Horseland

The game also consisted of a group of people who "moderated" the website and took action against players who acted inappropriately or cyber bullied other players. These players had a badge beside their name. Whether the mods were active or not, players had to see their status updates.

The world is the place where players could meet, chat, and roleplay virtually. The world had several different servers to accommodate many players, with a variety of places to explore. There were groups of players who formed a roleplaying subgame within Horseland, creating their own characters and acting as their said characters either in the world or through messages with other players. Everyone was represented in the world by an avatar created when the player signed up. These avatars could be modified somewhat to resemble the player and you could change the hair, eye, and skin color. However, you could not change your avatar's gender. If a player had the money to, they could customize their horses and avatar with a variety of clothing and tack, which could be purchased from the store. (Picture of The World is shown on right.)

The "Horseland Outfitters" shop sold tack and clothing to customize player and horse avatars. Tack cost from 800 to 3750 coins, and clothing ranged from 530 to 4000 coins. Players could add multiple items to their cart and buy them all at once. They also sold horses and dogs, plus crates and stalls for them. All animals purchased at the shop were three years old. The price for animals generally ranged from around 200 to 350 coins. Also, shops sold food for the animals at a cost of 95 coins per bag of feed, which contained 100 daily servings.

Screenshot of the "Shop" section in Horseland

Horseland was an escalating system of gameplay, where players strived to earn as many points as possible, both for their player account as well as their individual horses. Players earned points through the training of their horses or dogs. A single player could own many animals of varying breeds and descriptions. While there was no single point goal for their animals, the players were restricted by the trainable lifespan of their horses and dogs. While a horse or a dog could only participate in show training for a period of time, it could participate in ticket training its whole life. When an animal became too old for show training, it was offered the option of retirement. Most players did not retire their animals, as it created "broken lines" where the horses' or dogs' records were wiped off the Horseland database and could not be seen again. Horses could pass a portion of their earned points to their offspring if they bred before reaching retirement age, and thus an evolving system of gameplay continued through the lineage of the animals that players foster d and maintained.

Screenshot of the "Jumping Show" in Horseland

Points usually took time. The horse or dog was required to have all their checkups completed before they showed.

There were 2 types of shows: Jumping Shows and Automatic Shows. Jumping Shows were added to the game in October 2008. Every player could start one show a week. The Jumping shows were Flash-based and interactive. The player maneuvered the horse around a jumping course using the arrow keys and space bar. The player received the points immediately after they finished the course. The owner of a jumping show designed the courses using different jumps and obstacles. The Automatic Shows were not interactive. In Automatic Shows, a player put their horse on the list for a particular show then, overnight, the winners of the show are randomly picked and points are awarded.

Horseland players could train their animals by "Show Training" or "Ticket Training." Show Training involved players entering their horses or dogs in shows where points were awarded the next day. As their animals gained points, the user also gained "Player Points," which were equal to the number of points the animal gained. However, with every show the animal's health bar decreased, limiting the number of shows a horse or dog could enter.

The other method, Ticket Training, was through the use of tickets that Premium players could purchase at the online store. One training ticket gave a horse or dog 30 points without it affecting the animal's health. These tickets could be used on the player's own animals or the player could choose to sell it as a service to other players. As it was a player-operated service, ticket prices fluctuated depending on the seller. Horse tickets were removed from the game in October 2008 and re-introduced in January 2009.

Some players offered a service referred to as "point training", or training a horse or dog using one of the above methods to "x" number of points for "x" amount of money. Generally, hiring other players to do such a thing was be more expensive than doing so personally.

Breeding was an important part of the Horseland World game. Players could extend the capabilities of an animal to earn more points by passing a portion of the points earned by a horse on to their offspring, giving that foal a higher starting point level.

Players could choose to breed among their own horses or with horses owned by others. The owners of the stallions controlled the breeding by having the option to accept or reject a "breed request" by another player. Mares could be bred once every 21 days, and stallions every 2 days (both from the age of 3 until the age of 21).

Breeding was tracked by the game, listing all ancestors of a horse still in play. Once retired, however, the information for that horse (name, age, points, etc.) was lost and the offspring of that horse lost that portion of their lineage, resulting in what is referred to as a "broken line". Most players were very attentive to the tracking of bloodlines, so they often chose to not retire their horses.[7]

Crossbreeds (aka CB) were two different breeds that were bred together.

Overbred (aka OB) meant that the horse/dog had a large number of offspring.

Inbred (aka IB) meant that one horse/dog was in the pedigree more than once.

Broken-Lined (aka BL) meant that the horse/dog's parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc., could not be found.

A horse that was either inbred, overbred, or both, was generally frowned upon. A horse or dog was less likely to be bought if this applied to it.

Graphics were modified pictures and "layouts" designed by graphic makers. A layout was usually a manipulated image with the player's name and ID number on it, with text boxes for writing any information about the player and their services. Layouts required knowledge of HTML and photo manipulation, often resulting in large sums of money being paid to the graphic maker. They were a popular way of keeping homepages interesting. They were simple or complex, depending on the player's budget and needs. Graphic makers ranged from beginners who were experimenting with novice programs to more experienced people using programs such as Gimp or Photoshop. People often had layout contests in which they offered a large sum of money, chose the layout they liked best, and paid that person.

The economic system in Horseland evolved into a free, open market by players, originally beginning with the buying and selling of horses and items included by the Horseland game system and eventually including services offered by the players themselves, such as homepage design and artwork.

Players used "Coins" to buy most things in the game. Coins could be earned by playing mini-games or purchased with real money. Horseland also offered a "Premium Membership". Premium Players were given a weekly income of 3,500 Coins and access to exclusive features like forum avatars & signatures, featured listings in search results, dog training tickets, themed jumping shows, and the previously standard 100 classes/show.[8]

Though the game itself required players to purchase automated services, such as veterinary visits to maintain the health of their animals. Elective services, such as the boarding of animals in privately owned stables and kennels, were handled by the players themselves.

Horseland allowed players to dictate the price of their services and created a natural division of labor, as some players elected to specialize their gameplay by being "trainers" or "boarders", for example. The ability to have open discussion on the Horseland Forum pages lent itself to players looking for and advertising services offered for players by players and fostered a fluctuating open market.