PonyIsland.net reviews

Hello Everypony! Today after looking over the extremely biased reviews of this game. I am going to give you all an honest look at Ponyisland.net. A webgame that I am still active on, and do still enjoy, and if it's worth your time and money.

So sit back, relax, and I will tell you more about this game than you ever wanted to know.

I: My personal History with PonyIsland...

So, I think the best way to start this off is to give a short rundown on how I became a member of this website. It's a funny story actually. I had made the first account for a friend, since she did not have internet access, and could only really play at my place. Initially I was one of those guys who thought that ponies were not cool, and was just doing it because I knew she enjoyed them.

The way the game is set up however, made it so that you had to take care of your ponies or they'd die. Of course it had to be me since I was the one who technically owned the account, and with both of us working together to maintain our ponies, while also coming up with characters for them, it didn't take long for my friend to get me hooked to where I made my own account.

To this day, I have not one single regret, but is this game worth the price of admission? Short answer yes. Long answer? Read on and see.

II: Gameplay

Ponyisland at the time of writing this has twenty breeds of ponies, and countless sgenes which are split into four different catagories. Body, Hair, Leg, Face. Some genes are more realistic, and some, the breed specific in particular are downright fantastical, and the breed selection in very inventive with some breeds such as Unicorns and Pegasi being iconic, however there are also some very unique breeds as well. Phoenix Ponies and Merdragons coming to mind, alongside Kitsune Ponies, and Dino Ponies.

The Breed Specific Genes also add a great layer of diversity as well, although not every breed has theirs yet.

What is there though offers quite a few options for those who want to breed some interesting combinations.

The genetics are a fickle thing to work with however, so please bear with me as I try to break them down in simple terms.

During Breeding, the genes and colors are chosen from the parents in a way that will attempt to give the offspring a combination of both parents colors and genes. If the parents are identical, then the offspring with look identical to them. However there is a bit more to this system.

To get the most out of breeding in this game, you have to create a good pony within as few generations as possible. The first generation as in ponies you've generated should have the blueprints you need to create a DVSO from them. (Double Visible Starter Offspring.) Which is generally what most breeders do in this game. There is lots of terminology to learn, but to put it simple, a Starter is a pony that is fresh from the generator, and will like have the genes you want but will not show them, once the offspring is bred they should have the genes present.

Confused yet? Probably, but I'm likely making it sound a lot more complicated than it is. I'll admit that I don't make a habit of breeding very often, especially since it can be hard to know what genes a pony has unless there is a note with them listed. It can be fun to breed random ponies and see what you get from then.

Breeding isn't all this website has going for it although that is probably the number one reason aside from just being a fan of ponies.

There are other things you can do though.

For one, you are going to need to feed and vet your ponies which costs PG (Ponygold)

This is not optional as if a pony dies, you will have to obtain a resurrection scroll, which cost BP, or Bonus Points. You earn PG and BP by contesting and Questing your ponies, which also allows you to level up their stats so that they can do better in the next contest, which can lead to some huge payoff in the end. Just remember to vet your ponies after each contest, as they will get hurt.

In addition to this, you can also customise your interface, as well as how your home island looks which is a pretty cool feature that a lot of websites like this lack. Here you can actually have a visual representation of your stables which makes it easier to get attached to your collection, or herd, or what ever you want to call your ponies.

There are also countless artists, adoptables, and even forums and groups that are filled with additional and often times exclusive content, and most people on the forums are quite friendly. Which leads me to.

III: The Community.

Okay, so this is where I'm going to be stepping on some toes. Please keep in mind that I do not intend to be hurtful with what I'm going to say, as this is just what I've experienced personally.

So to start with the most obvious controversy, I do agree that some of the rules on Ponyisland are a bit stingy. The thing that I've noticed however is that many complaints are coming from a place of fairly biased anger. Why is that? I'll explain. The whole idea behind the paid subscription service is to disincentivise trolls and other toxic influence from taking root in the community, while still leaving the site open to the general public.

This was not always the case however. When Ponyisland was first created, it was meant to be little more than a club, for the admin and her friends to hang out and share there passion. Of course with the Internet being the Internet, what started out as a fun little venture by a few close friends, ended up becoming an actual web business. While it paid off initially, some of the new obligations plus the ever increasing demand for innovation, caused a rift to form in the community.

Now the webside is divided into four camps. Those who still hold loyalty to their friends, and are now bitter at how some things turned out. Those who were part of the old guard but now hate their guts.

The average consumer (Me) who is just enjoying the site for what it is, and the consumer who wants their dollar to mean something.

It's a vicious cycle, and it makes it really hard for the mods, many of which were part of that initial golden era to hold an unbiased attitude. Does that excuse some of the things that have happened. No. Absolutely not. Especially when there are as many bad mods as there are good. In my experience though, especially as sort of a random nobody, I can say that the mods I have interacted with were very fair, and willing to help accomadate my requests. I have also noticed that they are actually far more lenient that the rules would make you think.

As to the location of rules, (In their respective forum) I don't really see an issue with that, in fact that seems to be the most common since way to do it, since you don't need to read the rules on making a post about the new project you made, if you're actually going to be writing fanfiction.

It is really not a big deal, especially since combining all of the rules into a single page would not only be overwhelming, but counter productive since it would mean more forum hopping, in order to check the rules, in a forum, and then have to travel back to said forum in order to post.

IV: In Conclusion

Ponyisland is 23$ per account, per year, however if you make a point to hoard PG, it is possible to never have to pay for a subscription again, as you can sell PG and BP for actual money, and that is just if you don't take commisions.

Really though the game is solid, with some very interesting ponies and countless projects for you to breed, or just lots of pretty ponies to collect.

The community is at odds with itself on where and how the future of the site should be handled, but as long as you're not being a D*** about how you express your opinion, then it really isn't nearly as bad as people are making it out to be.

The mods do have some bias, but that comes from the fact that they are a close circle of friends, and may even feel that this club that Ponyisland used to be for them is being taken over, by people who don't have the same connection that they do, but at the same time have shown a great deal of professionalism.

I actually was a part of the movement that was trying to ressurect the sites RP storyline, and was a bit of a pest for the mods during that time, and yet was never attacked or banned for my thoughts or requests.

The only post that was deleted was a religious conspericy on how Wishing Ponies and Valkyrie Ponies were the PonyIsland versions of Angels and Demons. I don't think I need to elaborate further on why this post was deleted lol.

Overall I probably left out more than I included, but that is because, even though this game has it's shortcomings, I still think that if you are a fan of Ponies in any way, that this site is still more than worth it, to at least try.

I find this to be a really fun site. I have multiple accounts and love breeding the ponies. I have also gotten really involved in the adoptables section of the site. I also play a lot in the stravas or other things happening on the site. I love the site and despite the issues I see others have had with mods I have had none at all.

I have found the mods to reasonable and willing to discuss issues so long as everyone remains polite and respectful. I only once had a post hidden and when I contacted them to discuss it, they wound up reversing it as it was a simple misunderstanding.

Overall I enjoy this site a great deal and even recommended it to my mother and my sister along with my nieces.

Actually, after reading some of the reviews on here, I'm torn between sad and amused. Sad that some of you feel this way, and amused that some of you are so bitter about things. I've been on this site for years now, and I've never been banned or anything else. I see no "cliques", and I've had nothing but good experiences with the MODs that most people here seem to have so many issues with. Then again I guess I just know to read everything that says rules? Anyway, best place I've ever spent my money with really kind and considerate people! The site runs smoothly and you can make about any type of pony you desire. Provided you treat everyone with consideration, and use common sense with rules, you should have a good time.

I've played PonyIsland.net pony breeding sim game for 11 years. I've created countless fellow PI players pony art since 2012 (fellow player's ponies in a retro 80s MLP style in baby pony form) I finished one such art piece for a player and she was so happy on how it came out that she posted it onto the forums. That's where I got caught for the first time. The offense was - copyrighted material even of a screenshot photo image found online not allowed in artwork or any kind is considered stolen, art theft.....Well, the Mario Bros game play screenshot was found on Google, which means it is Free Fair Use as long as no real money is exchanged for said art commission. (I chose the screenshot cause I did not want to paint the image onto the blank space on the paper, I wanted to do something different) The MODs don't understand this at all. Because I was not allowed to plea my case, I'm suspended until November 23rd and this means all my ponies will be dead. It takes a lot of BonusPoints and PonyGold to buy up as many Ressurection Scrolls to bring back ponies I want...... Enclosed are screenshots of the sitatuation that unfolded with other evidence of their double standard of accessories on ponies can create a fact simalily of any style of already copyrighted images from movies, cartoons, TV shows and fictional novel characters. (For example, Stephen King's IT character can be expressed with accessory items and named Pennywise, this means that basic image is being created by a paid account, therefore money is involved).....The 'rule' of no copyrighted material allowed on PI is strict beyond strict and does NOT give warnings for first time offenders. They don't even hear your plead case like I tried to do. The MODs rule the site and the Admins just gather all the goods of playing favorites. ....I'm not angry like this over being suspended it is that I'm angry cause their 'iron clad' rule is falsely destructive and hurts the chances of future players buying an account. As in the screenshots provided below, their player base is leaving. 10 years ago the game developer had 10,000 or more players. Then just 5 years ago that number went down to 5,000 to 3,000 players. Currently, from a vote on how many players wanted the Halloween Items to come out early and it was 94% of players said yes, while the others said no. The number of players that voted was 1,300. This means, their player base in a 'Special Club' of paid members. Even the PonyGold (in game currancy) the Trial Members can't buy anything until they pay for the account. Mind I've played this game for 11 years, I've seen things get worse ever since......All in all, this game is not worth your money. $23 a year, that's per account you buy. Think on this - one user has 80 accounts. I counted them myself and they are still in use. $23 x 80 accounts = $1,840.00. Then you put it as $23 x 1,300 players =$29,900. This game is a cash cow. It takes money to maintain the servers of course, but the developer could do so much more to keep up with the times. App games make thousands more dollars in comparison in a 24hr period. If the rule of this 'copyright / stolen artwork' BS was changed to give a warning and to clean up what had happened, then I would not be fussing. But this game is not worth $23 considering all the nasty back stabbing bs that the MODs seem to have power over.

Has changed core "policies" and game play so many times I can't count. Do not invest money into this site - they do not show any type of loyalty or respect to players who have stuck around through the hurdles. In fact, they spit in your face. MODs determine game play. Not admin. They pick favorites, there's one particular user, JWard, who is particularly two-faced, and is on PIE (A celebration team). She's asked like 20 players not to contact her for BOGUS reasons, and due to PI rules, these players can not even participate in events on a site they are PAYING to participate on. It's the most insane thing ever. When you first discover this site you'll be ooooo this is awesome, but slowly and surely, you'll find out how corrupt and censored you are. However, may be good for 10-12 year olds to play on. Safe environment if you don't put much stock into serious game play/character building. Do not comment anything on discussion boards ever.

Stumbled across this website and I was shocked by some of the reviews.

As someone who has played on and off since 13 to now 23 years old. I've been on all spectrums of game play.

The mods are not a God squad, there are rules and rules to be followed.

There is no easy way to mistake the for zhe. If a mod uses chatspeak on a pony for a character that's different than the forums. Why is chatspeak not allowed? It's hard to read, especially since there are international players.

Now as an adult the level of conversation I have is very different than when I was 13. Everyone has access to the forums. It's only appropriate that my language is ok for all ages.

A forum is about 25 posts long, so 3 per week is usually plenty. One for your weekly bred babies and 2 for new ponies you generated or something. Then in another forum post items for sale. Not wanting forums flooded is not a reason to write a 1 star review.

And to those saying they want refunds for the money while they were banned. Most likely it was just a forum ban. And seriously? Its $24 a year haha you want a $0.50 refund? Get over it.

The community is great. You can't post things like you're saving up for x item because the users (mods included) will just send them to you and share their items.

I didn't have a lot of PI friends until I did an adoptable role play and now it's even more fun!

Really amazing game
Captivating breeding challenges
Best community in the world

I love this site! I love the breeding, the community (yes, even the MODS), and the ponies of course. I was actually searching for a QVSOO guide, but stumbled upon this little gem of reviews instead. Now, normally I don't review many things, but I spend a good amount of my time on PI, and I was a little shocked at these some of these reviews.

Yes, the MODS can be a little strict on where you post what.. but that's kind of their job, and no one can say they don't do it XD I have had a few of my replies hidden, but looking back on it, I can see why. Though I didn't cuss or anything inappropriate like that, it sometimes slips my mind that there are 11 and 12 year olds playing this game, and have as much right to be on the forums as I do, and it is important for adult users to remember that some kid is reading their post. I have even had a thread deleted because it was against the rules (medical question about a spider bite XD ) guess what? I wasn't banned. The post was simply deleted with a message as to why. End of story.

I do not think PI is cliquish. The community is smallish, and a lot of these players have been playing for years together, they've been involved in various groups together (POTW, Strava planning, adoptables)-- so yeah, they're friends. Want friends on PI? Go out and make some. A good chunk of the players are shy and very introverted, you don't see them on the forums, but they're there. I have only been on the site for a year and a couple months, and I feel like I fit well. I made my own friends. I don't know the MODS personally, but I can say that from their posts they seem really nice- and I have never seen any one of them abusing/ making fun of a player. Ever. Debates are welcome, disagreements are inevitable- but if you can't debate/disagree without getting personal, this isn't the site for you. However, if you are looking for a fun, friendly community, this is it :P

1) Admin not involved at all, give MODs full power. Admin didn't even come up with rules of site, their lead MODS did, which the MODS don't even follow lol. MODs determine the "cool kids". Give expensive and special items that they receive for Modding to cool kids. Free speech not allowed. You're not allowed to say "hey I'm saving up for this item so I'm selling stuff!" Not allowed to capitalize more than 1 letter a sentence. If there's a "discussion" in the discussion board and you post something the MODs don't agree with? They'll erase it and say you were being "mean-spirited". MODs will ban you, a paying customer, for the simplest of mistakes. For buying a pony from the pony market on a trial account before making it a sub. For typing "zhe" even if by accident and you meant "the" because "Chat speak isn't allowed" (Even though one of the MODS uses chat speak with her character).
2) Rules are pages, upon pages, long, and also there's more rules for each forum which you HAVE to read and that's your responsibility as a user and you'll get banned if you don't follow each and every one of them.
3) Can't bump threads for literally weeks. You have to wait til your thread falls off the first page, which is formatted to be ridiculously long, and due to the amount of dwindling users due to the MODs bullying users, can take weeks.
4) Nothing is rare, or allowed to be rare, even if it was promised to be so. Items that were told to be one time release are now being re-released. The "Generator" (Where you create ponies) has been calibrated twice. With the original, white and black was hard to gen, so people spent lots of money and time breeding and genning white and black ponies. Then BOOM, after 9 years of having this gen, they changed it. White and black severely easy to get. However, you can now not - as in it is impossible and not achievable - to get close to red, blue, green, yellow, cyan, or magenta. So, all those white and black ponies you have stored up and built your little pony castle on? Worthless. So back to square one. You store up old ponies, that aren't able to be genned anymore. 3 years later...BOOM. Generator changes, with no communication either time. The literally $100s of dollars worth of ponies you've saved up? Now again, worthless. But at least you still have your rare items throughout the years!! Nope. Now those are being re-released as well.

Overall - amazing concept. The artist on this site are amazing, the breeding possibilites are sooo addicting, but the admin has absolutely no respect for their long-time users, and #1, the MODs, are absolutely atrocious on this site.

I say this as a user that has played many, many, many virtual pet sites throughout the years. The MODs on this site are (not exaggerating) 20x worse than any other MOD I've encountered on any single site.

The moderators of Pony Island are not a fair group. There are many examples of their overboard actions to players without a fair hearing about the situation under review. Just their personal opinions or tangents. It is sad that the administration seems to have left the God Squad as the only option for final review. It puts an otherwise awesome game into a catagory of 'beware buyer'. The god squad itself should be reviewed.

I will give an example of their unbrideled actions. A friend did an art project for one of their events. They used a photograph (not a copywright piece of work such as a photograph of another person or a piece of art or something of that nature). They used a simple picture of an item (an everyday item with everyday items in it). An example that I shall give is a bowl of fruit. Now you would think that if someone took a picture of a bowl of fruit and drew their rendition of that bowl of fruit and specifically made that bowl of fruit into something else such as a car that looked like a bowl of fruit they would 'referencing' and not 'copying'. When the item drawn becomes something else by using or referencing an item it isn't a copy. These moderators don't seem to understand this concept. They put an art ban on my friend.

When my friend contested the ban, brought all of this up with the mod squad they were basiclly told to bad this is our decision. My friend asked when the ban would no longer show on their account and basiclly they were told that it would remain on their account FOREVER. Like say what?? This was the very first thing that had ever gone wrong for them and they get a forever mark on their account.

I personally think it is wrong to keep bad marks on accounts that people pay good money for. If there has been no other situation in over a year there should be a review board that can clear those off of accounts that had honest mistakes, have done their best to not get black marks against their account(s).

Not according to the god squad though. They don't care they just love the power trip they are on.

Maybe the administration should consider a term for these god squad moderators. It is a sad statement on an otherwise very nice game with so much going for it.

I was suspended for a rule I knew nothing about (multiple unpaid accounts with my paid accounts) because of the fact that the "Rules" link on the sign up page goes directly to the TOS page and not to any official rules page. I didn't know of an official rules page (because of the link error) on the forums until a mod sent me the link in my resolve ticket. It was the first time I saw the "official rules".
I informed the mods about this (and I took screen-shots of my communications with them, as well as a video of the faulty "Rules" link) and asked to be un-suspended seeing as this was an error on their part and told them I had fully intended to pay for the remaining 4 accounts this payday (08-26-16). They still ignored my pleas to be un-suspended and asked me to mark the ticket as resolved even though they left me suspended and the issue unresolved.
I sent several more messages and waited for over 3 hours with no response. I finally clicked the resolved button since they chose to continue ignoring me and decided to resolve it myself by getting a full refund on all of my accounts since I feel IdzTech/Pony Island is being purposefully malicious by lying and withholding information upon signing the contract and is causing me to lose time and money that I put into the game by penalizing me for something I was never informed of as well as leaving their error unfixed.
A contract that does not provide full information upon signing cannot then suddenly have that lack of information enforced on the signee/payee. Seeing as Pony Island refused to be ethical and seeing as they have not fixed the link to the rules so that others dont have this issue, I will discontinue my business with them forever.
I also did research and found I am not the only one who has this issue. So this is an ongoing dilemma with other players. I feel the IdzTech/Pony Island is an immoral business that purposefully tricks its users and then penalizes them for something they could never have known.

This was my message sent to PonyIsland.net through PayPal as I intend to get a full refund. If they do not refund me, I will inform paypal of their deceit as they have now closed my accounts as soon as my payment reversal and this message was sent to them. I have yet to see any money back from them, but I will give them the traditional 3-5 business days.

Here you have a fun concept, and a very nice set up. However the mods do not fully obey their own rules, find walk arounds, and hand out far too many bans for very harmless mistakes.

Here are Some Examples
Examples:
Repeatedly posting too many sales threads too often-Forum Flooding. Too often can mean more than 3 in a week.
Art Theft- Although this is to protect many users, a friend of mine was banned for "Art Theft" for stealing their own art...because they were reported to have art by a user by a different site...which was them. Their ban was lifted but their money for lost time-It's a pay site was not refunded and no apology given.
Forums are constantly modded to the extreme, even if your topic matches the forum post if one small part could fit in another topic it is hidden, deleted, or removed. If this happens too often you can get a ban.
Example: Say you have a breeding project and post examples in a Discussion forum, your still adding content, the admins will move your topic to Show and Tell, then delete it because when you finish it is not a "Show & Tell" This has happened to alot of people.
Site is unstable and no money is refunded for downtime.
Admins are having ownership issues and are limiting new content updates.
You are never allowed to say anything about the way the site is ran, modded, ect...unless you know the mods personally or you will likely get a ban or worse.
The Mods can and do make fun of the players.

Great ideas have been proposed in the ideas forum and one of the mods or art crew has openly made fun of that players ideas, drawing different versions of his/her ideas and making the user feel poorly.

Another downside: The rules are not in a clean, easy to read guide. They are scattered all around the site and you can easily get a ban and lose real money for it by obeying the rules but "not" knowing where to find all the rules.

You are responsible for folling all the rules weither they be in the official guide that most of us go to read, the forum headers, forum topic headers, forum topics, admin chat windows, admin forum topics.... see the problem here?

With no absolute guide that lists all the possible rules you can get banned for you have to go on a rules scavenger hunt to make sure your not breaking any. Many new members get a ban in the first week, not because their rule breakers but because they simply cannot find all the rules, or the side guide is unclear or doesn't cover all the rules made within the sites history.

Yes there is an old pony island and if the admins forgot to transfer old rules to new PI you are still liable for knowing them. Should you break them and get a ban you can lose large sums of Money!

No refunds are given to banned accounts, even if you have been a long term member & Paid for your account for 3-4 years...Bad Business! The No adds is nice but they make it difficult for new players to understand and enjoy the site. -Avoid!

If you did that you would get Banned, They do it frequently.

The Upsides: The non-mod community is friendly, caring, and sharing. The gameplay is fun *If you can do anything without a fear of a ban.

I have been a member for 8 years and have played numerous online breeding/pet games, none of which come close to PI!

It is pay-to-play to get the best experience, but priced fairly, if not comparatively cheap to other games in a similar market, and totally worth it. Personally, it is one of the few games I am willing to put money in based on the quality and updates it puts out. I certainly feel I get my money's worth with PI and have never had payment issues. Also, accounts nor ponies disappear, so it's easy to come back to the game after a break, which is a nice plus.

The game design is simple, but with countless opportunities, such as hourly contests, 30+ genes and 18 pony breeds and counting, active forums and clubs, and thousands of collectibles that will keep you entertained. The admin and staff are always working behind the scenes. Through the years, they have updated the site interface and servers, as well as game features and artwork. No more hourly tick!

Last for this review, but certainly not least, another benefit of being pay-to-play is the above standard community. The majority is level-headed, polite and generous. When accounts could expire, another user paid for my membership for me without asking. I have had numerous rare ponies gifted to me. As far as popularity, I do not have hundreds of ponies and only have one friend, but that doesn't matter, only manners and gratitude, a sense of humor and creative fun and people will no doubt get along with you!

Great site, I have playing for years. It only cost $23.00 for a year. Love the contesting and breeding.

Extremely cliquey. There's the cool kids, and then there's everybody else. If you don't fit their self prescribed 'norm' and you aren't one of them, you wont get far in this game. You can be as genuine and hard working as anyone, but if you don't bend over and start kissing some ass, be prepared to have this game's community wipe the floor with yours.

I love the artwork and the fact that you can breed ponies, but I must say... If I had known that the Administrators and Moderators were such tyrants, I would never of joined and sank so much money into it in the first place. I am attached to my account now (and money), so I work just to try to keep it up, but I am getting sick of recieving messages, glowing in evil red, telling me how my posts are in the wrong forums. I make a post about breeding in the "Advanced Breeding" forum and it gets moved to "Generator Tips" or whatever because another user brought up color combos. Also, if you suggest ANYTHING for the site that requires effort, you are bashed and scolded and asked "Why would you do that to the poor MODs and ADMIN?!" The ONLY ideas they will even humor are suggestions about new S-Genes and if you are LUCKY, a new breed. Also, I am pregnant and they say that you are not allowed to even tell people that you are pregnant on forums. I guess to sum it all up, do NOT give your opinion. Do NOT tell people about yourself. And for God's sake, please, do NOT say that you are unhappy. Smile and love your Admin and MODs and repeat after me, "We pay for wonderful coding and hard work. We're lucky to be graced with such a site and have no thoughts and opinions of our own."

DO NOT SIGN UP. I bought my little sister a membership and instead of taking out $14 from my bank account like they were supposed to, they completely maxed it out. I lost thousands of dollars on this site. STAY FAR AWAY.