Game Revitalization

[Windarian]

Hi everyone! I have returned to this game several times since my first introduction around 1999. I have so much nostalgia when I think about all of the experiemces I had. Now when I return, I’m sad about how unpopulared it has become. Many nights in and after T2A, I would spend a lot of time at Britain bank just hanging out with friends. I miss the community.

So...what has been done in recent years to attract new customers or, more importantly, old vets? The Endless Journey program is a fantastic way to bring in old vets but how is it being promoted? UO never deletes account so why not send out promotional emails to all email addresses in the database inviting them to Endless Journey? I know that money must be tight at this point but I bet with the dedicated player basevthat still exists, a lot of enthusiasm could be generated.

While not everyone is a fan of every change over the...decades..., UO is still an amazing experience. We need to build it up again! What can we do to revitalize UO?

 

[Derium of ls]

Give us a Classic Server, I'd even pay them money to help advertise it. Then BAM, we are back in business, baby.

 

[Slayvite]

Give us a Classic Server, I'd even pay them money to help advertise it. Then BAM, we are back in business, baby.

Here we go again.....so what would "your" version of a "classic server" be?
Ask 10 people and you get 10 different answers.
This has been discussed so many times their is no horse left to flog.....

 

[Zalan]

Its a niche game with the player base growing older. Maybe take it to cross platform. Cryptic Studios has raked in the cash with that.

 

[Windarian]

Give us a Classic Server, I'd even pay them money to help advertise it. Then BAM, we are back in business, baby.

I assume you mean pre-Renaissance. I get that but I mean without making major changes. I started during T2A and I’m happy with the game as is, except the missing community. There must be others like me.

The heart of my question isn’t about what changes should be made. I’m wondering if UO has really tried to bring it back. I’ve not seen commercials or any kind of online marketing campaigns. I think Endless Journey is great because it allows players from long ago to get into character again and catch the bug, unlike other free trials where returning players would have to start fresh and it wouldn’t be as captivating.

What can or should UO/the existing community do to bring it back to life without changes to gameplay?

 

[Windarian]

Its a niche game with the player base growing older. Maybe take it to cross platform. Cryptic Studios has raked in the cash with that.

Do you mean gaming platforms? Like a console or portable device option to play?

 

[GarthGrey]

Give us a Classic Server, I'd even pay them money to help advertise it. Then BAM, we are back in business, baby.

NO, just you and 5 or 6 other people are back in business.....baby.

 

[Uriah Heep]

Get UO sold to a professional gaming company on the grow. Not one like EA who is just milking everything they have for profits. And be sure said company can build a simple, really simple, account management page.
Advertise
You can run on a small team, but each member of said team should be coders.
Advertise
EJ was a good idea, was. I still think the players need banks, the house limitations are enough to punish them with.
Might think about Advertising some...

 

[McKinneley]

UO never deletes account so why not send out promotional emails to all email addresses in the database inviting them to Endless Journey?

They did this, I got an email from them and that's how I knew about EJ and just recently subscribed.

 

[THP]

its called advertizing....which the team dont seem to grasp they have to do!!!

yes we can limp along with EM events catching peoples eye...with the 1000/2000 folks we have left ...... but lets be honest the event items are getting so long in the tooth...who really gives a damn.. pretyy much showed with so many no sales at the fest... how many em items can each person own??...yes they getting useless ... the lesser ones get dropped at the banks floors now...

advert UO advert UO.... jesus.. its no blooy roket science is it.....

 

[Windarian]

They did this, I got an email from them and that's how I knew about EJ and just recently subscribed.

I never have gotten one with a couple accounts. I just happened to stumble upon it. Glad to hear there was an attempt.

 

[Slayvite]

With what we can make out as a core staff of 3 now, they couldn't cope if UO suddenly got a mass influx of people.
Don't kid yourselves, the sub numbers are exactly where they want them.
Not low enough that EA pulls the plug, but also not high enough that they actually have to do this as their "full time" job.

 

[Phantasmagorian]

I've tried to establish contact to improve the CC in my own spare time, develop a new assist program or update UoAssist (since it's widely used)... but all I got is crickets. I imagine so much more good will squandered (not just mine). Whatever goes on behind the scenes, it's more than obvious there is a lack of resources and/or will.

 

[Phantasmagorian]

One more thing: E3 is happening right now and I checked out EA's conference. As usual, it was rather mediocre. But what' semi-relevant to UO is the following: like so many companies, Westwood (of Command & Conquer fame) got acquired by EA and eventually left for dead. Westwood produced some wonderful adventure games and became famous for the C&C series. Well, after a flopping C&C 4, EA now announced a friggin' mobile game using that IP.

Remember the mobile game Ultima Forever?

EA is truly, indisputably clueless when it comes to, at the very least, some of their IP. The mismanagement and amount of misfires around the Ultima IPare truly astounding. No words...

 

[Windarian]

I've tried to establish contact to improve the CC in my own spare time, develop a new assist program or update UoAssist (since it's widely used)... but all I got is crickets. I imagine so much more good will squandered (not just mine). Whatever goes on behind the scenes, it's more than obvious there is a lack of resources and/or will.

I’d love to be a part of a grassroots volunteer effort to market the world again. It is discouraging to think that the developers wouldn’t have the capacity or willingness to handle growth but not surprising. I just need to win the lottery, buy the game, and build a new development/support team.

 

[Derium of ls]

Here we go again.....so what would "your" version of a "classic server" be?
Ask 10 people and you get 10 different answers.
This has been discussed so many times their is no horse left to flog.....

I don't want to derail the thread with another classic debate. But to answer you, my answer is simple, anything pre-AoS. Since AoS is what changed UO from a sandbox into a themepark with sandbox elements.

Read up on the hatred of SotA, it's the themepark people are hating. And I wasted $12,000 believing what Garriott told us about it being basically UO2.

So it's super easy for me to draw the line, when AoS launched, I haven't PvPed since and I haven't had much fun since then. But this is just one man's opinion.

 

[Derium of ls]

Get UO sold to a professional gaming company on the grow. Not one like EA who is just milking everything they have for profits. And be sure said company can build a simple, really simple, account management page.
Advertise
You can run on a small team, but each member of said team should be coders.
Advertise
EJ was a good idea, was. I still think the players need banks, the house limitations are enough to punish them with.
Might think about Advertising some...

I was so upset that EA denied Garriott when he tried to buy back UO from them. But now that I see the gaudy monstrosity that is SotA, it was a blessing in disguise.

 

[Spartan]

Give us a Classic Server, I'd even pay them money to help advertise it. Then BAM, we are back in business, baby.

Ain't gonna happen. Forget it. Nope, not in this lifetime. Absolutely not gonna be done.

Get the point?

 

[Lord Frodo]

I've tried to establish contact to improve the CC in my own spare time, develop a new assist program or update UoAssist (since it's widely used)... but all I got is crickets. I imagine so much more good will squandered (not just mine). Whatever goes on behind the scenes, it's more than obvious there is a lack of resources and/or will.

In order to do anything with UOAssist you would need to go here Tugsoft, Inc. to get permission, there is no way UO would tell you yes.

 

[Syncros]

UO is still an amazing experience. We need to build it up again! What can we do to revitalize UO?

Get rid of the EA strangle hold and get the Devs to improve the game/systems rather then leaving them be once created.

 

[Dot_Warner]

Ultima Forever bombed because they tried to monetize the F out of it a la the complete cash grab that was the mobile Dungeon Keeper. They also failed to release it on PC or Android, which was just idiotic. Plus the storylines were...weird. (I did "enjoy" it for a while though, when I could play it on PC during the beta.)

SotA was a shameless cash grab from the very beginning. All Garriott's games post-Ultima IX have either bombed or been unrepentantly cynical cash grabs.

Broadsword can't send out mass emails for "legal reasons," unless people opt in like the newsletter. They got away with a mass EJ email because it was deemed an "account status change notification," which was only sent to closed accounts. UO seriously needs a community rep to interface with the public in a non-combative fashion and proofread announcements.

Broadsword will never make a classic shard. The reasons why haven't changed. Let this horse rest in peace.

 

[DSC Napa]

The people that want to play on a classic shard have been doing so for a very long time.

They outnumber OSI players.

 

[Dot_Warner]

They outnumber OSI players.

Prove it.

Oh. Wait. You already know you can't.

 

[Zalan]

Do you mean gaming platforms? Like a console or portable device option to play?

I meant to console gaming. Cryptic took Never Winter Nights and Star Trek Online to the Xbox One and PS4.

 

[petemage]

I meant to console gaming. Cryptic took Never Winter Nights and Star Trek Online to the Xbox One and PS4.

Only that they had a sound F2P concept working on day one.

UO on the other hand is still working on this "vault" concept and trying to reinvent the wheel.

 

[Zalan]

Eventually, they figure out a square doesn't make a good wheel

 

[Phantasmagorian]

In order to do anything with UOAssist you would need to go here Tugsoft, Inc. to get permission, there is no way UO would tell you yes.

I wrote Tugsoft, of course. Anyway, I'm done anyway. I still love UO, but I just think there is a too big lack of resources/will to steer it into a direction where it could blossom. And there is no doubt the brand is absurdly powerful. A brilliant revamp of UO or a proper UO2 would be fantastically successful. Unfortunately, I don't think it's in the cards (ho ho).

 

[Uriah Heep]

I find it odd that anytime anyone says anything about taking us back a bit in time to when there were more players, or making some changes people have asked for, that the board posters jump on them about "that'll be the death of UO!" or "that will never work!"

So I ask, how well is what we got now working out??? we're headed downhill, and not enough people want to put on the brakes...

 

[Lore]

Unfortunately, it's not going to happen TC. It's time to stop trying to focusing on this admirable goal and just enjoy UO as much as you can as it is. The dev team is small, the veterans have done the content and deserve to be where they are in the game even if it doesn't make it attractive to new players, and the game engine is very dated. The only way to revitalize the UO brand is to sell it to a larger developer and homogenize the history with as little retcon as possible. Then broadly write a "big bang" event to create a new threat and story from scratch that is believable and in a new game engine.

Just relax, enjoy UO for what it is now, or play a different game. I loved UO. I hate how it is now. I blame the veterans mostly, but at the same time I acknowledge that the game is still here because of them. The vets will give you stuff and make the game fun for a few weeks. They will carry you through current content, but it's not that fun to play with people that are so much further itemized than you. It's not fun playing with people that don't need you for anything. A lot of them play with themselves on alternate accounts. A lot of them have 10+ active accounts.

While this is an admirable goal and topic to discuss, it's just not going to happen.

 

[Scribbles]

Want new players? not just returning players that will quit like they have the past 20 years?

Get a staff that all knows the game and how to code it. (all staff should know how to code game and fix issues)
Every member of the staff should have an instagram, twitter, facebook, snapchat, twitch stream, you tube channel and they should be active on it. (at the very least there should be official UO ones)
Make the new player experience much easier to learn and adapt to the game. UO is like nothing else it is quite overwhelming for anyone new to the game.
Bring back counselors/advisers. Do not give them any powers other than the robe. Make them bound to new haven only. Make them mentors to new players. Make new haven a place to train every skill to 90.
Get on steam. WE have EJ now there is no reason why this game shouldnt be on steam. (every little bit helps)
REdo Uoassist or legalize another program for CC. There is no reason why CC should still be this archaic with its macros.
Fix all the EC bugs. public corpses would be a great start.


This game has been down hill for a long time however the past 4 years have been much more significant than the previous 4. It is time for a change. It is time for fresh meat to step up and try something new. Re hashed old ideas over and over again are not going to get the game anywhere. Classic old timer games are actually quite popular with the hipsters. There is no reason why this game couldnt cash in on that mentality of being vintage is cool.

 

[Windarian]

Want new players? not just returning players that will quit like they have the past 20 years?

Get a staff that all knows the game and how to code it. (all staff should know how to code game and fix issues)
Every member of the staff should have an instagram, twitter, facebook, snapchat, twitch stream, you tube channel and they should be active on it. (at the very least there should be official UO ones)
Make the new player experience much easier to learn and adapt to the game. UO is like nothing else it is quite overwhelming for anyone new to the game.
Bring back counselors/advisers. Do not give them any powers other than the robe. Make them bound to new haven only. Make them mentors to new players. Make new haven a place to train every skill to 90.
Get on steam. WE have EJ now there is no reason why this game shouldnt be on steam. (every little bit helps)
REdo Uoassist or legalize another program for CC. There is no reason why CC should still be this archaic with its macros.
Fix all the EC bugs. public corpses would be a great start.


This game has been down hill for a long time however the past 4 years have been much more significant than the previous 4. It is time for a change. It is time for fresh meat to step up and try something new. Re hashed old ideas over and over again are not going to get the game anywhere. Classic old timer games are actually quite popular with the hipsters. There is no reason why this game couldnt cash in on that mentality of being vintage is cool.

Your last point is kind of where I'm focused. There are so many people who I think would enjoy returning to the game either because it's vintage or because it looks the same as it did when they stopped playing. I think what stops them or makes them play for a month and then leave again is that the community has died. Of course, that's a never ending loop. The people don't stay because the community has died but of course the community will never come back to life if people leave because it's dead. When I brought this up, I was wondering how to get people to come back, or new players to get involved, without changing the game itself. Sure we would want to improve the level of support when there are problems but I think if we try to come up with what needs to be changed to invite everyone in, we'll never have a game that satisfies everyone. So how can we make the current game more appealing? Someone pointed out earlier, multiple times, that marketing and advertising are a HUGE weakness and I totally agree. I don't know how often I saw UO advertising even when it was in its heyday. But now...how many players would love to get back into it and don't even know it's still around?

Wouldn't it be great to have a grassroots effort of volunteers who do the marketing to build the community? Volunteers who write nostalgic stories of UO adventures past and share them on social media. Volunteers who organize new or returning player nights in buildings and taverns with vendors full of things a new or returning player might need. The first step would probably be to bring back old players with resurrected accounts to establish a skeleton community of veteran but not necessarily maxed out players. Then efforts could expand to bringing in new players. I would think that going that route would bridge the gap between very experienced veterans who "don't need you (new players) for anything" and the brand new players who have no idea. Also, let's take the veterans who might be bored and bring back the counselor program. Hire a Community Manager for each shard who manages a team of volunteers who are "paid" with a free account. This Community Manager and his volunteers are responsible for keeping the community alive, including IRL social media campaigns. They keep their jobs with measurable goals that they are held accountable for. Also, has there ever been discussion of removing some shards that are the least populated? Why have so many shards when that just spreads out the population even thinner?

I know it sounds like a lofty goal but I know there must be a lot of people out there who feel the same nostalgia as me when they stumble across a blog post written by a UO player or past player, get back into the game, and then get discouraged from playing when they see how much of a ghost town places like West Britain Bank have become. It just seems like something that needs to be organized, with or without an official UO blessing.

 

[temu]

u gotta play on atlantic DOOOOOOOOOOOOD

 

[Scribbles]

Your last point is kind of where I'm focused. There are so many people who I think would enjoy returning to the game either because it's vintage or because it looks the same as it did when they stopped playing. I think what stops them or makes them play for a month and then leave again is that the community has died. Of course, that's a never ending loop. The people don't stay because the community has died but of course the community will never come back to life if people leave because it's dead. When I brought this up, I was wondering how to get people to come back, or new players to get involved, without changing the game itself. Sure we would want to improve the level of support when there are problems but I think if we try to come up with what needs to be changed to invite everyone in, we'll never have a game that satisfies everyone. So how can we make the current game more appealing? Someone pointed out earlier, multiple times, that marketing and advertising are a HUGE weakness and I totally agree. I don't know how often I saw UO advertising even when it was in its heyday. But now...how many players would love to get back into it and don't even know it's still around?

Wouldn't it be great to have a grassroots effort of volunteers who do the marketing to build the community? Volunteers who write nostalgic stories of UO adventures past and share them on social media. Volunteers who organize new or returning player nights in buildings and taverns with vendors full of things a new or returning player might need. The first step would probably be to bring back old players with resurrected accounts to establish a skeleton community of veteran but not necessarily maxed out players. Then efforts could expand to bringing in new players. I would think that going that route would bridge the gap between very experienced veterans who "don't need you (new players) for anything" and the brand new players who have no idea. Also, let's take the veterans who might be bored and bring back the counselor program. Hire a Community Manager for each shard who manages a team of volunteers who are "paid" with a free account. This Community Manager and his volunteers are responsible for keeping the community alive, including IRL social media campaigns. They keep their jobs with measurable goals that they are held accountable for. Also, has there ever been discussion of removing some shards that are the least populated? Why have so many shards when that just spreads out the population even thinner?

I know it sounds like a lofty goal but I know there must be a lot of people out there who feel the same nostalgia as me when they stumble across a blog post written by a UO player or past player, get back into the game, and then get discouraged from playing when they see how much of a ghost town places like West Britain Bank have become. It just seems like something that needs to be organized, with or without an official UO blessing.

I completely agree. However for most of the social networking stuff it does no good unless there is an official presence on that social media platform to link to. For instance if I were to post on instagram a picture of the game. I could use ultima online hashtags but ultimately there isnt a ultima online instagram page to tag or for new people to view. same goes with every other media platform.

There are plenty of people in the community that have tried to create vlogs, forums, you tube channels, twitch streams ect ect. However they eventually get frustrated when the game itself doesnt recognize these posts. There have been plenty of people that have offered their services as a community manager but have been denied several times.

Ultimately the staff itself needs to step up and let someone take over these areas. This person could also be the PR representative on these platforms. I know plenty of people including myself that would do all of these for free for the sake of the game.

 

[Windarian]

I completely agree. However for most of the social networking stuff it does no good unless there is an official presence on that social media platform to link to. For instance if I were to post on instagram a picture of the game. I could use ultima online hashtags but ultimately there isnt a ultima online instagram page to tag or for new people to view. same goes with every other media platform.

There are plenty of people in the community that have tried to create vlogs, forums, you tube channels, twitch streams ect ect. However they eventually get frustrated when the game itself doesnt recognize these posts. There have been plenty of people that have offered their services as a community manager but have been denied several times.

Ultimately the staff itself needs to step up and let someone take over these areas. This person could also be the PR representative on these platforms. I know plenty of people including myself that would do all of these for free for the sake of the game.

I would totally do it for free. I am a director in a national nonprofit and have a lot of experience with grassroots campaigning with volunteers. It would bring new excitement to the game in a different way for those volunteers. Similar to how I used to play a lot but would also spend a ton of time just posting in Spiels n Rants or some other forum. It was all part of the package.

 

[Scribbles]

I would totally do it for free. I am a director in a national nonprofit and have a lot of experience with grassroots campaigning with volunteers. It would bring new excitement to the game in a different way for those volunteers. Similar to how I used to play a lot but would also spend a ton of time just posting in Spiels n Rants or some other forum. It was all part of the package.

I wish you the best of luck to get any sort of official word on it. There have been several people before you to offer their services as well. Would love to see you succeed. I really believe it would help the game more than anyone realizes.

 

[DSC Napa]

Prove it.

Oh. Wait. You already know you can't.

Go try them out and you will see

 

[Spartan]

I wish you the best of luck to get any sort of official word on it. There have been several people before you to offer their services as well. Would love to see you succeed. I really believe it would help the game more than anyone realizes.

I have 40+ years in IT - coding, supervision, projects, etc. I'd love to take a FREE crack at the code and perhaps build up documentation that has been lost through the years. I'd be perfectly willing to sign an NDA as well. I'm sure that would be a requirement anyway. <shrug>