Genetics should always be something that you understand when you create and code a game all about breeding. Using the right terms/words so that members understand what you're talking about is also important.

Recently, I was cheated out of a deviant due to the creators having a lack of understanding of both of these things.

Allow me to explain in detail:

If you have thin red hair and you choose to change the color, you will still have thin hair but of a different color. This is because red is the color and thin is the structure.

The same goes for the beasts on here. A red striped dragon has the color of red and the pattern of striped. Changing the color would mean that it would no longer be red, but it would still be striped. This is because stripes are not a color but a pattern.

Both game creators have degrees in biology. We do know genetics in depth. 

BeastKeeper doesn't simulate the real world. The game genetics copies a few RL concepts: the classic Mendelian genetics model, plus two concepts from the non-Mendelian model (multiple alllelism for pretty much everything, and complementary traits, like elemental attacks and color). RL coat color formation is far more complex than a combination of two independent allele traits. The game color formation is very simplistic and doesn't represent the processes happening in the real life, but even in the game reality it's not a Mendelian trait.

Deviance is a game-only mechanic that has no corresponding real-world concept. BeastKeeper has many game mechanics like that. In real world, homozygous blue-eyed parents don't have a 1/10th chance to give birth to a child with galaxy-colored eyes. 

Please refer to the FAQ for the pieces of information that are missing on the game screens. In case if anything still remains unclear, feel free to ask in the Help section and suggest the questions to improve FAQ in the "Ask FAQ questions!" thread.