Shard Population nemesis; Vega

[GuardianKnight]

To be fair, in the old days, you could play this game with friends. After all of the secrets of this era have been revealed, we don't need each other. That is why people have no qualms about murdering you or stealing from you.

I came here with friends. We went farming. Between the 3 of us, even on high value spawns, it wasn't worth it to work together. Out of the 3 +1(guy's wife), I am the only one still here. I find it hard to actually PLAY with people here. Unless you are a pvper, this is absolutely a ONE PLAYER era.

People nowdays want trophies or achievements. As hard as this was in the actual era, there are no achievements to be had. None that are worthy of other games where you actually need a ton of people to fight a monster. Some of the elements of the future eras were absolutely needed. Boss spawns? Risk vs. Reward system.

I think the one thing missing from the current events ( the things that bring people to the server), is rare weapon spawns from the end bosses. Trophies are no fun to deal with. SIlver is a currency to be used at a store where the tellers aren't there to collect. You know you are the dirtiest, most evil, sob of a player here when you have the most silver. Get rid of silver and put real effort into a real event system with real rewards for those events.

[Menkaure]

I agree with what you said gk. that's why I said its hard for a game to stay alive if it can't evolve.
Putting in a boss spawn once In a while will bring a lot of pvmers in. And even tho I preach about events all day, I would love to see this shard flooded with the population of pvmers, because a lot of pvmers then into pvpers. Boss spawn would be a great idea

[archaicsubrosa77]

wandering high end monsters coming out of random gates would be awesome, that would keep people moving and not always hitting hot spots and cities, or some crazy sea creature that's near impossible to kill immune to firebreath and summons that causes instant ship decay if no one is on board. ( You would have to give ample warning about the length of time for ship decay of a terrible monster heading to coastal regions and allow the looting of ships wrecked by prolonging the item decay at sea)

[inkognito]

I'd like to see sharks....sharks with laser's strapped to their heads.

Or dogs...or bees...or dogs that shoot bees out of their mouth when they bark.
Amirite?

[Capitalist]

Those diamond encrusted lichs dropping 2k per are pretty inspiring for new players, amirite?

[The oOo]

oh boy...here we go again...

[Kadull]

I'll just leave this here:

ar·bi·trar·y
ˈärbiˌtrerē/Submit
adjective
1.
based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system.

You know, since people are still spouting off about random systems and updates...

The reason your shard is shrinking is because you aren't advertising outside of a small group (the existing freeUO community/top shard sites, etc). People will always quit playing games; because you are not properly counteracting this inevitable exodus your population is slowly and steadily declining.

This, however, will absolutely accelerate if you don't act accordingly, because one certainty is that people play Massive Multiplayer Online Games because they want to play with other people.

If you want your shard to thrive, I would suggest this:

• Start collecting money for an ad campaign, and set a date to begin that campaign. These advertisements should be done outside of the free UO community. Top shard sites are obviously not enough, because you have already peaked them, and your population is declining.
• Once you have pooled a fair amount of money, set a date. On that date invite your existing player base to log in for a series of incentives. These incentives can be things like prizes for individual IP addresses being logged in, events, etc. I medley of things. Host an entire day of both staff and player events, with lots of prizes, and real life and in game valuables. You can even expand these incentives for a finite period of time. For example, for 1 month, make it so that X valuable item drops randomly on spawn, to keep players logged in a bit.
• On that same date, start your ad campaign. This should be done on social networking sites, for like the third time in this thread.

This is what I like to call a "double whammy." You want to mass alert your existing player base of these incentives because it is a quick way to reach several thousand people, and get a good chunk of them logged in... You want to advertise outside of the UO community for a nice, steady inflow of players from here on out, to counteract the inevitable, unstoppable outflow of players.

The concept behind this plan is that it is based on tried and true methods.

• Marketing is an effective tool to sell products and build communities.
• People like free stuff and events

And it ignores arbitrary arguments like "I THINK IT'S BECAUSE OF THE PKS!"

"Well I think it's because of the trammies!"

"Well I think it's because it has to evolve!"

"Bla bla bla bla bla!"

Again, stop arguing and start collecting money. If you waste too much time arguing, next thing you know your population is going to be in worse and worse shape, and it's just going to be harder (if not impossible) to fix.

[son]

Why don't more guilds farm Terras? The spawn there is insane.

[Freight Elevator]

You can farm it solo?

[Mcreedy]

I was at a house falling last week and Zeus from (NEW) showed up. Not a real nice guy. I was surprised that someone from NEW was acting that way about a pretty crummy idoc. Apparently he has a house near by and wanted to place. Ive helped out multiple NEW characters, assuming they are new. He didn't give me the impression of a innocent new player just triing to make his way.

Actually now that I think about it he tried to scam me. Told me he owned the house and was gonna refresh it, which he didn't. Now should I start up a thread and complain that he tried to scam me? Zeus if you read this Im loving that new house on the coast.

[archaicsubrosa77]

It is understandable one who tends to new players will come to the aid in order to protect them. This is commendable. If a player is trying to thwart players in knowing how mechanics work its time to release them on their own.

If a player is showing grit and challenging players to pvp the best way to learn is dying, the best way to learn to enjoy the game is losing what is valuable. (oh, I just keep this vanq weapon to look at locked down safe and secure )

I have not encountered Zeus as I have a million and one things to do to get my teams ready and no time for social banter so I can not attest to his interactions.

However the best lesson to learn is humility. Dying with grace or being scammed the same shows a willingness to press on despite the manner in which it had come upon you.

At first I was appalled, but then we are in the Second Age. I was not spared my dignity upon arrival I had to pick it up from off the ground. Showing the ropes does not entail a free ride nor does it mean being spared when it's the fight you should be learning.

I would like to take this moment to apologize to Vega, I had been away for too long... this is the game I remember. Apology matters little on forums, keep game and lives separate. What happens on the field is left to happenstance...whether the will be ill or good.

[GtH]

vega is a loser with no friends

[archaicsubrosa77]

vega is a loser with no friends

I have zero understanding concerning all the circumstances.

I will say that people's actions build culture and community whether for good or bad. I know very little of either party. You can't be both a good businessman and a scammer. Broker or not people will not want to deal with you and sooner or later you will realize you would like to sell a few things for Gold.

Poor attitude also will ask to be butthurt in the long run. You draw more flies with crap then honey...and it's impossible not to draw flies regardless, and here especially as its more or less part of the game.

[Capitalist]

Enough votes were casted. Title changed.

[Malaikat]

Here's a shard that doesn't allow scamming or player killing. Perhaps you'd like it better.

Link