Bettering the game

It's been brought to Ops attention that a few people, in the name of bettering the dogs and the game, are harassing new players by belittling their untrained dogs. <br><br>Wanting to help new players is a grand thing and good for everyone, and there are many, many of you who do just that. You offer to help by training new players' dogs for free or at greatly reduced prices. A lot of you willingly give or sell very cheaply, very nice, already trained dogs to new players. Some of you direct new players to the forums, to training guides, to tips and tricks, which is great. A few of you even take new players under your wing and guide them personally on how to play the game to fullest. I have nothing but praise for those who do these things. Thank you for taking your time and your knowledge to help new players. It can only help improve the game and game play.<br><br>There are a few though who in saying they trying to help, actually do just the opposite. They don't offer to help in any way except by pointing out how bad a new players' dogs are, by telling them repeatedly that their untrained dogs aren't worth anything, by trying to "force" them into training their dogs by saying their dogs are useless and unwanted, regardless of whether the player can afford to pay for training or not. They don't guide new players to helpful sponsors, they don't explain different ways they can earn money to be able to afford to get their dogs trained. They tell new players that the only way they, as players, can be worth anything is if they are a sponsor, but they don't give any suggestions on how to earn the money to do so. And the worst part of it is, is that it's not once that they do this, but several times to the same person, even after the person asks them to stop or say that they are quitting the game and the new player never even asked for help to begin with.<br><br>Please, if you want to help someone, do so in courteous manner. Think about what you are messaging and how you would react if you received the kind of messages Ops have been seeing sent to new players. Don't tell players their dogs are worthless, just offer to train their dogs or tell them about someone who will train for them cheaply. Novices are not worthless. If everyone didn't start out with a free account, the number of sponsors would drop considerable, endangering the game as a whole. We need some novices, we need new players, so please don't harass them. If they don't sound interested in what you have to say, leave them be to discover things for themselves, don't continue to message them to the point of distraction. Give helpful information, not just the negative of how they are playing.