In game EVENTs : just for a few or as much open to all as possible ?

[popps]

About in game special Events I wonder, is it better to have them just for a few players, the less the better, or for as many players as possible and the more the better ?

I am asking, because I do not understand how sometimes Events can happen on shards without players playing that shard not even knowing it.

Sure, there is a shard's Event web site but not all players regularly browse it and sometimes Events show up as listed only very shortly before the Event is run and a lot of players do not have enough advance notice to prepare to the Event.

I was wondering whether it would not be better to have Events be announced upon logging in in UO from at least a week in advance and every day onward until the event is run as a reminder.

It could be a shard Event gump when the players logs in a character on a given shard where the Event will be run and it will contain all of the necessary informations as to location and time.

If participation is a measure of success, then having Events attended only by a handfull of people, the better informed, should be an indication of failure of the Event.

On the contrary, having lots of people participate to the Event should indicate how succesfull it was, at least in its organization and planning.

Just a thought.

 

[Taylor]

Atlantic's EMs have a town crier that announces events. It's true that many players don't read Stratics or follow EM websites, but presumably all UO players play UO.

Not sure about EM town criers on other shards.

 

[popps]

Atlantic's EMs have a town crier that announces events. It's true that many players don't read Stratics or follow EM websites, but presumably all UO players play UO.

Not sure about EM town criers on other shards.

Even with a EM Events town crier, one would need to daily go and ask for news.

A gump upon login on the shard, instead, would be a reminder which no player could miss.

Then, if they do not want to participate to the Event then fine but an Event announcing gump upon login on a given shard could not be missed by no player......

I think it would be the safest way to make sure any and all players of that given shard are informed.

Also, whether a gump or a crier it is also important, I think, how much ahead notice is given.

Some people have to organize their lives and things and it is not like there is an Event and they can simply go attend it. They have to adjust their schedules and stuff like that and the more in advance they know of an Event, the better they can organize.

Also, it is important to know the details about the Event, what it will be about, so the player can figure out whether his or her time will be worth spent participating to it, especially when they have to adjust their real life schedule to be able to participate....

I mean, it would be unfortunate if any player would have to adjust their real life schedule just to then participate to an Event which was not enjoyable or not satisfactory....

That is why it is important that Events are announced in the most detailed possible way, so that players with tight schedules and time in their real life can make their choices knowing how they are going to spend their time.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

I'm all for events being advertised in advance and for people showing up... However, players need to break out of the rut of extreme laziness and go find out whats happening on their shard.

Go to the EM Hall in Britain and look for whatever it is their EMs use to advertise events, be it Town Criers or named lanterns etc. Go to their EM website, or *GASP* talk to other players.

A gump popping up on login isn't somthing thats going to happen any time soon and frankly I wouldn't want it to. Stop banksitting and take some personal responsibility to find out whats happening on your shard.

 

[Tazar]

If EM events were announced through the log-in screen or through the in-game "chat" feature, Atlantic Shard would most likely crash at every event. The lag at Atlantic events is already bad enough as it is...

Might work on other shards...

 

[popps]

If EM events were announced through the log-in screen or through the in-game "chat" feature, Atlantic Shard would most likely crash at every event. The lag at Atlantic events is already bad enough as it is...

Might work on other shards...

I do not understand how a gump showing up at login on a shard which the player can cancel out right clicking on it can crash a shard.....

I mean, we have TONS of gumps for all possible sort of thing showing up in the game just fine but a single gump announcing a shard Event that shows up when one logs into the shard and ONLY THEN would crash the shard ???

Go figure.................

 

[Beleth of Atlantic]

It's not the gump that would crash the shard, it would be the influx of players in one specific area at a specific time.

As it is now the small amount of effort required to find out about events prevents EVERY player from attending. Having EVERY player attending would likely crash the shard.

 

[Alezi]

Can the devs please create a shard just for popps where he can get anything he wants just by typing it in-game.. maybe these pointless threads would stop.

 

[popps]

It's not the gump that would crash the shard, it would be the influx of players in one specific area at a specific time.

As it is now the small amount of effort required to find out about events prevents EVERY player from attending. Having EVERY player attending would likely crash the shard.

I am lost here now........

So Events are possibly not wanted to have as many players as possible because having a succesfull Event (i.e. with as most players attending as possible...) would crash the shard??

Did I understand it right ?

I am surprised, I would imagine that having all players at Events and the more the better, would be a desirable thing. I never even imagined that Events were wanted to have as few participants as possible.

I am really confused...

 

[popps]

Can the devs please create a shard just for popps where he can get anything he wants just by typing it in-game.. maybe these pointless threads would stop.

Uhu ?

Now wanting Events in the game to be well announced and with a good advance notice equals wanting things by typing it in ?

Wow, so now even asking to participate to game run events is too much ?

Even getting to know about what goes on in the game has to be ackward and complicated and require that one has to yet remember about another thing in one's own life ?

Wow.........

I do not know others, but I play the game for mere entertainment and I have already my real life stressing me out enough.

I have zillions of things I have to remember about my real life from work to family to friends and so on and I do NOT need a game to put also its burden on me to have to remember doing this or that and check out web sites or criers in order to have fun with the game.....

I am speechless.....

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

There are many kinds of manufacturer, non-player-run, events in UO.

1. Events mandated by the manufacturer, run by EMs.

2. Events mandated by the manufacturer, run by the manufacturer. There haven't been too many of these lately; the manufacturer seems to prefer to involve the EMs for a more personal touch.

3. EM events, held regularly at consistent dates and times, like a weekly television series.

4. EM events, held at different times.

5. Events mandated by the manufacturer that are in effect persistent, if temporary, content. (Invasion spawns are the classic example.)

What do all of these have in common? They are all announced, in-game or on Stratics or on the main UO site, or on EM sites, or some other easily-accessible format. None of them are secret.

-Galen's player

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Can the devs please create a shard just for popps where he can get anything he wants just by typing it in-game.. maybe these pointless threads would stop.

They wouldn't. Creating shards for specialized groups or individual players rarely stops the whining, and would take more than stopping the whining in order to be worth the development time economically. Thus failing on both scores, the wallet and the eyes/ears.

-Galen's player

 

[Athelas]

but presumably all UO players play UO.

 

[jaraxlebaenrae]

Can the devs please create a shard just for popps where he can get anything he wants just by typing it in-game.. maybe these pointless threads would stop.

this......

 

[popps]

There are many kinds of manufacturer, non-player-run, events in UO.

I am just wondering whether, perhaps, a wider-reaching form of advertising for them (for example a gump upon logging in on a given shard...), coupled with a good advance notice about them and a detailed information of what the given Event will all be about, might make it for a wider and better participation from players.....

Would this be such a bad thing when it would, hopefully, get MORE players participate to any given Event ??

I do not think more information and more easily and readily available to players would be a bad thing if we want as many players as possible participate to Event......

 

[Tazar]

Popps... if you really do not understand, then watch the Stratics Atlantic forum and come attend the next event. You'll understand!

 

[Alezi]

Uhu ?

Now wanting Events in the game to be well announced and with a good advance notice equals wanting things by typing it in ?

Wow, so now even asking to participate to game run events is too much ?

Even getting to know about what goes on in the game has to be ackward and complicated and require that one has to yet remember about another thing in one's own life ?

Wow.........

I do not know others, but I play the game for mere entertainment and I have already my real life stressing me out enough.

I have zillions of things I have to remember about my real life from work to family to friends and so on and I do NOT need a game to put also its burden on me to have to remember doing this or that and check out web sites or criers in order to have fun with the game.....

I am speechless.....

So in your opinion locating and moving to a town crier's position and typing 'news' takes too much time out of your life? Gives you too much stress? Too many things to remember? Then where are you finding the time to create all these worthless posts? How do you remember all the issues you whine about when typing these posts?

Really, popps, if playing UO feels like a chore to you then just maybe it's time to stop? Remember, all it takes is some strong rope and the ability to knot a noose.

 

[NewThunder]

About in game special Events I wonder, is it better to have them just for a few players, the less the better, or for as many players as possible and the more the better ?

I am asking, because I do not understand how sometimes Events can happen on shards without players playing that shard not even knowing it.

Sure, there is a shard's Event web site but not all players regularly browse it and sometimes Events show up as listed only very shortly before the Event is run and a lot of players do not have enough advance notice to prepare to the Event.

I was wondering whether it would not be better to have Events be announced upon logging in in UO from at least a week in advance and every day onward until the event is run as a reminder.

It could be a shard Event gump when the players logs in a character on a given shard where the Event will be run and it will contain all of the necessary informations as to location and time.

If participation is a measure of success, then having Events attended only by a handfull of people, the better informed, should be an indication of failure of the Event.

On the contrary, having lots of people participate to the Event should indicate how succesfull it was, at least in its organization and planning.

Just a thought.

Perhaps you could be more specific; what event was not advertised or promoted. If you provide some details you may be given a better answer.

 

[popps]

Perhaps you could be more specific; what event was not advertised or promoted. If you provide some details you may be given a better answer.

No specific Event, but I noticed, attending to some in the past, that sometimes just a handfull of players were there and it seemed to me just too few people to possibly think that it was because of no interest in the Event.

More likely, is my thinking, that either players did not know about it or, they did not get to know about it far in advance so as to arrange their schedule and be able to participate...

This, because I think that the meter to judge succesfully run Events is by the number of participants.

The more people are there, the more succesfull the Event was.

I just do not like Events when only a few people are there and I imagine that more could be done to make them more crowded.

Getting to know about a given Event only 2 or 3 days before it runs, sometimes might not be enough time for some players to organize one's own schedule to participate.

I think a week should be the bare minimum advance notice for any given Event to give enough time to all players to organize, should they want to participate.

 

[Babble]

For that they would have to change the em events.
My guess is at about 400 people on close proximity of a subserver, the servers get very laggy and may crash. (Is actually a bannable offense to have big events to let the server crash )

The faction players on europa shard could probably tell better at what point the skara szbserver gave in at the faction event Talos made a few years back. But a step a minute was not really fun.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Can the devs please create a shard just for popps where he can get anything he wants just by typing it in-game.. maybe these pointless threads would stop.

and a thread on stratics that gives him responses he wants.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

So in your opinion locating and moving to a town crier's position and typing 'news' takes too much time out of your life? Gives you too much stress? Too many things to remember? Then where are you finding the time to create all these worthless posts? How do you remember all the issues you whine about when typing these posts?

Really, popps, if playing UO feels like a chore to you then just maybe it's time to stop? Remember, all it takes is some strong rope and the ability to knot a noose.

Lets see,

Recalls into Luna.
Types news or actually is already spouting news.

Hmmm Maybe a personalized email.

Its not to hard to be informed.

 

[Taylor]

Even with a EM Events town crier, one would need to daily go and ask for news.

Just recalled to Luna and said "News" to the EM town crier. Took under a minute.

 

[MalagAste]

I'm all for events being advertised in advance and for people showing up... However, players need to break out of the rut of extreme laziness and go find out whats happening on their shard.

Go to the EM Hall in Britain and look for whatever it is their EMs use to advertise events, be it Town Criers or named lanterns etc. Go to their EM website, or *GASP* talk to other players.

A gump popping up on login isn't somthing thats going to happen any time soon and frankly I wouldn't want it to. Stop banksitting and take some personal responsibility to find out whats happening on your shard.

This!!! Honestly do you have to have someone telling you everything you need to do all day long? I do my thing at work and I know what I'm supposed to do and when I don't need someone telling me... School same thing... Why do you need someone telling you what you are missing in a game your supposed to be playing for fun to enjoy because you like it?

Really in my opinion if you REALLY cared that much about the game and about what was possibly going on..... you'd know where to look and when to find out.

Otherwise my guess is that it's obviously not that important to you.

 

[Mehelenya]

Peoples just don't want that everyone knows about all Events that goes on, cause then they can't sell their 20 Mios + Event Items, every month. On Europa the Event Town Crier stays by the West Brit Bank and i can ask that NPC 1000x per Day for News. I get always the same answer " I have no News ....". I read this Forums here, i read EM Forums but still miss 99% of all Events. As example we had last Sunday an Event ... atleast we should have had one but our special Guest could not make it ... so Europa got only an Meet & Greet. It was said from the EM's that we get that Event to an later time ... ok so i thought we will get it maybe next weekend ... but i thought wrong, it was middle of the week and as i found it out, it was already since hours over. It is now fair how Events are made right now. On Europa it is the same bunch of peoples who gets the Multi Million Event Items and the rest gets a crap.

 

[ChReuter]

I am asking, because I do not understand how sometimes Events can happen on shards without players playing that shard not even knowing it.

Understanding and you just don't seem to get along lately.

 

[Merion]

Peoples just don't want that everyone knows about all Events that goes on, cause then they can't sell their 20 Mios + Event Items, every month. On Europa the Event Town Crier stays by the West Brit Bank and i can ask that NPC 1000x per Day for News. I get always the same answer " I have no News ....". I read this Forums here, i read EM Forums but still miss 99% of all Events. As example we had last Sunday an Event ... atleast we should have had one but our special Guest could not make it ... so Europa got only an Meet & Greet. It was said from the EM's that we get that Event to an later time ... ok so i thought we will get it maybe next weekend ... but i thought wrong, it was middle of the week and as i found it out, it was already since hours over. It is now fair how Events are made right now. On Europa it is the same bunch of peoples who gets the Multi Million Event Items and the rest gets a crap.

Kinda similar on DF - Events are often scheduled a day before they happen. That's a small window of time to get wind of it.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Hmmm Maybe a personalized email.

Even that....What if he got the notice immediately after he logged out of his E-Mail.

Text message to his cell phone, maybe? No, some phones have to be turned off to charge, or he might be at the library or in a doctor's office or in some other situation where it's custom to have the sound turned off.

Instant Message via ICQ or Yahoo IM or something is subject to the same problem as E-Mail.

Even what he proposes, somehow integrating shard-specific announcements into the login screen (and UO only became good at having up-to-date global announcements at that screen in the very recent past), is far from perfect, because of those rare occasions when events happen spontaneously with minimal notice. (EM Malachi on GL had some spur of the moment "evil" events where bad guy players could work for Casca.) He logs in, just misses the notice, then logs off and doesn't come back until tomorrow or 2 days from now. Either way, in his own mind, he still has cause to whine.

Remember, he wants 'good' advance notice. 'Good' is subject to subjective and potentially-changing and potentially-contingent or situational criteria. He also wants "detailed information of what the given Event will all be about."

Think about that for a minute. What would, I wonder, constitute detailed. If they did everything he said, and even he admitted his criteria had finally been met, then someone very much like him would start complaining about lack of spontaneity or lack of surprise or about how events were never held when he could attend them.

All told, no, a personalized E-Mail wouldn't appease him.

-Galen's player

 

[Beastmaster]

Kinda similar on DF - Events are often scheduled a day before they happen. That's a small window of time to get wind of it.

This point, which is one that popps made, is reason enough for me to consider his gump idea as a viable solution. I have given up on trying to participate in events on Chessie for this very reason. I login at least once everyday, but the short notice advertising we get means I'll likely miss the event. The most recent event I did manage to make was only to get a message it was postponed until the same time the next day. The next day there wasn't even a message saying the time or date had changed, it was just nothingness.

 

[Beastmaster]

Let me get this off my chest too while I'm here.

For all the popps haters... why don't you just put him on ignore and disregard his threads? No, you'd rather jump on him and spit your vitriol and do everything to get his thread closed short of crossing that wide line the Stratics mods have given you all.

 

[Curran]

Even that....What if he got the notice immediately after he logged out of his E-Mail.

Text message to his cell phone, maybe? No, some phones have to be turned off to charge, or he might be at the library or in a doctor's office or in some other situation where it's custom to have the sound turned off.

-Galen's player

OMG... I just had to say...
how funny!
*wipes tears*
This is why UO is so exciting...
drama, drama, drama!

 

[WootSauce]

Let me get this off my chest too while I'm here.

For all the popps haters... why don't you just put him on ignore and disregard his threads? No, you'd rather jump on him and spit your vitriol and do everything to get his thread closed short of crossing that wide line the Stratics mods have given you all.

I am looking for stratics to develop some sort of advanced warning system, to let ME know when popps is typing up a response or a new post. In this way, i will be able to know that i should not visit uhall and be tempted to take the bait. The way i see it, it should be fairly easy for stratics to let me know when popps is posting. This way i would not have to come and read these new and crazy suggestions, and get caught up in the ensuing hilarity.

At least thats the way I see it.

 

[Shamus Turlough]

Ok, ok, simmer down.

My 2 cents? On LS the EM's do a really good job of advertising the events they run, from the lanterns, to posting on the shard forum, to other avenues. The static events, such as the one run by Mesanna the last time, if you wanted to attend you needed to be immersed enough in the storyline to stay up with it. In my humble opinion that is not too much to ask.

 

[LordDrago]

I am really confused...

LOL

 

[LordDrago]

Just recalled to Luna and said "News" to the EM town crier. Took under a minute.

I'll take this one for you popps...

See Syrus...that is a minute (almost) that you will never get back. Now, you do this every day, for 13 years. You have lost over three days of your life just to get "news".



Argh!!!!
My brain hurts from an attack of PLS (Popps Logic Syndrome)

 

[LordDrago]

Let me get this off my chest too while I'm here.

For all the popps haters... why don't you just put him on ignore and disregard his threads? No, you'd rather jump on him and spit your vitriol and do everything to get his thread closed short of crossing that wide line the Stratics mods have given you all.

I am looking for stratics to develop some sort of advanced warning system, to let ME know when popps is typing up a response or a new post. In this way, i will be able to know that i should not visit uhall and be tempted to take the bait. The way i see it, it should be fairly easy for stratics to let me know when popps is posting. This way i would not have to come and read these new and crazy suggestions, and get caught up in the ensuing hilarity.

At least thats the way I see it.

Perhaps a gump that appears when you 1st login to Stratics?

 

[popps]

get his thread closed short of crossing that wide line the Stratics mods have given you all.

That's something I always wondered about Stratics.....

And it goes well beyond my posts.

Why on earth, if the poster of the thread posts within the boundaries, the thread sometimes gets closed anyways because other posters, not the thread creator, post outside the posting guidelines.

I mean, doesn't this give an enormous power to posters to get threads closed just by posting stuff outside the guidelines in a given thread ?

Shouldn't instead be the care of Stratics to just remove those single posts which did not follow the guidelines but let the thread be "if" the original creator of the thread is staying within Stratics' posting boundaries ?

Yes, some arguments about the game we play may result controversial but still, if some posters cannot debate them calmly and staying within the posting boundaries I think it is only those posts which should be removed, not the whole thread be closed....

I fail to understand why a thread creator has to suffer thread's closure for other posters' faults.......

Go figure.

 

[popps]

Remember, he wants 'good' advance notice. 'Good' is subject to subjective and potentially-changing and potentially-contingent or situational criteria. He also wants "detailed information of what the given Event will all be about."

Think about that for a minute. What would, I wonder, constitute detailed. If they did everything he said, and even he admitted his criteria had finally been met, then someone very much like him would start complaining about lack of spontaneity or lack of surprise or about how events were never held when he could attend them.

There can be an easy solution for that, I would imagine.

The in game gump upon log in (with a good advance notice...) will warn about the upcoming Event for that given Shard and will refer players to the Events' web site for further details.

This way, those players who seek further details will be able to get them from the Events' web site and, thus, judge whether that given Event is worth their time and, perhaps, worth the re-adjusting of their real life schedule in order to be able to participate to the Event, while those other players who do not like spoilers, will stay well away from the web site detailing what the Event will be like so not to have their surprise spoiled.

That is, it IS possible, as I see it, to cater to all players playing styles and necessities whether they want or not more informations.

As in regards to the advance notice, there is players out there with a VERY tight real life schedule with lots of things to do in their daily life.

To these players, having a reasonable advance notice AND knowledge of what the Event will be about, might be important to decide whether they can (and want to) participate to the Event, perhaps even re-adjusting their real life schedule in order to be able to participate, if possible.

I do not see nothing wrong about it when it can help players balance out their real life and their gaming time more handily.

 

[popps]

Peoples just don't want that everyone knows about all Events that goes on, cause then they can't sell their 20 Mios + Event Items, every month.

I do not know about that, but I think that it would be in the best interest of the game that Events where advertised as much as possible and with a well in advance notice, by default. I think the best meter to evaluate the success of an Event is players' participation and if Events are scarcely participated because not well advertised or the advance notice was way too short, well, then I cannot possibly see them as succesfull.....

That is, by policy, no Event should be ever held unless they received comprehensive advertisement and also a good advance notice so that players can organize to participate to them.

Perhaps there should be an in-game Events' EMs evaluation system that rates Events by the number of participants ? If participants of a given Event drop below a set number rated as the minimum acceptable the EM will no longer be able to run Events ?

On Europa the Event Town Crier stays by the West Brit Bank and i can ask that NPC 1000x per Day for News. I get always the same answer " I have no News ....". I read this Forums here, i read EM Forums but still miss 99% of all Events. As example we had last Sunday an Event ... atleast we should have had one but our special Guest could not make it ... so Europa got only an Meet & Greet. It was said from the EM's that we get that Event to an later time ... ok so i thought we will get it maybe next weekend ... but i thought wrong, it was middle of the week and as i found it out, it was already since hours over. It is now fair how Events are made right now. On Europa it is the same bunch of peoples who gets the Multi Million Event Items and the rest gets a crap.

Your example convinces me even more that the Events need some strong and well channelled advertisement way (log-ig Gump ?) and well in advance notice policy.

 

[Heimi]

Peoples just don't want that everyone knows about all Events that goes on, cause then they can't sell their 20 Mios + Event Items, every month. On Europa the Event Town Crier stays by the West Brit Bank and i can ask that NPC 1000x per Day for News. I get always the same answer " I have no News ....". I read this Forums here, i read EM Forums but still miss 99% of all Events. As example we had last Sunday an Event ... atleast we should have had one but our special Guest could not make it ... so Europa got only an Meet & Greet. It was said from the EM's that we get that Event to an later time ... ok so i thought we will get it maybe next weekend ... but i thought wrong, it was middle of the week and as i found it out, it was already since hours over. It is now fair how Events are made right now. On Europa it is the same bunch of peoples who gets the Multi Million Event Items and the rest gets a crap.

NPC Town Crier at bank doesn't have event news..the Sunday event is part of an arc thats been going for months now, although the event in question was part of a mini-arc started on Friday which was advertised on the EM website and Europa Stratics. If you read those sites so much you would have known this Also the event this week wasn't our 'special guest' event, it was just to further the official story arc with Dawn's nightmares and nobody got any uber rares..

 

[Lord Chaos]

I'm all for events being advertised in advance and for people showing up... However, players need to break out of the rut of extreme laziness and go find out whats happening on their shard.

Go to the EM Hall in Britain and look for whatever it is their EMs use to advertise events, be it Town Criers or named lanterns etc. Go to their EM website, or *GASP* talk to other players.

A gump popping up on login isn't somthing thats going to happen any time soon and frankly I wouldn't want it to. Stop banksitting and take some personal responsibility to find out whats happening on your shard.

This is a computer game, not real life. Its meant to be fun. UO makes great events, but especially new players really have no idea these things are going on or get to really participate. I've seen the recap of some events, the amount of players affected on each shard makes it seem like a wasted effort and not something that will keep UO alive.

UO has an update screen with info, they could add the event info there. Just make it so you select which shard you want to recieve news about and it will remember it (really easy to do as its an embedded browser)

Oh and while they're at it, please fix the update screen in Windows 7, it hasn't worked in ages.

 

[LordDrago]

Perhaps there should be an in-game Events' EMs evaluation system that rates Events by the number of participants ? If participants of a given Event drop below a set number rated as the minimum acceptable the EM will no longer be able to run Events ?

Probably not a good idea.

I fear that this will read to an EM who likes putting on events as: "Hey EM...better schedule events only at peak playing times on the trammel facet otherwise you risk your ability to put on events in the future."

And who will decide what are "acceptable" participation rates? It would likely have to vary based upon Shard, facet, time of day, type of event, etc. Do you want EA to set this standard (say goodbye to the EMs in this case IMHO)!!!! Or the EMs (only one person needed in attendance...and the EM counts!!!! )?

 

[Trebr Drab]

I think the events are very good from what I can see. The only two things I'd like to say, and has been said already, is this.

1) Players need to be better informed both for upcoming events and what happened and is happening. Not everyone reads message boards or goes to sites designed for this. But I don't know that there's a good answer here for the EM events. It's not shard wide so it's totally reliant on the EMs and players. It gets to be a bit much to document all this while still doing all that's required to put them on.

I think it would help to give some communication tools to the EMs, such as tying all the Town Criers into one control tool so the EMs can simply update that, and let them spout out what's going on. And a standard reference to the location of the EM's buildings could be added so that each time a Town Crier shouts out some news, after a delay, they say this to direct interested players to that location. Something that the EMs can edit at will, and turn on and off.

2) Events that give rewards from MOBs. It doesn't make much sense to me with UO's item needs to have things that only the top players can "earn", when you're trying to get new players involved. It's just a little bit frustrating to go to an event hoping to get something special and not even getting looting rights, or for more than a few gold coin and some junk.
I haven't been to many events, so I don't know that this is a problem. But I've seen it happen.

Otherwise, I'd like to say again that I think the EMs do a fantastic job. I just think it needs some refining, and some coding dedicated to making it better.

 

[popps]

Perhaps there should be an in-game Events' EMs evaluation system that rates Events by the number of participants ? If participants of a given Event drop below a set number rated as the minimum acceptable the EM will no longer be able to run Events ?

Probably not a good idea.

I fear that this will read to an EM who likes putting on events as: "Hey EM...better schedule events only at peak playing times on the trammel facet otherwise you risk your ability to put on events in the future."

And who will decide what are "acceptable" participation rates? It would likely have to vary based upon Shard, facet, time of day, type of event, etc. Do you want EA to set this standard (say goodbye to the EMs in this case IMHO)!!!! Or the EMs (only one person needed in attendance...and the EM counts!!!! )?

Well, on the other side, I do not think either that accepting Events with too low a participation or run with too little advertisement or hardly any reasonable advance notice to players (and no, to my opinion 1 or 2 days advance notice is NOT enough...) is a good thing.........

There must be a line that can be drawn to judge whether Events are being run well and in the game's best interest and the way I see it, a succesfull Event is an Event that is well attended.

 

[popps]

2) Events that give rewards from MOBs. It doesn't make much sense to me with UO's item needs to have things that only the top players can "earn", when you're trying to get new players involved. It's just a little bit frustrating to go to an event hoping to get something special and not even getting looting rights, or for more than a few gold coin and some junk.

I agree, completely.

Events could be a good way for new or returning players to get something of a value to sell for those millions they need to "catch up" but if these items go, for the most part, always to the same players well, then Events miss a good chance to help put new players "on par" with existing players....

Personally, I just hate the idea of Events being a "new rares" factory but if they have to exist, at least I'd like to see them going mostly (if not only...) to new or returning players rather than to already well-off existing players........

I just think it needs some refining, and some coding dedicated to making it better.

I happen to think likewise.......

 

[Zyon Rockler]

I didn't get to read the whole post yet but I was just thinking the same thing in the game when I found out I missed another event and a friend told me they put lanterns in the cities but I had been to Brit, Luna and Haven and the only thing that I was aware of was, Getting Sage for Queen Dawn.

I think there should be a message in the chat system or another system so when you log in it tells you that there is an event, where and when and then this message would be discontinued when the event is over.

That way, if you log in the day before the event you get an event reminder and if you forget and log in right before the event you will have a chance to go to it.

I think the more people that show up for the events, the better because the stronger the community will become. If there are lag issues, then they need to set up a system that will handle the lag or split the groups up into rooms, like Mel.

There should also be more social aspects, like, food and drink.

There should also be a system that allows for the EMs, GMs, and even players to be able to create spawn and then randomly place items in backpacks of the players, so that the items are not on the loot.

And the target should be made much bigger so that everyone can target what it is we are trying to fight instead of it being covered up. An idea might be to automatically place this lifebar onto the player's screen rather than having them pull the lifebar. So, whatever event spawn you're close to or spawns, the lifebars could automatically pop up.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

This is a computer game, not real life. Its meant to be fun. UO makes great events, but especially new players really have no idea these things are going on or get to really participate. I've seen the recap of some events, the amount of players affected on each shard makes it seem like a wasted effort and not something that will keep UO alive.

Not everyone is interested in the events whether they be RP (as the majority are), PvP, or simply monster bashing. Many people know about the events and simply choose not to come.

Learning about the events takes a bit of effort. If people are unwilling to make a tiny effort to learn about their world then they aren't going to know what’s going on.

Stop expecting things spoon fed to you people, it’s a game. Remember, many of you like a "challenge."

If you mean 'new players' as in fresh out of New Haven, then sadly, they have a near zero chance of surviving most EM events. Multiple deaths may be acceptable to most of us, but that would get very frustrating to a new player (especially when most events have NO reward). Ideal? No.

UO has an update screen with info, they could add the event info there. Just make it so you select which shard you want to recieve news about and it will remember it (really easy to do as its an embedded browser)

They could add something on the update window, but we all know they won't. In 13 years they have shown a marked lack of caring about this 'feature' of all three clients.

Furthermore, many people don't even bother to run the patcher unless they know there is a patch.

1) Players need to be better informed both for upcoming events and what happened and is happening. Not everyone reads message boards or goes to sites designed for this. But I don't know that there's a good answer here for the EM events. It's not shard wide so it's totally reliant on the EMs and players. It gets to be a bit much to document all this while still doing all that's required to put them on.

Players have individual shard EM Stratics boards, individual shard EM websites, the west Britain Counselor's Hall (on every shard), and Luna bank. All the EMs use each of these resources to announce their events, some even use the Town Crier system.

If a player doesn't bother to check ANY of these resources for upcoming events then they don't deserve to go to them because they are supremely lazy.

Documentation of events falls to the players. GL's are rather well documented, if I do say so myself.

I think it would help to give some communication tools to the EMs, such as tying all the Town Criers into one control tool so the EMs can simply update that, and let them spout out what's going on. And a standard reference to the location of the EM's buildings could be added so that each time a Town Crier shouts out some news, after a delay, they say this to direct interested players to that location. Something that the EMs can edit at will, and turn on and off.

According to Draconi, the EMs can edit the Town Criers. Editing one edits them all.

95% of the EM events on all Mythic run shards start at the west Britain Counselor's Hall, its been that way nearly two years now.

2) Events that give rewards from MOBs. It doesn't make much sense to me with UO's item needs to have things that only the top players can "earn", when you're trying to get new players involved. It's just a little bit frustrating to go to an event hoping to get something special and not even getting looting rights, or for more than a few gold coin and some junk.

I haven't been to many events, so I don't know that this is a problem. But I've seen it happen.

Items that drop on Mobs tend to go to the top damagers. It’s nearly always been this way. If you want to complain about this, talk to Mythic. They are the ones who have continued to allow massive damage disparities between the templates, instead of doing a balance pass to even the playing field.

Items will most likely always be a random addition to events.

Otherwise, I'd like to say again that I think the EMs do a fantastic job. I just think it needs some refining, and some coding dedicated to making it better.

Agreed.

 

[LordDrago]

Well, on the other side, I do not think either that accepting Events with too low a participation or run with too little advertisement or hardly any reasonable advance notice to players (and no, to my opinion 1 or 2 days advance notice is NOT enough...) is a good thing.........

There must be a line that can be drawn to judge whether Events are being run well and in the game's best interest and the way I see it, a succesfull Event is an Event that is well attended.

So what does "well attended" mean and how will it be measured?

Unless you come up with a fairly complicated set of parameters to define this, i suspect you are going to have issues.

The definition of a "successful" event will differ from person to person. Trying to make events successful to everyone is hopeless.

The key to "success" is diversity. Overall, I think the EMs are doing pretty well. Not saying there isn't room for improvement, because there always is, but given the limitations they have, I give them a thumbs up.

 

[Viquire]

The argument of EM/Seer/Counselor vs shard wide story arc events is long standing and generally undecided.

It boils down to preference.

But for me I prefer the whole shard to have access to the content for a week before the next chapter begins, or whatever.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

you could tweet the EMs.