Hogwarts Live Blog

I'd like to remind everyone, you can refer friends to Hogwarts Live using your referral link in Prefects Lounge.

http://www.hogwartslive.com/r/YourUsername

For everyone you refer who makes it to level 10, you will gain 50 donator points!

Referring your own accounts is not allowed, it is considered cheating and will get your account locked. Any account on your IP is considered your account, it does not matter if it is your cousin's sister-in-law twice removed second aunt, it will be treated as your account. Referring an alternate characters of existing players is also cheating and in bad taste. Both accounts may be locked and punished if this happens.

Hogwarts Live has changed servers. The previous server was old and
recently has been resulting in lag. You may experience weird things
happening while it sorts out. We have reports of people jumping servers
to the old version of the site and back to the new one. As a result
any game process gained on the old server will be lost. Sorry for the
inconvenience.



The direct link to the new server is http://padfoot.wizards.pro

Today we say Happy Birthday to Harry Potter (for those of you who don't live in England it's already July 31st there).

In addition to this wonderful event I'd like to mention that earlier this year was Hogwarts Live's ten year (yes, that's right TEN YEARS!) anniversary.

As a special treat to all of you we are releasing some changes to the site. If that wasn't already enough we're doing a Double Donation Day and multiple candy raffles!

Double Donation Day means you get double the points when you donate to HL and the candy raffles are really great. Go check them out! ^^

I'd like to specifically call out Juan, Pam, all our staff and testers for helping get these changes done and ready for live.

Some of these new changes to the site are:
EIGHT new specialties, all based on the Harry Potter universe.
Knight Bus, which is located under Travel, for a few gems allows you to travel without being getting stopped by pesky waylays, but you might get a negative buff.
Honeydukes, where you can buy a delicious treat, but be careful you might not like what you eat!

Various modules were also fixed.

Please petition any bugs found, anyone caught abusing these will be punished.

Several years ago, our chats were being inundated with "will someone adopt me??????" posts, older players jumping all over new firstyears with questions like, "Do you have a mom or dad yet???" or "Do you want to be adopted????" and pages and pages of players discussing who they were related to, how they were related , when they became related, etc. Most of these discussions would take place multiple times every day with (frequently) the same participants.

When it wasn't a family trying to figure out all the snarls and twists and turns in their family tree, it was a family arguing over some family issue. Not just members of a family RPing together, and not even a real RP to be honest since it was more of a discussion than "acting," but people arguing over why they wouldn't recognize a certain family member or some other sort of drama that was strictly family-related.

These discussions and arguments would disrupt RPs already taking place and/or conversations taking place with players just chatting.

To help keep chats a bit more tidy, we installed Godric's Hollow with the intent of that being the "family village" (see original post here http://www.hogwartslive.com/blog/post/469/godrics-hollow ). All requests for adoptions, whether it be someone looking for a family or someone looking for a new member to their existing one, would take place here, as well as all discussions of family trees, family arguments that were about family-related topics, and anything else that came up within a family.

In the time since installing Godric's, this has worked well as most players have moved their conversation to Godric's or owls or to a dwelling when asked by staff. It has only been recently that players have been ignoring multiple requests and warnings by staff, hence the NOTICE that was posted on every page (until this blog post).

This does not mean that players cannot address a family member in chat by their title, i.e. "Hi mom!" or "WitchyWoman waves to her sister." It does not mean that players cannot refer to being related to another player in cases like, "Oh you know SamSpit? He's my brother." It does not mean that you cannot ask someone if they are related to someone else, as long as you're not asking for that person's entire pedigree. "Hi, SaraSugar. Are you SallyMay's sister?" It does not mean that family members cannot RP together.

All we are asking is that if you are going to start a discussion about who your relatives are or have an issue with your family about your family, please do it either in owls, a dwelling, or in Godric's Hollow. If you are looking to be adopted or see someone that you would like to adopt, post in Godric's or owl them. And if a simple comment about a family member unintentionally turns into a discussion about your family and a staffer asks you to move it out of chat, MOVE it. Simple.

In cases where players ignore a staffer's request to move out of regular chat or players that keep having to be asked (as in multiple instances), staff can and will mute.

Thank you.

Today's candy raffle is very special. If you win it you and your in-game spouse get 10,000 donator points each!

I normally don't raffle off donator points so be sure to jump on this rare opportunity.

To participate just exchange the beans you find in the forest at the Candy Raffle located on the bottom left hand side of the site under Global. As a special treat all raffle tickets cost only 5 beans.

Also, if you'd like to do something extra nice for that special someone you can always donate on their behalf by clicking the PayPal Contribute button on their bio page.

May you all be blessed with hugs, kisses, and yummy chocolates! :)

Click here to vote on "Do you like PvP?" poll »

Once again it's that time of year...Christmas! We know that not everyone celebrates Christmas, but we'd like to wish you all Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Joyous Kwanzaa and/or whatever else you may celebrate. If you don't celebrate anything, we hope this winter is your best one yet :)

We've opened another new village for your enjoyment- Polareia Borealis. Here you will find most of our holiday modules, from the Ice Hotel to the Dreidel game at the peanut stall. You can also try to build the best snowman in all the wizarding world! Or maybe you'd just like to visit the Ice Castle!

We also have opened a Holiday Gift shop which can be found in each village. This is the place to go to buy your family, friends, and even rivals presents for the holidays. The gifts can be opened starting on Christmas Day (December 25) at the fireplace in your Common Room. You will have until December 31 to open them all. In the meantime, you can visit the Fireplace inside your Common Room to check to see how many presents are waiting for you! Everyone will receive at least one present so be sure to open yours on Christmas Day! (NOTE: Some of you may see references to Valentine's Day at the Fireplace. Just ignore it and pretend it says Christmas. xD It's just a typo and doesn't affect your presents.)

In the past we have had a few problems with players being nasty to each other with the Holiday Gifts Anonymous Sender feature. This year, we have in place a security measure to ensure that no one is truly anonymous. Although the recipient of a not-so-nice gift will not know who the gift is from, the Staff will know. Those that send nasty messages through the Holiday Gifts will be dealt with in the same way as if it was said in chat. Offensive messages on gifts can be reported by petition, just like offensive owls, through a link in each gift.

For a little friendly House competition, each House has been given a Holiday Tree to decorate. Players can go to their Common Room and help decorate it by using forest fights, gold and/or gems. The House with the best tree at the end of the year will earn the House buff for the entire month of January.

We hope you enjoy these new features and once again, Happy Holidays!

2.5 million people need emergency food assistance in the Philippines. Please help if you can. Any amount you can give will make a difference. If you send your receipt to I will give you the equivalent amount of donator points here on Hogwarts Live.

World Food Program USA is a four star charity with 96.4% of moneys donated going directly to help those in need (source).

Donate to WFP

Up to 4 million children may be affected by the typhoon (called Yolanda locally). These children desperately need shelter, clean water, medicine and nutrition supplies -- the same area is already reeling from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake just three weeks ago. If you want your donation to go to the children please Donate to UNICEF.

Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm to ever make landfall, left an estimated 2.5 million people in need of emergency food assistance. That's more people in need of immediate assistance than WFP's food relief in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in 2010. WFP is racing to respond with emergency food supplies to help hungry children and families in need.

Please help those in greatest need by donating today in support of WFP's emergency response in the Philippines.

For those complaining how it's so unfair that players are getting muted for breaking rules, here's how we see it:

1. Most of the players getting muted KNOW they are breaking the rules and have been previously warned for such behavior. We are not the LA judicial system and you all are not Lindsay Lohan. Sorry, but you're not going to continue to get free passes when YOU know you are breaking rules and WE know that YOU know you are breaking the rules.

From the rules, #15:
"Usually you'll get 2 warnings before you're muted, but in some cases staff CAN decide to instant mute you, or only give you one warning before a mute."

2. My favorite complaint is how OTHER people are causing your mutes. Really? Are they somehow astral projecting and possessing your body to type out and post all those "go kill yourself," "you're a stupid, idiotic, whore," and "you're fat and ugly and even my dog wouldn't !@%k you," etc. comments? Are they hacking into your account and posting for you? Most of you getting in trouble are adults. Learn to take responsibility for your own actions.

3. IGNORE CHAT USER. IGNORE CHAT USER. IGNORE CHAT USER. IGNORE CHAT USER. IGNORE CHAT USER. IGNORE CHAT USER. See above about taking responsibility for your own actions. I realize that this takes all your "fun" out of it, but this way all the *other* people can't get *you* muted. *eyeroll*

4. When we mute someone, we have two options. We can Temp Mute for 1 hour or we can Perm Mute. In cases where the mute is going to last more than a couple hours, it is easier to just hit Perm Mute. Each extra hour of a Temp mute has to be done manually and it sends out a new owl each time. That saves us unnecessary clicking and that saves you all unnecessary owls. Perm mutes are rarely ever permanent. Some do last more than a day or two, but hardly any ever last forever. Staff has been instructed to now give a time frame in a Perm Mute owl or you will be told that the actual length has yet to be determined and an Admin will get back to you.

Sidenote, since this has also been a problem: A mute means that YOU are not allowed to post in chat. Not just that one character. So if you already have alts (ANY account on that same IP), you are not allowed to log into one of those other accounts and post in chat. You are not allowed to make a new account just so you can talk either. Evading a mute will result in the length of your original mute being doubled, and if you continue to evade, you can be banned.

Re-posting this as we still need help!

We're looking to put together a brand new development team. This will be separate from our administrative staff who deal directly with players. We're looking for enthusiastic, imaginative, and passionate individuals to help us create the next stage of Hogwarts Live.

Please note these positions do come with perks but are otherwise unpaid--these roles are ideal for high school or college students looking to put an Internet company on their resume. This will look very good on a college applications or when applying for your first job out of college especially considering the scale of Hogwarts Live.



Roles we are looking to fill:


Software Engineer/Developer/Programmer

Description: Responsible for programming new features for the game.

Skills: JavaScript, PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS

Note: If you program in another language such as Java, C#, C++, Scala, Ruby, Python, etc. please apply (especially if you have experience building web services or mobile apps).

To apply email a resume to with code samples or links to applicable work.


Project Manager

Description: Responsible for gathering feature requirements, making sure features are delivered on time, and making the public aware of new features. Will help prioritize when and what features are built.

Skills: Organization, Communication, Time Management, Project Management (obviously)

Note: The ideal PM will keep tabs on everyone involved in a project and make sure stuff gets done on time.

To apply email a resume to with examples of how you've helped teams of people deliver projects on time.


Digital Illustrator

Description: Responsible for the design game art like characters, objects, backgrounds, icons, and other graphics.

Skills: Image Manipulation (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, etc.), Illustration, etc.

To apply email a resume to with either images, PDFs, or links to custom graphics or artwork you've created.


Game Scenario Writer

Description: Responsible for creating game scenarios/storylines.

Skills: Imagination, Good Ideas, English, Grammar, Detail-oriented, Descriptive

To apply email a resume to with writing samples or links to applicable work.


Content Editor

Description: Responsible for editing content for grammar and style.

Skills: English, Grammar, Detail-oriented, Sense of Style

To apply email a resume to with writing samples or a copyedited version of this post.


Web Designer

Description: Responsible for the design and layout of HTML and CSS pages.

Skills: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Image Manipulation (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, etc.), Layout Design, Information Design, Usability, User Experience Design

To apply email a resume to with screenshots or links to websites designed.


It would help if any of you who apply include a cover letter describing why you would like to work for Hogwarts Live and why you think you're qualified to do so.