INCREASE POPULATION NOW******

[montier]

I think You guys are on to something.. and i think it would change the housing economy.. Probably for the better..

having 15 houses is too many.

3 or 6 is much much better

[Budner]

Three is plenty!

I'm part of the problem. Recently I owned 15 large houses/towers. I now own 11. I'm selling the rest of my properties except for 2 towers and maybe one L-shape. I might buy really special properties in the future but my days of house hoarding are over.

[Pirul]

There is no right answer for this, and any "proposal" is a catch-22 for staff.

A lot of people play here because of the staunch mechanical era-accuracy. Others because it is the best mechanically sound, and bug-free server around.

Adding new content will allienate the people who play for mechanicall accuracy. Not to mention that it opens Pandora's box in terms of: "if you add this, you should add that". I think the staff have done an incredible job to achieve an almost perfect replica technically speaking.

Now, for the people who play because they're on a stable, long-runing, and sound server; yes it can get stale. This server has been around for more than double what the t2a era was around in OSI. And a lot of members have been around for most of it! So yes, after a while you know what's the most efficient way to raise skills, the best template to PvP, the best strategy to PvP, and the most profitable way to farm. And it will get boring when you spend your time just doing it over and over again. People who have been here a while, and more specifically members of C^V can attest that there's few people who have tried to create activity as much as I did at one point in time (that point lasting more than a year!). I would organize hunting parties nightly. We organized a whole week with player run events...and not one, but two per day! There's a lot people can do to create activity, but after a while, just the general limitations that the world has starts making it repetitive to the point of wearing you out. People stop wanting to participate. Will silver drops change this? Nope. After farming millions in silver, the same repetitive nature of the game will catch up to you. Will changing spawns change this? Nope. It might prolong it, but it will (a) enrage the staunch accuracy purists, and (b) get stale overtime. You can't expect people to continue doing the same thing over and over indefinitely. Eventually, people will stop playing, and there is no way to stop it. I have currently been spending time in another server. Does that mean I have jumped off UOSA? Hell no. I'm sure eventually I'll get bored over there, and having UOSA will be great to rekindle my passion for the game. It is a cycle. What is also a cycle, is that now that winter is coming, people will start spending more and more time indoors, so it's likely populaton will see an increase.

Saying Adim doesn't care about the population, or it's members is talking out of the ass. I have talked looooong and hard with some of the GM's here, and mostly with Derrick about both shard issues, and just plain talking about RL as friends. I do believe he, as well as other GM's I've had a good relationship with are both: incredibly passionate about the shard, and genuinely interested in the population...however it is VERY hard to try to maintain an image of objectivity if they have a close relationship with members of the community. There is no way in hell Derrick would have spent the amount of time and money he has on this server if he genuinely didn't care about YOU personally.

So how can we get population up? As Derrick said: it's on us as players. Go out, dust off your ICQ and try to reach out to your former guildmates in OSI. Make noise about UO in whatever networks you participate in, etc.

[Light Shade]

Pirul is my hero.

[ultra]

There is no right answer for this, and any "proposal" is a catch-22 for staff.

A lot of people play here because of the staunch mechanical era-accuracy. Others because it is the best mechanically sound, and bug-free server around.

Adding new content will allienate the people who play for mechanicall accuracy. Not to mention that it opens Pandora's box in terms of: "if you add this, you should add that". I think the staff have done an incredible job to achieve an almost perfect replica technically speaking.

Now, for the people who play because they're on a stable, long-runing, and sound server; yes it can get stale. This server has been around for more than double what the t2a era was around in OSI. And a lot of members have been around for most of it! So yes, after a while you know what's the most efficient way to raise skills, the best template to PvP, the best strategy to PvP, and the most profitable way to farm. And it will get boring when you spend your time just doing it over and over again. People who have been here a while, and more specifically members of C^V can attest that there's few people who have tried to create activity as much as I did at one point in time (that point lasting more than a year!). I would organize hunting parties nightly. We organized a whole week with player run events...and not one, but two per day! There's a lot people can do to create activity, but after a while, just the general limitations that the world has starts making it repetitive to the point of wearing you out. People stop wanting to participate. Will silver drops change this? Nope. After farming millions in silver, the same repetitive nature of the game will catch up to you. Will changing spawns change this? Nope. It might prolong it, but it will (a) enrage the staunch accuracy purists, and (b) get stale overtime. You can't expect people to continue doing the same thing over and over indefinitely. Eventually, people will stop playing, and there is no way to stop it. I have currently been spending time in another server. Does that mean I have jumped off UOSA? Hell no. I'm sure eventually I'll get bored over there, and having UOSA will be great to rekindle my passion for the game. It is a cycle. What is also a cycle, is that now that winter is coming, people will start spending more and more time indoors, so it's likely populaton will see an increase.

Saying Adim doesn't care about the population, or it's members is talking out of the ass. I have talked looooong and hard with some of the GM's here, and mostly with Derrick about both shard issues, and just plain talking about RL as friends. I do believe he, as well as other GM's I've had a good relationship with are both: incredibly passionate about the shard, and genuinely interested in the population...however it is VERY hard to try to maintain an image of objectivity if they have a close relationship with members of the community. There is no way in hell Derrick would have spent the amount of time and money he has on this server if he genuinely didn't care about YOU personally.

So how can we get population up? As Derrick said: it's on us as players. Go out, dust off your ICQ and try to reach out to your former guildmates in OSI. Make noise about UO in whatever networks you participate in, etc.

I can get a ton of people but they aren't going to stick around in an inactive economy. I have recruited 5 people to play since I started on this server nearly 2 years ago, all UO vets, and all quit within 3 months. Over housing is putting a strangle hold on the server. It's not an issue with me, but it is to the average player. My issue is boredom, lol. I think Admins should flair it up every once in awhile just like the GM's of old. At least, on my server (Atlantic) they did.

I am going to see what I can do...in the coming months I am going to start actively dropping housing on IDOCs again and giving them away for free to new players. Don't fully understand why those with 15 keeps and towers haven't done the same, but like I said before, player quality is another issue on this server.

[Kadull]

Don't you guys think you might be over complicating this a little bit? When most people/businesses/non profits want to advertise, they usually just pay a little money to advertise over the internet, or stealth market on places like reddit, etc.

There's google ads, facebook targeted ads, endless forums.... Just donate specifically to a marketing campaign, and, you know, market. I mean, on facebook alone, 1 measly 1,000 dollars can get you a post that will reach the screens of over 1,000,000 people, and you can set it so that it only reached people who 'like' ultima online, etc.

If you get 1/1000th of those people, you would have 1,000 new players.

At most, and I haven't logged into this shard in years so maybe it is or isn't there already, but add the [young] system, to make sure the campaign isn't for nothing and money isn't wasted.

Keep it simple and elegant...

[Orion GM B^D]

There is no right answer for this, and any "proposal" is a catch-22 for staff.

A lot of people play here because of the staunch mechanical era-accuracy. Others because it is the best mechanically sound, and bug-free server around.

Adding new content will allienate the people who play for mechanicall accuracy. Not to mention that it opens Pandora's box in terms of: "if you add this, you should add that". I think the staff have done an incredible job to achieve an almost perfect replica technically speaking.

Now, for the people who play because they're on a stable, long-runing, and sound server; yes it can get stale. This server has been around for more than double what the t2a era was around in OSI. And a lot of members have been around for most of it! So yes, after a while you know what's the most efficient way to raise skills, the best template to PvP, the best strategy to PvP, and the most profitable way to farm. And it will get boring when you spend your time just doing it over and over again. People who have been here a while, and more specifically members of C^V can attest that there's few people who have tried to create activity as much as I did at one point in time (that point lasting more than a year!). I would organize hunting parties nightly. We organized a whole week with player run events...and not one, but two per day! There's a lot people can do to create activity, but after a while, just the general limitations that the world has starts making it repetitive to the point of wearing you out. People stop wanting to participate. Will silver drops change this? Nope. After farming millions in silver, the same repetitive nature of the game will catch up to you. Will changing spawns change this? Nope. It might prolong it, but it will (a) enrage the staunch accuracy purists, and (b) get stale overtime. You can't expect people to continue doing the same thing over and over indefinitely. Eventually, people will stop playing, and there is no way to stop it. I have currently been spending time in another server. Does that mean I have jumped off UOSA? Hell no. I'm sure eventually I'll get bored over there, and having UOSA will be great to rekindle my passion for the game. It is a cycle. What is also a cycle, is that now that winter is coming, people will start spending more and more time indoors, so it's likely populaton will see an increase.

Saying Adim doesn't care about the population, or it's members is talking out of the ass. I have talked looooong and hard with some of the GM's here, and mostly with Derrick about both shard issues, and just plain talking about RL as friends. I do believe he, as well as other GM's I've had a good relationship with are both: incredibly passionate about the shard, and genuinely interested in the population...however it is VERY hard to try to maintain an image of objectivity if they have a close relationship with members of the community. There is no way in hell Derrick would have spent the amount of time and money he has on this server if he genuinely didn't care about YOU personally.

So how can we get population up? As Derrick said: it's on us as players. Go out, dust off your ICQ and try to reach out to your former guildmates in OSI. Make noise about UO in whatever networks you participate in, etc.

I can get a ton of people but they aren't going to stick around in an inactive economy. I have recruited 5 people to play since I started on this server nearly 2 years ago, all UO vets, and all quit within 3 months. Over housing is putting a strangle hold on the server. It's not an issue with me, but it is to the average player. My issue is boredom, lol. I think Admins should flair it up every once in awhile just like the GM's of old. At least, on my server (Atlantic) they did.

I am going to see what I can do...in the coming months I am going to start actively dropping housing on IDOCs again and giving them away for free to new players. Don't fully understand why those with 15 keeps and towers haven't done the same, but like I said before, player quality is another issue on this server.

Pirul is my hero too!! Nicely said sir.

As far as this BS about a handful of players holding ALL the larger houses is CRAP! New players SHOULD NOT
expect to being owning a large house within the 1st 3-6 months PERIOD. Unless they bust their asses and
make enough gold to do it. Houses are just like any other commodity in this game. It comes with a price
if you want to buy it.

I lived in a few smalls for the first 6 months here. Worked my ass off fishing/selling mibs and doing tons of lvl 1 maps
to get enough to buy a larger house. Then I open a vendor in a small. Finally made enough to
build a tower at the present Trinny Stone Vendors. This is all over the last 2.5 years and only playing a couple
hours a night or whenever I had time. I never thought this server owed me anything or it was unfair at any time
that I wasn't playing out a f*cking castle!

This isn't totally directed at you Ultra, Im speaking the the rest of the posters as well. The point is,
you get out of this game what you put into it, just like anything else. I know the pop is down, but as Pirul
said "winter is coming" and that has been the trend over the time I have been here. If people don't
come here to play because they can't own a castle in a week, then they really don't belong here anyway.

[ends rant]

[ultra]

There is no right answer for this, and any "proposal" is a catch-22 for staff.

A lot of people play here because of the staunch mechanical era-accuracy. Others because it is the best mechanically sound, and bug-free server around.

Adding new content will allienate the people who play for mechanicall accuracy. Not to mention that it opens Pandora's box in terms of: "if you add this, you should add that". I think the staff have done an incredible job to achieve an almost perfect replica technically speaking.

Now, for the people who play because they're on a stable, long-runing, and sound server; yes it can get stale. This server has been around for more than double what the t2a era was around in OSI. And a lot of members have been around for most of it! So yes, after a while you know what's the most efficient way to raise skills, the best template to PvP, the best strategy to PvP, and the most profitable way to farm. And it will get boring when you spend your time just doing it over and over again. People who have been here a while, and more specifically members of C^V can attest that there's few people who have tried to create activity as much as I did at one point in time (that point lasting more than a year!). I would organize hunting parties nightly. We organized a whole week with player run events...and not one, but two per day! There's a lot people can do to create activity, but after a while, just the general limitations that the world has starts making it repetitive to the point of wearing you out. People stop wanting to participate. Will silver drops change this? Nope. After farming millions in silver, the same repetitive nature of the game will catch up to you. Will changing spawns change this? Nope. It might prolong it, but it will (a) enrage the staunch accuracy purists, and (b) get stale overtime. You can't expect people to continue doing the same thing over and over indefinitely. Eventually, people will stop playing, and there is no way to stop it. I have currently been spending time in another server. Does that mean I have jumped off UOSA? Hell no. I'm sure eventually I'll get bored over there, and having UOSA will be great to rekindle my passion for the game. It is a cycle. What is also a cycle, is that now that winter is coming, people will start spending more and more time indoors, so it's likely populaton will see an increase.

Saying Adim doesn't care about the population, or it's members is talking out of the ass. I have talked looooong and hard with some of the GM's here, and mostly with Derrick about both shard issues, and just plain talking about RL as friends. I do believe he, as well as other GM's I've had a good relationship with are both: incredibly passionate about the shard, and genuinely interested in the population...however it is VERY hard to try to maintain an image of objectivity if they have a close relationship with members of the community. There is no way in hell Derrick would have spent the amount of time and money he has on this server if he genuinely didn't care about YOU personally.

So how can we get population up? As Derrick said: it's on us as players. Go out, dust off your ICQ and try to reach out to your former guildmates in OSI. Make noise about UO in whatever networks you participate in, etc.

I can get a ton of people but they aren't going to stick around in an inactive economy. I have recruited 5 people to play since I started on this server nearly 2 years ago, all UO vets, and all quit within 3 months. Over housing is putting a strangle hold on the server. It's not an issue with me, but it is to the average player. My issue is boredom, lol. I think Admins should flair it up every once in awhile just like the GM's of old. At least, on my server (Atlantic) they did.

I am going to see what I can do...in the coming months I am going to start actively dropping housing on IDOCs again and giving them away for free to new players. Don't fully understand why those with 15 keeps and towers haven't done the same, but like I said before, player quality is another issue on this server.

Pirul is my hero too!! Nicely said sir.

As far as this BS about a handful of players holding ALL the larger houses is CRAP! New players SHOULD NOT
expect to being owning a large house within the 1st 3-6 months PERIOD. Unless they bust their asses and
make enough gold to do it. Houses are just like any other commodity in this game. It comes with a price
if you want to buy it.

I lived in a few smalls for the first 6 months here. Worked my ass off fishing/selling mibs and doing tons of lvl 1 maps
to get enough to buy a larger house. Then I open a vendor in a small. Finally made enough to
build a tower at the present Trinny Stone Vendors. This is all over the last 2.5 years and only playing a couple
hours a night or whenever I had time. I never thought this server owed me anything or it was unfair at any time
that I wasn't playing out a f*cking castle!

This isn't totally directed at you Ultra, Im speaking the the rest of the posters as well. The point is,
you get out of this game what you put into it, just like anything else. I know the pop is down, but as Pirul
said "winter is coming" and that has been the trend over the time I have been here. If people don't
come here to play because they can't own a castle in a week, then they really don't belong here anyway.

[ends rant]

Yeah. I agree players should work hard. It only took me a couple of months for my first tower, but 15 is too much and it is harming the average, casual players. Me personally, all I want is the era accurate "GM Easter eggs," that I posted on a previous post on here. That in itself would make it very enjoyable for me. It was my favorite part of UO. Doing so is very era accurate, it is even listed in the original UO guide. I will have to scan my old copy and post it in. It even has its own section labeled "Easter Eggs."


EDIT ADD: Promised scans added below!

Source:

[+]

Easter Eggs:

[+]

GM's would have fun with the game! Play NPC's and add little surprises in chests or on mobs. I want meh Easter Eggggs! =)

[skynyrd2]

There is no right answer for this, and any "proposal" is a catch-22 for staff.

A lot of people play here because of the staunch mechanical era-accuracy. Others because it is the best mechanically sound, and bug-free server around.

Adding new content will allienate the people who play for mechanicall accuracy. Not to mention that it opens Pandora's box in terms of: "if you add this, you should add that". I think the staff have done an incredible job to achieve an almost perfect replica technically speaking.

Now, for the people who play because they're on a stable, long-runing, and sound server; yes it can get stale. This server has been around for more than double what the t2a era was around in OSI. And a lot of members have been around for most of it! So yes, after a while you know what's the most efficient way to raise skills, the best template to PvP, the best strategy to PvP, and the most profitable way to farm. And it will get boring when you spend your time just doing it over and over again. People who have been here a while, and more specifically members of C^V can attest that there's few people who have tried to create activity as much as I did at one point in time (that point lasting more than a year!). I would organize hunting parties nightly. We organized a whole week with player run events...and not one, but two per day! There's a lot people can do to create activity, but after a while, just the general limitations that the world has starts making it repetitive to the point of wearing you out. People stop wanting to participate. Will silver drops change this? Nope. After farming millions in silver, the same repetitive nature of the game will catch up to you. Will changing spawns change this? Nope. It might prolong it, but it will (a) enrage the staunch accuracy purists, and (b) get stale overtime. You can't expect people to continue doing the same thing over and over indefinitely. Eventually, people will stop playing, and there is no way to stop it. I have currently been spending time in another server. Does that mean I have jumped off UOSA? Hell no. I'm sure eventually I'll get bored over there, and having UOSA will be great to rekindle my passion for the game. It is a cycle. What is also a cycle, is that now that winter is coming, people will start spending more and more time indoors, so it's likely populaton will see an increase.

Saying Adim doesn't care about the population, or it's members is talking out of the ass. I have talked looooong and hard with some of the GM's here, and mostly with Derrick about both shard issues, and just plain talking about RL as friends. I do believe he, as well as other GM's I've had a good relationship with are both: incredibly passionate about the shard, and genuinely interested in the population...however it is VERY hard to try to maintain an image of objectivity if they have a close relationship with members of the community. There is no way in hell Derrick would have spent the amount of time and money he has on this server if he genuinely didn't care about YOU personally.

So how can we get population up? As Derrick said: it's on us as players. Go out, dust off your ICQ and try to reach out to your former guildmates in OSI. Make noise about UO in whatever networks you participate in, etc.

Well said post. As stated you see where many of us come from on issues with this server and we would not make such and effort if we did not care about the server.

The people whom seem most positive about the server are people who have a relationship with Derrick and have spoke with him about it. Like you said yourself. But the majority of the population doesn't here these things. I understand Derrick is busy IRL and this is a volunteer job essentially. But an admin voice who could portray the views of staff and address concerns with character and taste. Would enhance server health and put some of these concerns to rest. Saying NO can be done in a manner in which the defeated side leaves with clarity and ease.

Honestly a lot of people whom I speak to are concerned they may wake up tomorrow and the server will be shut down. In the last year or so the staff voice has been presented in a robotic fashion to seize any question or comment regarding era accuracy. So to say those individuals with server concerns are "talking out their ass" is a false statement as that is how they are seeing things as there has been little positive communication. Which is why those most positive about the server were either around when Derrick was active or have an open dialogue and personal communication with him.

As said before staff provides a platform in which the less interactions the better but I do not believe positive feedback and a positive voice would hurt within the community. It may even get some people excited about the server.

On the flip side I understand (or actually don't fully) running a freeserver can be immensely difficult and impossible to please everyone. Kaivan does a great job keeping those who question the server at a minimum and answer every question in a way no more questions can arise. He could of been a saving grace for many free servers who ultimate downfall was trying to please everyone.

[Menkaure]

Housing is not the problem.

[Budner]

Housing is not the problem.

Housing is not the ONLY problem.

[N-SilverBABY!!]

Housing is not the problem.

ROFL REALLY??? go look at the MAP of HardCore's old town that just fell the fucker owned 20 houses and took up a LARGE part of the map and you want to sit there with a straight face and tell me that is ok regardless of "how much time he put in"

Now multiply HarCore by like 10 people and you start to see why housing is fucked here. I do think housing should be fixed but I'm not a democrat so I don't think everything should just be handed to people I would be in favor of each account having say 2 houses.

[Elk Eater]

Housing has had the same "problem" since I've been here (2009) and the population has done just fine, I wouldn't attribute any perceived population issues (if there are actually any) to housing.

I do wish that there was a smaller limit on housing, maybe 1 house per account or 5 houses per three accounts or something, but that doesn't seem like it would ever happen

[Halbu]

PIRUL IS A MEXICAN.

[Pirul]

PIRUL IS A MEXICAN.

Damn right!