Ultima Online facebook- New Community Manager

[Scarlett]

Relaying facebook message::

Ultima Online
·
Hello everyone!
I would like to introduce myself, I'm Fenneko and I am your new Community Manager! I am super happy to be here and excited to work with you!
I hope that you will follow me on this journey through various social media outlets to create a fun and informative environment for you as the players.
I have been a part of Ultima Online since 1999, so I know how near and dear to some people’s hearts this game world can be.
I will be here to speak with you on various issues, follow up on bug reports that have been posted to the forum and post information to social media!
If you would like to contact me, you can find me on; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the forums or walking about recording a clip with all the new and exciting things we are doing in UO!
I would like to thank every one of you for your continued support of Ultima Online! Let's raise a glass to 26 years and to many more to come!
CM Fenneko
FB: https://www.facebook.com/UltimaOnline/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UOTownCryer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uotowncryer/
Forums: https://forum.uo.com/

 

[Coco_Zamis_DF]

Lol is the dog the CM?

TX for forwarding.

 

[Amber Witch]

Take your pick:

Fennec fox

Always free of charge, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is one of Washington D.C.’s, and the Smithsonian’s, most popular tourist destinations, with more than 2 million visitors from all over the world each year. The Zoo instills a lifelong commitment to conservation through engaging experiences...

nationalzoo.si.edu

Fenneko

Fenneko (フェネ子) is an office worker and a supporting character in the Netflix Original series Aggretsuko. Fenneko is Retsuko's closest co-worker and is a renowned social media stalker. Fenneko's appearance is based on a Fennec Fox. She has light fawn fur across her entire body except for a dark...

aggretsuko.fandom.com

 

[HippoRedux]

Congrats on your new role!

 

[GarthGrey]

There's so much cringe worthy butt kissing going on the official forums..I love this game too, but holy cow .

 

[skett]

really facebook lol unbelievable !

Guess im just old

 

[The Black Smith]

I wonder what douchebag player they've renamed.

 

[ShriNayne]

We don't use Facebook, Twitter etc. sure we have accounts but mostly we just don't go there. Does Messanna not understand her own player-base? Most people who play UO would look for information on Stratics or the official forum, not on Facebook... why this community person has been told to post on social media sites first is perplexing.

 

[Keven2002]

It's just a continuation of the tone-deaf management style of Mesanna.

I wouldn't be surprised if this "new" member was simply Mesanna's cat or goldfish that she also getting on the UO payroll to cash in on the gravy train.

 

[Thrakkar]

We don't use Facebook, Twitter etc. sure we have accounts

I don't have any such account, whether for Facebook, nor for Twitter or any other social media platform...

why this community person has been told to post on social media sites first is perplexing.

...still I couldn't care less, where the first post was made.
It absolutely doesn't matter at all...

 

[Pawain]

@Anon McDougle complains they don't do enough media to advertise, yall complain there is too much.

Makes sense to me, we know about UO. People without accounts can't post on the official forums. To grow you want to reach people without accounts.

 

[Keven2002]

Makes sense to me, we know about UO. People without accounts can't post on the official forums. To grow you want to reach people without accounts.

Do you really think people without UO accounts are intentionally going to something like "Ultima Online" in Facebook?

While I don't disagree they would need to do something other than post on the forums to grow; I don't think a random social media platform is the solution. If they really wanted to grow the accounts they should be hitting gaming platforms like steam where people who might actually be looking for a different game would go.

Mesanna has fumbled NL from the start as far as the timing. There was quite a bit of buzz around NL in a few publications when it was initially announced, but 4 years later there still isn't anything to even speak of (those who are testing NL are on a NDA) so that buzz is dead.

What the team should do if they really want to grow accounts is start doing more events like when Mag was destroyed or 20th anniv with event cycles that built on each other. To help encourage people to subscribe, they could offer something like a free advanced player token to anyone that pays for a 90 day sub with an EJ account that is less than a year old. Something like that would probably bring back a few old players who are already established which could in turn, by word of mouth, introduce other new players which could get a quick bump into the new content with the char token.

Another thing they could do is update the actual UO website more often so people had a reason to visit. The more visits/hits, the higher it will rise up the list by simply googling games. If anything, having the communications manager handle that and make weekly updates there where it's strictly announcements would would be the best use of their time. Give people a couple of details of what's coming and give some project status updates on bugs/events/NL/etc.

...but once again with Mesanna's track record it doesn't surprise me they hit Facebook instead....

 

[Corwyn]

My guess is they started with social media because it's cheap and easy. From there, they can move on to better venues for advertising. In my opinion, starting with social media wasn't really a bad move at all, because as I said, it's cheap and easy recognition.

 

[Pawain]

@Keven2002 I see you did not read the replies. Most were people who used to play.

Next you are going to say social media sites don't do well advertising. You forget Twitter sold for 40 billion.

 

[Lord Frodo]

Do you really think people without UO accounts are intentionally going to something like "Ultima Online" in Facebook?

While I don't disagree they would need to do something other than post on the forums to grow; I don't think a random social media platform is the solution. If they really wanted to grow the accounts they should be hitting gaming platforms like steam where people who might actually be looking for a different game would go.

Mesanna has fumbled NL from the start as far as the timing. There was quite a bit of buzz around NL in a few publications when it was initially announced, but 4 years later there still isn't anything to even speak of (those who are testing NL are on a NDA) so that buzz is dead.

What the team should do if they really want to grow accounts is start doing more events like when Mag was destroyed or 20th anniv with event cycles that built on each other. To help encourage people to subscribe, they could offer something like a free advanced player token to anyone that pays for a 90 day sub with an EJ account that is less than a year old. Something like that would probably bring back a few old players who are already established which could in turn, by word of mouth, introduce other new players which could get a quick bump into the new content with the char token.

Another thing they could do is update the actual UO website more often so people had a reason to visit. The more visits/hits, the higher it will rise up the list by simply googling games. If anything, having the communications manager handle that and make weekly updates there where it's strictly announcements would would be the best use of their time. Give people a couple of details of what's coming and give some project status updates on bugs/events/NL/etc.

...but once again with Mesanna's track record it doesn't surprise me they hit Facebook instead....

Doing events like you suggested will do nothing but get more EJ Accounts made because in their stupidity they gave EJ Accounts to many goodies.

 

[Thrakkar]

Doing events like you suggested will do nothing but get more EJ Accounts made because in their stupidity they gave EJ Accounts to many goodies.

UO has one of the most restrictive F2P models in the industry.
I'm curious, what those "goodies" are, you're referring to. Please elaborate.

 

[Thrakkar]

If they really wanted to grow the accounts they should be hitting gaming platforms like steam where people who might actually be looking for a different game would go.

Steam cashes in 30% of each unit sold.
But I have no idea, how it works for games like UO, which are F2P and you only pay for a 3rd party subscription (from a Steam PoV). But you can bet on it, that it is not going to be free, to be hosted on steam. It is on them to calculate/estimate the return of investment. I'm fairly confident, that they considered it at some point (pure speculation here). But since they are not on Steam so far, I'm pretty sure, it is not worth to them.

Besides, I don't think, UO is ready to be put on Steam as the review system could easily kill it there. I don't think, that new players in 2023, who have never seen or played UO, can handle the "clunkyness", which UO undeniably has. After all it is a 26 year old game and fidelity and user experience isn't on par with modern games. So if you don't wear rose colored glasses or bring some nostalgia, it is easy to leave a negative review.

 

[Pawain]

from a Steam PoV

EA has its own collection of games in a playable network. They will not be using steam.

 

[Lord Frodo]

UO has one of the most restrictive F2P models in the industry.
I'm curious, what those "goodies" are, you're referring to. Please elaborate.

Steam cashes in 30% of each unit sold.
But I have no idea, how it works for games like UO, which are F2P and you only pay for a 3rd party subscription (from a Steam PoV). But you can bet on it, that it is not going to be free, to be hosted on steam. It is on them to calculate/estimate the return of investment. I'm fairly confident, that they considered it at some point (pure speculation here). But since they are not on Steam so far, I'm pretty sure, it is not worth to them.

Besides, I don't think, UO is ready to be put on Steam as the review system could easily kill it there. I don't think, that new players in 2023, who have never seen or played UO, can handle the "clunkyness", which UO undeniably has. After all it is a 26 year old game and fidelity and user experience isn't on par with modern games. So if you don't wear rose colored glasses or bring some nostalgia, it is easy to leave a negative review.

Do you even play UO on the official shards? EA will not go on steam as they have their own platform.

 

[OREOGL]

@Anon McDougle complains they don't do enough media to advertise, yall complain there is too much.

Makes sense to me, we know about UO. People without accounts can't post on the official forums. To grow you want to reach people without accounts.

Actually, I agree with this.

Everyone was mad at communication, which they seem to be working on, including a new CM. Now it’s suddenly, “nO NoT LiKe ThAT!”

People need to pick a lane or shut up about it already.

 

[Thrakkar]

Do you even play UO on the official shards?

Silly question. Yes, I do. Now what?
And you dodged the question: What are those EJ goodies, you're talking of?

 

[Anon McDougle]

Actually, I agree with this.

Everyone was mad at communication, which they seem to be working on, including a new CM. Now it’s suddenly, “nO NoT LiKe ThAT!”

People need to pick a lane or shut up about it already.

You people are so full of it i ask for communication not a pet parrot

 

[Pawain]

You people are so full of it i ask for communication not a pet parrot

You want every stupid question answered. And then complain if it not the answer you want.

UO is a dictatorship. One person makes the decisions. You can take an exit if you don't like the lanes it is in.

I could tell from the kadence of his hello post. He has UO down. I love it.

 

[OREOGL]

You people are so full of it i ask for communication not a pet parrot

You got communication. There’s not much else to discuss.

 

[Anon McDougle]

You got communication. There’s not much else to discuss.

I think our definition of communication is vastly different

 

[Fridgster]

Just... um wanted to point out there are NUMEROUS Facebook groups for UO with thousands of members. Just saying.

 

[Fridgster]

I think this was a good move. A huge complaint lately has been about communication. In many cases rightfully so. This move helps to remedy this problem. As far as the medium they are using, as I mentioned above, there are a lot of facebook groups out there for UO with thousands of members.

 

[Lord Frodo]

Silly question. Yes, I do. Now what?
And you dodged the question: What are those EJ goodies, you're talking of?

Endless Journey – Ultima Online here educate yourself as you are so clueless about EJ Accounts

 

[AntyvasII]

... as I mentioned above, there are a lot of facebook groups out there for UO with thousands of members.

Does anyone else remember the "rings" of websites that used to exist back in the early internet days?

 

[OREOGL]

I think our definition of communication is vastly different

I think we can agree there.

 

[Fridgster]

Does anyone else remember the "rings" of websites that used to exist back in the early internet days?

I remember those. I also remember the business end of those ring websites. A lot of the rings were websites owned by the same person but portrayed each site as different sites. They were a tool to funnel traffic to the main site. Ever notice there was always one site way better than the rest?

 

[Veldrane]

I'm going to give this a chance. What I'll be most interested in is what type of communication we get from this new position. Of its vapid social media “influencer” type posts then it's a failure in my book. If we get actual game information on changes, roadmaps, and events then I'm all for it.

Given industry stories of Bonnies legendary level of micromanagement, I'm not sure quite what we’re going to get out of this.

 

[Anon McDougle]

I'm going to give this a chance. What I'll be most interested in is what type of communication we get from this new position. Of its vapid social media “influencer” type posts then it's a failure in my book. If we get actual game information on changes, roadmaps, and events then I'm all for it.

Given industry stories of Bonnies legendary level of micromanagement, I'm not sure quite what we’re going to get out of this.

Well can't tell us where the Halloween dungeon is cant tell us the new rewards cant discuss the status of bugs...think a pet parrot that will tell us about em events and cookie cutter "news" another nice try but failure

 

[Lord Frodo]

I think our definition of communication is vastly different

the imparting or exchanging of information or news: They own UO so they tell you what they want you to know and you are free to disagree and even say so and they are free to ignore you but you are not free to ignore them.

 

[Pawain]

Well can't tell us where the Halloween dungeon is cant tell us the new rewards cant discuss the status of bugs...think a pet parrot that will tell us about em events and cookie cutter "news" another nice try but failure

Untrue. They do not want to tell us about the next event yet. They could tell us, they do not want to.

They do not want to argue about bugs, 80%+ of the reported bugs are game mechanics that the reporter does not like. They are not bugs.

Why even play a game that you already know the outcome of? I assume you do not watch sports because they dont tell you who is going to win a week before.

 

[GarthGrey]

So the new CM comes in, gets fawned all over ad nauseum, and his/her first event is a Deco you house fluff party ? Really ?

 

[Thrakkar]

Endless Journey – Ultima Online here educate yourself as you are so clueless about EJ Accounts

/facepalm
I am very well aware about the restrictions of EJ. In fact, I said UO has one of the most restrictive F2P models in the industry.
So how does that Link show me any goodies, you're talking of? There are none...

 

[Lord Frodo]

/facepalm
I am very well aware about the restrictions of EJ. In fact, I said UO has one of the most restrictive F2P models in the industry.
So how does that Link show me any goodies, you're talking of? There are none...

you have zero reading ability and know nothing about UO game play. UO Trial Account had a lot more limits on it. EJ Accounts can get just about everything, you really have zero clue about prodo shards please go back to your illegal shards and stay out of here.

 

[Pawain]

 

[Thrakkar]

you have zero reading ability and know nothing about UO game play. UO Trial Account had a lot more limits on it. EJ Accounts can get just about everything, you really have zero clue about prodo shards please go back to your illegal shards and stay out of here.

I have to admit, your responses do have a certain entertainment value.

 

[Thrakkar]

EA has its own collection of games in a playable network. They will not be using steam.

I never said, that they should go on steam. In fact I presented two arguments, why they should not be there.
But the truth is, there was once a time, when UO wanted to go on steam:

Greenlight UO on Steam – Ultima Online

uo.com

 

[Anon McDougle]

We do realize there are other EA games on stream

 

[Keven2002]

I think this was a good move. A huge complaint lately has been about communication. In many cases rightfully so. This move helps to remedy this problem. As far as the medium they are using, as I mentioned above, there are a lot of facebook groups out there for UO with thousands of members.

To be clear, I think hiring this person is a step in the right direction. That said, I think the UO website (or the UO forums) should be primary place for the communication rather than some random Facebook or X (formerly Twitter) page. To put it in perspective, if I want to see if there are any recalls on my car (aka bug fixes) I go to the General Motors website (aka UO.com), not a social media page.

That said, if this communication is only going to be one direction (which I'm fine with) then I think it could/should also be added to the town crier UI within the game.

you have zero reading ability and know nothing about UO game play. UO Trial Account had a lot more limits on it. EJ Accounts can get just about everything, you really have zero clue about prodo shards please go back to your illegal shards and stay out of here.

Is there a reason you are so hostile? The guy asked you a valid question to support what you said. You answered it by giving him a link to what an EJ account is... not an example of what things an EJ account would get in your response.

In the scenario I gave with some sort of large event it could very easily be made where it's like anniversary rewards and EJ accounts wouldn't receive drops and there would be no "goodies" for them. Now that I clarified what I am talking about - how about you clarify how that would still lead to EJ accounts getting "goodies"?

 

[Thrakkar]

We do realize there are other EA games on stream

There was a time, when EA tried to make games Origin exclusive. I think, Mass Effect 3 was one of the first games to be exclusively available on PC only on Origin. They kept pushing it for a few years, but it never took off. And nowadays EA's games are readily available again on Steam. Heck, they even put their games on the MS/XBOX game pass, called "EA play". Because let's be honest here, Origin always was and will be garbage

 

[Naitch]

We do realize there are other EA games on stream

Stream?
Big Bass?
oh i love me a fishin' game !

 

[Veldrane]

It's been one month since the Community Manager went active. Let's review how he's doing:

1) Five new posts on the official forums, not counting his introduction post
2) Twenty-two different response posts to active threads
3) Variety of social media engagements in the same spirit as his official forum posts

All five of his new posts focused on fluff activities or announcing events going live. None of these posts addressed game mechanics or long-term road mapping. For his twenty-two response posts, only one was in a thread he did not start.

I'd say, at this point, it is now clear that he has been given little to no flexibility to talk about topics of substance. Disappointing, to be sure, but I think this is what all of us expected. Hopefully, they'll be empowered in the future to engage more, but that's unlikely under the current game leadership.

 

[SteelRust]

It's been one month since the Community Manager went active. Let's review how he's doing:

1) Five new posts on the official forums, not counting his introduction post
2) Twenty-two different response posts to active threads
3) Variety of social media engagements in the same spirit as his official forum posts

All five of his new posts focused on fluff activities or announcing events going live. None of these posts addressed game mechanics or long-term road mapping. For his twenty-two response posts, only one was in a thread he did not start.

I'd say, at this point, it is now clear that he has been given little to no flexibility to talk about topics of substance. Disappointing, to be sure, but I think this is what all of us expected. Hopefully, they'll be empowered in the future to engage more, but that's unlikely under the current game leadership.

A "Community Manager" job description (in UO or otherwhere) is to manage/facilitate the "Social" aspect of a Game Community (what you call "Fluff", that is de facto at least the 50% of all the UO Users activity: Deco Buffs, etc.), not to give "thecnical" answers on Bugs & Game Mechanics, that is the job of the Devs.

This considered, personally I give a full Thumb Up to our new CM!

 

[Veldrane]

A "Community Manager" job description (in UO or otherwhere) is to manage/facilitate the "Social" aspect of a Game Community (what you call "Fluff", that is de facto at least the 50% of all the UO Users activity: Deco Buffs, etc.), not to give "thecnical" answers on Bugs & Game Mechanics, that is the job of the Devs.

This considered, personally, I give a full Thumb Up to our new CM!

A community manager's job is to be the forward-facing voice of the team. You are welcome to give a full thumbs-up to the new CM. Personally, I see the new CM as Messena's attempt to placate the players who have been begging for quality engagement with nothing but a hype person who probably has to run every word they say through her.

 

[SteelRust]

A community manager's job is to be the forward-facing voice of the team. You are welcome to give a full thumbs-up to the new CM. Personally, I see the new CM as Messena's attempt to placate the players who have been begging for quality engagement with nothing but a hype person who probably has to run every word they say through her.

You are, obviuosly, entitled to your opinion.

This, on the other end, is the formal business definition of what is and what does an online "Community Manager": Online community manager - Wikipedia

And, no, I'm not in the pocket of Mesanna & the Devs Team: re-read some of my various comments about them.

PS - FYI, I just had Bonnie eaten to her bones by a hundred ravenous cats...

Halloween House Decorating contest! - Page 3

 

[Veldrane]

And, no, I'm not in the pocket of Mesanna & the Devs Team: re-read some of my various comments about them.

Sounds like someone in the pocket of Mesanna & the Devs Team would say /joke

Yeah, we won't agree on this, and that's fine. Everyone was all up in arms a couple of months back about the lack of communication between the UO team and Players. The desire was to have a more transparent view of the roadmap and health of UO moving forward. Instead, we got a token: "Look, guys, we're communicating - you can wave your pom poms again, okay." So yes, maybe the community manager is doing what they're supposed to be, but it again shows Messena as being tone-deaf to what the player base was begging for.