I would be interested, if it wasn't for discord...

It took me a while to join Discord but in the end I did. It was strange in the beginning but you can get used to it.

l was against this 'Ambassador' program the first time it was released and refused to be part of the voting system as l have absolutely no interest in allowing just a small handful of players speak on my behalf how the game evolves or in what direction it should head, ect when they have no idea of my opinion or views. This is a ridiculous and unfair way of 'communicating with the community' as you call it, when the 'community' is not even involved.

Surely you can get the jist of what the majority of players are wanting and expecting from the game thru the forums. A simple example, How many people, from many servers, have been telling you over and over and over again that we are sick to death of companions being offered as prizes in the mini games, and yet, here we are again, facing no less than 9 of them in the current 'Blast' mini game.

I believe it's simply a waste of time and is just for show. Makes it 'look' like your doing something 'for us'', when in fact, it's all just a facade.

A disgusting show of favouritism giving 'rewards' and 'gifts' to just a privileged few who are able to put 'their views' across only.

This failed and was abandoned the first time, so what makes you think it's gonna be successful this time.

This is just soooo WRONG on so many levels!!!

My Vote is NO

I would have been interested in contributing to improving the game experience for everyone, and believe I have a balanced and enquiring mind that could be helpful.

However when I opened the form to apply the entry criteria was 'use discord". This immediately excludes me. I once looked at discord and to me it looked like a scary version of the dark web! A sort of dangerous place where hackers and scammers would freely roam!! Speaking as a vulnerable oldie with little tech savvy I have to avoid dangerous online sites.

So ambassador program I'm sorry to say you won't be benefiting from my wealth of experience.

This unhealthy obsession Admin have with Discord is killing this game.

All discussions about the game are now automatically referred to Discord leaving the majority of players in the dark about OUR game.. We no longer receive any feedback from Admin in our in-game forums anymore because of this.

I don't think your going to attract too many players to sign up for this destined to fail project. Not 'thinking' players anyway.
Discord seems to be universally disliked and not trusted by many players on International and many other servers, including this one, for good reason, so l just don't get the obsessive PUSH for us to use it

I mean, you are asking for personal information such as a players address l assume this is so you can 'sue' them if they disclose any information to others. WOW, super appealing, one would have to be unbalanced to put themselves in this position.

I've been doing some exploring about the dangers of Discord and I've found some very disturbing facts.

Discord can be dangerous due to the following reasons.

1 Malware, phishing, and scams: These threats are common on the platform.
2 Cyberbullying: Users can be exposed to bullying and explicit content.
3 Impersonation and compromised accounts: Discord accounts are easy to impersonate and
compromise.
4 Malicious links: Hackers can easily spread links to servers with harmful software.
5 Private direct messages: People can be easily reached through private messages.

Sign me up

While I absolutely agree that these are very possible dangers of Discord, they are also incredibly common dangers on ALL social media websites/platforms, or really any website which has some kind of social element to it (which includes Howrse).

All of these dangers are just as prevalent on Facebook and Instagram as they are on Discord - they are also definitely not unheard of on Howrse.

Additionally, there is quite literally no 'safe' website on the entire internet. I think sometimes the safety of the internet/social media/websites in general is overestimated, therefore leading people to believe that a site unfamiliar to them, like discord, is, comparatively, incredibly dangerous.

This is not to say that discord in particular is an inherently ‘safe’ website. Of course it isn’t. No website is (again, this includes Howrse). But in general, as long as you aren’t sharing personal info on it, you aren’t connecting with people you don’t know (by which I mean private messaging, giving out personal details, photo sharing - not just a general post in a forum like this), and you have a complex/not easily guessed password - the site is as safe as any other social media.

Basically, what I am saying is that for anyone wanting to sign up for the ambassador program but worry about using discord is stopping you - discord is not inherently more dangerous than any other website. Some discord users have had bad experiences with hackers/scammers/other bad people, but so have users of Facebook, Instagram, and Howrse.

If you are against using any social media, then of course don't use discord. And if you are worried that you may fall victim to a scam/hacker on discord simply because the website is unfamiliar to you and it is difficult to navigate for that reason, then, again, feel free to not use it. I just wanted to share my perspective on the issue.

(All that said, I won't be signing up for the Ambassador program, and I think that this method of getting player feedback most likely will not lead to results that all players will be happy with, as Howrse seems to imply it will. - again, I just wanted to give my perspective on the discord issue.)

Thank you all for your subscriptions, we are processing them and will return in the coming weeks to the lucky ones!

We will send out a global communication once the new ambassadors have been chosen. It is useless to send us reminders: if you do not receive any news from us, it is because you have unfortunately not been chosen.

We look forward to working with the new ambassadors.

Keep an eye on your email in the coming weeks, you may receive news from us.

Happy Howrsing!
The Howrse Team

You absolutely cannot connect the dangers of Discord with the game Howrse.

Howrse is a game and can be played without any interaction with any other players if you so wish, as a lot of players choose to play, all messages from any other or all players can be blocked, so the only danger is someone can guess your password, that's it.

Discord on the other hand, is a public social media platform, designed solely for people to connect and hold discussions in private or as a group, there in itself lies the danger, some are clearly willing to risk it, but many are not.

There is just no comparison of risk between the two sites.

I don't care if others use Discord, but it' is NOT necessary for the game itself, and my main gripe is the game is directing too much information and feedback to go thru Discord, therefore the game users miss out on vital information and can't join in with their opinions ect.

Discord has settings to prevent people from interacting with you as well.
You can block and mute people on Discord.
You can prevent people from sending friend requests on Discord and from being able to message you at all.
You also have an extra layer of security for your account.

It all comes down to common sense.

I do agree that vital information should be shared here, though.

My comment was more to address the specific dangers which you listed than equate the websites, but there are absolutely some dangers which are equally possible on Howrse as they are on Discord. A hacker could target Howrse’s servers tomorrow and, if successful, gain access to any and all personal info every single user has provided to Howrse - just like they could with any other website, including Discord. (There have been official government services and other huge companies which have been attacked in much the same way, and there really isn't much we can do as individual users to minimise the risk of this happening).

I was also trying to point out that there are risks online which can be managed (to a certain extent), which comes down to how you choose to use websites. Hackers/scammers can use ANY website to target vulnerable people, and while that risk can’t be eliminated entirely, there are measures you can take to protect yourself to minimise that risk. Suggi has already listed the ways you can protect yourself on discord specifically, and the risks of Discord and Howrse are actually pretty comparable as long as you are actively using these safety features and taking every measure you can to protect yourself on both websites. (You can also enable two-factor authentication on Discord. As far as I know, you can’t on Howrse. So, in that way, Discord is safer than Howrse).

My comment was NOT intended to universally advocate the use of discord, but to reassure anyone who wanted to sign up to the ambassador program but had doubts about using discord. I didn’t want them to miss out because they were scared away from discord by an inflated sense of danger, and little to no knowledge of how to minimise the existing dangers, most of which also exist on a truly uncountable number of websites across the internet. (The internet isn't safe, and Discord itself isn't uniquely dangerous).

Also, I do agree that having an external website as the primary space for Howrse’s news and communications is strange, inconvenient and unfair to those who decide not to use discord. Because, as I also said in my previous comment, not using discord is absolutely a valid and understandable decision!!!