attaining more mirc involvement

[Blakheart]

I think many players are choosing the "dont show this message in the future" option of the login message about the mirc chat room site. This is normal for many gamers of course..
Here is my idea. How about a special event that promotes players to enter Mirc (at least for the event)? Perhaps a scavenger hunt or such, where the clues are only given in Irc chat? Something spanning several days to give all players a chance to participate no matter what their schedule.
I always found a great giveaway that got everyone interested was a simple small placed house. For events that encourage buddying up with other players...a gulildstone reward.
There are always groups out there saving up for a guildstone or such...giving them a chance to win one is a great goal. No house owning requirement for the guildstone..let it be placed somewhere special..perhaps in an unused building in town or something special.
I am reading posts about ingame tells, etc...and i think that is because many just shut down the login reminder about the irc chatroom that we have. Many are just so used to ingame tells that they have never tried irc or icq or such.
Ingame /tells are nice...but you must be ingame. With irc they don't have to be playing UO to be in contact with friends, etc. They don't know what they are missing because they have never been enticed to try it out!!
Some event clues should also require them to hit the message boards or at least the main website page...just so they know where it is!!
Want a reward that will even get interest of tower or castle owners? Black dye tub.

Prerequisite for joining event....voting on connectuo. hehe

Just an idea to kick around, thanks for listening.

In service to the dream,
Oswyn

p.s. I know this should be in the suggestions topic section, but since i dont think many players actually hit that area I placed it here. Move it if you think it belongs there.

[Ambidextrious]

I like IRCs but I don't stay in them too long i.e. idle in them. However, I'll be more than willing to pop in daily to show support.

[Deano]

Personally I'm not a fan of using other programs alongside a game. If I need to chat, I can do it in-game. Same goes for vent/teamspeak.

[Derrick]

Good ideas Oswyn. I'm a little hesitant to "require" players to use IRC to participate in in game events, but it would be nice if more joined. We may try some other in game option to promote IRC though. Maybe add the details to page resposes and bump the MOTD.

One of the biggest advantages to using IRC is the access it provides to other players and staff. For many in-game questions it's much easier for all than the page system.

There's another thread in here somewhere about black dye and vet rewards, we're still working on the trophy reward system too.