Should EA create it's own UO Search Site?

[SchezwanBeefy]

With the 3rd party detection system being set up in game, the legality of Search sites have been brought up. Some people in favor of them despite the way they're created, some completely against them, and some in the middle.
So the question is, should EA implement it's own? How often do people use search sites? I personally like to be able to find one specific item as soon as I need it rather than taking 3 hours fishing for it as I used to. Do you think Search sites harm the economy of UO or help it? How could a Luna/Tokuno/Where ever search be implemented? What would you do if said search sites did not exist?
Please be civil of one another opinions. I would like to have a civil conversation with good input so this thread does NOT get locked. Mods, I would hope you'd be willing to keep this thread open so it may get some recognition from the Devs to give better understanding to them how much these sites are used and how helpful they are.

 

[Viper09]

No. Even if they had the money they shouldn't. I'd rather they spend money towards more important stuff. Instead they should just legalize a search site. Not even sure why they are illegal.

 

[SchezwanBeefy]

Poll is up. =] Please vote!

 

[SchezwanBeefy]

No. Even if they had the money they shouldn't. I'd rather they spend money towards more important stuff. Instead they should just legalize a search site. Not even sure why they are illegal.

Search Sites are illegal due to the phantom scripts they use, which is illegal in game. If they were to legalize ONE search site, how do you think they should implement it and should it be ran by the Dev team instead of users?

 

[Evlar]

Search sites are the lazy option.

Far more fun finding a bargain or a great vendor outside the realms of what's often displayed by the search sites... which is often principally Luna.

But hey, what do I know... I don't like the item-centric game that's lead to such sites in the first place

*shrugs*

 

[Mapper]

I was confused by this poll, You asked if EA should create it's own version (yes imo) then you ask if we use the current illegal ones?

Either way, I do think EA should make their own version because I use the sites all the time.

 

[gjohnson5]

EA should increase transparency such that up 3rd parties can create methods to search vendors...

I don't believe EA has the time or resources to create such things. I also don't believe EA should spend any time policing third party gold and item sellers either. If anything , if these people can make game playing easier for others , I think they should open up to them. Even if they dont advertise directly in the game , Google-ing an item will uncover the seller's web site. The sellers are too easy to find and I would rather time be spent making the game play better.

 

[SchezwanBeefy]

I was confused by this poll, You asked if EA should create it's own version (yes imo) then you ask if we use the current illegal ones?

Either way, I do think EA should make their own version because I use the sites all the time.

I'm asking how often because if you answer yes you use them and how often you use them, EA is more likely to see that the player base values these sites. I've also asked a lot of other questions in the thread to invoke some debate to look at things more in depth that they might not have thought about.

 

[Winker]

I don't believe EA has the time or resources to create such things. .

Bet it took no more that a few hours to write the script that is now doing the job, and its doing it better than some of the patched up software EA release.

 

[phantus]

Yes. It should be an in-game search function. I don't care if it clones WoW or any other game for that matter.

 

[GarthGrey]

Each server already knows every item it has, and it's location. Shouldn't be too hard for it to be transferred into the game somehow. The lag it would cause though, because every item would have to be made available to you, regardless of where you are in the lands.

 

[yars]

yes absolutely they should , but then it would break like everything else the touch.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

The "search" function should be ingame and could use a Bulletin board type system...

A player would "connect" their vendors to the system via the Bulletin Board at their house, then the shard (or facet maybe instead) as a whole could be searched via a town bulletin board or by the owner of the house board. Then they could get the house and vendor name as well as a general location for each item listed.

The items would be listed in groups and searchable (much like an auction house interface) in the board interface, however a player would still need to visit the actual ingame location in order to obtain said item.

Just my little idea. It's a little more "UO" than a straight up Auction House system of trading (which, yes, I will admit was one of my more favored aspects of WoW, but not enough to keep interest all the time).

Anything that helps players OUTSIDE of Luna in terms of marketing without having to litter the world with spam advertisements is a plus in my book.

 

[Storm]

I would be happy with a search area button that allowed you to search all vendors on your screen at one time, or I would even pay to have my vendors listed and have a search function

 

[Lord Chaos]

Its funny how many people will condone and use cheating, as long as they see it as legit, even anti-cheaters.

 

[Tazar]

If the title of the thread were the real subject of the poll, this would be fine. Considering the title of the poll and questions in the poll, this is simply reopening a locked thread.

To Quote Petra Fyde:

Let's try 'they use programs that break our Rules of Conduct and EA's Terms of Service so we don't discuss them on our network'