Would you? How much do you think it would cost to purchase, and maintain?
It'd be interesting.
It'd be interesting.
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So if broadsword would allow a player to purchase a shard. . .
- Thread starter Jirel of Joiry
- Start date
- Watchers 2
Well, you could start your own shard tomorrow if you wanted to. It's not that hard and probably wouldn't cost anything unless you had a ton of people on it.
I think she's talking about doing it within EA/Broadsword's terms of service, Uvtha. And I'd be first in line, although it would probably only be for personal LAN use (unless Broadsword had a deal to host players' shards; then I might make something with multiple players in mind).
Most of the cost, beyond any possible aforementioned hosting, would simply be the cost that EA/Broadsword feels it ought to charge you to purchase some software. In my opinion, they really should have been the first ones to offer at least some version of their platform for purchase, but other MMORPGs have recently beaten them to the punch.
I understand there are some technical reasons why this hasn't come to pass for UO--the current studio's lack of technical knowledge about the classic client, and parts of the server code--but I don't believe it would have come to pass, even had UO's various studios maintained thorough documentation. I doubt the idea has ever even crossed their minds. Origin was the company with the innovative ideas behind UO, not EA.
So how much should it cost? Well, let's look elsewhere for ideas. Shards Online isn't sure how much it's going to charge yet to do this very thing, starting on the day their game and official shards launch. But they've said it will be a one-time purchase for ordinary players. For shard creators, they expect it will be around $10 monthly; not bad.
Wurm Online has done what I've wished for years that UO was in a position to do: packaged up their server software and tools and are selling it on Steam and other places as Wurm Unlimited for about $30. One-time purchase. Everything you need to set up a world of your own, tweak its characteristics, and invite some friends if you want, all within the game's TOS.
I realize as we all do by now that there are ways to achieve this in UO without cost or concern for EA's terms. While I fully support anyone who does this for personal use on their LAN (never could a player experience more of a sandbox inside UO), and I strongly believe the law could be on their side if digital rights activists keep up the fight...I have a very low opinion of people who join hosted freeshards simply in order to have things for free. I know there are a few virtuous souls in this world who wander around, who maybe prefer classic eras to Time of Legends, but who make sure they're paying EA/Broadsword regardless, and my hat's off to them for supporting continued development, beyond all the gray area stuff.
I don't think EA/Broadsword would (or COULD) give us the fully customizable sandbox experience of being able to create and manage our own worlds. But if you actually read all of this, I guess it's obvious that I think it's fun to think about.
Most of the cost, beyond any possible aforementioned hosting, would simply be the cost that EA/Broadsword feels it ought to charge you to purchase some software. In my opinion, they really should have been the first ones to offer at least some version of their platform for purchase, but other MMORPGs have recently beaten them to the punch.
I understand there are some technical reasons why this hasn't come to pass for UO--the current studio's lack of technical knowledge about the classic client, and parts of the server code--but I don't believe it would have come to pass, even had UO's various studios maintained thorough documentation. I doubt the idea has ever even crossed their minds. Origin was the company with the innovative ideas behind UO, not EA.
So how much should it cost? Well, let's look elsewhere for ideas. Shards Online isn't sure how much it's going to charge yet to do this very thing, starting on the day their game and official shards launch. But they've said it will be a one-time purchase for ordinary players. For shard creators, they expect it will be around $10 monthly; not bad.
Wurm Online has done what I've wished for years that UO was in a position to do: packaged up their server software and tools and are selling it on Steam and other places as Wurm Unlimited for about $30. One-time purchase. Everything you need to set up a world of your own, tweak its characteristics, and invite some friends if you want, all within the game's TOS.
I realize as we all do by now that there are ways to achieve this in UO without cost or concern for EA's terms. While I fully support anyone who does this for personal use on their LAN (never could a player experience more of a sandbox inside UO), and I strongly believe the law could be on their side if digital rights activists keep up the fight...I have a very low opinion of people who join hosted freeshards simply in order to have things for free. I know there are a few virtuous souls in this world who wander around, who maybe prefer classic eras to Time of Legends, but who make sure they're paying EA/Broadsword regardless, and my hat's off to them for supporting continued development, beyond all the gray area stuff.
I don't think EA/Broadsword would (or COULD) give us the fully customizable sandbox experience of being able to create and manage our own worlds. But if you actually read all of this, I guess it's obvious that I think it's fun to think about.
Yeah the idea has merit to me as well. The idea came from a guild on Legends. They claim to own our shard and/or it is their personal shard. Meh, whatever. I think they're delusional and slightly annoying. What if we could own a shard and our friends and/or guildmates could play there in peace! Not only could we be within the TOS/ROC but as server administrator we'd be in a position to enforce it! Also no more waiting for a GM! I can see so many positives to this, at the same time I can see some draw backs. It is a very fun idea to think about!I think she's talking about doing it within EA/Broadsword's terms of service, Uvtha. And I'd be first in line, although it would probably only be for personal LAN use (unless Broadsword had a deal to host players' shards; then I might make something with multiple players in mind).
Most of the cost, beyond any possible aforementioned hosting, would simply be the cost that EA/Broadsword feels it ought to charge you to purchase some software. In my opinion, they really should have been the first ones to offer at least some version of their platform for purchase, but other MMORPGs have recently beaten them to the punch.
I understand there are some technical reasons why this hasn't come to pass for UO--the current studio's lack of technical knowledge about the classic client, and parts of the server code--but I don't believe it would have come to pass, even had UO's various studios maintained thorough documentation. I doubt the idea has ever even crossed their minds. Origin was the company with the innovative ideas behind UO, not EA.
So how much should it cost? Well, let's look elsewhere for ideas. Shards Online isn't sure how much it's going to charge yet to do this very thing, starting on the day their game and official shards launch. But they've said it will be a one-time purchase for ordinary players. For shard creators, they expect it will be around $10 monthly; not bad.
Wurm Online has done what I've wished for years that UO was in a position to do: packaged up their server software and tools and are selling it on Steam and other places as Wurm Unlimited for about $30. One-time purchase. Everything you need to set up a world of your own, tweak its characteristics, and invite some friends if you want, all within the game's TOS.
I realize as we all do by now that there are ways to achieve this in UO without cost or concern for EA's terms. While I fully support anyone who does this for personal use on their LAN (never could a player experience more of a sandbox inside UO), and I strongly believe the law could be on their side if digital rights activists keep up the fight...I have a very low opinion of people who join hosted freeshards simply in order to have things for free. I know there are a few virtuous souls in this world who wander around, who maybe prefer classic eras to Time of Legends, but who make sure they're paying EA/Broadsword regardless, and my hat's off to them for supporting continued development, beyond all the gray area stuff.
I don't think EA/Broadsword would (or COULD) give us the fully customizable sandbox experience of being able to create and manage our own worlds. But if you actually read all of this, I guess it's obvious that I think it's fun to think about.
No, I understand, I'm just saying that why pay when you can just have the same thing for free? I get not wanting to PLAY one someone elses free shard, but if I were going to run my own, id just do it for free.
Unless, that is, they put the time in to add tools to make world building easier, like the custome house tool, but everywhere, and for every item, and gumps for loot tables and mod stats and stuff like thta, but I really don't see that happening.
If it did, I would happily pay for that, but not monthly.
Also on Shards a personal shard comes with your game purchase, you only have to pay extra monthly if you want to run a cluster to link many shards up. For the single shard its just like minecraft, you can run it out of your house, or the cloud and peeps can just connect to it.
That is how UO should be if they ever decided to allow people to run their own shards. Buy it once, and you are done.
Honestly, if I could get a copy of Siege as it is now, that would end my UO days permanently. Pretty much the only reason I resub is to keep my house up because I am too sentimental to just let it all drop. Sentimental enough to re up ever 3 months anyway. If I could log on to my own copy of it from my own server, my sentimentality would be satisfied.Having my own UO server would feel too much like going to many of the current production shards without, of course, the history and the memories
If they DID add in easy bake world building tools, I would be interested, and would definitely make a purchase. Building my own world to run around in and setting my own rules, even solo (or with a few chums) sounds like a lot more fun than regular UO to me.
Thanks for the clarification on Shards Online. That's a great model and it doesn't surprise me that the guys behind Shards Online worked at Origin and helped create UO.
Taking some piece of technology and playing with it privately is not bad in my opinion; innovation wouldn't exist without that curiosity. I would never run an emulated server for other people to play on while UO is still being actively developed, but I recognize that it's complicated. Shards Online may not be a thing if players had not popularized the idea (albeit taboo) of creating their own UO shards. I have the impression that it was never as taboo to UO's developers as it is to EA's legal and marketing departments. Be that as it may, Shards Online clearly wouldn't be nuts about freeshards either, which is why they've had the forethought to work player shards into their business model. A lot of things are considered "free" these days, simply because it's easier to take some kinds things without paying for them than it was before the Internet arrived. Doesn't make it right (and it's really terrible for businesses).
I'm also a big fan of sliders and things I can click on, or at least a well-organized GUI that I can enter values into. Who knows what Broadsword's tools look like. I kind of suspect it's a mess of directories with poorly documented source code files, although I'm sure they have an internal client that allows them to place or tweak things on the fly in the world. For changes to stat gains or skills and things that affect everyone, you will never find a WYSIWYG GUI that replaces the need for someone to actually write lines of code that handle those things. Could every conceivable property be written as a customizable variable that gets passed through a GUI? Theoretically, yes, and that development team would deserve free pizza forever. Do I expect anyone to ever do that? Not unless it's baked into a game from the first day of development.
Taking some piece of technology and playing with it privately is not bad in my opinion; innovation wouldn't exist without that curiosity. I would never run an emulated server for other people to play on while UO is still being actively developed, but I recognize that it's complicated. Shards Online may not be a thing if players had not popularized the idea (albeit taboo) of creating their own UO shards. I have the impression that it was never as taboo to UO's developers as it is to EA's legal and marketing departments. Be that as it may, Shards Online clearly wouldn't be nuts about freeshards either, which is why they've had the forethought to work player shards into their business model. A lot of things are considered "free" these days, simply because it's easier to take some kinds things without paying for them than it was before the Internet arrived. Doesn't make it right (and it's really terrible for businesses).
I'm also a big fan of sliders and things I can click on, or at least a well-organized GUI that I can enter values into. Who knows what Broadsword's tools look like. I kind of suspect it's a mess of directories with poorly documented source code files, although I'm sure they have an internal client that allows them to place or tweak things on the fly in the world. For changes to stat gains or skills and things that affect everyone, you will never find a WYSIWYG GUI that replaces the need for someone to actually write lines of code that handle those things. Could every conceivable property be written as a customizable variable that gets passed through a GUI? Theoretically, yes, and that development team would deserve free pizza forever. Do I expect anyone to ever do that? Not unless it's baked into a game from the first day of development.
Some people want to sit around the fire and share stories; other people want to wield Prometheus's Fire and create. Some want both, especially in a sandbox. In UO's case, those memories you cherish were definitely made possible by both!Having my own UO server would feel too much like going to many of the current production shards without, of course, the history and the memories
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Oh I know. I was at Kesmai before the serial buyouts and at Origin, who aimed to out-do Kesmai, when it still existed as well.Some people want to sit around the fire and share stories; other people want to wield Prometheus's Fire and create. Some want both, especially in a sandbox. In UO's case, those memories you cherish were definitely made possible by both!
What I was saying, and I hope in a kind way, was that when you're getting into the realm of personal servers or emulators it may be time to move on. Those feelings one has for any online game happen for each of us but once. No change in developer or development team can ever bring that back. But that's just my personal view. There are plenty of UO servers out there, as well as emulators for Legends of Kesmai and Stellar Emperor.
And while Prometheus did a wonderful thing.....it didn't end so well for him
Should not cost too much.
You could not run EA´s server code easily as it is for server clusters and in an odd script language.
Running an uo emulation code should cost $30+ a month for hosting up to 100 people I guess.
The extra scripting and adding art assets is the tough thing.
Would I buy it... maybe.. if they added tools to implement art, sounds and such stuff.
You could not run EA´s server code easily as it is for server clusters and in an odd script language.
Running an uo emulation code should cost $30+ a month for hosting up to 100 people I guess.
The extra scripting and adding art assets is the tough thing.
Would I buy it... maybe.. if they added tools to implement art, sounds and such stuff.
I understand there are some technical reasons why this hasn't come to pass for UO--the current studio's lack of technical knowledge about the classic client, and parts of the server code--but I don't believe it would have come to pass, even had UO's various studios maintained thorough documentation. I doubt the idea has ever even crossed their minds. Origin was the company with the innovative ideas behind UO, not EA
No offense intended to anyone at all, past present or future. But when I read these kind of statements it's usually the end of the story for me. I absolutely refuse to accept this excuse to let them off the hook, when kids at home are building free shards lol
And some of them are quiet good!
No offense intended to anyone at all, past present or future. But when I read these kind of statements it's usually the end of the story for me. I absolutely refuse to accept this excuse to let them off the hook, when kids at home are building free shards lol
And some of them are quiet good!
Well it all belongs to EA, Broadsword has little say in things. Any dealings with EA are usually impossible lol. They wouldn't even sell Legends of Kesmai which was been dead and buried for 15 years. Oh sure they'll talk about doing stuff like that but it never happens. Take the maximum something could possibly be worth, multiply that by 4, then EA might talk to you about it. But in the end they still wouldn't do it.
For sure. I've been "done" with this game for like at least 5+ years now. :/
If the game still had regular content additions I would probably still play actively, as its fun enough to kill time on when I don't have anything else going, but the magic left a long time ago. Like I said, i just wish I could get a keepsake copy of the shard state that I could run around in and relive memories in.
Building a free shard really isn't very hard. It does require that you learn how to do it and put in the time, but in terms of technical skill required, it's not super high. More than my laziness could overcome, but...
no. i think this is a bad idea. unless i'm misunderstanding, doesn't this completely destroy the idea of 'community'? or is the OP referring to running an instanced version of uo? or is the idea to purchase an existing shard?
I highly doubt they'd allow the purchase of an existing shard although I am quite sure I could run one a HELLUVA lot better than Broadsword. I was talking about legally hosting your own shard. That way at least the player running their shard could enforce rules like the ROC which apparently is no longer enforced. Also you could determine who is and isn't not allowed.
I'm sure they'll be saved server states one day up on archive.org along with Lum the Mad who's already there...in a way
But this next post truly gets to the heart of it, in my view.
Online games live and die for us based on the people they introduce us to - people we NEVER would have known otherwise - and that can't be preserved on a private server, emulator or saved game state.
Jirel you should quit and fund your own personal shard.....start a campaign I will contribute. The you could also start your own forums for all of your players to discuss their issues. I would even offer you a site to host that!
Yes but it is exceedingly limited and... it looks like a freaky cartoon.
It's in the alpha stages, it's not even in beta yet. And more amazingly it's not THAT bad.
Yeah, don't judge it yet! give it a fair chance
I looked at that site recently. It appears to have interesting possibilities. Not for me, though.
The game won't be for a lot of people, I understand that. Right off the bat UO's housing is better. But the idea that one can have there own shard is pretty cool.
I just went and looked at the team running it Team | Citadel Studios a lot of names there we all know.
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Absolutely there are. Supreem, Draconi, Vex/Phoenix, Logrus...
IMHO this is way better
Player Housing
In Shards Online, players are able to build their homes in the actual game world. Many of the ‘shards’ in the game have large areas of undeveloped land for you to build houses on.
There are many different house layouts to choose from and the size of your house will depend on the size of your build-able area and the resources you have to build with. Cultivate the land for a farm, or have a beautiful garden.
We have big plans, currently post release, to allow for truly customizable housing. Build your house wall by wall to your exact specifications and desires!
Awesome!
I'm still not impressed. Won't take me away from UO and after the massive burn I got alpha/beta testing Landmark... my interest in investing in another game outside of UO is pretty low.