PonyIsland

Looking at all of the reviewed written before mine, I see both sides.

I've never been banned but I have absolutely have never had a good experience with the MODS or people who run the site. Most reviews do not mention the site's history but it was started by a couple and after a breakup only one of the creators, the one who codes the site, and had not nearly as must emotional investment, remains. This I believe gave MODS the ability to run rampant. The creator that left had a lot more involvement and things seemed much more fair before she left. I have been active for 13 years and have won little to nothing with being an active player for that long. It's not difficult to notice that the MODs friends get the hero's helping of the prizes from events, even if the MODs themselves cannot win the prizes. I have also had my far share of uncalled for emails from the MODs being passive aggressive and rude to me personally even though I rarely participate in the social aspects of the site, I feel have not done anything that would warrant a warning. Although after reading these reviews I'm glad they at least warned me, because it seems that they don't for most. Which is disturbing for a children's focused site.

On the flip side. This is an absolutely wonderful site that has always given me a fun place to go and play with ponies and genetics. The structure is nothing like I've ever seen and there is nothing else like it that I have found. I greatly appreciate that they do not advertise the site and make it a community that is too large to feel at home. I have grown up with this site and I don't see myself ever leaving. Even though I would appreciate a power change, or just honest people in the control of the important things on the site, it's still an amazing place.

At the end of the day. Spend the $14 to try the site out. You spend that every month on Netflix and you might find a 13+ year long relationship with a unique and wonderful site that is far different than pretty much everything you'll come across these days. It's an interesting place that has so much potential. Support the creator, and pressure the bad parts out. It's worth the try. Have fun!

I've played the game for a while finally bit the bullet and payed for a subscription so I could actively be involved in the wonderful community. Things went great until I let my sister access her trial account on the same computer as I access my paid account. I am now banned from doing anything on the site for 14 days because I shared a computer with a trial user.

I've been playing since 2009 and I very much enjoy this game. I enjoy breeding and getting to play with genetics of my ponies as well as how easy it is to earn in game currency. I saw several negatives on the Mods and Rules and honestly have never had a problem, this game is rated G and is super kid friendly as well as really on top of any kind of art theft etc., i have never had a ban or a problem with the mods.
I highly recommend it if you enjoy breeding games :)

I should have checked more carefully before I bought her a subscription. The game encourages players to starve virtual animals to death for a profit of game gold. Anyway thats what she told me. She also told me the mods thought they ruled the universe and swore at her and called her names. They were bullying my child. They called her acwimp and a sissy. One mod called her a $#*!.

I simply don't understand the thing with "this feature isn't avalible to trial users" is it that there's a full version and I don't have it? Please explain

Frankly I feel like the complaints about the mods are folks actively breaking the rules. I've played for ~13 years and have never had a ban. They're very kind + forgiving and frequently run events and donate so much of their time for free.

Love the breeding component and challenges of this game. The art community is incredible and I'm hoping to kick off my own adoptable soon too! Great opportunities to collect, make life long friends, examine fun genetics and join a really uplifting community!

I would like to preface this by saying I have never personally been done wrong by this site, or even gotten into trouble with the Mods, or directly interacted with one. I stay off of the forums and keep to myself to avoid this. This review is based off of what I've seen happen to other players.

Mods have access to infinite valuable items (DVS slots, etc.) as they are the ones that hand them out, and regularly sell them for almost 300USD to players on site forums...

Most regular players have to either buy one of these slots from another player/Mod, or win them in a giveaway. Most normal players have 1-3 DVS's maximum, and a good majority of players don't have any at all.
-The Mods' friends also have a suspiciously high number of these limited items.

Even if they somehow are coming across these honestly, (very unlikely) you feel scared to ask/question anything as I've seen people pushed off of this PAID site for no more than just questioning a Mod's decision. There is so much that is overpowered and suspicious about the mods, and they create an environment where you just cannot criticize them, or even ask/hold accountable.
It is also stated that it is not guaranteed that Mods are paid, yet they are a tight knit group of people who have been playing and modding for many years, usually for most of the site's history. All I'm saying is that it is very unlikely that they are not being compensated, (or given some kind of advantage) and also very unlikely that PI is totally fair, yet people are expected to act as though Mods are angels who donate their time.

On top of all of that, technicalities and hard to understand rules are ban-able and "strike one out of of two" worthy, but usually those rules only become enforced if you insult or offend a Mod in some way.

The only way to stay out of trouble, is to never interact on the forums, really.
If you can get past that, it's a fun game.

I have been a member on PI for 10+ years, I took a short break and came back to realize that the MODS are awful. They do not care about you or what you have to say. You want to disagree with them? Good luck because they will be rude to you and make your run on the site as difficult as possible. Not to mention that the site shows EXTREME favoritism. I do not think I will be putting anymore money to the site, if you like breeding games like this try flight rising instead, same concept only executed better and with dragons.

The breeding mechanics are fun but don't even bother, mods will $#*! all over you for the most benign thing.

The community is incredibly pleasant, supportive and inclusive. The rules here are simple to follow, if you don't mind keeping your language clean and avoid posting links to sites that are regarded as questionable because of their content. The mods are generally quite thoughtful towards issues that come up and are eager to help you understand something if you are willing to learn. I have been here since early 2019, and it saved my sanity during the pandemic. I only ever have one issue with the rules and when I learned what it was I had the maturity to understand it. The art site I had linked is known for its "deviant" content in writing and graphics.

In addition to the rules, they also have a FAQ page for quick reference, and recently they added a Manual which goes into even more detail about all the features of the site, including recipes for the Forge and a full description of rewards, prizes and presents given out for completing certain game milestones and participating in site wide events.

Because of the rules this is very safe place for a child to play, and is a quiet place for an adult to unwind. If you enjoy playing with genetics, colors and designs, or just love my little pony, this is a wonderful place for you!

You get banned for not paying them and logging in to multiple accounts. Its like constantly walking on eggshells and you get suspended or banned for simply pointing out that a rule is unfair.

Ponyisland is your average breeding game. The artwork is nice and the breeding options are plentiful. The designers of the website do a great job, and the art community is extremely talented. It is nothing special, and I recommend other websites like Flight Rising as I find they have more to offer.

At the end of the day, the game is fine but the MODS are HORRIBLE and ultimately are unwilling to hear out players and make the experience nearly unbearable. I quit after years of playing because the MODS were so terrible. They play favorites, and unless you kiss up to them they WILL make your experience an unpleasant one.

At the end of the day, invest your money into websites where the staff care and are helpful/

I've been on Pony island ever since 2007. There are good things and bad things about this site. The mod team always gives out the best that they can to the people that play. But I feel like there are more people over the age of 18 on the site than there are of children. You have to walk on eggshells around the mod team and you can't say anything that's even remotely bad or anything close to a swear word or you will be silenced. It's just really upsetting that most of the mod team wouldn't even care about what you are going through as a person. I would say the only bad thing about the site is sometimes there are just too many mods that feel like they're too high and mighty but it still doesn't take away from how great of a game this is and how close to my heart it is because of how long I've been playing it. I feel like any child below the age of 12 wouldn't really understand the intricate things that go through with this game.

I've been on this site for almost 16 years now and have seen A LOT of work go into it throughout the years. While the site has undergone drastic changes throughout the years the admin team (Artists, MODs, Event and POTW) really has done a wonderful job to keep the breeding aspect of the game alive.

There are wonderful breeds and genes to play with, and a stunning array of items to dress your ponies in. The admin team is fair and adheres to the rules, but also allows for some leniency when they can. Rules and FAQ questions are available always through the homepage and bottom of the screen so if you ever have any questions you can read through (I still do from time to time). My favorite times of the year are the Extravaganzas and the Advent. There are always wonderful creative games and prizes. The admin team

I've never had any negative interactions with any of the admin team and was very shocked to see so many disgruntled reviews. I've been an active member and mediocre artist on the site (not for the site) for 16 years, and while some of the rules may seem a little too strict, they insure a safe place for all ages to come and enjoy the site. I'm so glad to be part of this site, and hope to see it continue going for many years to come. It's a fantastic place to hide away when the rest of the world is going crazy.

Been on this site since the beginning, and I'm done with the overall $#*!iness.
Players and their cash do not matter here. Only moderators and their clique.
Don't expect them to be kind to you, expect them to speak to you like crap no matter your issue or how innocent you are in their fabricated issue.
Be prepared to get a ban for posting any sort of capital letters, colored text, words that aren't even swearwords, etc even if a mistake and first time offense. The moderators cannot wait for a chance to jump on anything to police it. It's the only place they have any power in their sad lives and it shows plain as day.
Save yourself money and time. There's much better pet sims out there.

I have a rather large family, and we all LOVED PonyIsland, but we couldn't afford to pay for one account, so we all created our own trial accounts. They suspended our accounts because "you cannot have more than one trial account per person" WHICH BY THE WAY ISN'T EVEN IN THE "OFFICIAL RULES" PLACE! I tried to explain to them that, no, we did not have more than one per person, but a big family, who can't afford to pay their insanely large amounts of money for even one account. They demanded that we stop logging into all but one of the accounts unless it was to pay for them. Well, how could we choose!? Lin adored her ponies and wasn't going to give them up, but, Margret said the same thing, as well as Sue, and Ari, and Charlie, and well... you get the picture. None of us wanted to give up our precious ponies... but if we logged into more than one account, they would suspend us all over again! The people I talked to were rather rude to us as well, saying that we may as well leave, since we couldn't afford it, and that sort of thing. Trial accounts were already so restricted on what they could do, and the people were so toxic that well... we were actually considering leaving.

I played this game growing up, it helped me develop into an adult that has a passion for art, genetics and learn from my mistakes - though there are a decent range of problems you'd think given their success wouldn't be pervasive given their pay-to-play business model and over a decade to iron out problems.

Here's a TLDR - Potential security and financial safety hazards, lacks fundamental security features any other website these days would have as a minimum, focus more on whether they like users (for example children) when enforcing rules rather than assessing their claims and thus staff protected those who took financial advantage of minors despite the nature of the game itself, the admins repeatedly ignore serious questions and appear (from my recent experience) to treat those with neurodiversity as expendable customers rather than trying to address what is being brought up.

After 5-8 years of absence after some major issues when I played as a teenager - I thought "Hey, I should check out the game that was an integral part of my life for so many years" - this thought was a mistake and I'll explain why.

So, a few unique aspects of the game are the ability to have multiple accounts as long as you pay for them and that items/in game currency can be sold for real-world currency and as such despite being an online pony game - the audience and playerbase are older than you'd see on other games within the genre. When it comes to your "virtual pets", it's pretty unique and offers some cool challenges and advantages as it's genetic and colour driven giving users the ability to create ambitious projects with genetic combinations, multi-generation selective breeding plans and a creative approach to how the colours of these poinies can create practically infinite combinations - which, to re-iterate are commonly sold for real world money between players.

Now, let's talk about some of the flaws that I encountered on the less-than-a-week return as an adult and some I recall which were re-enforced from my time playing in the past.

Some websites will send you emails to the point you'd be frustrated - Ponyisland is not one of those websites. Despite being a platform that requires ongoing payment - you'll never get an email directly from them whether it be confirmation of you signing up, alerts to major changes to your account (for example someone changing your email or transferring your entire inventory and in-game finances to another account etc). Or receipts of any purchases made with them. Now that's a little worrying as if your account was compromised - how would you know if away from the game and if your email and password were changed - what could you possibly do?

Let's talk about my decision to return to this creative website and where the biggest issue I have really starts - like many users on the site I had many accounts and couldn't remember the login details so I did what most people would do - I searched my email, first my current, then the one I had when I was 10 and a few others but didn't have access to my school/educational email accounts for obvious reasons. I didn't have any hits anywhere, so I tried their general search with a few keywords however, no dice. When you try to reset your password you need to provide the username and email, which normally would be pretty standard but given my situation for example - I'm not sure whether my account(s) would be tied to one email address, or multiple, or what my usernames would be and what combination would work. So what can I do next? Contact support despite the low chance I'd be able to prove I'm the account owner - but you can't contact support without being logged in.

So here's the conflict, do you give up on your nostalgia and the desire to help keep a game afloat by chucking them a few bucks to re-live such an integral part of your life for a little while or buckle down. I should have given up here, but alas I chose another option that in retrospect, caused far more harm than good.

So after exhausting the normal ways you'd access an old account with no avail, I opted to register for a trial account for one purpose: The advanced search.

Signup is easy enough, a short form of the basics with confirmation you agree to the rules and terms of service - no mention of users being unable to delete these accounts and details explaining that if you've got multiple trial accounts or both a trial account and a paid account you may have a week's suspension - that's reasonable as I was intending to delete the account once I'd located my other accounts using the search tool exclusive to logged-in users. So it turns out, you can't delete these accounts and since they don't send confirmation emails I'd point-blank forgotten the username of my trial account as it was made at 1AM after a night of pre-new years celebrations with friends and my sobriety was questionable at best.

I was able to recover my old account and paid for it and 2 other of my old sub-accounts and figured it would be a major waste of staff time and resources to request they locate the account I'd made in a haze (especially the week between Christmas and New year as staff would likely be pre-occupied) simply to ask "hey can you find this account that was used for an hour and has absolutely 0 in-game assets which I don't have any way or desire to access" so, left it be and enjoyed 6 days of playing with genetics and exploring the game that hadn't changed since my youth.

So, I broke a rule and I own and accept that, however, there is absolutely no other option for people in my position to take and that's an integral flaw you'd think a paid service that's been active for over a decade and should easily be resolved when talking to support with evidence of the extended inactivity on my long-dead accounts, the choice to pay for multiple accounts and that the trial account in question was clearly not used in a negative intent given no assets were generated/used and it was abandoned entirely.

6 days later, I'm banned for two weeks for having an unpaid trial account. I opened a ticket asking for more information and requested to know what the username was as I had no details of it emailed to me and couldn't recall it, I explained the situation and my attempts to access my accounts prior to creating a trial account and queried why my ban length was double what is stated in the rules. Now, if it'd been a week, as said in the rules, I'd have tolerated it - I mean it's just a digital pony game. The issue was that these ponies die, and the 2 week time-frame meant that I'd have 17 ponies die and recovering them costs significant in-game premium currency which as I mentioned earlier, has out of game value and that seemed a pretty unpleasant and significant penalty for someone who tried every other possible avenue to recover their old accounts, it was evident the account was not accessed since or used for any of the game mechanics and I'd tried to explain this to and propose resolutions. Costing players significant ingame premium currency, which in this situation would have needed me to spend actual money to obtain because I needed to use a search tool after exhausting methods you'd use on any other website, free or not - that's not a healthy environment for people to engage in at any age.

So, in short, my recollection of their Mod staff's behavior prior to me leaving the site in the past hadn't changed. Honestly, until this point, I'd figured I was misremembering how they treated me in the past and assumed my child-brain made it worse than I thought. Well, I was in fact wrong.

After explaining the situation, proposing a variety of possible resolutions (including deletion of the account, transferring one of my paid memberships to it to avoid infraction etc.) they were repeatedly ignored to the point I wasn't sure if my enquiries were even sending within our support ticket (they were, they just chose to ignore them).

Now, in my situation, I had a particular kind of ban on my accounts permanently which has always raised red flags with how it was handled, however, I had accepted it as something I'd always have to deal with if returning to the site and taught me a lot of life lessons in its own way. I don't want to name names or go into explicit detail as it's old and doesn't bother me much now but at the time, 8-9 years ago as a high schooler working 2-3 jobs to earn money and the other users involved being adults who's minimum wage was around double that of mine - being scammed out of hundreds of dollars by fellow "artists" on the website, publicly shamed for being unable to dedicate as much time to this website as a child with multiple jobs and effectively losing the ability to participate in the community without other users bullying me for this - I ain't gonna lie I got upset and practically begged the staff to help me recover whatever I could at the time and it hurt. At the end of the day, I didn't handle it right as a kid who's community and financial situation was destroyed and I got banned from art permanently on the website with staff members calling me a troll. I bring this up as the artists involved are all now permanently banned themselves, at least one for them for a major reason I was upset - art theft.

I bring this up as I figured I'm already dealing with moderators, I might as well ask if I could get clarification from their side on what determined me to be on that list, clarification of the limitations (as their rules didn't go into it) and if, given the other users being banned for exactly what I'd alleged after I left the site for treating others similarly; would be either a) related to why I was treated with a harsher ban than the rules stipulate or b) if an appeal were ever possible for the art ban given the time since and what transpired following it.

Staff told me my reactions and how I handled myself at the time (as a child) were the reason I was banned and that they aren't going to reverse or handle an appeal for it, and I accepted that. They explicitly said maturity and respect - and I was an upset kid back then so I left it at that and said I accept that decision and outright apologized.

Now, days of going back and fourth later, staff were ignoring my inquiries, telling me how they can have leniency for users in my situation but not me and despite me being clear, factual, respectful, and simply - blunt: I was being called immature and disrespectful - I'm a grown adult with qualifications and awards in customer service - I didn't once make any comment like that towards staff, however, apparently those who are on the autism spectrum wanting to revisit a game that frankly has many attributes that would make it very popular with the crowd - aren't capable or trained to treat people like that with dignity or respect and that's bad for a free game let alone one that costs $14USD for 6 months.

I contacted Paypal with evidence after 8 requests for a refund if they're not willing to discuss this with me, pass on feedback or treat me with any level of dignity/respect and that was initially my last-resort solution.

I didn't come back to a website that facilitated me being scammed by an adult as a child and called me a troll when I begged them to take it seriously - to be treated as if I was acting maliciously or to be punished excessively when there is a major integral flaw in their systems that forced me to break a rule that they've told me they're lenient to other users regarding but had no way around. If they'd stuck to what was in their rules, honestly, I'd have probably accepted the punishment despite everything - but they didn't and the way they treated me proves not only is this website not particularly safe for kids even 8 years later, but it's probably a bad place for those who aren't neurotypical too.

The only reason they have 2/5 not 1/5 is simply because the premise has merit - it's a good idea and really inspired me to study veterinary nursing, game design and pursue my passion for art. Maybe the way the admins treated me as a kid pushed me to be blunter and state the facts when dealing with conflicts it customer service as an adult - since having emotions will only hurt you but that doesn't make their reputation for treating paying users of any age, mental capacity/divergence etc. poorly any more forgivable.

- Update my review was deleted so that was cool :)

Having played this game since 2006, it is with heavy heart I find I am letting my accounts expire as I prepare to leave the game. It saddens me, as it use to be such a great game, such a wonderful community. Now, it's just a sad reflection of what it once was. I find the MODs to be rude and the Forums a danger zone. If you just want to breed pretty ponies and play dress up and not interact with anyone, you might enjoy this game. However, if you are looking for anything more, find another site!
Things started to go down hill when the other Admin left and power was handed over to the MODs and artists. As the saying goes 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely'... and this site is a perfect example.

I get it! There are ALOT of rules, some of them being... more QUESTIONABLE then others, but nothing too insane. I feel those complaining must have had a REALLY bad experience or are out right lying, because i have broken PLENTY of rules, and not once has the punishment been more then not being able to play on an account that wasnt my main account, or just having a notification for 3 days. The mods have been courteous and kind to me, nothing like the tyrants you are describing. Ive been on PI for 4 years now and i have NEVER seen even ONE clique on there. Everyone is MORE than kind! I think you all are forgetting this is a game mostly made for children... anyways! You all should play on PI, as its a great site with a wonderful community of nice people.

I spent many years on Ponyisland, early on as a growing artist the moderators would try to take advantage of me and my artwork. I was a fast and decent artist that quickly improved but when a player attempted to break a written agreement, the moderators tried to 'convince' me to make exceptions even after I showed them the agreement. I was young, but I wasn't stupid and I don't break under peer pressure or power play. I fought them every step of the way and in the end it resulted in every customer wanting said special treatment. I received numerous short-term bans for standing up for myself and I did everything in my power to remain respectful as I genuinely enjoyed the site. I was prohibited from taking on any more customers because I wouldn't break under the moderator's pressure to ignore agreements and contracts.

In the end the conflicts resulted in an IP ban as I wouldn't give them what they unjustly demanded and am continued to be tracked to this day. Not many on Ponyisland know my side of the story as I tried to make an effort to keep everything to a minimum, however the same couldn't be said for the moderators as they relished in the attention and 'support' of their disgusting behaviour.

The site is also extortionately expensive too as while you can have multiple accounts, you have to pay full yearly/half-yearly subscription for every single one.

So... I see a lot of counter reviews about how it's easy to follow the rules. And to be fair - it is! There are a lot of rules, but it's not that hard to follow them. What IS hard is finding MODs who are willing to enforce the rules equally/consistently across the player population.

There is definite favoritism by the MOD team. Once the wool is pulled off your eyes, it's even worse than what it sounds like.

For example, one of the rules is to not use chat speak or acronyms (this is because of the international community, to help with communication - and that's totally fine. It's a pretty easy rule to follow). Here's what I noticed when it came to reporting threads that broke this rule: if the player being reported was an unknown person in the community, their post would be hidden and I would receive a note saying thanks from whichever MOD took care of it. However, if the player being reported was a well-known friend of people on the MOD team, the post wasn't hidden and I would get a nasty response from the MODs explaining why it was actually okay for that post--even though it was the exact same thing that got the unknown user's post hidden!

It is against the rules to message someone who has blocked you from messaging them. Like, clearly it is an offense that is instantly ban-able. When someone (not a MOD but one of their darling friends) who constantly harassed me, PMed me from a sub account to *threaten* me, I reported them. And nothing happened. In fact, I was warned to leave the person alone. This person continued to harass me in the forums. Every time I reported their behavior (I never retaliated and any interaction I had with them was respectful, which the MODs themselves admitted), I was threatened by the MODs. At one point, I was told that if I reported this other person's harassment of me one more time, the MODs would ban ME. The victim of harassment. I was told essentially that my existence made me responsible for the other person's harassment of me.

Running macros for contesting is (or at least was) against the rules. At one point, a MOD had an active thread advocating contesting with macros (this was many years ago). I had to point out in as non-confrontational a way as possible that it's against the rules, and the MOD's response was "oh oops" essentially. So, using macros is a ban-able offense. Did this MOD who self-admitted breaking this rule get a ban like most other players would have? Nope, and to my knowledge they are still a MOD.

The administration of this site is a whole flaming hot mess of poop on a doorstep. Most players are adults (not a problem). The actual kids on the site are often bullied by other players (adults!) or even the MODs themselves, and nothing is ever done about it. They allowed entire threads in the forums talking about how terrible all kids who played were - which should be a problem if they actually care about being kid-friendly as much as they profess to!

The rules aren't the problem. The inconsistent enforcement of rules, harassment (allowed by the MODs and conducted by the MODs both), and bullying are. The gameplay is just not worth the headache especially with the switch from pony-focus to item-focus.

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."

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.