Pay-to-Play Events

For ideas on how to make Second Age a better shard. Can it get any better? Maybe.
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Fwerp
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Pay-to-Play Events

Post by Fwerp »

I have begun playing again, and while it is still fun, it is very disheartening to see that the once booming population has dwindled to its current level.

I am confident that reintroducing automated events in a circumscribed way will boost the population. I also believe they can be reintroduced in a way that minimally impacts purists, and will likely even enhance their playing experience. I know this topic has been discussed ad nauseum here for years now, but here is the outline for my suggestion. The particulars such as hours, days, counts, amounts, and procedures can all be fleshed out later, so please don't get bogged down in the details.

I propose that there would be a three hour period on Fridays and Saturdays where there would be the possibility for automated events. These times would be well advertised, and possibly rotating to accommodate for different time zones. During these times, players would be able to "buy" events through donations to the server, anonymously or publicly. Maybe the donations would need to be done in advance, but essentially the events occur as a direct result of donations to the server. I am open to suggestions for how it would work; perhaps there would be a predetermined slotting of events, maybe the donor picks within certain parameters, maybe there is a voting system at the event gates, etc. The main idea is that there would be a period of time when players know there are likely to be events, and the server would significantly raise revenue which it could in turn spend on advertising and other necessities. There would be no rewards for winning or participating in events, except maybe stat tracking. (Oh how I wish MYUOSA tracked my winning percentage at bag ball!) The events would just be fun. And yes, I would donate on a per event basis as would many other players I am sure.

At this point, I feel there is a very little left to lose, and much to gain. Sure, this will result in event loggers, but this will also mean that there will be additional players and returning vets. There will be an increase in population before and after the events, and it will be a significant one. There will be an increase in the baseline population as well. I understand and respect that the goal of the shard is to mimic T2A mechanics as closely as possible, but capturing the spirit of T2A should not be completely discounted as an end to aim at. At the end of the day, there is not much fun playing on a perfectly accurate T2A shard without other players.

Regardless of what you think of this proposal, I hope that we can at least consider trying to re-introduce events even on a small scale. If the results are not positive and prompt, the events can be removed and dismissed from further consideration.

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TI_Smithy
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Re: Pay-to-Play Events

Post by TI_Smithy »

I can almost guarantee that your argument is not compelling enough for the administration. While they appreciate donations they are not influenced by money. This server is a museum and thus shall not be getting automated events back. The only events that we will ever enjoy again are those hosted by players and admins. Admin ran events will fall into era accurate mechanic as much as possible so you wont be seeing any bagball or ctf.

I dont understand why silver is still in use. The silver system introduces items from a much later period of UO where item bless deeds and special hue cloth were the norm.

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Kublai Khan
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Re: Pay-to-Play Events

Post by Kublai Khan »

TI_Smithy wrote:I can almost guarantee that your argument is not compelling enough for the administration. While they appreciate donations they are not influenced by money. This server is a museum and thus shall not be getting automated events back. The only events that we will ever enjoy again are those hosted by players and admins. Admin ran events will fall into era accurate mechanic as much as possible so you wont be seeing any bagball or ctf.

I dont understand why silver is still in use. The silver system introduces items from a much later period of UO where item bless deeds and special hue cloth were the norm.
Item bless deeds are actually from CUB and weren't introduced here for some reason.

Excert from UOGuide.com:

History

The Item Bless Deed was a reward option from Clean Up Britannia program in 1999. It cost 500,000 tickets, the highest possible reward item.

UOSA Wiki page excerpt on "Era Accuracy":

Era Accuracy is the ultimate goal of UOSA. Because T2A encompassed several patches and several eras within itself, a specific "target date" has been chosen for replication. The target date was decided to be November of 1999.

OP
Sorry for the rant, and I like the ideas you have.

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JessieKJepsen
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Re: Pay-to-Play Events

Post by JessieKJepsen »

TI_Smithy wrote:I can almost guarantee that your argument is not compelling enough for the administration. While they appreciate donations they are not influenced by money. This server is a museum and thus shall not be getting automated events back. The only events that we will ever enjoy again are those hosted by players and admins. Admin ran events will fall into era accurate mechanic as much as possible so you wont be seeing any bagball or ctf.

I dont understand why silver is still in use. The silver system introduces items from a much later period of UO where item bless deeds and special hue cloth were the norm.

LAW guild is actually planning to hold some bag ball games this winter with some good prizes and more. LAW has had some good talks with a couple GM's who are willing to assist in this and other events. But that said TI, you are correct in the fact they wont be automated events. But still will be fun I hope :)


~Jess

farnk
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Re: Pay-to-Play Events

Post by farnk »

why hasn't this been implemented? it's the perfect idea. yet it HASNT

EVEN BEEN BUMPED
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Menkaure
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Re: Pay-to-Play Events

Post by Menkaure »

Great post Fwerp, unfortunately it appears they would rather let the game die than reintroduce events and I for one gave up hope and havent played or even logged in for quite some time.
It has become ridiculous that they wont even attempt to do the events to bring back life into the game. They'd rather be on course with their mission then try to bring back events, and that would be fine and dandy, but population is at its worse.
They will play the era accurate card and just ignore the BEB posts, even though theres a million other things that arent era accurate (silver, for example).
I think its turned into a "Well even if events would bring population back we/I wont implement them because then that means the population won this argument" type of thing.
I could be wrong, but I lost hope.
GO SKINS
Catskills 1997-2002ish

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Boomland Jenkins
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Re: Pay-to-Play Events

Post by Boomland Jenkins »

Menkaure wrote:Great post Fwerp, unfortunately it appears they would rather let the game die than reintroduce events and I for one gave up hope and havent played or even logged in for quite some time.
It has become ridiculous that they wont even attempt to do the events to bring back life into the game. They'd rather be on course with their mission then try to bring back events, and that would be fine and dandy, but population is at its worse.
They will play the era accurate card and just ignore the BEB posts, even though theres a million other things that arent era accurate (silver, for example).
I think its turned into a "Well even if events would bring population back we/I wont implement them because then that means the population won this argument" type of thing.
I could be wrong, but I lost hope.
Nope. we don't do any events here anymore.
Eat. Sleep. Ultima.

iamreallysquall
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Re: Pay-to-Play Events

Post by iamreallysquall »

he wants matrons idea viewtopic.php?f=8&t=27786&p=248002&hilit=+gates#p248002 shame the image was removed
<mistercherry> i bet ide beat yer asss in scrabble
<Atraxi> as soon as i find the noobs i stole from
<Jamison> lelouche your taunts will be your downfall

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Treysta
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Re: Pay-to-Play Events

Post by Treysta »

Menkaure wrote:unfortunately it appears they would rather let the game die than reintroduce events
Wow I feel bad for Boomland right now. :{

The bottom line is that automated events will never return here. It's been stated over and over and over again by multiple GMs that they go against the core philosophy of the server and they will not be returning. Should that core philosophy change one day, then great. That's ultimately the GM's decision, though. They know a bunch of people want them back and have heard just about every conceivable argument for their return. We don't need to keep hammering them with this topic (no offense to fwerp intended, it's just that this sentiment has been beaten to death by a lot of people since I've joined).

Last time this thread happened, it ended in Boomland stepping up and devoting a large amount of his free time to creating and running all types of events for the server to enjoy. I'm sure other GMs have been involved in some way too.

We've got invasions, monster bash, bagball (soon™), 1v1 RPO, 1v1 field, 2v2's, potion wars, storyline events, and much more. The general consensus between the player base is that the shard is the best it's been since automated events left.

Does it suck that automated events won't even be coming back? I don't know--I wasn't around when they were in full swing. I'm willing to guess, though, that yes, it's miserable that they won't be coming back, as they were highly regarded as tons of fun. I bet the GMs themselves would love to bring them back (if for no other reason than to shut everybody up)--but it's never going to happen.

I say let's keep moving forward together without them.

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Jakob
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Re: Pay-to-Play Events

Post by Jakob »

I'm astonished at the events run! They seem to happen "all the time", that's my spontaneous feeling of just having played a couple of days. Doesn't these GM run events pwn automated events in all aspects? Why would anyone want automated events compared to this?
Lankgord: Hello. I'm New To The Server. Any Drama Going On Lately?

[20:38] <newYorK>i love how franz is in game robbing me while im reading his comic
[20:38] <newYorK> priceless

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a nerd
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Re: Pay-to-Play Events

Post by a nerd »

Auto events are for the shards 1%'ers. They are <were> just here to play Razor, not UO.
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