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What is Cats Paw Island?
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Cats Paw Island is a 2D graphical avatar chat.. That means that, unlike with
a text-only chat (think AOL™ chatrooms), there's a unique visual
element: you control a small drawing of your character (called "avatar")
on a background scene such as a room in a castle or a forest clearing.
You interact with other online users by chatting and by changing "poses"
to make your character do different actions and express your mood. Your
avatar can be sleeping, sitting, walking, casting spells, and more. Your
speech will appear in an on-screen text log as well as in a small speech
bubble above your avatar's head. You can use the chat directly from your
web browser. You do not have to download any program. This is a place to
hang out, have fun, meet new people, and chill with friends.
Here's a screenshot!
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Cool! So how much does this cost?
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You can use Cats Paw Island for free, but but if you want to get access to
custom poses, or have a personal chatroom on the site, you will want to
purchase Chatlands Deltas
and use them to buy a subscription as described in the chart at the bottom of this page. We still have free accounts, of
course. If you want to hang out here for free, you still can. Important
Note: Deltas can be used on other Chatlands Avatar Chat servers, such as
the popular Wolfhome Chat.
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Sign me up! Wait, how?
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Fill out an application here. By signing up for
Cats Paw Island you agree to be subject to rules of
conduct and terms of use. These
rules apply to all Chatlands Avatar Chat sites.
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I registered, and there's so many buttons! How do I use this
thing?
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Look here for the Basic Cats Paw Island
Tutorial and that should be enough to get you started. If you have
any further questions, you can try asking other users you see
in the chat, or call on a member of our Administration or visit the Cats Paw Island Forums.
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What are the rules? What happens if I break them? What is this
chat rated?
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Our rules are written in detail here: The Laws
of Cats Paw Island, and they describe what the acceptable behavior for
Cats Paw Island is and what can happen when you ignore that. In brief, we
consider ourselves a PG-13 chat; so basically if it's not on "The
Simpsons" it's not okay to do in the public rooms. Temporary private
rooms are available to all members, but the private room ratings range
from "G" to "X" and they are controlled by the private room owner. If
you are a parent of an underage Cats Paw Island patron and you have any
questions about this, please e-mail Bill Underwood at
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Along with the rules of conduct for this site, in order to participate
you must also agree to abide by our Terms of Use.
By making use of the services on this website you agree to the terms
of service described in this document.
We want everyone to have fun and be safe, and these rules are in place
to help make that happen. Not following these rules can result in a
kick (being "chased" from the chat, logged out), or a ban - which could
be a few days or permanent, depending on the offense and how many
strikes you've got. We have a very low tolerance for troublemakers, so
just don't do it.
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Who do I ask for help in using the chat or when someone is
bothering me?
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Our Administration is here to help you: whether that means answering a
simple question, or protecting your chat experience. The Admins have the
ability to give official answers to questions, as well as kick and ban
troublemakers from the chat - they are Cats Paw Island's "police". If you
see a rule being broken, please report it to us. If someone is bothering
you, remember that you should ask them to stop before it counts as
harassment. Please keep a copy of your scroll log to show us as a record
of the event. Never hesitate to ask for help if you don't feel right
about a situation.
How to contact an Admin: When you first log in and see the map screen,
to the upper right hand corner is a list of the online Administrators.
If you then click on the Lookout Point, you will see the names of
Administrators in italic and either red (Betas), blue (Gammas), or
fuscia (Alphas). For minor problems contact a Gamma and for more serious
problems contact a Beta. You can "call" them from the room you're in and
they'll come to assist or you can go to them. (Note: "Problem Tickets"
are available but we prefer that these be used to report technical
problems when there are no Admins online.)
Underdog is the lead Alpha ( ) of Cats Paw Island, and he is ultimately in charge of
the chat. He has other Alphas to assist with the managing of Cats Paw
Island. There are also Betas ( ) and Gammas ( ) on the Administration Team, and they patrol the chat
and manage the different aspects of making Cats Paw Island work. Also,
keep in mind that a lot of the members here have been around for quite a
while, especially those that have accounts on Wolfhome so they may be able to
answer your questions too.
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How do I get to be an Administrator?
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Number one, don't ask us for it. It just happens. If you're helpful,
friendly, and follow the rules, you're bound to be noticed by the
Administration eventually. We promote members when we need more hands
on deck, and we're the ones who decide when and who that is.
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Can I role-play (RP) here?
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RP is when people pretend to have clans, packs, mates, families,
battles, and so forth. This site was meant for chatting, not for
role-playing. But, we do understand that a lot of people are interested
in RP, so we have a designated area where you can do it freely and meet
other people interested in the same thing. There is currently one room
designated specifically for RP. Please keep most of it to that room. If
we catch you RPing in other public rooms, you will be asked to go to
the appropriate place.
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Why can't I get into the chat?
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This could be for a number of reasons. Make sure you have the most up to
date version of Flash, which you can find here:
Adobe Flash
website. If you have some kind of firewall installed, (most schools
and some business networks have this sort of protection), then that
could be blocking the Chatlands server. Also, try clearing out your
cache and cookies through your browser's internet options. Currently,
the chat works best in Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox. It may work in
some other browsers, but only IE7 and FF3 are officially supported. If
none of this helps, go here: The
Technical Support Forum for help.
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I found a bug (something that doesn't work), what should I
do?
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Tell us! We need your help in order to find all of the bugs and problems
with Cats Paw Island so that Underdog can fix them. Read this:
How To Report Bugs and follow
the instructions to post in our tech support forum.
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Can I submit my own art for my character?
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Yes! Look here for our Art FAQ!
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I may want to speak with an administrator before registering, or
I may have a question that's not explained here. Or maybe I have some
feedback for you.
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If you'd like to contact an Admin before registering, please e-mail your
questions to . If you have a question
that isn't answered here, contact an Admin on the chat or use the
Forum.
If you have feedback for us, we'd love to hear from you about how we're
doing, or take suggestions for new features. We need your help to make
this the best chat that it can be! All we ask is that you give your
thoughts politely and respectfully, even if it's criticism. You can post
in our Suggestions Forum section, you can email Underdog, or you can
speak with any available Administrator about your ideas or opinions.
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Where can I find out more about Chatlands Deltas?
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Check out the Chatlands
Deltas FAQ to learn about the currency used on Cats Paw Island.
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Where can I find out about the different subscription levels
and what they allow?
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Check out this chart. It shows you the different subscriptions and
how much they cost per day in Deltas. Chatlands Deltas (Δ) are the
unit of currency on Cats Paw Island and other avatar chat sites such as
Wolfhome.
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Table showing subscription types and costs in Deltas.
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| Subscription
| Rate1
| Poses
| Rooms
| Objects2
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| Free |
Δ0.00 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Basic |
Δ0.06 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
| Standard |
Δ0.12 |
10 |
1 |
5 |
| Preferred |
Δ0.20 |
50 |
10 |
10 |
| Elite |
Δ0.25 |
150 |
15 |
20 |
| Ultimate |
Δ0.33 |
2000 |
50 |
50 |
Note 1: This amount is deducted daily from your account.
Note 2: Customizable room objects will be available soon.
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That should do it! Have you read both the
rules of conduct and our terms
of use yet? If not, please do so right away!
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