EM's are back and they are giving it away

[Hemisphere]

Perhaps we could have a new holiday gift.

A piece of headgear (which can be worn over the top of a regular helm): "glacial carrot on a stick".

Then you can stop giving out event items altogether, and when people want to reproduce the event item experience, they'll have a viable alternative.

 

[katherinepgoh]

I think that part of the fun is wondering if you'll be one of those who's lucky enough to get a reward. I also think that it's extremely nice to be able to get things that not everyone has, and that if you give out the same reward to everyone that you basically ruin the point of rares collectors existences. However.
I do think that everyone should get at the very least something, even if it's only their names in a book that shows whom helped achieve the end of the event in question.
Don't remove the unique and often historic items given away as event rewards, but do give at least a token gesture to all who attend. This is the best way to please both crowds, and should have the desired affect.
Strength and Honor!

 

[Petrify]

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are in the process of reviewing the way items are handled in the events. We are working toward a fair resolution regarding this.

Chrissay

Oh lord don't make it so "everybody attending" get's one. Seriously what is the point of the EM program if the people who actually do well (i.e win) don't get rewarded?

 

[Hemisphere]

But if everybody gets a reward, then everybody's happy, right? in a sort of sterile, prepackaged way, at least. Sort of like a Happy Meal.

 

[wrekognize]

What does everyone really expect to happen? People like rare stuff. Every day there are posts how people want full book cases and hitching posts and whatever. They complain that they should be common and cost too much money.

Then the developers make it (easily) obtainable. But guess what? "Oh, I don't even need this hitching post" or "It takes too much work to make this." These items are only cared about because they are rare. The moment they become not really rare they are tossed aside and the focus shifts to something else.

So instead of sulking about how someone else owns it, get it for yourself. Because when it gets handed to you later you won't even want it.

DING DING DING!!
(The light comes on for many)

 

[JC the Builder]

Either way does not matter as I said before they should have used the four doom books to make this bookcase, thus making a market for those books in game, today those very books are toss in the trash by players in game to make room for items in the home.

Do you know why they are tossed away? Or why most Doom "rarity" items failed in general? Because they spawn too frequently!

Okay, lets make those books useful and you can make the full bookshelves out of them. I am going to dismiss the damaged books because they are rarity 1. The other 3 you mentioned are rarity 3. Do you know how many of those exist? There are over 50,000 per shard which have spawned (3 spawns every 8 hours is 27 per day over 5 years).

Even if they deleted every one of those there would be too many available in no time at all. This is why every rarity item under 8 or so are considered worthless.

 

[Hemisphere]

Ironically, if they didn't have a "rarity" rating, they would be "rarer"

Some of UO's systems really are the most ill-thought out junk, like the development process often stops at the "hey wouldn't it be cool if..." stage.

The Doom arti rares system could have been pretty awesome - random spawn times (like a 1 month arti could spawn twice in a day, or not spawn for a whole year, depending on the RNG), random spawn locations, cycling new items every few months, or even just annually (and cutting spawn of the old ones permanantly), etc.

 

[Bman]

Well so you all quit beating the dead horse... the Robe was sold to an unnamed individual for an undisclosed amount of gold. Never realized that selling an item that was acquired during an event would cause such a ruccuss..amounguss..

I honestly believe the OP is just upset that they did not receive an item from the event.

I didnt even receive this robe that was for sale, I was the middle man making a sale for a friend. Never upset me at all that he or any of the others received an item over me. And yes I did follow the scenario all the way through from earlier in the week, seeking out Michel Nontink... searching various mines for clues/hints, finding the corpse near Minoc, talking to the man at arms in Minoc. Then going to the event early on Sunday night waiting around with others, then seeking out the Gargoyles that attacked Minoc mines, not knowing myself that we were supposed to loot the corpses for the book. But hey it was fun and I look forward to the next event....

Now the seller of the robe is a little bit richer and little bit closer to being able to buy that Castle that they have been seeking out for many many moons...

So I guess the next question is.... anyone selling a Castle on LS?

 

[Lord Drakelord]

Either way does not matter as I said before they should have used the four doom books to make this bookcase, thus making a market for those books in game, today those very books are toss in the trash by players in game to make room for items in the home.

Do you know why they are tossed away? Or why most Doom "rarity" items failed in general? Because they spawn too frequently!

Okay, lets make those books useful and you can make the full bookshelves out of them. I am going to dismiss the damaged books because they are rarity 1. The other 3 you mentioned are rarity 3. Do you know how many of those exist? There are over 50,000 per shard which have spawned (3 spawns every 8 hours is 27 per day over 5 years).

Even if they deleted every one of those there would be too many available in no time at all. This is why every rarity item under 8 or so are considered worthless.

It would still make a market for the books, and I would still make it a requirement that they use all four books. So someone would have to cross to the gauntlet to get one set of them. They could also change the rarity so they spawn a little less often but still keep the four books as a requirement to make the bookcase. But you and I know they will not change the current requirements of the Bedlam books for the bookcase, but they could fix it so people could turn in those Doom books at the Library for points.

 

[Hemisphere]

It would still make a market for the books, and I would still make it a requirement that they use all four books. So someone would have to cross to the gauntlet to get one set of them. They could also change the rarity so they spawn a little less often but still keep the four books as a requirement to make the bookcase. But you and I know they will not change the current requirements of the Bedlam books for the bookcase, but they could fix it so people could turn in those Doom books at the Library for points.

Making bookcases out of arti books would be an excellent idea.

Sure, THEORETICALLY there are 50,000 (or whatever) of those books, but in reality the average player wouldn't be able to find more than 2 or 3 on their entire account, and if it took say, 4 stacks of books to make a bookcase, you'd quickly find there were very few stacks of books around

Theoretically there are several million veteran rewards in UO, but that doesn't stop them selling for millions each.

 

[von Beck]

Oh lord don't make it so "everybody attending" get's one. Seriously what is the point of the EM program if the people who actually do well (i.e win) don't get rewarded?

Why do there need to be winners and loosers? A proportion of UO players need to compete against other players and 'win', but another (and I would suggest much larger) proportion of players want to cooperate and achieve a positive outcome as a group. I'm thinking of, for example, those people who were helping other players out by opening gates to the locations in the 'father's love' quest rather than racing to the finish.

Or to put it another way, I think these 'winners' must have a rather insecure or miserable RL existence if they need to pump up their epeen by winning an online game.... :loser:

 

[Chad Sexington]

Why do there need to be winners and loosers? A proportion of UO players need to compete against other players and 'win', but another (and I would suggest much larger) proportion of players want to cooperate and achieve a positive outcome as a group. I'm thinking of, for example, those people who were helping other players out by opening gates to the locations in the 'father's love' quest rather than racing to the finish.

Or to put it another way, I think these 'winners' must have a rather insecure or miserable RL existence if they need to pump up their epeen by winning an online game.... :loser:

Have both. Problem solved.

 

[JC the Builder]

Sure, THEORETICALLY there are 50,000 (or whatever) of those books, but in reality the average player wouldn't be able to find more than 2 or 3 on their entire account, and if it took say, 4 stacks of books to make a bookcase, you'd quickly find there were very few stacks of books around

At the current spawn rate it wouldn't be long before there are plenty of book cases. In 6 months there will be another 5,000 spawned. If each bookcase needs 4, that turns out 1,250.

The thing about these book cases is they are purely decorative. They don't give you extra storage or give a bonus to the Inscription skill. Yet some people feel as if they should be common as the non-filled variety. If every decoration in the game was common then the only rewards would be equipment. Is that a better solution? Of course not. Because people complain about rare equipment!

I just pick bookcases as a recent example. There are others I can't recall off-hand.

 

[JC the Builder]

Why do there need to be winners and loosers?

This is quite the laughable statement. Sports, collectible card games, casinos, lottery, etc would all like to have a word with you.

Competition is such a huge part of society. If you taking winning out of a game, is it a game anymore?

 

[Salivern_Diago]

The point is, its a Game.. and in games you WIN or LOSE. Now I loose a fair bit, its part of the game. I want to win then I try harder. But moaning about not winning.. Oh come on!!!

Its a GAME and it the moaners that keep getting this GAME put down. Deal with it for heavens sake and try harder. Chrissay, DONT let the moaners make it so everyone gets an item, DONT let the moaners make it so that the EM's are nerfed. in short DONT listen to the moaners who try to bring the game down to WoW standards.

There is nothing wrong with how things are, rarities or whatever are part of the game. Its a Roleplay world... people win, people loose...

Deal with it or play WoW where everyone has a shallow win!

 

[ColterDC]

NO TRANSFER would be my solution, meaning that EM items are bound to the SHARD that they were created on, and CANNOT be transfered to another server. That would COMPLETELY eliminate the cross-shard trading of EM items, and would guarantee that either the item would remain vital to the shard it was from, or would at least appropriately be lost to the winds of time.

QFT

Overall, I'm just glad they stopped handing out items with mods.

 

[Lia]

There is nothing wrong with wanting an item for an event genuinely participated in. I'm in favor of making them shard-only, and I really liked the idea of making shard-specific awards vs personal player awards. I'd be happy as a clam to make items account-bound, too.

Events are rare and supposed to be fun. You shouldn't be there if you are not in it for the event. There are plenty of other ways for people to make money.

 

[Mordocuo]

I see that items that sell for mega bucks are back on the auction block from EM events.

While I am sure the EM's are trying to do something good, some of the same old issues are back with a new RARE item being given out.

Please see this thread about the sale of one of these items.

http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=126216


I should mention that Nathan passed on his robe from the event


Maybe in the future the EM's will do events that are fun for all and not reward a small number only.

It is amazing at the responses and the assumptions on my motives for posting this to begin with.

While I am in favor of limited rewards from EM events I was merely bringing up the fact that with limited rewards come people looking to get rich from getting one. As others have posted in this thread I am in favor of making them bound to the account that receives them. Make it so they can't be traded or sold or even locked down.

But hey take it for how you want it.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

It is amazing at the responses and the assumptions on my motives for posting this to begin with.

While I am in favor of limited rewards from EM events I was merely bringing up the fact that with limited rewards come people looking to get rich from getting one. As others have posted in this thread I am in favor of making them bound to the account that receives them. Make it so they can't be traded or sold or even locked down.

But hey take it for how you want it.

Rares acquisition and selling is an old and honorable profession in UO....I don't see what's wrong with people coming to an event to get rich, just with people who come to an event feeling entitled to something.

I don't see what the big deal about selling items is, really....Virtually all of the in-game economy is people getting stuff they don't want to use and selling or trading to people who DO want to use it.

-Galen's player

 

[It Lives]

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are in the process of reviewing the way items are handled in the events. We are working toward a fair resolution regarding this.

Chrissay

The community warned the team about this very same crap happening long before you let the new EM's loose.

Not to mention the the crap from the last batch of EM's.

G-dam your memories are short.

 

[Mordocuo]

Rares acquisition and selling is an old and honorable profession in UO....I don't see what's wrong with people coming to an event to get rich, just with people who come to an event feeling entitled to something.

I don't see what the big deal about selling items is, really....Virtually all of the in-game economy is people getting stuff they don't want to use and selling or trading to people who DO want to use it.

-Galen's player

It is simple Galen--getting rich off of event items is a sure way to have corruption. Just like the last group of EM's and the old time seers brought us.

But I guess in this thread only a few of us even see that.

 

[Mordocuo]

The community warned the team about this very same crap happening long before you let the new EM's loose.

Not to mention the the crap from the last batch of EM's.

G-dam your memories are short.

At least one other gets it.

 

[Lady Kiara]

I see that items that sell for mega bucks are back on the auction block from EM events.

While I am sure the EM's are trying to do something good, some of the same old issues are back with a new RARE item being given out.

Please see this thread about the sale of one of these items.

http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=126216


I should mention that Nathan passed on his robe from the event


Maybe in the future the EM's will do events that are fun for all and not reward a small number only.

Ok I don't understand is the new mod program not working out...?They just started it....

 

[Petrify]

You know those poker tournaments on T.V why not spread the prize money between first and last equally! Sure that will be fun! Everybody is a winner! Oh and everybody gets a braclet that says "I entered the WSOP 2008!"!

Yay! Happy fun joy!





Seriously, the mentality of some of you people just blows my mind. Isn't the whole point of a game to compete against other people? What is the point in playing a game if you beat somebody and they achieve the exact same thing that you do?

 

[Kiminality]

Seriously, the mentality of some of you people just blows my mind. Isn't the whole point of a game to compete against other people? What is the point in playing a game if you beat somebody and they achieve the exact same thing that you do?

Ha! No...
The whole point of a game is to have fun.
The whole point of the EM program is to make the game more fun, for more people.

You're taking your idea of fun, and applying it to other people, which leads to an inaccurate perspective, when judging other people.
A lot of people don't put the same importance on competition as you do?
Are they wrong? No.
Are you wrong? No.
However, EAMythic seem to consider pleasing the majority more important than pleasing a minority. Without intending to be terribly offensive, I imagine they'd rather a couple of people like you quit, than a couple dozen other subscribers, who see the money they pay for subscription going towards a program that touches the entire playerbase, but only really rewards a handful.

 

[Hoffs]

You seem to be talking as though there is no happy medium. There is - it's called friendly competition.

You should have been on Siege for their event. Everyone was extremely polite and not the slightest piece of spamming or disruption (just the thieves doing what thieves do). People competed against one another for the prizes and everyone accepted that some will win and some will lose. In the end, I think one guy took home four of the eleven vases, but heck, he is damned good. On the other hand, two newcomers to the shard also won one. The rewards were just renamed vases, no fantastic value on Siege but probably valuable to those that won them (I know the one I got for the previous year's event is to me).

For three years I have enjoyed doing peerless and champs. What keeps it so interesting is the small chance of picking up the 120 magery, that rare hair dye, and now a replica. Even though I may not win or may not need them myself, I am just as happy to see my guildmates win them. Without the chance of those rewards, though, these hunts would quickly become boring to me.

In summary, to keep things interesting I believe you need some prize or incentive for doing things. That does not mean you don't enjoy the event if you fail to win, you just try harder next time.

 

[Littleblue]

I think the best idea is a compromise of sorts...

A reward for all, as well as different rewards for the winning player(s).

The upper rewards would still be unique and rare; All participants would get something, making the most possible happy (hopefully!).

Everyone gets a little piece of the good time they had...which is what most players are after, anyway. Fun to display, like a scrapbook - made of objects, hehe. Competitive playstyles still have their own goodies to play for...so hopefully there's not anyone or any playstyle left out.

EDIT: Yeah, I save my concert ticket stubs, hehe.

 

[Salivern_Diago]

I disagree with alot of what people say on this thread.. Account limitations, shard limitations etc etc. Worried that the EM's will become corrupt? Then the answer is simple... Put a webpage up for each shard, where all the winners of items are listed WITH the item they win and what for... But heres the pinch.. Each item should have the winners name on it. IE.. Europa Sash of the Guards [Danny]. Have it as durability 1 and unable to be insured or blessed.

It keeps it unique, cant be duped easilly (Will never be more than one with the same name/shard), if it gets damaged its gone, if you carry it with you and you die its gone. Its limited, its character personal and its unique. As its listed on an offical website the EM's cant create dozens of them and sell them for $$$, everyone knows thier history and its semi tracable. If theres suddenly more than one of them, then the Devs can delete the whole lot as you need the orginal to dupe it, delete it all.

To me personally that seems a simple regulatory way of managing event items. But making them so you cant trade them etc, it completely idiotic and takes away what makes UO UO.

 

[MissEcho]

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are in the process of reviewing the way items are handled in the events. We are working toward a fair resolution regarding this.

Chrissay

Hopefully something will be done that does make the event reward distribution a lot 'fairer' than it currently is and not only that more consistent across shards and rewards across shards. I also hope you will read this thread which has a fair bit of 'content' concerning this issue and the 'attitudes' of various people and 'winners', it also highlights why a lot of people on our shard don't bother with attending and/or participating anymore, they just can't stand the bs any longer:

Event Feedback

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are in the process of reviewing the way items are handled in the events. We are working toward a fair resolution regarding this.

Chrissay

I'd urge you to consider that, while some of these complaints are sincere, some players are simply whining that they didn't get something.

In the LS event at issue, what happened was quite simple.

The plot of the event, similar to the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark," involved a mysterious creature that had killed miners. Pre-event NPC conversations indicated that some thought the creature needed to be slain, others thought that it wasn't the aggressor and that perhaps it was protecting something and needed to be communicated with. Justice vs. Compassion.

The EM-played Royal Guard representative was pretty strident that the creature needed to be killed. So, we the players went and killed it, along with about 8 million Gargoyle Destroyers. After it was dead, it turned out that, indeed, the creature was non-aggressive, was simply some kind of weird gargoyle-hybrid that thought the miners were threatening its offspring.

Players who participated in the actual fighting looted books or some other kind of item, which could be traded for the fur of the slain mother, which could then be turned into a robe, with no properties. Grizzly, but kinda cool. A reward for the Virtue of Justice.

However, players who did not attack could be rewarded with Lanterns. A reward for the Virtue of Compassion. The players who rewarded for Compassion were selected by the Royal Guard character played by one of the EMs. I don't know on what basis he selected people.

I honestly didn't much care. Why didn't I care? Because the items had no properties, and this game isn't a competition to me. At least not the kind of competition where someone else has to lose for me to win.

I, for the record, got nothing. I was fine with that; I've never gotten a single EM item save for a Royal Guard sash, and I don't ever expect to. Nor do I feel entitled to. (Not that it wouldn't be nice, mind you!!)

I am not a fan of the EM program (or of the Seer program that came before it). Many other players are, however, and I will have fun going to the events myself despite my misgivings about the program.

I would hate to see the program endangered, or perhaps worse yet, watered down or homogenized or "nationalized," on the basis of the fact that not everyone who participated got something.

I have issues with the LS event. I have issues with the distribution of rewards. But come on now.....It's not like there wasn't a set of rewards that was distributed in a more conventional way (looting).

With something like the EM program, you run the risk of corruption. And indeed, I am informed that one of LS's Seers caused problems in the RP community that contributed significantly to the underlying causes of its ongoing downfall.

But come on now....I don't think we're anywhere near there yet, on the basis of an event wherein lanterns and furs were distributed. Isn't homogenization a greater danger than corruption?

Eh. *shrugs* I don't know.

I'm just saying....I guess that's it.

-Galen's player

 

[MalagAste]

I agree with several posters and as I posted before my ideas about how things should be handled by EM's I'll stick to that.

But I would like to add I agree with Ra'Dian's post and that items generated by EM's "should" be bound to the shard that they are created on. Non-transferable. That might eliminate the players who come to other shards only to acquire stuff in which to sell as their only desire in participating in events is to greedily make money and they have ZERO interest in the actual shard.... it's history... or it's true populous.... they play merely for profit...

And definitely there are flashbacks many have to unfairness of former EM's and Seers with favoritism being shown.... we certainly don't want a repeat of any of that..... and I'd hate to see the EM program destroyed by a bunch of whiners before it even has a chance to begin.... As I am more in it for the events...

I see the events as something to do and a tool to further the role-play and immersion of myself into the game..... not as a means of profit or of personal gain.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I agree with several posters and as I posted before my ideas about how things should be handled by EM's I'll stick to that.

But I would like to add I agree with Ra'Dian's post and that items generated by EM's "should" be bound to the shard that they are created on. Non-transferable. That might eliminate the players who come to other shards only to acquire stuff in which to sell as their only desire in participating in events is to greedily make money and they have ZERO interest in the actual shard.... it's history... or it's true populous.... they play merely for profit...

And definitely there are flashbacks many have to unfairness of former EM's and Seers with favoritism being shown.... we certainly don't want a repeat of any of that..... and I'd hate to see the EM program destroyed by a bunch of whiners before it even has a chance to begin.... As I am more in it for the events...

I see the events as something to do and a tool to further the role-play and immersion of myself into the game..... not as a means of profit or of personal gain.

Except for the fact that people selling stuff is part of that immersion.

Even if people aren't consciously role-playing it, how is selling rares not a legitimate profession from an RP perspective.

My character Galen is a good example. He refers to himself as an "antiques dealer" by trade. Now, he and I are too small-time to actually deal in any super-rare things. For us "antiques" means mostly artifacts and scrolls and good loot and stuff.

But still....If Galen had managed to acquire one of the EM items, he'd have sold it so fast he probably would have kicked himself later for not holding out for a higher price. 65 million gold for a robe sounds awfully nice. 40m for a robe sounds rather nice too. Hell, I probably would have fouled up really badly and sold it for 20m.

Is that not RP? For me, it is.

It's not that I don't see a case could be made for shard-bonding, it's just that I don't think cross-sharding is the real issue with these items. Or see the point in forbidding it.

-Galen's player

 

[THP]

I think u all know were i stand on the old EMs Events..really hope it aint gonna be the same, same, freinds,guilds and pals only....We really do need to stamp this out before it begins again....I just pray it can be different this time...as everyone does.... well 95% of the others like me anyways.....guess the other 5% will want it the same.

Please EMs if u are giving gifts out ten -a-penny- just make it fair for everyone.

 

[Lost-Soul]

I dont mind the EMs giving out a few items to a small number of people. I just wish the EMs would be honest with the crowd and themselves. Let everyone know that they are giving away XXX number of rewards for the first to do ________. Instead of pretending to build community events where people help others.

 

[Cyrah]

What's done is done.

Event two interests me more than all of this past happenings.

We have them again... and I am once more hopeful it will all be fine.

Babies!!!!

 

[Mesanna]

Greetings Everyone,

We have been keeping a close eye on EM events and player feedback regarding rewards. After careful consideration we have decided that everyone that does the event should receive a reward. This reward will be the same reward across all the shards, with small differences in text on the item or the hue of the item. We will, of course, take precautions to ensure that only people who take part in a specific event receive the reward. The 1st and 2nd place winners will have their names on the item along with the event name and a year added to the item. When rewards are given out by the Event Moderators it will be announced with the post of shard times that the EM will be giving the applicable reward.



For future events, all locations will be announced with the times to stop any confusion for future events.

Mesanna

 

[Crysta]

So.. everybody is going to get more or less the same thing in a massive amount? The only difference being the events that hand them out?

If you were going to give in to whiners so easily and bland out the whole system why did you bother rehiring the EMs in the first place? You should be leaving such things up to each individual EM or EM set's own discretion, especially since the main focus of the EM system is to further each shard's individuality. Not to mention restricting things so heavily will only stifle the EM's personal creativity.

Oh, and if you think all of what i've said makes no real difference just wait... after the "all the same" rewards are handed out at the next event the idiots will whine just as loudly as ever, mostly because it isn't a matter of anyone getting something better than them, but because they didn't get what they wanted or get anything. In turn you'll cave to them again and it will become only low level renamed clothing without mods for everyone in attendance without "1st or 2nd place" gifts. Then people will complain more because "the events aren't worth going to anymore" and the EM system will get shut down again. I'd advise changing your stance if you want to see the EMs not get canned again.

And yes, I do see the inherent irony in complaining about complaining.

 

[IanJames]

I for one can't wait to stand in line with the rest of my shard to get my uber umm shirt. :-(

FAIL

 

[Old Man of UO]

You know what? You people are going to complain no matter what they gave away, to whom or how they gave it away. Other people want to ruin it for everyone else. Some people are never satisfied. I thought Mesanna's response was a good compromise considering all the feedback.... but nooooo!

GIMMEGIMMEGIMME - BUT ONLY ME!

 

[Hemisphere]

It does pretty much make it a quasi-artifact handout, doesn't it.

If 100 people attend the event that makes each item about as rare as a Doom saddle, artifact rarity 9, except generally less desirable because instead of being distributed over the course of several years, they're all given at the same time, and so pretty much every full time player on the shard has one. Repeat this every week and suddenly event items are going to seem a hell of a lot less special.

But hey who am I to say what people want? Maybe this will make people happy, but like I said earlier in the thread, happy strictly in the "happy meal" sense of the word.

 

[Hoffs]

A good compromise? What planet are you living on? It basically removes all the competition and all special items. I want a CHANCE of winning one. If I don't, then I'll try again next time. But once again the voices of all the whiners have screwed it up for those of us that enjoy some *gasp* uncertainty in the game.

 

[christy1221]

Greetings Everyone,

We have been keeping a close eye on EM events and player feedback regarding rewards. After careful consideration we have decided that everyone that does the event should receive a reward. This reward will be the same reward across all the shards, with small differences in text on the item or the hue of the item. We will, of course, take precautions to ensure that only people who take part in a specific event receive the reward. The 1st and 2nd place winners will have their names on the item along with the event name and a year added to the item. When rewards are given out by the Event Moderators it will be announced with the post of shard times that the EM will be giving the applicable reward.



For future events, all locations will be announced with the times to stop any confusion for future events.

Mesanna

Thanks! I love having a souvenir from an event. I'm not in it for the gold I like having it for a memory.

To add to this I still think the winners should get something different and better then other people that are there.

 

[Hoffs]

Pity they couldn't have released this game in the old Soviet Union and the Communist Bloc countries. It would have been a real hit.

 

[Lord Drakelord]

Greetings Everyone,

We have been keeping a close eye on EM events and player feedback regarding rewards. After careful consideration we have decided that everyone that does the event should receive a reward. This reward will be the same reward across all the shards, with small differences in text on the item or the hue of the item. We will, of course, take precautions to ensure that only people who take part in a specific event receive the reward. The 1st and 2nd place winners will have their names on the item along with the event name and a year added to the item. When rewards are given out by the Event Moderators it will be announced with the post of shard times that the EM will be giving the applicable reward.



For future events, all locations will be announced with the times to stop any confusion for future events.

Mesanna

ok sound good to me, and thanks

 

[Kiminality]

What this basically says, to me, is that the events aren't about the rewards.

You show up, take part in something different, and get a souvenir.
Like visiting the zoo, and buying a little plastic rhino from the gift shop. The rhino is something special, to remind you of the trip, not the reason you went there in the first place.

 

[IanJames]

only if the only thing in the shop are 1000 plastic rhinos and that's all every zoo in the world has in their gift shop


I'll be looking forward to the next player run event on Siege.

 

[Lord Gareth]

Is it just me or do these sashes have nothing special except an EM hello message?

yes this must be worth 98,000,000 gold

lol

paaaalease

 

[Lord Gareth]

Quick question Mesanna. Will the events always be the same day and times? If so I might have to quit my Real Life job so I can be at them and I dont want to do that because then I wont have income. Then I will have to shut down all my accounts and you will lose money :-(

heheh. Just wondering.

Greetings Everyone,

We have been keeping a close eye on EM events and player feedback regarding rewards. After careful consideration we have decided that everyone that does the event should receive a reward. This reward will be the same reward across all the shards, with small differences in text on the item or the hue of the item. We will, of course, take precautions to ensure that only people who take part in a specific event receive the reward. The 1st and 2nd place winners will have their names on the item along with the event name and a year added to the item. When rewards are given out by the Event Moderators it will be announced with the post of shard times that the EM will be giving the applicable reward.



For future events, all locations will be announced with the times to stop any confusion for future events.

Mesanna

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Greetings Everyone,

We have been keeping a close eye on EM events and player feedback regarding rewards. After careful consideration we have decided that everyone that does the event should receive a reward. This reward will be the same reward across all the shards, with small differences in text on the item or the hue of the item. We will, of course, take precautions to ensure that only people who take part in a specific event receive the reward. The 1st and 2nd place winners will have their names on the item along with the event name and a year added to the item. When rewards are given out by the Event Moderators it will be announced with the post of shard times that the EM will be giving the applicable reward.



For future events, all locations will be announced with the times to stop any confusion for future events.

Mesanna

This is a bad system.

I'm sorry. I like a lot of what you all are doing, I'm optimistic about the game, I even like that the EM Program is back even though I've never been its strongest supporter.

But this is a bad system.

This post will probably be long, but I'm going to outline why and how this is a bad system. The system makes several basic errors and -here's the messed up part- some of these errors contradict each other.


1. You have made it so that each event will have a "winner." You have thus killed all cooperation by turning each event into a race, and only that. Under the present systems, which vary considerably by shard and event and EM, it's more like a loot drop. Everyone who shows up can get a shot at something, presuming they perform to some basic minimum level (usually by getting looting rights on some monster).

That isn't competition in the same way. It's an incentive to work together so everyone can have a good chance at something.

However, now the EMs will be forced to design events that have defined winners and, by definition, losers.


2. At the same time that you've given into the Fellie mentality and turned every event into a competition, you've also managed to give a certain level of rewards to everyone who shows up. By definition, this devalues the reward

Think about that a moment. You have by this system managed to simultaneously offer "nothing" rewards (and something given to everyone is kinda "nothing"), and turn events into competitive events at the same time.

It's very 3rd grade-ish, actually. And 3rd graders tend to see through this stuff pretty easily. They know that the "good job" sticker they all get is not worth the same as the "great job!" They know that "good job" is basically the same as saying "thank you for showing up and taking the test."

You have made a system that has the disadvantages of unbridled, savage competition, and a "feel good, everyone gets something" type of thing, all at the same time.


3. This will, by definition, depopulate the EM events. Everyone knows that it's either "win" or get the "good job" sticker. And even "winning" isn't going to be "worth" all that much.


4. Won't it kind of take forever to hand out rewards to a whole roomful of people? Even with the inevitable depopulation of EM events, enough people will still show up to make handing out the rewards a pain.


5. Same rewards...That's bad. The unique characteristics of the rewards, and of the events themselves, is part of the reason why you have events to begin with. If you're going to play it this way, why not get rid of the EMs and just run more centrally-planned events? Why bother having each EM personalize Casca?


7. You won't sop the whining, you'll just change the topic of it.


I'll just stop there. I don't feel like proof-reading this either.....The dye is cast and I've basically wasted my time with this post.

-Galen's player

PS: Just a quick edit, I still intend to show up to the events when possible, for my part. But it's not a good system.

 

[Hemisphere]

What this basically says, to me, is that the events aren't about the rewards.

You show up, take part in something different, and get a souvenir.
Like visiting the zoo, and buying a little plastic rhino from the gift shop. The rhino is something special, to remind you of the trip, not the reason you went there in the first place.

But for a great deal of players, (it could be argued the majority) the reward IS the reason they go to the event in the first place.

If a reward is guaranteed, this doesn't change - if anything the problem worsens. It's still an oppurtunity to go out and get given a valuable (still millions of gp) item for doing nothing or next to nothing, on a regular basis. Only now, you're guarenteed to get an item, AND you can find out ahead of time when and where the event will be. This will ensure a high turn out of players who are attending purely to pick up event items - especially event tourists who don't even play the shard that the event is being held on.

It will also ensure that a large part of the event will be devoted purely to handing out items. It's a really weird and messed up system where people have come to expect an item for simply attending an event, and by pandering to this mindset, the EM team are only exacerbating the issue here.

What I don't really understand is the bizarre notion that events should regularly involve any sort of items whatsoever. The kid who NEEDS a toy rhino to enjoy his trip to the zoo is a spoilt kid who doesn't deserve to be taken to the zoo in the first place. On the other hand, the kid who goes to the fair and knocks the coconut off the stand fully deserves to bring home a prize - it just makes sense.