One under-rated reason why the current level of communication should continue

[GalenKnighthawke]

I've been pleased to see more communication, and would like to highlight one important reason more communication is good.

I'll be blunt here: We UO players can be rather irrational. We're occasionally capable of believing preposterous things with little supporting evidence. This irrationality makes us unpleasant to talk to, but not talking to us only makes the irrationality fester and get worse. This is because there is no counter-narrative to the irrationality, and thus we tend to lose some perspective.

While it may or may not get better from communication, lack of communication insures it will only get worse.

So, UO team....Keep talking to us. Stratics users may not be representative of UO players as a whole, Fel players are grossly over-represented here to cite only one example, but we at the moment appear to be one of the best samples you have....The less-irrational we are, the better off you'll be!

-Galen's player

 

[Lord Frodo]

 

[Petra Fyde]

s'ok. We got a new smilie

Trouble being, people will believe whatever they want to believe, and the more you deny it, the more convinced they are that whatever flight of fancy has been whispered in their cynical ear is true.
Especially when it comes to tales of 'corruption'. I often wonder if some are so willing to believe in the dishonesty of others because that's what they would do if they had the opportunity.

 

[NBG]

So far, so good. At least their answers does give the impression that they are taking player inputs into consideration. So the talking part has been covered (easy part)

Now comes the questions on the follow through, I am keeping my figuers crossed but am not holding out too much hope until they actually "walk the walk".

 

[Picus at the office]

s'ok. We got a new smilie

Trouble being, people will believe whatever they want to believe, and the more you deny it, the more convinced they are that whatever flight of fancy has been whispered in their cynical ear is true.
Especially when it comes to tales of 'corruption'. I often wonder if some are so willing to believe in the dishonesty of others because that's what they would do if they had the opportunity.

If I ran stratics I'd be taking kick backs from nearly every other online game just to screw UO over, since I'm not though I'll continue to fight tooth and nail for this game. <----is that one new also...I can see it being well over used.

 

[Woodsman]

Trouble being, people will believe whatever they want to believe, and the more you deny it, the more convinced they are that whatever flight of fancy has been whispered in their cynical ear is true.

Over the past year, EA has had financial/stock issues, has undergone a massive round of layoffs (ironically while hiring people in unrelated areas), has had Mass Effect 3 piss off a bunch of people, has had SWTOR, EA's most expensive game ever, underperform (reminding us of Warhammer and how the UO team was gutted after it failed), and there have been several UO devs who have been let go or left to work elsewhere. All of that topped off with a serious lack of communication about UO's future and direction, while a brand new online Ultima game was being made.

There is no positive way to spin any of that.

That's why communication is so crucial. MMORPGs are social games. They rely and thrive on communication. MMORPGs are not single-player games that are popped out and then the team moves on to the next game.

Ultima Forever isn't even a true MMORPG, yet Jeff Skalski and the UF team was out there telling people left and right why they should be willing to try out UF.

The recent increase in communication has been a small breath of fresh air. I worry that it will cease after the anniversary. I hope that Mesanna realizes how much people liked hearing about future plans for UO and what the UO team would like to do.

 

[O'Brien]

Over the past year, EA has had financial/stock issues, has undergone a massive round of layoffs (ironically while hiring people in unrelated areas), has had Mass Effect 3 piss off a bunch of people, has had SWTOR, EA's most expensive game ever, underperform (reminding us of Warhammer and how the UO team was gutted after it failed), and there have been several UO devs who have been let go or left to work elsewhere. All of that topped off with a serious lack of communication about UO's future and direction, while a brand new online Ultima game was being made.

There is no positive way to spin any of that.

That's why communication is so crucial. MMORPGs are social games. They rely and thrive on communication. MMORPGs are not single-player games that are popped out and then the team moves on to the next game.

Ultima Forever isn't even a true MMORPG, yet Jeff Skalski and the UF team was out there telling people left and right why they should be willing to try out UF.

The recent increase in communication has been a small breath of fresh air. I worry that it will cease after the anniversary. I hope that Mesanna realizes how much people liked hearing about future plans for UO and what the UO team would like to do.

You're right as usual, Woodsman. The thing I would add is communication loses its value if it's misleading. You'd see a lot more satisfied community leaders here if the UO team just delivered on even 50% of the things they're promising and not doing things like saying the upcoming anniversary will be huge, and then give us new pixels in our backpack to eventually be trashed for the cleanup points.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I will give two examples of what I mean by irrationality.

To be fair, one of them will be something I did.

Example One (involving me). When AoS was coming soon, I knew with every fiber of my being that archers were going to get screwed, and there would be no special moves on bows. I had absolutely no good reason to think this, but I knew it. Until, of course, a team member mentioned what special moves would be on bows.

Example Two. Not too long ago, conventional wisdom held that player housing would be put in the Lord Blackthorn's castle spot in the City of Britain. Conventional wisdom, however, was quite wrong and, looking back, had no actual basis in reality.

To fear EA central doing something stupid isn't in the same league, because EA central quite often does stupid things. To fear for layoffs and the like is, I suggest, quite rational.

-Galen's player

 

[Petra Fyde]

You're right as usual, Woodsman. The thing I would add is communication loses its value if it's misleading. You'd see a lot more satisfied community leaders here if the UO team just delivered on even 50% of the things they're promising and not doing things like saying the upcoming anniversary will be huge, and then give us new pixels in our backpack to eventually be trashed for the cleanup points.

You don't feel it's a little unfair to dismiss the anniversary before it actually gets here?
I have noticed that you seem to feel it is your elected task to throw cold water over anything that might be might be deemed in the least positive.

 

[O'Brien]

You don't feel it's a little unfair to dismiss the anniversary before it actually gets here?

Not if we're already celebrating the anniversary, as reported by UOHerald.

I have noticed that you seem to feel it is your elected task to throw cold water over anything that might be might be deemed in the least positive.

I feel it's my elected task to call a spade a spade.
I have noticed that you seem to feel that it is your appointed task to throw cold water over anything that might be deemed in the least negative from UO HQ. I guess we're polar opposites. That's a good thing though, we balance eachother out.
See I can look on the positive side of things

 

[Petra Fyde]

hmm, I guess we'll wait and see. So far we have anniversary gifts in game, a party planned at Mythic HQ and a mysterious jigsaw puzzle with a clear number 5 so far visible on the pieces.

 

[O'Brien]

hmm, I guess we'll wait and see. So far we have anniversary gifts in game, a party planned at Mythic HQ and a mysterious jigsaw puzzle with a clear number 5 so far visible on the pieces.

Well the point of my post wasn't so much about the anniversary as giving an example of the tendency to over-promise and under-deliver, whether it's unintentional or a marketing strategy.

So Jeff Skalski says "This year is a big year for UO. The 15th anniversary is a big time," and you think this has been or will be fulfilled? If so, then yes we do have very different perspectives on the current state of UO!

 

[Woodsman]

You're right as usual, Woodsman. The thing I would add is communication loses its value if it's misleading. You'd see a lot more satisfied community leaders here if the UO team just delivered on even 50% of the things they're promising and not doing things like saying the upcoming anniversary will be huge, and then give us new pixels in our backpack to eventually be trashed for the cleanup points.

Thank you, but I would say that I'm okay if they talk about what they'd like to do, knowing that they are a small team and it will take them some time to get through these things. At least if they are talking about these things, and continue to talk about them, we know they are paying attention to players and thinking about the future.

The silence, combined with everything else, does give off very bad vibes when taken in context, and hopefully the UO team knows that they are at least improving the atmosphere around here by talking to us.

Not to defend them, but the anniversary is huge just by virtue of it being the first mainstream MMORPG to operate for 15 continuous years. However, I hope nobody expects next week to have an announcement of an expansion or booster pack. They've said several times over the past year they just aren't big enough to do it. I would be happy if they showed off some things they have planned, maybe some screenshots of the enhanced graphics they had worked on, that kind of thing. There's not much they can show off with bug fixes.

 

[Petra Fyde]

I don't know yet. I'm waiting to see

 

[MalagAste]

I think the communication has improved... I'd like to see it continue on that course.

I also like that they have been giving us more of a look or glimpse into the future plans as I feel it's important for players to have something to look forward to and to dream about...

I hope that may of those goals are achieved... I just also hope it's not too little too late. Many have already folded and moved on sadly. I haven't seen too many getting on and coming back. I've heard a bunch of folk leaving and for various reasons here and there mostly about graphics, bugs, and hackers/cheaters... some because of money, Life, Wives/Husbands not being fond of the game like it's competition or something.

Anyway I have hopes for the future.. and I'm glad that Mesanna listens to the community and the team now really seems to care about things and try to fix problems. However in the last 6 or so years most of what we have seen from the DEV's is secrecy... and it has been abundantly clear to most of us that they have been out of touch with the game... and they don't understand what "fun" is. If they did they would KNOW that stuff first and foremost needs to STACK I can't make that any more clear... We are tired of having our homes filled up we already have at least 6 to 15 years worth of crap stockpiled the last thing we need is another 300 items to stuff into our house that don't stack.... go back and make things like acid pools, that slug acid, power crystals and stuff STACK... Please... Also they would know if they REALLY played UO that the clicky, clicky, clicky of everything is getting old... Add more things that cut down the clicks... What I wouldn't give to be able to click my pile of 500 wool and then click the spinning wheel and have it ask me if I wan to spin all of it into yarn..... Yell Yes I do!!!!! Or ask me if i want to weave all my yarn into cloth on my Loom.... Of course I do..... NO I REALLY want to click it for each and every ball of yarn over and over and over again... sometimes I do... but most times NO I DON'T. IF the DEV's really understood the game they would give us more things to build back the community... more reasons to work together and less reasons to Solo UO...

Greed has become a way of life in the game and has replaced community... That makes me sad. Bring back events where working together for a goal gives better rewards than being a soloist.

 

[Lady Silverbrook]

I fixed your post for you.

I've been pleased to see more communication, and would like to highlight one important reason more communication is good.

I'll be blunt here: Humanity can be rather irrational. We're occasionally capable of believing preposterous things with little supporting evidence. This irrationality makes us unpleasant to talk to, but not talking to us only makes the irrationality fester and get worse. This is because there is no counter-narrative to the irrationality, and thus we tend to lose some perspective.

While it may or may not get better from communication, lack of communication insures it will only get worse.

So, UO team....Keep talking to us. Stratics users may not be representative of UO players as a whole, Fel players are grossly over-represented here to cite only one example, but we at the moment appear to be one of the best samples you have....The less-irrational we are, the better off you'll be!

-Galen's player

This is not an issue merely within UO. When people hear nothing, they typically assume the worst.

 

[startle]

..... the anniversary is huge just by virtue of it being the first mainstream MMORPG to operate for 15 continuous years. However, I hope nobody expects next week to have an announcement of an expansion or booster pack. They've said several times over the past year they just aren't big enough to do it....

Bringing more players in would be plenty enough of an anniversary gift for me.... I have plenty of pixil crack as it is....

 

[Woodsman]

Bringing more players in would be plenty enough of an anniversary gift for me.... I have plenty of pixil crack as it is....

If they had announced that in place of anniversary gifts and vet rewards, they were instead working on things that bring in new players, I'd be ecstatic.

 

[Nimuaq]

If they had announced that in place of anniversary gifts and vet rewards, they were instead working on things that bring in new players, I'd be ecstatic.

Attracting new players is important to the current subscribers, at least according to this poll, but I think the development team's main focus at the moment are keeping the current players and bringing back old players.

 

[Arrgh]

quote="Woodsman, post: 2180922, member: 160666"]Over the past year, EA has had financial/stock issues, has undergone a massive round of layoffs (ironically while hiring people in unrelated areas), has had Mass Effect 3 piss off a bunch of people, has had SWTOR, EA's most expensive game ever, underperform (reminding us of Warhammer and how the UO team was gutted after it failed)"

There is no positive way to spin any of that.[/quote]


Hopefully they will learn to listen to their customers, quit making cookie-cutter games and start making more sandbox love for those of us who have been spoiled by the in-depth experiences of games like UO not only for ourselves but for the generations that didn't get this detailed experience and are sick of the alternative drivel being imitated to death . Let's face it, "most" of what else out there can't even touch the depth of U.O. I'm sick of dumbed-down games I want to poke someone in the eyeball.


The next company to make a sandbox game like this, that is as deep as this AND markets it and markets it correctly, will be one wealthy buncha programmers, editors, etc...

I know so many people "jump" back and forth from UO to the newest game. What are they looking for?? Hmm? I check out new stuff frequently and I can speak for myself when I say I'm looking for the next UO. Everything to a tee except for the graphics. I know a lot of other people that are looking for the same thing, we never find it and come back here after getting disappointed time and again. I know I should just stay despite the fact that the graphics are terrible comparable to what is available now (like Aion graphics) imo but the content is so good I still play maybe 30 minutes to an hour a day even with other games on the SSD, even if things are getting tougher to see every year that passes.

Anyway, apologies for having gottenn off topic, I just hope they learn from their mistakes.

***Subliminal message to EA*** /begin loop Make new sandbox games instead of these cookie-cutter disasters--- fishsticks and peanut butter are delicious together!--- make new sandbox games---fix me a sandwich---make new sandbox games--- /loop


Slightly crazed.

Arrgh