Time to take a knee???

[Anon McDougle]

I hate to be political i really really do. but lets be honest here (well i am going to use made up numbers)
there are probably less than 5K of us left (not counting multiple account users) 5000 of us all more than likely in our upper 40's at youngest with attracting no new (read younger) players the life span of our game if it was healthy and we were all happy is maybe another 20 years.
But we are not happy a large large % of us .

now we have tried to be active voice our concerns and wants needs and desires only to have them ignored for years and years..
the only real voice we have is our money IF (and i understand this would never happen) we all just didn't Pay next month would we be heard ??

 

[ShriNayne]

Well that's a great idea but I just bought a 6 month game time code...

 

[Pawain]

Im not addicted I can stop.

*starts shaking*

IBTL

 

[Uriah Heep]

there are probably less than 5K o

Not accounts, but actually people, I bet is quiet a bit lower than that

 

[Akiho]

I hate to be political i really really do. but lets be honest here (well i am going to use made up numbers)
there are probably less than 5K of us left (not counting multiple account users) 5000 of us all more than likely in our upper 40's at youngest with attracting no new (read younger) players the life span of our game if it was healthy and we were all happy is maybe another 20 years.
But we are not happy a large large % of us .

now we have tried to be active voice our concerns and wants needs and desires only to have them ignored for years and years..
the only real voice we have is our money IF (and i understand this would never happen) we all just didn't Pay next month would we be heard ??

What exactly is your point? I don't see it.

 

[Izzy MBC]

All I can say is I'm gobsmacked.

Why on earth would you want to speculate if X will arguably destroy (you didn't say destroy, but it's almost certainly a self-harming action) the game (even though you yourself claim it will never happen anyway).

I think you need to consider your motives and feelings behind sharing this hypothetical, and detrimental future eventuality for UO whilst simultaneously inviting discourse for it.

Additionally, you seem to believe a large percentage of players are unhappy. Neither of us can be certain of the reality here, but in my opinion there is positive vibes in UO Discord, and in-game on Europa. On the Forums, yes there has been some more visible upset, but it doesn't appear cataclysmic enough to prompt a thread like this...

Goodness me, I don't think I've ever been so preturbed by a thread topic. Moderators, I hope I have not overstepped with my post.

 

[Anon McDougle]

Izzy i Love your reply I hope that players are happy i hope that i am indeed wrong but that does not change the fact the the Developers seem to not have the slightest clue as to what the player base(understand that means customer the people that pay their house mortgage) want. this is not a good thing... the only real voice we have is our monthly payment despite my sky is falling rant i simply wonder if maybe we should speak in a way they understand and would hear

 

[Izzy MBC]

To be fair, I am biased in my own way on this matter, because the gameplay I enjoy in UO is very narrow compared to most and although - even for me - it has changed overtime, I do still enjoy it.

I think it's right to talk about the displeasure of any desync between Dev plans and community wishes, especially if it's already been long endured.

I don't have much to contribute for that topic, I will admit.

I hope this thread can serve that discussion well. I'm relieved we're still on good terms, Anon

 

[Ender]

All I can say is I'm gobsmacked.

Why on earth would you want to speculate if X will arguably destroy (you didn't say destroy, but it's almost certainly a self-harming action) the game (even though you yourself claim it will never happen anyway).

I think you need to consider your motives and feelings behind sharing this hypothetical, and detrimental future eventuality for UO whilst simultaneously inviting discourse for it.

Additionally, you seem to believe a large percentage of players are unhappy. Neither of us can be certain of the reality here, but in my opinion there is positive vibes in UO Discord, and in-game on Europa. On the Forums, yes there has been some more visible upset, but it doesn't appear cataclysmic enough to prompt a thread like this...

Goodness me, I don't think I've ever been so preturbed by a thread topic. Moderators, I hope I have not overstepped with my post.

UO has a Discord?

 

[MalagAste]

UO has a Discord?

Officially no but there is one major one that a bunch of people from many shards use: Discord - Free voice and text chat for gamers

Is the link if you want to join.

 

[Danpal]

I hate to be political i really really do. but lets be honest here (well i am going to use made up numbers)
there are probably less than 5K of us left (not counting multiple account users) 5000 of us all more than likely in our upper 40's at youngest with attracting no new (read younger) players the life span of our game if it was healthy and we were all happy is maybe another 20 years.
But we are not happy a large large % of us .

now we have tried to be active voice our concerns and wants needs and desires only to have them ignored for years and years..
the only real voice we have is our money IF (and i understand this would never happen) we all just didn't Pay next month would we be heard ??

If there where only 5000 subs the game would go under. The avg uo player has anywhere from 2 to 6 accounts some have 50 some have 1 account.

The game could not run on that many accounts with the overhead alone.

I believe that there is anywhere from 15k to 20k accounts that would bring in 1.5 to 2 million. The overhead is most like a millon then ea gets there share of the pie. And dont forget about the store its income is most likey around 1 million. Witch brings us to 2.5 to 3 million year at lest.

If we dropped to only a million a year income the game would be closed. That is what 5k accounts would bring in.

 

[Flagg]

If there where only 5000 subs the game would go under. The avg uo player has anywhere from 2 to 6 accounts some have 50 some have 1 account.

The game could not run on that many accounts with the overhead alone.

I believe that there is anywhere from 15k to 20k accounts that would bring in 1.5 to 2 million. The overhead is most like a millon then ea gets there share of the pie. And dont forget about the store its income is most likey around 1 million. Witch brings us to 2.5 to 3 million year at lest.

If we dropped to only a million a year income the game would be closed. That is what 5k accounts would bring in.

UO might not make a HUGE profit, but their profit margins are surely though the roof. Average UO player pays willingly far more from the game than most other people in most other MMOs. As long as we stick to percentages and look not at the actual numbers, UO is incredibly successful financially. Many much smaller MMOs with much worse income manage to keep their heads above the water. DAOC being most obvious example I guess, heh.

 

[Ender]

Officially no but there is one major one that a bunch of people from many shards use: Discord - Free voice and text chat for gamers

Is the link if you want to join.

Ah cool, thanks

 

[Uriah Heep]

If there where only 5000 subs the game would go under. The avg uo player has anywhere from 2 to 6 accounts some have 50 some have 1 account.

The game could not run on that many accounts with the overhead alone.

I believe that there is anywhere from 15k to 20k accounts that would bring in 1.5 to 2 million. The overhead is most like a millon then ea gets there share of the pie. And dont forget about the store its income is most likey around 1 million. Witch brings us to 2.5 to 3 million year at lest.

If we dropped to only a million a year income the game would be closed. That is what 5k accounts would bring in.

No one said there is only 5k subs, what we said was there were less than 5k PEOPLE. That pay for those 20k accounts you mention. And that is the problem, when the devs piss off a player-they can lose from 3-10 accounts from just one person.

 

[petemage]

I know dozens of former players that at one point stopped paying but didn't throw a tantrum.

Then there is those that throw a tantrum but never actually stop paying.

Apart from that, I can't see BS having any interest in making more than the bottom line EA demands. You are probably putting way more emotions into this than BS itself. For them it's the job that pays the rent. The unrest will settle in a couple of days and the hardcore addicts will keep paying their subscription.

 

[Archnight]

Thread has been cleaned up. Please keep all comments on topic without being political. All posts that do not follow will be removed and warnings will be issued. Thanks for your understanding.

Rules of Conduct | Stratics Community Forums
- Engage in real-life political or religious discussions anywhere on Stratics or associated properties.

 

[Uvtha]

I hate to be political i really really do. but lets be honest here (well i am going to use made up numbers)
there are probably less than 5K of us left (not counting multiple account users) 5000 of us all more than likely in our upper 40's at youngest with attracting no new (read younger) players the life span of our game if it was healthy and we were all happy is maybe another 20 years.
But we are not happy a large large % of us .

now we have tried to be active voice our concerns and wants needs and desires only to have them ignored for years and years..
the only real voice we have is our money IF (and i understand this would never happen) we all just didn't Pay next month would we be heard ??

They would just shut down the game. Plus, I'm still under 40.

 

[Uvtha]

Average UO player pays willingly far more from the game than most other people in most other MMOs.

Yeah, gonna needs some data on that one. I mean most MMO's are designed as f2p and people who spend in those games tend to spend out the ass. UO doesn't even have that much to buy.

 

[Uvtha]

the life span of our game if it was healthy and we were all happy is maybe another 20 years.

lol

 

[Flagg]

Yeah, gonna needs some data on that one. I mean most MMO's are designed as f2p and people who spend in those games tend to spend out the ass. UO doesn't even have that much to buy.

Seriously?You wanna do this?
If you honestly believe most people playing MMos throw..say, 40,100 euros a month at their game then by all means keep on believing it.: D

WoW remains the largest MMO out there by several orders of magnitude. Could start figuring out how much an average wow player pays for his game. I promise you it isn't 20+++ euros a month. Heh.

That is not to say every MMO, P2P ones most notably, wouldn't have their fair share of whales who pour significant amounts of money in. Its just that in UO, we all are whales pretty much. People with only one account are bit of a rarity. I'm quite certain there isn't a single western MMO out there that'd get as much money per subscriber as UO does.

 

[Uvtha]

If you honestly believe most people playing MMos throw..say, 40,100 euros a month at their game then by all means keep on believing it.

Well, yes, I do believe that, because 50 bucks is not at all an outlandish number. There are only a few sub based games out there, and all of them have a lot of people with multiple accounts, and in a subs based game that is really the main thing to spend money on. On the other hand f2p games have players who spend thousands of dollars a month. 50 dollars is not a whale. Not all or even most of them of course, but if you want to find average per player... it's going to be in f2p games, as pretty much all of them abuse gambling impulses.

Of course that all said, what the average monthly spending in UO per player is pure speculation. You can base it off of yourself and people you know and say it's 50 bucks, I can base it off of myself and people I know and say it's 14, or less. Because personally I only ever have one account active, and I don't buy **** from the store. I'm not alone there.

I also wouldn't be at all surprised to find that a large portion of people really only have one active account, and their others accounts are house holders they only pay once every three months, so it could very well be lower on average.

 

[Flagg]

Of course that all said, what the average monthly spending in UO per player is pure speculation. You can base it off of yourself and people you know and say it's 50 bucks, I can base it off of myself and people I know and say it's 14, or less. Because personally I only ever have one account active, and I don't buy **** from the store. I'm not alone there.

I also wouldn't be at all surprised to find that a large portion of people really only have one active account, and their others accounts are house holders they only pay once every three months, so it could very well be lower on average.

There actually was a poll about this few years back here on Stratics. 16% of people said they use one account. 25% said they have more than five accounts. Could you give some examples of games where you think a significant portion of people playing run as many accounts as UO's community does?


How many accounts do you use?

 

[Uvtha]

There actually was a poll about this few years back here on Stratics. 16% of people said they use one account. 25% said they have more than six accounts. Could you give some examples of games where you think a significant portion of people playing run as many accounts as UO's community does?


How many accounts do you use?

I know there have been polls here before, but posters here represent a tiny fraction of the population. I would also wager that most people who post here are more than commonly invested in the game, and as such probably give a skewed response to any poll, anyway. Under 200 cultivated people in a 5 year old poll is simply not good or enough of a sample size to draw any real conclusions of current standards.

Not to mention, if you read the responses many of them are house accounts they only keep active every third month, as I suggested many very well may be.

 

[Flagg]

Dude, if you seriously want to keep believing average UO player pays less for his hobby than, say, an average wow player, then keep right at it. : D

 

[MalagAste]

I hate to burst your bubble @Uvtha but I myself and many folk I know have far more than one account... and do NOT play roulette with our accounts... I know many who have 2-5 accounts a few who have close to a dozen or more... and only one or two that play the roulette game .. (many of whom have lost big time with that gamble) I would never play roulette with my accounts... I've considered shutting down a few... but every time I think about it and then try to whittle down the stuff I have stored I can't help but think what to keep what to throw... what to let go... and I just can't do it. I give out tons of deco stuff all the time... I sell a bit here and there.. but many times I can't even count how many times I've taken a new or returning player and reoutfitted them with current gear enough that they can at least have a full 70's resist 100% LRC suit or something... and I think if I didn't have that available and all I just wouldn't find UO fun anymore. If I spent my time greedily gathering and selling just to make a buck in the game it'd be more like work and less like play and fun... and I wouldn't have the friendships I have now.

I've given out 100's of thousands of gold worthy items... from 16th anniversary ponies to heritage tokens and everything in between.. I've sold some here and there but for the most part I'm just happy to make someone else happy in game... especially returning players who want fun not grind...

 

[Dorset]

@Anon McDougle - Go easy on the upper 40's please, I still have a few years to go and getting a little touchy as time goes on....

I believe the age of the player base is the main reason this game is still here. Being stuck in our ways, not liking change, enjoying our gaming friendships/experiences or like me chasing a memory of what this game once was, call it what you will but this is why we are still able to play the game today.
It is hard to bring new life into the game, I believe its mainly fed by returning players who have played over the years. Come and go for a few months here and there, like an old friend who I tried to get to play and probably hasn't canceled his sub yet

EA are ruthless, they are a machine and if this game wasn't making a decent return it would be cut. No love in business.

 

[Siabra]

@ Flagg as someone who has also played DAOC - I'd like to pint out - many of the changes through out the recent years
are things that DAIC began with - Vendor Searches among them and Gen Chat with the every popular menu bar also - just
to name a very few ideas that have crossed over to UO..

Many of the people who worked on Daoc are now on UO ..

 

[Uvtha]

I hate to burst your bubble @Uvtha but I myself and many folk I know have far more than one account... and do NOT play roulette with our accounts... I know many who have 2-5 accounts a few who have close to a dozen or more... and only one or two that play the roulette game .. (many of whom have lost big time with that gamble) I would never play roulette with my accounts... I've considered shutting down a few... but every time I think about it and then try to whittle down the stuff I have stored I can't help but think what to keep what to throw... what to let go... and I just can't do it. I give out tons of deco stuff all the time... I sell a bit here and there.. but many times I can't even count how many times I've taken a new or returning player and reoutfitted them with current gear enough that they can at least have a full 70's resist 100% LRC suit or something... and I think if I didn't have that available and all I just wouldn't find UO fun anymore. If I spent my time greedily gathering and selling just to make a buck in the game it'd be more like work and less like play and fun... and I wouldn't have the friendships I have now.

I've given out 100's of thousands of gold worthy items... from 16th anniversary ponies to heritage tokens and everything in between.. I've sold some here and there but for the most part I'm just happy to make someone else happy in game... especially returning players who want fun not grind...

No, I have no doubt of that, I know people who do this as well. All I'm saying is that I don't think anyone has enough data to say what the average player actual spends, or the median spent, whatever, and personal experience and polls with a hundred some players just aren't enough data to be making such bold claims as UO players spend more than most mmo players, especially when what most mmo players pay hasn't been established.

 

[Uvtha]

Dude, if you seriously want to keep believing average UO player pays less for his hobby than, say, an average wow player, then keep right at it. : D

I'm not saying they do, it's entirely possible, I'm just saying you can't make definitive "this is" statements without the actual data, or at least I wouldn't think the argument would be especially compelling to me without it. Not only what the average UO player spends (we can only speculate) but what average players of other games pay as well. If you had said "I think" I wouldn't have even commented.

It's not important, I was really just making a passing comment, lol.

 

[Merth]

I’ll give some hard data tho I would consider myself semi-obsessive. As a returning vet I resubbed 3 accounts just to see who/what was still available to work with. Granted I will for sure drop two of them as not having enough value to keep them going.

Ive never been a gold/item real money buyer tho I did buy my first house back in 2000 for $200 real money.

On my current needs list:

Character transfer
Mythic character
2-3 soulstones

So just to get back into it thats about $100.

And I still need the pirate booster and the latest expansion.

Lots of other stuff I want tho I feel these things are necessary to start. If I have to regrind all the skills I want to play the style of game I prefer I think I would not stick around. Its amazing the simple stuff taken for granted but
Useful. Fountain of life, ethereal mount, a house, (man i miss my treasure chests for storage), dye tubs for petes sake, etc...

Out of all the other games I have played over the years never have I given any of them any money other than a single account sub.

So I would, based on my experience, agree this game pulls more of my money than any other has.

 

[MalagAste]

No, I have no doubt of that, I know people who do this as well. All I'm saying is that I don't think anyone has enough data to say what the average player actual spends, or the median spent, whatever, and personal experience and polls with a hundred some players just aren't enough data to be making such bold claims as UO players spend more than most mmo players, especially when what most mmo players pay hasn't been established.

I haven't spent a dollar over what I spend on my accounts for UO in over a year maybe 2 even... decided a while back that if things didn't improve here and all I was done spending on UO over and above my accounts... If I could ever give up holding things collecting stuff and had some way of not wanting to totally fall asleep every time I try to go through what I own... I'd close a number of accounts... but the problem is every time I try to go through things and start tossing I either fall asleep and can't hardly open another chest or I find something that reminds me of a friend who is gone now... or there is some glimmer of hope on the horizon that the game might actually be worth still playing.... and I give up again.

Those glimmers are getting fewer and further between... I'm still tired of getting my hopes up for something and having them crushed. Much like the pet revamp that I kept clinging to for so long and now that we have it I'm so very disappointed. Makes it hard to log in... the castle thing was another big disappointment... Halloween this year sounds like another big grind fest and I'm less inclined to give a rats ....

So yes I know but I still know some who spend quite a bit on the game... Still enjoy it and still have fun. About the only thing I enjoy anymore in UO is the companionship of old friends.