INCREASE POPULATION NOW******

[skynyrd2]

Someone lock this thread ,ultimately what we were looking for is to see if the staff had the same passion and admiration for this server as we do and we have received the answer.

Please no more on this thread. No point in people discussing this.

I apologize for any lines of which may have been crossed.

[Menkaure]

I still think making macroing of any kind illegal and bannable would make this server better. Imagine not being able to macro your skills anymore. You'd have no choice but to leave the confines of your home. I have 3 accounts all full of good characters, and all except the first one were done by complete macroing in a safe house, and even the first one macros hiding anatomy etc.
I know you can't control the macroing think Kaivan, I get that. But if you do make it illegal people will listen especially if you catch 1 or 2 every few days, which, is easy considering when it says 400 people online and 350 are macroing.

[archaicsubrosa77]

Why do people spend time on the forums so much?...Social interaction. I think the group events outside of duels with gold rewards instead of silver would encourage more of it. It pulls people together for a few. With so much anti-social behavior going on in game, if you want new players events like what we had before would be ideal.

Many people set it up to rid of events about the time another server was starting up. I don't know if that is coincidence but I am guessing it is not.

Events built up players nerve to field more imo.

[Abyz]

Ya, events would be awesome and help population. But... Ya.

[The oOo]

Why do people spend time on the forums so much?...Social interaction.

^this^

One of THE most glaring NON-Era Accurate aspects of this server that I first observed, and surprisingly miss the most, is the bank community.

I think a HUGE amount of new player interaction back in the old days occured around WBB and that just does not exist here. Pretty much all trading is forum-based and hence all interaction at that level is forum-based...but thats not where the game is at!!

Magic/GM Weapons & Armor, Marked Runebooks, potions, regents...and yes...houses and every scam that came along with it...ALL use to be bought and sold by a multitude of people right there at WBB...and in the process, newbies met people, picked up info and learned the in's & out's, not of the game but of the shard.

Here, if you want to buy/sell...gotta have a forum account and learn it's rules, and irc and how it works and how to take screenshots and post them too. Social interaction only lasts as long as it takes to transfer the item and payment back n forth. All of this now occurs totally independent of the game itself, which has been shunted to the back of the bus as simply the vehicle to facilitate the transaction that originated on the forum.

But I really have to agree with Kaivan's statement...the staff has created the world. It is up to the players to make something of it. It isn't up to them to entertain us. I really enjoy the new PvM events the staff has put on but I certainly don't think they are under any obligation to maintain them any longer than it continues to amuse them to do so. No more so than I think they have the ability to code in a balanced community...

I don't think that in any way implies a lack of "passion" on thier part and to say so is wrong IMO.

You want more new players? Then create a community more favorable to new players...not just (returning) PvP vets. Some players here are obviously going WAY out of thier way with events in an effort to achieve "something" like it...and man I can't clap my hands loud enough for those people, but you're only going to get a limited amount of mileage from pairing up the same handful of Vet PvP'ers every two weeks to dominate a prize-match tournament for entertainment.

To say that the lack of some new shard mechanic like a silver drop or automated events is keeping new people from coming to UOSA is, perhaps, avoiding the real issues of an unbalanced community unable to retain them if they did come.

Sorry for the ramble...I'm bored...

[Menkaure]

Yea, all you see at WBB now is 20 macroers. Hint Hint.

Look, its hard enough to get new players to come to a 16 year old game, hence why most of the population is older vets. Theres no one way to fix it, and I dont fault people for coming up with ideas. We shall see what happens. The weathers cold now, and the population continues to dip. If by December were still seeing such a dip, then maybe its time to go into panic mode. Until then, it will just be more of the same "We strive for Era Accuracy" and turning the cheek of anyone who suggests differently.

[skynyrd2]

[/quote]


I don't think that in any way implies a lack of "passion" on thier part and to say so is wrong IMO.
[/quote]

It's their choice to not care about the population and we all get hung up on the fact assuming they care about the playerbase. Thus we come up w these ideas. The people who represent the staff in forums are cold and factual. Obviously if you want to encourage people or make them feel welcome you choose friendly responsive people. That's why servers with donation shops have staff that is nice. Bc they care about the playerbase. We need to realize staff is not here to promote, market, or listen to us. They simply built something and provide that wether or not people play it they do not care. It's the players Job to be friendly in welcoming new players or be a "people" person enough to say NO in a diplomatic fashion. When we look at it from the perspective of we have a platform we need to focus on building to be great. Instead of trying to focus on changing the platform. It's the players responsibility to make UOSA.

[farnk]

The reason I never hung around WBB is because of all the dirty lil thieves. I'm sure many others can say the same. The other reason is all my characters are red and I'm too lazy to make a new one

[Kaivan]

I've tried to let your wild assertions go without comment throughout this thread as much as possible, but this series of claims is just plain ridiculous.

It's their choice to not care about the population and we all get hung up on the fact assuming they care about the playerbase. Thus we come up w these ideas.

You're making a false dichotomy where the staff must either not care and hate the game, or the staff must do everything possible to promote the growth of the population, and thereby like the game. This is not how UOSA works, not is it an indication of a staff that hates the game. Also, while we do care about engaging with the player base, we have a greater responsibility to impartially run the server and honor our stated goals regarding mechanical accuracy. Without that commitment, this server would be an anything goes server.

The people who represent the staff in forums are cold and factual. Obviously if you want to encourage people or make them feel welcome you choose friendly responsive people.

There is a difference between being friendly while denying something that a player requests, and pandering to the every whim of a player. This is exactly what you see here, and the fact that we aren't meeting your every demand does not mean that we are "unfriendly", any more than meeting your demands indicates would indicate actual friendliness.

That's why servers with donation shops have staff that is nice. Bc they care about the playerbase.

Generally speaking, when a server with donations is run, they're looking to make money (and most are successful at it in the short term). This naturally means that they tend to pander to whatever maximizes their population - and thus profit - in the short term. On the other hand, we are not here to make a profit, which is why we operate in the negative on virtually all months. Unlike these servers whose goals are to make a profit, our goal is to make as precise a replication as possible, which results in a stable server over a long period, something that is not shared by virtually every other server out there.

We need to realize staff is not here to promote, market, or listen to us. They simply built something and provide that wether or not people play it they do not care.

It is certainly not the responsibility of staff to promote or market the server (more on this later). However, we go to great lengths to listen to the players, and place any suggestions that are given within our framework. If we didn't listen, you wouldn't be getting a response right now.

It's the players Job to be friendly in welcoming new players or be a "people" person enough to say NO in a diplomatic fashion. When we look at it from the perspective of we have a platform we need to focus on building to be great. Instead of trying to focus on changing the platform. It's the players responsibility to make UOSA.

Surprisingly enough, this is the most accurate thing you've said thus far. To quote a recent statement from Derrick to myself on the issue of population: If players want more players, they should go find em. So, in this sense, yes, promotion of a server where the world is yours to interact with others in necessarily requires the player action. If players stand around bemoaning the lack of other players, expecting us to do something about it, the trends will continue as they currently have.

[Derrick]

There's a lot of assumption in the first post that I don't agree with. The biggest assumption is that an artificial lower barrier to entry results in better retention. I reject this entirely, you may have more people starting, but it by no means encourages them to stay longer, and may actually do the opposite.

We are one of the longest running and most stable UO shards there's ever been.
The promotion of Second Age has always been the domain of players.

If you want to see more people, go out on the interwebz and tell people about us!

[azheman]

There's a lot of assumption in the first post that I don't agree with. The biggest assumption is that an artificial lower barrier to entry results in better retention. I reject this entirely, you may have more people starting, but it by no means encourages them to stay longer, and may actually do the opposite.

We are one of the longest running and most stable UO shards there's ever been.
The promotion of Second Age has always been the domain of players.

If you want to see more people, go out on the interwebz and tell people about us!

I prefer to go out in public showing off my UOSA thong.

So far, I've only successfully recruited Elkeater.

[farnk]

If I saw derrick irl I would give him a warm bear hug and a "good game" pat on the ole turd cuttin buns. JUST to show my appreciation of what he has done for all us UOSA wizards.

[Menkaure]

There's a lot of assumption in the first post that I don't agree with. The biggest assumption is that an artificial lower barrier to entry results in better retention. I reject this entirely, you may have more people starting, but it by no means encourages them to stay longer, and may actually do the opposite.

We are one of the longest running and most stable UO shards there's ever been.
The promotion of Second Age has always been the domain of players.

If you want to see more people, go out on the interwebz and tell people about us!

I just makred out! Its Derrick the ghost! Where have you been oh fearless leader?

[Emberdawn]

The player base is usually to credit for its success and sometimes downfall..

Another is the shards fairness and therefore allso its gms ability to stay the hell outta whats going on.

By fairness i mean it ability to stay consistent without huge changes. Sticking to era has done this shard a lot of good as it has kept out a stream of "Features" that are usually full of bugs or in some ways has consequences for the shard.

Everytime theres a change on a commercial mmorpg you have a percentage leaving not the other way around.. At most its an incentive for some players to keep playing but not for new ones to start.
Then theres long term effects of anything introduced thats new.

I agree with the staff here.. Love the shard?. Be the playerbase who helps it.

[skynyrd2]

I've tried to let your wild assertions go without comment throughout this thread as much as possible, but this series of claims is just plain ridiculous.

It's their choice to not care about the population and we all get hung up on the fact assuming they care about the playerbase. Thus we come up w these ideas.

You're making a false dichotomy where the staff must either not care and hate the game, or the staff must do everything possible to promote the growth of the population, and thereby like the game. This is not how UOSA works, not is it an indication of a staff that hates the game. Also, while we do care about engaging with the player base, we have a greater responsibility to impartially run the server and honor our stated goals regarding mechanical accuracy. Without that commitment, this server would be an anything goes server.

The people who represent the staff in forums are cold and factual. Obviously if you want to encourage people or make them feel welcome you choose friendly responsive people.

There is a difference between being friendly while denying something that a player requests, and pandering to the every whim of a player. This is exactly what you see here, and the fact that we aren't meeting your every demand does not mean that we are "unfriendly", any more than meeting your demands indicates would indicate actual friendliness.

That's why servers with donation shops have staff that is nice. Bc they care about the playerbase.

Generally speaking, when a server with donations is run, they're looking to make money (and most are successful at it in the short term). This naturally means that they tend to pander to whatever maximizes their population - and thus profit - in the short term. On the other hand, we are not here to make a profit, which is why we operate in the negative on virtually all months. Unlike these servers whose goals are to make a profit, our goal is to make as precise a replication as possible, which results in a stable server over a long period, something that is not shared by virtually every other server out there.

We need to realize staff is not here to promote, market, or listen to us. They simply built something and provide that wether or not people play it they do not care.

It is certainly not the responsibility of staff to promote or market the server (more on this later). However, we go to great lengths to listen to the players, and place any suggestions that are given within our framework. If we didn't listen, you wouldn't be getting a response right now.

It's the players Job to be friendly in welcoming new players or be a "people" person enough to say NO in a diplomatic fashion. When we look at it from the perspective of we have a platform we need to focus on building to be great. Instead of trying to focus on changing the platform. It's the players responsibility to make UOSA.

Surprisingly enough, this is the most accurate thing you've said thus far. To quote a recent statement from Derrick to myself on the issue of population: If players want more players, they should go find em. So, in this sense, yes, promotion of a server where the world is yours to interact with others in necessarily requires the player action. If players stand around bemoaning the lack of other players, expecting us to do something about it, the trends will continue as they currently have.

Calling all of my comments to be non factual is not factual. A lot of my comments portrayed what is conveyed to a certain number of the community. Although it may not be all SOME players see things in a certain way. Most of our discussions are a matter of opinions not facts.

Thank you for your answers. Showed a lot of character and professionalism in the way you handled that last post.

I started to realize the vision and mistake I and a lot of the community makes as a whole when viewing UOSA. A lot of my later post were just to cut because you sound like such an ass most of your post. But its the internet hard to convey "how" people say things. And when answering a buncha egotistical internet nerds such as ourselves you may sometimes need to be quick and straight to the point.

Like I said earlier if UOSA is looked at as a platform provided by staff that we are responsible to build. Not to change. If we focus energy into making the "platform given" a better place instead of focusing on how to "change the platform" we could have a better server. All the servers that have staff promoted events only provide a temp jolt not a long term effect.

Thanks for the interaction. Sorry for the "Wild" assumptions as is human nature sometimes we do things do create a reaction. Although these actions were not correct and necessary.