UO is a game, meant to be exciting, enjoyable, challenging - but not impossible. To be played for leisure and relaxation - not to be a grind and work work work - although some do see it that way. That is not the intent of a game... My OCD-ness gets fulfilled by working my skills. My venting is done in dungeons. But what I personally enjoy about UO is my collecting and helping others.
The point I've been trying to make is that for most of us who came into UO - we came due to friendships. I personally don't remember ever seeing an advertisement for UO anywhere... ever. But then Hawaii is relatively last when it comes to stuff like that (we are not a mass market).
So we came into UO via friends and word-of-mouth - the best advertising avenue in the world. Although I agree - Broadsword needs to do _some_ sort of marketing due to the plethora of competition it has now.Without it - the community can only do so much.
And it is the Community that makes this game what it is.
By comparison, WoW can be a solo'd game. I played WoW for years, grinding away, without ever having joined a guild. I only joined a guild when the WoD expansion came out (a couple years ago) simply because of a quest that required it. Otherwise, would probably still be a soloist in Azeroth.
Diablo is easily solo'd. Yeah, could get more gear and stuff with others, but I prefer venting my frustration in Torment-IX by myself, tyvm. If I were to be in vent with others, they'd kick me due to potty mouth and screaming.
Now UO.... is special. Not in the padded helmet way (although some would argue that), but in that you NEED to have community - especially as a new/young player. Returning Players have an advantage in that they understand the basic mechanics - but a real newb is just clueless as all get out. The utter basics are taken for granted today, as yes, the next generations of gamers are indeed computer savvy - my 5 year old grandson is already playing games like Minecraft! And he's damn good at it too! By the time he's old enough to pay for his own subscription to a game, will it be UO? Will UO still be around in twenty years? (I hope so!)
Not everyone in the community need support the newbs... I believe that leads into the Blue vs Red (Tram vs Fel) argument and will not be going there in this post. But without the community aspect (read population) - a new player get lost, feels inept, gets frustrated, and leaves.
What game mechanic/feature/AI can be created by the devs to simulate the community aspect of this game? Is that the question this thread is addressing?
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In medieval times, when a lad left his home, he had not much with him. A regular farm boy would have the clothes on his back, perhaps a copper or two in his pocket, and if a favored son, a knife or dagger with an old mule.
When a lord's son went into the world, he would have a bit more - a horse, maybe a couple changes a clothes, some gold, and a sword with a vassal for companionship and nary I say, protection.
Girls rarely left their home unless it was to marriage and her dowry was given to the "lucky" man.
In Fantasy-Medieval (which I believe UO is) a correlation is made. No horse, but can purchase one for about half of your beginning gold - which makes that horse rather valuable in my book. I can see a young person's horse being auto-bonded. Now with barely 500 gold, what is a young one to do?
The beginning gear is enough to start out - but true young ones should be planted directly in the middle of New Haven. The auto-barking from the NPCs should be rather clear, "Read the book in your pack! It has valuable information you need!" And every new player should have a "Book of Sosarian Wisdom" in their pack. That - there - would be a blessed item that cannot be edited. That, there would contain info on various aspects of things...
The Virtues (as this is the basis of the game, yes?)
Introduction to Cities (goes over the major cities - each city has a page)
Introduction to Monsters (only the newb-level monsters and those found outside of dungeons)
Moongates & Travel (What the different colors mean and how Recalls work)
Primer on Skills (Not every skill, but what skills are needed for what class)
Dungeons & Quests (explains each in general, and explains the quest types)
The Facets of the World (kinda works with Moongates, but gives a low-down on what each facet is about)
Community (explains guilds, general player types, etc. and links to the fansites)
Then, reading said book is the player's choice - they can read it or throw it away or keep it in their bank or carry it for reference. It is in the game, easy to grab and read for quick decision making, and will not require an outside website. The book is not a tell all, but a guide, much like Prima was, but muchly condensed.
Something that we did on Napa for new players was have "newbie packs" the contents of which contained:
2 marked runes - one to WBB the other to Brit Gate
10 recall scrolls
Food (for back then we had to eat)
Bandaids
3 nightsight postions
3 heal potions
dagger
scissors
A 40pg book explaining the use of everything in the pack and sometimes an invite to join yadda yadda guild
So maybe a pack like that for each new account? say on the first character created? Not every character - as I think utterly new people will stick to one character until they realize they really learn the game. I didn't make my second character (that be Minerva, renamed her to Tandy) until about 6 years after Kirthag was well settled as a warrior and fighting.
Dare I say it.. some of those "shall not be named" places based on UO do precisely that - provide a newbie pack with books explaining things. Some of those places even have special packs for special classes. It is all scripted in so is not that hard to do. The reason for doing this? The people managing these places know that without the high population to build community, the new people will leave.
And where do these new people come from? Well, those "shall not be named" places actually advertise.. yes they do. And they get greenies all the time. And eventually, those greenies get curious about the "prodo shards" and thus come to us during RTB or with a trail account. Some of them get really frustrated, but they understand the basics at minimum.
