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A treatise on events

Eht/Longbow

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
So I love a good event chain, and the rush of possibly getting an item. I like to display it in my house and cherish the adventure I went through to earn it. I would never sell one. I love the RP aspect that EM run events give. It allows for so much immersion in the game, more than any new expansion with items from dungeons that anyone can get or raids that you get bored of after a month. The value of getting an event through my own efforts is incredibly satisfying. I love interacting with the folks on my shard that participate together to entertain each other and are sometimes rewarded for their efforts.

One of the best event chains we ever had was through EM Vincent's chain where the Partisans of Chaos and the Royal Guard were competing against each other in various ways to win the use of a keep in Moonglow. It required collecting the resources to build it as a shard wide donation first. Then the competition in different ways by guarding a bunch of lamas, and racing to the bottom of various dungeons to find chests. I guess I have to say perhaps I was spoiled in my early days of UO.

More recently however, for the last couple years, one thing I've seen on a consistent basis is that almost every event has been a giant slaughter fest. All that is necessary to do is build a character that deals tons of damage and then you get a percent chance to receive an item. They're just "warm body" events.

I can understand that to a certain extent, it limits the ability for EM's to abuse the system and it gives most people an equal chance. The trouble is, that equal chance is just an equal chance at mediocrity. There are no incentives to be involved in the RP behind each event, you just have to be a "warm body." While I know it is a tall order to try to breath imagination and creativity while also maintaining fairness into an event system such as what we have. I believe if it is accomplished, perhaps it would also encourage people to actually use the various servers across the world. Every server is all but empty and Atlantic is packed so full of people you can hardly do anything. People hop from shard to shard and eat away at the bonds people like myself cherished in a game like this.

I have returned from a long stent away from the game about 2 weeks ago, and while I have been back I have seen my shard has become rather sparsely populated. The first event I was able to join involved 95% people I have never seen online before. I cannot see anything that's on, and there is no way to really interact with the EM.

While I feel that yes, maybe there is a problem with giving too many freedoms to EMs, but I think that it extremely limits the ability for there to be a system that would draw people to play and be part of the world. That's what really drew me to this game 13 years ago, and that's something I dearly miss.

Eht
 

callum_fitzhugh

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Great post. When the rules on drops were changed some time back the EMs seem to have lost the freedom to distribute low end rewards via clickies or in mob drops or whatever. Meaning that essentially to get your reward you know you have to kill something big and hard. Therfore there is no ability to "reward" via any other method. Way back rewards were sometimes placed on creatures with 50hp hidden around dungeons [Easter Event on Europa years ago] and so it was pot luck who got one of the rare carrots. They were spaced across Trammel and Felucca so it meant that everyone could take part and have an equal chance of finding one :)

But with freedom comes abuse and so I guess the EMs got smacked down and had to follow the party line which means BIG BOSS MOB = reward
 

Slayvite

Crazed Zealot
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
EM's need to be given to power to send "players" to jail for 24 hours.
Over on Europa, when we hold an RP event......that's Role Play and NOT "where's my item to sell on Atlantic" event.
They end up just trying to disrupt the whole event for others to the point where most Rp'ers really struggle to stay and not just say "ahh feck it" and recall.
The EM asks politely for them to stop as this is a RP event and mobs are not supped up as its designed for GM crafter made gear........to which they just laugh and cast flame areas all over the place.
They bring in big ass GD's and sit them right on top of the event so nobody can see what's going on...
I could go on.....

I'm not saying give EM's the power to ban players, just give the EM's the ability to put players in Jail for the night so the rest of us can enjoy some wonderfully wrote and scripted events.
We have a wonderful EM's on Europa at the moment, not name dropping but i'm sure EM Kimmie, EM Sarah and all EM's must get irritated when their hard work is ruined by a few "morons".
 

Eht/Longbow

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Sadly the EM/GM Cheated in Favor of the Partisans in the Arc you "loved."
That's not correct. I was there. I know what the score was. In the final event I had two chests. I gave one to the partisans and one to the royal guards. I like things to be fair and equal. If I had given both to the royal guards it would have been a tie, instead it put the Partisans over by two. I like playing both sides given my own feelings on what I want to role play that day. When I found one chest, I switched characters and found another chest. Afterward I found out if I had given both to the Royal guard it would have been a tie. Besides, I don't care if the EM cheated or not and I don't believe he did. The last chest was never found or at least never turned in so it would have allowed for a tie.

With any EM there will always be some bias, I know Vincent was always bent toward a little bit of chaos; we are all just humans. He put together some of the most creative and amusing events I've ever had the pleasure to participate in in the 13 years I've played this game, and you can't argue with me that that was not true. After him was another fantastic EM, EM Crysania, who I believe was later hired directly by Broadsword (I could be mistaken on her name). She also had a strong connection with the people in the shard and took input and allowed for very dynamic and immensely fun events.

Not only that, but I'm not discussing "cheating;" I'm discussing improving a system that disgusted me so much yesterday that I had to choose not to participate in my own home Shard's event in order to keep myself from swearing in general chat.
 
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The Slug

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Hey! I was there! all one of me! (you know the guy that's always whining about no donuts)

Anyway I really agree with what the OP said, and I'm glad he presented it in manner that was not anti-EM. It's not on the EM's that their main occupation has become a "drop factory"
 

Amber Witch

Babbling Loonie
Governor
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Eht,
Thanks for bringing this up. I'd like to add that some of the more memorable events for me were those where you had to figure out clues, puzzles, booby traps etc in order to advance. Many of these were completed through the joint efforts of players. I enjoy also the death fests as it brings out a lot of players and that in itself is a good thing. But with the current status of those that hit the hardest, the most, using 'what ever means necessary' typically means at least on my home shard that the rewards are off the shard within 24 hours. While I am not the type of player that goes to events just to get a reward, and it's a rare occasion when I do get one, I really do like getting one. So back to discussion on topic.....

Suggestions / Ideas / Thinking Out loud:

  • Have reward driven mega death events on test center where the reward can be taken back to what ever shard the 'winner' desires? That will then leave individual EM's to have events for their shard where the reward is not transferable. This potentially could cut down the number of players who use 'what ever means available' to plagiarize events across all shards.
  • On my home shard there is a yearly auction of players offering services and also of our EM. The player who wins the EM can come up with an idea and actively participate with the EM to create an event. I think this has been a really popular event even though it's still monetary based. All the gold raised is then donated to the Moonglow zoo by the player who organizes the auction. Maybe there can be a derivative of this, say, a bid stone that worked in the way the Magincia house auction worked. I know there are holes in this but it's a thought started.
  • Go to your shard's stratics page and review the EM events starting in 2010. There are some great old posts on events. Some of these old events could be the basis for some new events.
  • No damage driven reward. Once in a while at the end of an event do something like what Mesanna use to do. Say a number, Roll the dice, Win or lose. You win, you get a pixel in your pocket, you lose, you lose! This could probably be automated somehow? That way it's not tying someone up for hours on end.
  • For a little while my home shard had events where those that were there to disrupt the RP event were muted and frozen. From a player perspective, a player that was there for the RP and to support the event, this was HUGE! It would be really wonderful to incorporate this again.
Okay, my brain is fried. Just got home from a 30 hour trip from the other side of the planet.
Again, thanks Eht. You give me hope that respect and the art of being a positive influence is not lost.

Kind Regards,

AW
 

Cerwin Vega

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I don't understand why the drops have to be limited to 10-20 anyways, the Asian shards sometime give lots of drops and the world doesn't come to a end. It doesn't have to be at every event but letting everyone get a reward once and awhile isn't gonna bring anymore jerks to these events than already show up. When you give away a reward for everyone who was at the event it lowers the prices but makes everyone happy. Yes I understand the mulit account people get more items but whats the difference if they get 5 items worth 30m or 1 item worth 150m?
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
I personally would like if the EM could jail people that are disruptive... but more overly I wish they had some sort of way to keep from being buried in the crowd. Push back of some sort. That was tested some but don't think it ever really worked.

It would be nice if they could squelch players but this could be abused... Imagine if they squelched everyone and you couldn't cast your spells, couldn't EoO or anything think people would be pretty mad... so be careful what you wish for.

Now the biggest thing I wish is that they remove Multi-boxers. Tired of that... personally I'd be happy if they went to no drops at all except at the very end of a story arc at which point it would be a clicky... and take the "money making" out of the EM Events all together...

This would keep the greed out and make it far easier to NOT abuse power... But that's me.

My favorite events revolved around solving puzzles and codes. Found them challenging and fun. Things that didn't have to be done "today".... in an hour.
 

GarthGrey

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
On Siege the EM allows the disrupters to profit ..they kill everyone involved, get all of the drops, then sell them to others. But then we secretly pretend not to buy from them in gen chat, and then stealth up to their vendors and buy them (their vendors are always empty yet no one publicly admits to buying them ) LOL...I'm not that into deco, so I'm saying "we" as a shard, but I would never do such things. :p :stir:
 

Ancient Sosarian

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
That's not correct. I was there. I know what the score was. In the final event I had two chests. I gave one to the partisans and one to the royal guards. I like things to be fair and equal. If I had given both to the royal guards it would have been a tie, instead it put the Partisans over by two. I like playing both sides given my own feelings on what I want to role play that day. When I found one chest, I switched characters and found another chest. Afterward I found out if I had given both to the Royal guard it would have been a tie. Besides, I don't care if the EM cheated or not and I don't believe he did. The last chest was never found or at least never turned in so it would have allowed for a tie.

With any EM there will always be some bias, I know Vincent was always bent toward a little bit of chaos; we are all just humans. He put together some of the most creative and amusing events I've ever had the pleasure to participate in in the 13 years I've played this game, and you can't argue with me that that was not true. After him was another fantastic EM, EM Crysania, who I believe was later hired directly by Broadsword (I could be mistaken on her name). She also had a strong connection with the people in the shard and took input and allowed for very dynamic and immensely fun events.

Not only that, but I'm not discussing "cheating;" I'm discussing improving a system that disgusted me so much yesterday that I had to choose not to participate in my own home Shard's event in order to keep myself from swearing in general chat.
I was Also There. Participated through the entire Arc & was recruited by the Leader of the Britannian Royal Guards. Moreover I later discussed the cheating with EM Vincent's alter ego/Player and he admitted it. Long Over & will never be Corrected, but I won't allow lies to be spoken w/o Answering with Truth.
 

Eht/Longbow

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I was Also There. Participated through the entire Arc & was recruited by the Leader of the Britannian Royal Guards. Moreover I later discussed the cheating with EM Vincent's alter ego/Player and he admitted it. Long Over & will never be Corrected, but I won't allow lies to be spoken w/o Answering with Truth.
I am not debating the guilt or innocence of an EM. I am not a broadsword employee who holds the truth. I am a player discussing a time when I enjoyed events. I understand there are pros and cons to any method of a system for running events. I believe the system in the past versus the system we have now was far more enjoyable. I don't care about the drama that occurred 10 years ago and I don't believe it is valuable in this discussion. It was handled privately and I am not going to advocate the destruction of anyone's reputation on anything I don't know.

I would appreciate it if you would kindly add to the discussion at hand or I will have to just assume you are happy with the current system as you are trying very hard to derail the subject I am trying to address. If I were on some other shard giving an example of some EM without any tarnished reputation who used a more personal and intellectual connection to the players, then what would be your suggestion as a means to encourage this behavior?
 

cdavbar

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I personally would like if the EM could jail people that are disruptive...
Or at the very least have a priority page button for GM's.

I remember a Royal Guard event on Great Lakes at Lord British's Castle some 12-13 years ago which became the event that nearly got canceled. My brother thought he'd be a smart donkey and teleport past the invisible barrier onto the King's stage and sit in his throne. Once people saw him do that nearly everyone in the room was doing it. It became a mess, real quick. GM's showed up and ordered everyone off the stage. Many people refused. The GM said anyone still on this stage when I get to five is going to jail. GM then counted to 5 and bam! players started getting sent to the famous UO jails while others frantically tried to teleport or recall out before getting arrested. My brother spent about 3 hours in the jail that night, well after the event ended.

The event eventually continued, albeit with a long delay.

Point I'm trying to make is, UO has a built in system to combat some of this. GM's used to be at events all the time in the past. Sometimes to send the scum to jails, sometimes to just stand guard, sometimes to watch, talk, and interact with the players. I'm sure if GM's were called to events now, that sooner, rather than later, the ill-doers would get the hint pretty dang quick.

-----

On another note. I am against "shard bound" items, with a passion. However, something does need to be done about those coming from other shards to farm event items to just put on the market. I for one have never sold any event item I have obtained. It is very disheartening to see within 5 seconds after the boss drops someone yelling in GC, "Selling tonights drop, 600m ATL Gold!", all the while players who only play the shard, who have attended what events they can due to schedules, followed arcs the best they can are left with nothing.

-----

On mult-boxers. There is a difference between controlling two accounts at an event and what some of these players do. I will on occasion run two separate computers each with one account, not just at events but other things as well. Both screens visible, I am in attendance at all times to both. However, at events it is noticeable who is scripting, who is multi-boxing with 4, 5, or 6+ accounts. A few weeks ago on GL one player's script got stuck when one of their players died and one of their players just kept spamming over and over, making it oh so noticable. Others have 5 characters with basically the same name all set to follow each other and perform the same action(s) as the leader. All in unison they cast EoO, DV, CW, etc. It's things like that that if a GM was in attendance on some of these events, they could investigate and put an end to it.

-----

EM's are here to give us great content, and enjoyable memories. We need the return of our GM's to come into events and enforce the rules that they are here to enforce so the EM's can peacefully, and successfully do their jobs.
 

Cymidei

UO Pacific News Reporter
Alumni
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Campaign Supporter
It's the profiteering rares community...sigh. We used to have events for the community and role play but the EM program is now run by and for collectors it seems. Wish they had their own program or a game engine that had enough interest and variety to satisfy the collectors.

Then the rest of us would be able to enjoy events without their ilk cussing, camping, and ruining the experience for the rest of us. The whole program as it exists is broken.

And those lovely collectors are the first ones to scream and cry favoritism if anything happens that is role play or a community effort that doesn't benefit them. The attitude and greed ruin it all.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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The Slug

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
It's the profiteering rares community...sigh. We used to have events for the community and role play but the EM program is now run by and for collectors it seems. Wish they had their own program or a game engine that had enough interest and variety to satisfy the collectors.

Then the rest of us would be able to enjoy events without their ilk cussing, camping, and ruining the experience for the rest of us. The whole program as it exists is broken.

And those lovely collectors are the first ones to scream and cry favoritism if anything happens that is role play or a community effort that doesn't benefit them. The attitude and greed ruin it all.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I've been saying that for years, but it seems it's not a popular opinion and the powers that be (even a few mods here) would argue strongly against this. However based on the few EM's I "know" I don't think their intention is to run events entirely for the rares community. The fact that that is the end result is beyond their control
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
Or at the very least have a priority page button for GM's.

I remember a Royal Guard event on Great Lakes at Lord British's Castle some 12-13 years ago which became the event that nearly got canceled. My brother thought he'd be a smart donkey and teleport past the invisible barrier onto the King's stage and sit in his throne. Once people saw him do that nearly everyone in the room was doing it. It became a mess, real quick. GM's showed up and ordered everyone off the stage. Many people refused. The GM said anyone still on this stage when I get to five is going to jail. GM then counted to 5 and bam! players started getting sent to the famous UO jails while others frantically tried to teleport or recall out before getting arrested. My brother spent about 3 hours in the jail that night, well after the event ended.

The event eventually continued, albeit with a long delay.

Point I'm trying to make is, UO has a built in system to combat some of this. GM's used to be at events all the time in the past. Sometimes to send the scum to jails, sometimes to just stand guard, sometimes to watch, talk, and interact with the players. I'm sure if GM's were called to events now, that sooner, rather than later, the ill-doers would get the hint pretty dang quick.

-----

On another note. I am against "shard bound" items, with a passion. However, something does need to be done about those coming from other shards to farm event items to just put on the market. I for one have never sold any event item I have obtained. It is very disheartening to see within 5 seconds after the boss drops someone yelling in GC, "Selling tonights drop, 600m ATL Gold!", all the while players who only play the shard, who have attended what events they can due to schedules, followed arcs the best they can are left with nothing.

-----

On mult-boxers. There is a difference between controlling two accounts at an event and what some of these players do. I will on occasion run two separate computers each with one account, not just at events but other things as well. Both screens visible, I am in attendance at all times to both. However, at events it is noticeable who is scripting, who is multi-boxing with 4, 5, or 6+ accounts. A few weeks ago on GL one player's script got stuck when one of their players died and one of their players just kept spamming over and over, making it oh so noticable. Others have 5 characters with basically the same name all set to follow each other and perform the same action(s) as the leader. All in unison they cast EoO, DV, CW, etc. It's things like that that if a GM was in attendance on some of these events, they could investigate and put an end to it.

-----

EM's are here to give us great content, and enjoyable memories. We need the return of our GM's to come into events and enforce the rules that they are here to enforce so the EM's can peacefully, and successfully do their jobs.
This is exactly right... if the GM's actually would attend the EM Events and police the worst of the offenders and jail them for the duration of the Event I think they would get the idea and stop it. Let them miss their chance at a drop a few times and they WILL learn to behave themselves.

Let the GMs witness the Multi-boxing first hand .... anyone with a pair of eyes can see what they are doing is illegal and against the ToS... it's not just multi-clienting where they are moving each client individually NO they are linked via a 3rd party program/app to all be controlled in UNISON... as ONE entity.... All Casting, All throwing, All moving as ONE. There are now at least 3 or 4 groups of these Multi-boxers at EVERY event on GLs... Most especially the ones they "believe" will have a drop.

And when only 20 items drop and the multi-boxers take up 20 to 25 of the people in attendance..... how many drops do you think those native to GLs get? Sadly a couple of the Multi-boxer groups ARE from GLs... which totally makes me sick. I wish they would get a close investigation. I'm sure that Mesanna would find something "fishy" with them too.

But whatever... it is what it is and until it goes back to what it was... we'll have to suffer. I can say this in Discord with about 10 people just Tuesday when there was a Drop.... ONE of us got it. ONE. And I know most the people I'm in Discord with none of them Multi-box. All of them are FROM GLs... and all of them regularly attend FOR THE RP and Event... and fully support the EMs and have since the beginning. Any drop I ever get is always on public display in any one of my homes. Used to be I wrote up a nice book about the item I got detailing the story and how the item was acquired... or what it represented... but you know after the first year .... the items seem to have far less meaning than they once did.
 

Amber Witch

Babbling Loonie
Governor
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Used to be I wrote up a nice book about the item I got detailing the story and how the item was acquired... or what it represented... but you know after the first year .... the items seem to have far less meaning than they once did.
This a such a good thing to do, helping to preserve the history of the shard's events. There are many items that I've always wondered about, the history of them, how they came about. As time passes we forget these things. They get lost in the ether. I think it's really beneficial for visitors, new folk and generally people who are interested.
Don't stop! I'm going to start doing this. Thanks for the idea.
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
This a such a good thing to do, helping to preserve the history of the shard's events. There are many items that I've always wondered about, the history of them, how they came about. As time passes we forget these things. They get lost in the ether. I think it's really beneficial for visitors, new folk and generally people who are interested.
Don't stop! I'm going to start doing this. Thanks for the idea.
I gave it up when items became a flood... then they changed everything to top damagers only and I went from always getting drops to never getting them... after that they fixed things and now I generally get one every 2 or 3 drops which I suppose is fine but IMO it's now lost all meaning. Which is sad.
 

petemage

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I've been saying that for years, but it seems it's not a popular opinion and the powers that be (even a few mods here) would argue strongly against this. However based on the few EM's I "know" I don't think their intention is to run events entirely for the rares community. The fact that that is the end result is beyond their control
It might be beyond control for a single EM, but he can report it up the chain to Mesanna. Now if it's beyond her control is another question. But people highly invested into UO had years of ass-licking over email, ICQ or in-game to spin her exactly where they want her to be.
 

John Knighthawke

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
To the extent that the events become slaughter fests, I submit it's the fault of a vocal minority of players. That is what the loudest voices demand. (Not the most voices, but the loudest.) I give a lot of credit to the EMs on Great Lakes for finding a way to keep up the RP spirit of the events (mostly!), amidst some really loud folks who want to disrupt, and a lot of credit to the other players on GL for not being like that for the most part.

I've read this post a few times and I'm not seeing the connection between the item drop system and the ability to RP at the events. It's not an item drop system that's the issue, it's the attitudes of a loud minority. If the people there solely for an item weren't so loud and actively pressing to cut to the chase (to coin a phrase), it wouldn't really matter so much. They'd in effect be RPing mercenaries who were waiting around for their paychecks, and the plot could progress like normal. On GL this is what most folks who are just there for an item do. Not seeking actively to disrupt.

To my thinking, we don't really need an incentive to RP so much as the removal of disincentives and impediments. And most of those come from a minority of fellow players.

-John's player
 
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