use Facebook? There is a group of us on there and there is activity to try to sort something out.

 

If you know me as Ailsa on UniFaction you will be able to find me with a picture of my bid red dog as my avatar biggrin.gif

 

I always get lost here and it has taken me some time to find you - I have enabled e-mail notifications on this thread and will find out how much I can tell you, and of any other places where we can gather. Weezee, Pegasus and Seidh and a few others are trying to sort something out.

Edited by Ailsa

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Do any of you use Facebook? There is a group of us on there and there is activity to try to sort something out.

 

would you mind providing a link?

 

all I could find through google was the original uc page, which no longer exists as I previously said

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You have to be invited by a member via Facebook at the moment, that I why I asked if anyone uses it biggrin.gif

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this is bad, found on the deviantart UC group:

 

"This is going to be a long post because I really want to get as much info out there, but first let me just get this over and said quickly: The sites appear to be gone for good.

 

I don't know how much you guys know about the leadership of the sites, I didn't really know them well, so I want to explain that first.

In the past there were plenty of staff members, that's a fact known to anyone who went to the thread listing current and past staff, but at the time right before it shut down there were really just 3. Seidh (Scott), our admin in red text, Pegasus, our coder in green text, and Weezee (Karrie), our amazing artist in Purple. They are/were the ones in interacting with us, trying to keep the site afloat. They'd listen to our ideas and try to get stuff done for us.

The only other top person was Tarsupin (Brint), the owner of the site. I never knew much about him and you probably didn't either, unless you spoke with people who had directly interacted with him. And if you did, that was probably either the three staff members, or someone who was banned or had quit.

 

Brint was the one who came up with the idea for the site, and was apparently constantly coming up with new ones. This seems great! But in reality, it was apparently poorly done. He refused to take critique and advice from anyone else, and evidently when people got too loud and start to get upset that they were not being heard, they would get banned.

One ex-coder for the site said, "I'll save the details: but I'd told him numerous times his vision and plans just wasn't going to work. He insisted he knew best despite everybody being against him. I tried to help him and he threw it back in my face every time."

That person went on to say that the site HAD its peak, UF4 (which I might agree with, I was there), and express his disappointment in Brint for planting the seed but not watering it, and scaring people into silence. The ex-coder finally ended with:

"(Brint) was never interested in UniFaction, he sought only to milk it for as much money as he could. Then he abandoned it. Same goes for the other projects. You've only to look at the recurring history of projects like Esme, the trading card game, Flarius Games, UniCraft, etc etc. Starborn! Whatever happened with that?"

 

Now I remember those ideas, though some of you might not have been there for them. I honestly remember thinking Brint's ideas were great and that they probably didn't take off just because it was a small site and he didn't have the support. Now it seems he didn't have the support because he didn't want to compromise, and he pushed all of his support away.

 

 

These claims against the owner might seem harsh or unrealistic in this time to us who were either newer to the site, or low enough in its users that we didn't hear the drama from higher up... but more and more similar stories resurface now that they don't fear prosecution and it starts to paint a pretty grim case against Brint.

Another older and respected user confirmed the ex-coder's money comment with "I'm sure every month when he had to pay the hosting fee, it burned him a new one. It also doesn't surprise me that he shut the sites down without any notice. It also doesn't surprise me that he didn't offer the sites to Seidt, since lacking in wisdom and being full of self-delusion common sense are highlights of how he acted while owner of the sites."

 

It is important to note here that I don't know Brint personally, so I really cannot curse him or say anything about him personally that is going to ring entirely true. But I can say that after hearing how he tried to run things that the CHOICES he made and his "leadership" skills were apparently poor and the Uni-Verses couldn't sate the apparent power-hungriness behind the pretty avatar he had.

 

Now, we weren't trying to spread hate in the group of us all talking, really. We were trying to keep it to facts and short stories as everyone explained things that had happened in the past, and this is obvious to anyone reading the stories because they do not get too personal. But even then, there is some animosity that might leak out... and that'd fair, isn't it? We cannot expect to entirely be the higher people when we have been so wronged. It's not just a fun game site we lost. Some of us lost years of hard work in collections of their pets, years of work in creating avatars and getting new items for them constantly, and lots of us probably lost friends with whom we only had contact threw these sites. I for one lost a great place to make connections and have a friendly platform to share my art and make things for people.

Not only that, but there is all of the hard work that the official artists but into the site. Not just the ones who made any of the hundreds of digital drawings for every pet, avatar clothing, and UC item... but the writers who worked on the lore of the world and the animals. There wasn't an official writer at the time listed in the admins thread, so I'm not sure who was creating the newer creatures, but there was writers listed there before.

All of their work is now lost to them, unless they saved it somewhere (because we certainly didn't, how were we supposed to know this was going to happen?). Even then if they have it, they only are able to use it as part of their portfolios saying they helped with this awesome site in it's time. But every piece of artwork belongs technically to Brint to do with as he pleases, and we cannot do anything with the characters but look fondly at them in our memory, and make fan art.

 

 

 

So where do we go from here?

 

 

Before we got the update on what really happened between Seidh and Brint and why the site went down, we were talking amongst ourselves wondering if we should even go back or not, if we were to disband to our other pet sites with our friends, or if something new should be created without UC/UF. One user said:

 

"After being treated the way we have I would rather go with Seidh and Pegasus to a new site, even if that meant losing everything that was there than return and be treated like we were before. If by some miracle Brint gives up UF to them then I'll be back in a heartbeat. If the site came back with him still in charge all I would do is contact as many people as fast as I could and then run for the hills. I know it's hard and we will probably lose people but I think moving on and starting fresh might be the best thing to do."

 

I personally would go back to the site if it came back up, even under old ownership. But if that were the case, I would remove everything of mine from UniFaction and focus mainly on the UC... especially if our main 3 ended up not being there. I would save everything I could that I loved from those fantastic sites... and then ride the waves until it eventually died again.

 

But I probably won't get the chance. Yesterday, Seidh posted this:

"Ok so many of you are wondering what happened. I'm sure you're looking to me for answers as I was the site admin. I don't know a whole lot but I can tell you what I do know. Back in December I had a conversation with Brint about taking over UF and UC; After thinking on that conversation, I had another with Pegasus and a few others, about what it would take to rebuild the site from scratch - making it much more user friendly (like it was on 5) with a much smoother design. Then Saturday I conversed again with him to discuss the details of everything. I could not work with his terms; I wanted him removed from the site entirely - paid only in royalties for any artwork sold. A few minutes later I am blocked on 3 messengers, facebook and the sites are offline.

So back to the conversation with Pegasus...We formed a team back in December after the initial chat with the site owner. We hashed a few things out and she began doing her magic. Now we cannot use any UF or UC artwork that all belongs to he who shall not be named but we can rebuild the community forums and over time all new avatars and items; we have 2 artists on board already. The forums SHOULD be ready to launch as early as this weekend. What we need are name suggestions, hosting and domains need to be worked out as well. - This is your chance for some ground level input*

Hopefully this answers some questions you guys have. I don’t know much, but I do know I love the community that was Unifaction, I would not have devoted so much of myself to the site with no compensation or acknowledgement from the site owner. So we hope you guys are behind us in this venture; we really are excited to see what we can do for you guys with a blank slate!"

 

This of course can come as a huge blow to many of the users, but to plenty it was expected.

 

in the chaos that Brint left, it is beautiful to note how so many users (over 80!) got together and are so willing and hoping to keep our family together, despite being currently homeless. Our old staff members (Seidh, Weezee, Pegasus) love us SO much that they want to keep us together.

This is of course going to be slow-going, however. I'm sure building a new site always is. Right now we still need and are thinking about site names (feel free to sugest some here, I'll pass them along!) and there is only going to be a forum set up for the time being. Seidh told someone "Not sure about the pet adoptable just yet! But we are definitely planning something of the sort with adoptables"

and Weezee replied to a long brainstroming comment I had with: "Pet designs and ideas aren't really being thought about at the moment as we're just trying to get a forum ready for us. A pet site will take quite a bit of coding, so that may be a big wait before that happens.

"As for the avatars, myself and, as I found out just today, the other artist both agree on one thing about the base, other then that we really haven't gotten any further. LOL We have only had since Saturday to even think about bases and whole new sites so it's quite overwhelming to all of us."

 

So. Thinking back on all of the copyrights things I mentioned earlier, it might seem hopeless to some. I can hear it now: "there were so many creative creatures I loved on there, and we can't even have them ever again! What's the point??"

Well. I'll tell you.

UC/UF may own all of those old specific designs and character stories, but not the archetypes behind them. Brint also doesn't have a hold on the idea of evolving adaptables, or things that we had for avatar items like tee-shirts and jeans.

So here's the skinny. Pick your favorite Unicreature. Paww? that's just a winged cat. As long as we do not take the same pose, design, or personality from UC or any other site we can make as many winged cats as we want. Melody? Anex? they're just mermaids. Lazuli? She's a harpy. Heck one of the creatures was just trees. There's plenty of trees in the world to draw inspiration from and have new characters like that.

Then there is avatar clothing... with a different base and pallet that enough is good to take old, plain ideas and use them again (like plain collars, converse shoes, and vest-tops.) There are going to be some things we lose and cannot take, like exact designs for dresses and jewelry (even redrawn on a new base, the design does not belong to us), and backgrounds... But we have an amazing creative staff that I'm sure will grant us plenty of beautiful things in our family's future.

 

 

If all you really loved about the old site was the pets, or you're too upset at the time to try to stay with the community and move with us to a new place, then that is fine if you don't want to stick around.

But really, the people who made everything happen for the owner and for us are the best part. The artists, the writers, the coders. . . They want to keep us together in a safe community, even if that means working really hard to build a new home from scratch. I am truly excited for the new place, and what can come of it.

Though it will no longer be Unifaction or Unicreatures, it will be made up of it's people moving on from the wreckage. So I will post any more new information that comes up on the new place here on this group.

 

In the meantime, would you like to share fond memories of UC and UF? Tell us your favorite things about the old site. What did you love, what will you miss, what would you want in a new community that we build?

 

 

 

TL;DR

 

It seems that the owner of UC and UF is acting like a total pissbaby (though if he actually is one and not just acting, I wouldn't know since I don't know him), and the sites seem to be gone for good. But the community that was built within them is sticking together, and with its talented and skilled leaders we are hoping to build a new home. "

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That about sums up the current state of play Thaliel - I admit that I haven't been on DeviantArt yet this year blink.gif Too much has been happening in my real life I admit.

 

Hopefully with the possibility of 5 years hosting that has been offered some progress will be made quite soon smile.gif

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I had a notion the new Uni wouldn't last. I jumped ship when he made the new site. I liked the old forum and old game. I didn't care for all the changes he made or the tantrum he threw when the community didn't love his new "vision" like he did.

 

Does this mean we can't use any images from the older sites because he owns it all? I don't mean on the new site but in signatures etc.

Edited by littleblackdog

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Thank You for all the information, Thaliel and Ailsa.

 

Unfortunately I do not have Facebook. Nor am i on deviantart, so I appreciate the post that gave us all the information.

 

So, what can we do to show support and pull together as a community? Is there going to be at least a forum for us all to stay in touch? The community was one of the most supportive I've come across.

 

Personally, I want to support our old staff members Seidh, Weezee, Pegasus, as they worked so hard for us. I'd love to see what they come up with and would like to keep the community together.

 

What did I love:

 

How it was a safe place for you to come and get support. I'm a really really shy person. Even on the internet I do not talk much. But reading how others were handling their problems helped me. I gave encouragement when i could and learned so much from everyone there.

 

That is all for now. I'll will post more later when i have more time.

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I would also like a link to the group, I loved Unicreatures 1 and would love to see the staff from there build a new site.

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So Brint threw another tantrum and shut down... Somehow... Not surprised. I hope you give us a name for the new site once it's decided i'd love to join the old community once again. Can't wait to see what the amazing artists came up with and feel... comfortable and safe once more. After Uni6 I was a "post before a mod posts" poster only cos I was afraid to get banned for anything I said. Like many I'd guess.

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Thaliel, the post at DA has been updated, so you might want to make sure that yr post is up-to-date. (This is at the request of the OP.)

 

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hello my friends I am here

I dug out my embarrassingly old account because someone told me you posted my blog post from DA

 

Like Anet said, it'd be cool if you update your post with my new version, or remove it and just put the link to the page (since the site and post aren't private, anyone should be able to see it even if they don't have an account on deviantart.)

other then that I'm glad me sharing information on there got out for other people to see.

 

 

@ginevra: I agree with you about it being such a kind community, it's what I loved about Unifaction too. They was probably the first and maybe only forums I ever felt comfortable on.

but that's not the site, it's the people. and when we make a new home that comforting atmosphere will no doubt still be there smile.gif

 

@gamingbooknerd: yes, a new site will be coming up... but the only thing it will have in common with UC and UF is the people that will be there.

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hello my friends I am here

I dug out my embarrassingly old account because someone told me you posted my blog post from DA

 

Like Anet said, it'd be cool if you update your post with my new version, or remove it and just put the link to the page (since the site and post aren't private, anyone should be able to see it even if they don't have an account on deviantart.)

other then that I'm glad me sharing information on there got out for other people to see.

 

 

@ginevra: I agree with you about it being such a kind community, it's what I loved about Unifaction too. They was probably the first and maybe only forums I ever felt comfortable on.

but that's not the site, it's the people. and when we make a new home that comforting atmosphere will no doubt still be there smile.gif

 

@gamingbooknerd: yes, a new site will be coming up... but the only thing it will have in common with UC and UF is the people that will be there.

thanks for editing, though the general conent stays the same.

 

From what I understood, some of the fomer staff are working on a new site, which will be mostly a forum for now. Said site is unnamed and unhosted atm, it will come when it comes. All we can do for now is wait and maybe chek the aforementioned DA Group (using the main group link for easier access to the newest information) on a regular basis

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