[Discussion] some thoughts i had tonight....

[DVI]

I was recalling the rares council this evening and wondering if it might have been more successful had it been constructed differently and use for another purpose.

My thoughts were the following....

1st that perhaps rather than the major requirements for nomination being based around experience with rares, length of time as a member of the community, and popularity or how well known you are but rather on your desire to be a member of this community and to help improve both our relationships with each other and to promote our community to the rest of uo.

2nd the focus of the council itself may have been misdirected in that we began the council for the purpose of monitoring rares themselves, which may be considered dupes, which were still pure, etc. rather than trying to improve the community over all as a whole.

furthermore i began to contemplate how re-starting the council or a body similar to it may be beneficial to the community, but with a new goal of not monitoring its members and the items we term rares, but by helping players connect with each other and to assist them in finding information, connecting buyers with sellers, as well as to help bring new members into the rare collectors family and make them feel welcome.

the council would be less of a governing body and more of a group of players devoted to helping to improve our community by planning events or gatherings which could things like the rare collectors festival, or auctions, or even various types of games again with the purpose in mind of fostering community and helping our fellow players.

were something of this nature to be put into place i think it would be necessary to have a mix of both new and old collectors with the focus of eligibility placed around desire to expand the community and to assist others. perhaps some experience with planning, participating in, or hosting various in game events would also be a requirement as well.

i personally feel something of this nature would help not only us as a community come closer together but to bring us closer with the rest of the uo community, and draw others to join us in collecting.

just my musings for this evening....any thoughts?

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

1) Most people only care about buying, selling, or trading rares. Not that there is anything wrong with it. This is evident in the manner most rare festivals are scripted. It is a challenge to form a strong community that stretches over multiple shards and play styles.

2) Gauging the rarity of an item and not getting duped by buying dupes will always remain the number one priority within this community. I realize that it is popular amongst some to ignore dupers. For instance, by knowingly allowing them vendors at the rares festival because they are their buddies. However, such attempts at sweeping things under the carpet have been the primary reason why in the past new collectors have been scammed and turned off from collecting. The serious and honest collectors expect the "so-called" community leaders to provide them with the bitter truth, not bandy for their duper friends and ignore things when convenient.

3) One of the reasons that rares council "failed" was because half of the elected council did very little work or resigned due to loss of interest/time/whatever only several days after getting elected.

4) The mandate of the rare council was to improve the image of rare collectors and provide a medium for us to work towards getting us identified as a valid niche in Ultima Online in the eyes of the developers. Not whatever you stated. In those regards, the rare council was not a failure because the steps that were taken back then allowed us to do exactly that.

Instead of spending time on a rare council, it is better to spend time improving the quality of the rare festivals. One way to do that is to inject more of a community aspect to it.

 

[Techthys]

I think this forum itself is all the "council" we need. Anyone who wants to be heard can be, and knowledgeable and/or motivated people are recognizable by what they consistently post.

 

[Gus of Llanowar]

To me this would be more like a club than a council. which still interest me but as a council you still would not have much authority over anyone but yourself. The collecting and displaying is the main reason i still play the game. Also I take the pride in what rares i collect if just for the fact that i can keep a few rares out of a dupers hands. Unless the person i buy from has been reputable for years upon years then im not dealing with that person anyway. I think if there was a council it would be wise to disscourage the purchasing of these multiple super rares that come up for sale from differant owners everyweek. Even though EA got a bad rap for it i feel that was the whole purpose of the Replicas being created to put a damper on the facsimlie orginal rares. Whether its a replica or a dupe both will lower the price of the original due to availability. I think im gonna stop right here because im gonna start rambling nonsense if i havent already.....