Fleur S.

Fantage pre-2014 was a fun and welcoming environment with lots to do. All the events during that time were actually fun and well-programmed and actually felt rewarding to participate in, everyone was included. Sure there were premium only items (that you could technically buy as a non-member with e-coins), but non-members could still buy items.

Then, post Fantage's 2014 Anniversary event, where the upper management also changed (source: employee reviews on glassdoor), everything else changed with it. The whole map changed. Everything became condensed and combined together, it wasn't fun to explore anymore. All the games were put into the arcade instead of being a fun world experience. Features were slowly cut off from up, bugs never fixed. Events became dull, calendar stamp collecting events instead of actual activities to do and all event items were forced behind paywalls of gold. You couldn't even use stars or e-coins to buy limited items by the end of Fantage's run.

Did I forget to mention gold? Oh boy, gold SUCKED. When it was first introduced, you could either get it by paying, and if you were a non-member you could occasionally get it by winning in events or selling items in MyMall with the MyMall seller tickets you'd get sometimes when you get your daily prize. Then, next thing you know? MyMall got a paywall, only premium members could even USE it.

As a result of all these paywalls, Fantage became dull and boring, and when something becomes dull and boring, the community starts to dwindle, and when the community starts to dwindle, nobody uses the already in-game games, the fun drains even more, and when the fun drains even more, more people quit, and when more people quit, the people behind Fantage start to lose motivation to actually run the site, and when motivation dwindles, money dwindles, and then the cycle repeats.

So, at the end of the day, Fantage WAS a fun and inclusive space for all players, but after the upper management changed it was just a downhill spiral of paywalls, loss of motivation and a fading community from there.

It was at least fun while it lasted.
- A Fantagian from 2011-2018 (kitcat46)