Free Shards

[the 4th man]

I wouldn't use one. Umpteen years ago, a long gone guild member quit and came back bragging about how glorious a freebie was. I visited once and found no interest. After that I did extensive reading on these puppies......take your chances, it's up to you. They can go poof overnight, regaedless of what you may read on a screen in front of you. You never know who might be really controlling it.......just saying.

 

[Kael]

Free shards are just that: free. There is no accountability. If a new feature when implemented takes the server down for a week, it is 1 server. Not only that, but there is the idea of expecting a certain amount of bugs on an open source platform (eh Kirthag?).

I have disagree with you here. Free shards are just free of subscription pricing. They still compete with other "free shards" for player involvement and revenue. If a shard went down for a week it would result in some lost players. If anything, because there is no subscription rate I think they are actually more answerable to their player base on problems. They have test shards and use them as well to try out new ideas.

I guess that is one of the attractions of F2P. If you are playing and enjoying the content you invest more on a regular basis to heighten your enjoyment. For a lot of people just having more players on their shard would increase their enjoyment through the interactions.

 

[Kael]

I wouldn't use one. Umpteen years ago, a long gone guild member quit and came back bragging about how glorious a freebie was. I visited once and found no interest. After that I did extensive reading on these puppies......take your chances, it's up to you. They can go poof overnight, regaedless of what you may read on a screen in front of you. You never know who might be really controlling it.......just saying.

That is true. But could EA finally decide to close the door UO without much notice as well?

 

[Nexus]

Not only that, but there is the idea of expecting a certain amount of bugs on an open source platform (eh Kirthag?).

I'll have to disagree with this, who do the Devs turn to when there is a bug in their code? There's isn't anyone. Open Source means the entire community can look at and squash bugs. Past experience has shown me that well developed, mature open source products have no more bug issues than any closed source one, simply because there is an entire culture based around communally improving the code base.

 

[NuSair]

In this interview with Citadel Studios, Draconi and Supreem talk briefly about the UO engine. 95% of it is a scripting language. So they are, in a sense, bound by that scripting language's limitations.

Yes, I am familiar with wombat.

EDIT: no, I don't know how to program in it specifically, but yes, I know of it and have talked with others who have programmed in it.

 

[utilitron]

I have disagree with you here. Free shards are just free of subscription pricing. They still compete with other "free shards" for player involvement and revenue.

Yes, but adding in a specific feature only effects their version.

Because UO has multiple shards with multiple rulesets, the new code has to be implemented in such a way that it works for all conditions.

I'll have to disagree with this, who do the Devs turn to when there is a bug in their code? There's isn't anyone. Open Source means the entire community can look at and squash bugs.

What do you mean who do they turn to? They are the developers. They fix the bugs. Just like the community working on an open source project are the developers. Bugs are introduced by whoever is committing to it. They are fixed by whoever is working on it.

mature open source products have no more bug issues than any closed source one, simply because there is an entire culture based around communally improving the code base

You can't tell me that OpenOffice or LibreOffice Run as smoothly as Microsoft Office.
I run on linux. Opens ource is my bread and butter. However, I run into many many bugs/incomplete features. Some times I have to bounce around builds until I get the one that doesn't crash immediately. It is something I have come to expect.

 

[Nexus]

What do you mean who do they turn to? They are the developers. They fix the bugs. Just like the community working on an open source project are the developers. Bugs are introduced by whoever is committing to it. They are fixed by whoever is working on it.

Exactly, now take dev team for a closed source project how many people are there? Use UO for example how many devs do we have? 5-8? How many people would there be if UO was open source, and the community could submit bug fixes to them?

You can't tell me that OpenOffice ot LibreOffice Run as smoothly as Microsoft Office.
I run on linux. Opensource is my bread and butter. However, I run into many many bugs/incomplete features. Some times I have to bounce around builds until I get the one that doesn't crash immediately. It is something I have come to expect.

What distribution are you using, that might be half your issue with OpenOffice or LibreOffice to be honest. Using Linux Mint, I've never once had a crash issue with either of those packages, sounds to me like your favorite flavor either doesn't like your hardware or the maintainer is not testing packages thoroughly before adding them to the distro's repository. OpenOffice runs outstandingly on Windows as well, what I like best is all the "features" that are missing are typically ones that aren't commonly used by the public in mass so I don't have to worry about bloat and wondering what the hell happened if I accidentally press a shortcut.

 

[Kirthag]

*cough, cough*

I luv the conversation about FEATURES that could help introduce ideas to the Devs who may/may not be reading.

I cannot allow conversation about how "Free Shards" operate... again... from the ROC.

G. Advertising of player-run shards is prohibited.

Additionally our forums are not designed to provide technical support for shard emulators and as such all discussions related to the building, maintaining, production and upkeep of them are prohibited.


If conversation slants toward that, yet again, I will start passing out warnings.

Talk about programming and scripting in general. Don't get into how a "Free Shard" is run....

Wanna keep the conversation going so please, this is just a "gentle reminder".

 

[MalagAste]

Trouble with most free shards has always been you are at the whim of the one/ones running it. They can up and quit at any time without warning.... and often do. They also play favorites to their buddies. Many of them if you aren't in the "in" crowd you are nothing but an outsider as you always will be. They can go down and you will lose everything at any given moment... For days or weeks. Also... you make yourself vulnerable to attacks sometimes. Where they can get your "real" uo information.

Free shards also can have issues with not being able to get help. Depending on how much help they have you may find that you can't get any help. They can also decide they don't like you and throw you off their server at anytime.

The Real UO has things in place not only to protect them.... but you. Granted in UO now it's hard to get a GM .... but... you know.

 

[Ultimaholic]

Trouble with most free shards has always been you are at the whim of the one/ones running it. They can up and quit at any time without warning.... and often do. They also play favorites to their buddies. Many of them if you aren't in the "in" crowd you are nothing but an outsider as you always will be. They can go down and you will lose everything at any given moment... For days or weeks. Also... you make yourself vulnerable to attacks sometimes. Where they can get your "real" uo information.

Free shards also can have issues with not being able to get help. Depending on how much help they have you may find that you can't get any help. They can also decide they don't like you and throw you off their server at anytime.

The Real UO has things in place not only to protect them.... but you. Granted in UO now it's hard to get a GM .... but... you know.

I have to disagree. There are dozens that have been out almost as long as OSI UO. But since talking about free shards is bad mojo here......

Many of you talk like you know ALOT about the darkside but judging by what you write about them....... you don`t know much.

I personally made the flip when I got sick and tired of hearing we can`t, we won`t and we`ll look into it and than nothing ever happens. The flagship UO more resembles a dingy in its staleness and lack of updates. Sure theres a new xpac.....when!? Next year.....sometime? .... maybe? Maybe we`ll just release the first half of it and than drag out the rest for a couple more years.

I see updates regularly from service spanning more than 10 years and a dedicated playerbase. I see more things done by less devs and alot less politics and BS. Yes I miss my UO accounts I have had since 98 but I choose the darkside because I can not support the nonsense that gets peddled here...... and accepted! Unreal sometimes.

I also enjoy all things current,not really missing out on much content.

The one thing Broadsword UO needs to do is F2P period. Steam is OK and will garner a few people who may stay but in the end.... the biggest percentage of gamers I`m sure will flock to a F2P game over any sub based game and will also spend more money on it.

No F2P = Continued decline. Steam is a pipe dream if it includes a monthly for something so old with seriously irregular updates.... if any.

But just like alot of things that kept/keeps UO in the stone age. The voices of the old vets will keep F2P and any progress away from UO because the vocal minority rules the day,just like it has always been.

 

[Marisa Kirisame]

Sometimes, like in my case, free shards gather population for OSI. I was searching for the UO athmosphere I heard about in old stories. Freeshards couldn't offer it - most of them are different, and those that announce that they cling to the OSI differ as well. Siege, to which I came after that, seems to be the closest thing.
As for F2P, it ruins potentially good games. Ask me and my boyfriend, we've seen a plenty of examples at Steam and more or less standalone ones. Not like subscription is nice though - I always preferred the "pay once yours forever" scheme. There are also DLC type games, that works to a certain extent, but if you overdo it, it ruins the game worse than F2P can - the most notable example of the recent time is Payday 2, which, honestly, wasn't any good from the beginning compared to the classic first game, and was completely destroyed by the cascade of DLCs meant to keep the people in and playing; whereas simply releasing DLCs for the first game composed just of new heists of the same quality as the original ones would do the same thing. In the end, the ton of weapons and mods, cosmetic items, non-oldstyle gameplay, non-oldstyle robberies and crew reskins - everything is now simply way too confusing for veteran players to get a clear view on all the possibilities and continue playing.

 

[Zosimus]

Things about free shards that I like are....

1) Time period ( T2A)

2) Updated some of the areas of the game to make a little different than the official shards.

3) Player run towns added by the free shard.

4) A different outtake on player boats and docks than the official server.

5) Villages were added in one FS.

6) No Luna!

 

[The Craftsman]

6) No Luna!

Sign me up!

 

[MalagAste]

Many free shards miss the things I really love... I LOVE the SA...... I like the Gargoyles.

Most freeshards are stuck in an old era with very little to explore and do.... same land same blah all the time.

And I'm guessing @Ultimaholic you are on the "in" crowd. I've played on some free shards where you are treated like dirt most the time while the "precious" few get elaborate castles and all sorts of things...

Or where no one is ever around... I can get that on the production shards. Or randomly down for 4 or more hours at a time.

I like and support the REAL UO. Certainly there are many things I wish they would do... but that doesn't mean they are the "right" things to do for the game... nor does it mean they are for everyone. Sometimes I'm rather single-minded in my desires because well I have a certain playstyle that isn't everyones.

That's something else that Free shards don't ever have to consider. Most of them cater to a certain playstyle..... be it RP or PvP or strict PvM only... They don't have to worry about content for ALL play... What might be good on a PvP style server wouldn't necessarily be good for PvM. UO is a delicate balance. And like most said yes a free shard can update quicker.... but they are only updating ONE shard... with ONE ruleset. And more often than not ONE language. Remember UO also has a very large population of Asian shards as well as US shards, European shards and even one down under... so keep in mind that there are MANY things they have to keep in mind. Like laws in foreign country about what can and can not be in a game... If something might offend some of the playerbase and many other things.

It's not and easy job to say the least... Many folk don't think of all the things that have to be considered when they add new content or change things that might seem very simple...

One thing I'd NEVER give up to play on any free shard.. and that's house customization. Yes some have it... but many determine what you can and can not build... And many of them are no longer ANYTHING like UO.

 

[Ultimaholic]

Good points on the Asian and other shards. While I`m certainly not in the "in" crowd, I do enjoy my game time as much as I used to on LS, but with alot more ppl. You are correct on the part of no SA either. While I have played shards with SA and the EC,the one I am on currently is up to ML. But I never played much in SA anyway, so I don`t even miss it.

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Plus I`m bitter toward the slow development crawl that has always been OSI/EA/Mythic/Broadsword or whoever else is/was in command. Always been the same thing with the same stories. All the hype over Broadsword taking over and as per history...... not much has been lived up to. Same account (mis)management hell, same non caring attitude about taking your money in the store. I mean who cares if the store functions correctly? Ya shouldn`t get pissed off when all your trying to do is buy something from them. The same ole rhetoric about we can`t do this or that, when it is blatantly clear it CAN be done and HAS been done.

I would LOVE to see a competent company take over the reigns of UO and actually spend money on its further development instead of just pushing out the bare minimum and sticking to what hasn`t worked for so long. I`m not cool with maintenance mode and its not worth my money.

Props to all who hang in there though, its you who keep their non deserving wheels a-turnin and even though I don`t play it, I hope it chimes in a 20th anni.

 

[The Craftsman]

Many free shards miss the things I really love... I LOVE the SA...... I like the Gargoyles.

Most freeshards are stuck in an old era with very little to explore and do.... same land same blah all the time.

And I'm guessing @Ultimaholic you are on the "in" crowd. I've played on some free shards where you are treated like dirt most the time while the "precious" few get elaborate castles and all sorts of things...

Or where no one is ever around... I can get that on the production shards. Or randomly down for 4 or more hours at a time.

I like and support the REAL UO. Certainly there are many things I wish they would do... but that doesn't mean they are the "right" things to do for the game... nor does it mean they are for everyone. Sometimes I'm rather single-minded in my desires because well I have a certain playstyle that isn't everyones.

That's something else that Free shards don't ever have to consider. Most of them cater to a certain playstyle..... be it RP or PvP or strict PvM only... They don't have to worry about content for ALL play... What might be good on a PvP style server wouldn't necessarily be good for PvM. UO is a delicate balance. And like most said yes a free shard can update quicker.... but they are only updating ONE shard... with ONE ruleset. And more often than not ONE language. Remember UO also has a very large population of Asian shards as well as US shards, European shards and even one down under... so keep in mind that there are MANY things they have to keep in mind. Like laws in foreign country about what can and can not be in a game... If something might offend some of the playerbase and many other things.

It's not and easy job to say the least... Many folk don't think of all the things that have to be considered when they add new content or change things that might seem very simple...

One thing I'd NEVER give up to play on any free shard.. and that's house customization. Yes some have it... but many determine what you can and can not build... And many of them are no longer ANYTHING like UO.

One day it will be a straight choice between a free shard or nothing, because free shards will be around after EA close the door on UO

 

[MalagAste]

One day it will be a straight choice between a free shard or nothing, because free shards will be around after EA close the door on UO

Sadly that is quite possibly the case. And they will be at the advantage having run shards... but I think when UO closes it's servers I'll be done with it.

 

[NuSair]

This is my biggest problem with free shards.

How would you like it if someone started doing your for free? The job that pays your bills, puts food on the table- and someone took your work and started letting people use it for free. I feel that EA should go after the people who run the non-production shards.

And some of the 'free' shards, people pay for. And for the people that try and justify that because the production shards don't play their prefered rule set- nothing gives you the right to run it period. You are stealing plain and simple- it doesn't matter if you are collecting money for it or not.

 

[The Craftsman]

This is my biggest problem with free shards.

How would you like it if someone started doing your for free? The job that pays your bills, puts food on the table- and someone took your work and started letting people use it for free. I feel that EA should go after the people who run the non-production shards.

And some of the 'free' shards, people pay for. And for the people that try and justify that because the production shards don't play their prefered rule set- nothing gives you the right to run it period. You are stealing plain and simple- it doesn't matter if you are collecting money for it or not.

As its EA I really dont give a damn.

EA wont go after the freeshards because it would cost money to do so, and the freeshards dont impact EA's profit.

 

[Kirthag]

Getting close to the "operational" side of the free shards conversation....

can we keep it to "UO game features" and not "how running a free shard is good/bad"? that's just

 

[Kael]

Many free shards miss the things I really love... I LOVE the SA...... I like the Gargoyles.

Most freeshards are stuck in an old era with very little to explore and do.... same land same blah all the time.

.

There are a few that are current. Just all the popular ones are pre- AOS. That's what some people just don't understand. It's isn't the price tag it's the era that attracts them.

Any hoo, here are some of the things that I like and have seen

1) Player run villages- they are more than willing to add a wall or gates to support player run towns. I have seen them even add in a spawn or too to help with the flavor. For example, UND village spawns spiders and a couple of dread spiders in the woods around it

2) Enhanced classic dungeons- better spawns to classical spots

3) Original lands- no malas, tokuna. They added a great deal of spawn area's throughout the land. Remember when it was fun just to roam and encounter things?

4) Insane amount of support for the roleplaying community - added ffa area's around orc dungeons and forts, large rp communities in towns had added features added to the city itself

5) Capture the Flag or death matches- a lot of fun, on going with points used to purchase special items

6) Random invasions- nothing crazy just when a gm and bored they drop a small hour long invasion on a town

7) Very active staff in forums

 

[MalagAste]

Without Malas and Tokuno you're playing only 1/2 the game IMO. I've always liked those area's... and I totally would be missing Ter Mur and again it'd be like stripping down the game... something that is totally unappealing to me. Yes I'm somewhat nostalgic for the easy days of armor and weapons... I'm sure everyone is...

But to totally go back to that backwards CRAMPED way of life where there was NEVER anywhere to place a house... and where you did the same old things day in day out in the same old lands NO... I don't want that. I like getting new fresh lands to explore .... new content to do...

I enjoy RP ..... but that can only take you so far before you run into a routine of boredom. Same old group battling the same folk day in day out gets old after awhile... you need fresh idea's fresh things to do... sure I'm sure some of the free shards have some decent support... but those are few and far between and even if they support RP and RP communities then you run into my MAIN complaint about Free shards which is EXTREME favoritism. Because on shards like that they DO play favorites and they don't have to answer to anyone about it. They just kick you from their shard.

To me playing on a free shard is a waste of time when you could be working up characters and playing on the "true" servers... where there is fresh content.. EM content that is often fresh and fun.... as well as new systems to test and explore... and new fresh lands to check out.

Yes if I could put a road to the player town I live in you bet I would! Yes if I could get a bank, stable and dock for my player town I sure would. But would that be good for the game if 2 years later our town dies and up and quits and then who's going to clean that up? Or is it stuck there? I've seen all kinds of things just stuck all over UO already... from old seer's some of that is awesome... new EM's... houses that have fallen, boats that sank... how many old vendors do you know of sitting in the middle of nowhere? Random items lying about on the ground.

I think yes some free shards have nice things... but in the end... they lack quite a lot. I would NEVER want to go back to the old housing... EVER. I wouldn't even own a Castle or Keep if well one I didn't live IN Newcastle (which rather needs a castle)..... and if I could get that sort of storage in an 18x18. It's the Storage and nothing else that draws me to them... Certainly isn't their functionality.... since we all know they stink. But I had an old villa and the thing was a pain in the arse to try to deco... forget having a kitchen and such in a place like that. One bedroom.. they lack the imagination of newer places. All the many wonderful buildings I've seen over the years... Taverns, Inns, even bathhouses... etc... stuck back in the "old" days of pre-AoS you miss all that...

I happen to enjoy killing deathwatch beetles on younger characters... I find it does great for building up your skills... I rather enjoy still the Bake, Hiryu's and Rune Beetles.... of Tokuno,.... I enjoy going to Doom... I totally love the random orc forts in Malas as well as the added spots to find unicorns and nightmares. And I totally LOVE living next to a tree of pixies! Things you don't get in Tram/Fel... I rather like the openness of Malas...... Granted like most I loathe Luna... But I wouldn't want to just write those places off.

Everywhere you go there are ups and downs and pros and cons... IMO the most major things that are missing in the "real" UO are GM's, Account Management that isn't a nightmare, and community building tools. Reasons to join a guild, reasons to be in a party... RP support. A good reason to want to PvP again... and a good Anti-cheat deterrent. And most importantly... A hard stance by the DEV's/GMs against scammers, cheaters, and such... Some way to stop folk from multi-boxing without taking away the ability to trade your own house to your own other account... etc.... A way to stop folk from using one account to control the actions of other accounts.

 

[cazador]

Sub-contract out some of these free shard admins and pay them a small fee. They have tons of "fresh" content..globalize daily capture the flag tournaments. New MOBs, even new lands..it's just a waste of basically free resources..these guys do it for fun..not for the billions of $'s


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