Ravenshift wrote:thank you, and what is the likely hood of the population growing again to how the other big shards are? does it just go in waves
I can't say.
There's been a noticeable dip in log-ins in the immediate wake of the Cavewight-Krypt-scam incident (which, as senseless, petty and deplorable as it is, does not seem to have contravened the protections offered by forum-trade) ... this might constitute temporary outrage from which our population will soon recover, or it might indeed be something that is more serious.
There has been outrage over other issues, particularly the lack of automated events, and the LOS bug. IMHO, staff's posture on these issues is reasonable, and in accord with their mandate.
Regarding events, Boomland Jenkins has been shouldering the burden of GM-run events, and there's even a member (Rose) who has contrived a player-implementation of ctf (he's got one going tonight, I believe): I see promise in these things.
What is happening here in some respects reflects what happened with this game on OSI: because OSI refused to balance the consensuality, and the exploitable mechanics, of PvP, they decided to "go Trammel"; PvMers sanguinely fled to Trammel (On Chesapeake server, the most-famous Player-town in any world/game ever, PaxLair, evaporated almost overnight; I was 'on hiatus' from UO when UOR was launched, and I simply quit for good), leaving the PKers to jerk-off in eachothers' faces; during UOR, PKers complained that there was no one to PK, and OSI could see the non-existence of the Felucca population, so OSI doubled drops in Felucca; of course, that didn't work, either.
EA/OSI was all about money: they refused to "fix" PvP because they didn't want to disenfranchise and lose 2% of their subscribers; many, many PvMers and PvPers both ended-up emigrating to flashier, more-modern games (I've heard that UO's 3D publish was a flop), regardless; everyone knows that EA sucks, and has ruined numerous computer-game franchises with their greed.
Here at UOSA, things are a little different, in that the ruleset is set in t2A: a blessing and a curse, combined. PvMers who don't have the nuts to 'stick it out' in an environment wherein they can be senselessly murdered at any time go to the trammely freeshards, and most PKers have little interest in PKing PKers (fair fights aren't what these
madskillzors want); there does exist a hybrid-bunch ("grief my bard/tamer and I will dual-box my PvPer onto your ass") and there have been people who organize anti-PK/anti-Thief guilds, but PvPers of all sorts need PvMers for high-end gear, and PvMers need PvPers to whom to sell that gear.
Bafflingly, stables abuse continues: "I need >40 WWs for Resist training"; that's nonsense. Otherwise, I expect that there are players here who are trying to 'shut tamers out', and/or to 'corner the slots market' ... it creates a situation that, if only in a small way, impedes the success/enjoyment of new players. The housing market is not as absurd as it could be but, even with population decline, wealthier players have locked-down all of the "prime real-estate".
Having said all these things, I'm satisfied that there is both room and potential for a regrowth of population: the shard is almost a kiddy-playground for most PvM activities right now, especially for PvMers who are smart enough not to "camp" (one still needs to be wary, though!); in any event, don't bring a lot and you won't lose a lot ...
I am hoping that more players will organize more event-style dueling/PvP stuff: regular 'field-PvP' ("no holds barred") would be even better.
Ultimately, community comes from community: we'll see what ensues.
SS