Jack O' Lantern Season - A Look Back and a Thank You!

[Arafel Ilianna]

Dear All:

Well, the named Jack O' Lanterns and pumpkins have finally stopped spawning; the fields all around Sosaria are now, once again, bare, (or at least "producing" the crops that they usually do)!

To the Dev Team: Thanks for the interesting twist this year... The downside to this new spawning system was that many players ended up with no "lanterns" for any of their characters--and this was largely caused by three things: the quick rate of lantern decay, lack of effort to go and seek said lanterns, and, most significantly, the handful of rude and cruel players that can't seem to have any fun unless they are causing grief or ruining somebody's day! Every shard had them--those foul few who would intentionally run around grabbing up the lanterns that were collected and assembled in public areas (Luna, Britain, etc.), and throwing them into the trash. I won't name any names, but the folks on Lake Superior where I reside know EXACTLY who most of the culprits were!

The upside to the way the lanterns spawned was a terrific spirit of cooperation in the UO game world--at a level of energy and participation that I have not seen in many years! People sent their characters out and rounded up those lanterns by the hundreds, and brought them back so that OTHERS could enjoy them--and (*GASP!*) NO MONEY traded hands! All day and all night, the General Chat was full of messages indicating whose lanterns had just been found, with eager owners gratefully responding when theirs had finally spawned and been located! Generally speaking, players took care of each other and looked out for each other--and there was no personal gain involved! It was quite inspiring!

Finally, a special thank you to that handful of individuals who joined me in setting up wildly successful "lantern houses" on the Lake Superior Shard! Your efforts dwarfed my own--and I counted 463 lanterns moved through my house alone! If you folks who collected lanterns, donated lanterns, ran the lantern houses, brought folks by to claim lanterns, and generally spread the word HADN'T done as you did, our lantern + owner reunion efforts would have been a total flop!

Thanks everyone for all the help you gave me in setting up and running my lantern house, and thanks to everyone who provided support and kind words of encouragement as the effort progressed!

With kindest regards,

Lady Arafel Ilianna
Lake Superior Shard

 

[Babble]

Yes, was nice

 

[Silverbrook]

Most shards/ communities established some sort of 'Jack O'Lantern Drop off' center for other individuals to find one with their name on it. I think it hearkened back to when community was required to rely on each other a bit more... and it was nice to see people band together for a common cause.

So, thank you developers for doing it this way this year, and thank you, the players, who initiated creating things on your respective shards that allowed many people to work together for the benefit of the community as a whole.

 

[MalagAste]

I agree it did bring some co-operation and sense of community.... was nice to hear folk searching and seeking the lanterns not only for themselves but for others.

Many did wonderful jobs of gathering lanterns and putting them either on vendors or in boxes for others to discover and take to their friends and guildmates.

I know there were a few "spoilsports" around not only LS but GL's and probably everywhere but at least on GL I can say there was a very large outpouring of support and it really was good to see folk who never knew one another working together. And was great to hear folk in chat seeking the owners of the Lanterns...

 

[Stig]

I would like to thank Foxie and Ann nomoly on the Catskills shard for there part in helping people get there Jol's. Well done.....

 

[Mapper]

A big thanks to EA And also to those who run the Europa Umbra Pumpkin Exchange.

 

[DirectorDoug]

I also want to thank Sinister and his wife for their remarkable generosity in setting up the Umbra House on Europa. It pains me when I read of the "griefing" that still goes on in the American shards...I am from the states, and began 13 years ago on Atlantic. I left due to behavior that is now called "griefing", and set up house-keeping on Europa. Other than the difficulty of being at events held on GMT, I have never had reason to regret the choice. Thanks to everyone on Europa, and everyone who gave time and energy to make the Umbra House a success!

 

[Zyon Rockler]

Makes me look forward to next year. To me, Jack-O-Lanterns without my name on them were not as valuable as being able to give someone something that made them happy.

It was exciting to see someone's name that you knew, knowing now they would have something special. It also made me think about my entire guild and how important it was for them to have their Jack-O-Lantern, even if they did not want it, I was going to make sure I got them one.

I think it would be an excellent idea to implement a system where you can buy seeds and plant them on a plot, in one of the farm fields and then be able to grow the crop by watering, fertilizing, and then being able to harvest.

This process could take a couple days, so that anyone coming into the field could help grow crops. Ocassionally, when harvesting, one could have your name on it. For example: A radish, only the person whose name is on it, could use it.

So, say, the person eats the radish and a magic item is placed in their backpack.

 

[Gilthas]

It was a bit of an obsession there for a while. Baja established a drop-off point at the Community Center in Luna and soon enough poor Charlemagne had more than he could handle!

If people weren't dropping them off at the Center, they were announcing new arrivals in General Chat. People were delivering them for free.

It's unfortunate to hear that a few folks would spoil the fun for others.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

I got 1 large, small pumpkin w/ a toon's name on it, a few pieces of year old, stale candy - that's my halloween. A big thanks for the 3 linked houses on LS, & associated players that were collecting pumkins, w/o them I pretty much would have gotten squat. Thanks ends w/ them.The rest was a waste of time - still doing the armor quest grind, guess that's not really associated w/ Halloween, just a quest to take folks into next year, that happened to start on the same date.

 

[seapup]

I also would like to say a Huge TY to all that helped on GL with the JOL's
all day you would see in chat names appearing with their JOL's ready for pick up at such and such a place.

Was there any pricks out there selling it to others? YES
Was there some throwing them into the Trash? YES

It takes people like you to **** up a game that everyone enjoys and then you come along and rune it for everyone.

I wish we could name names because I would.
get these hackers and cheaters out of this game and we would all have a fun time.

 

[Miri of Sonoma]

Indeed a big thanks to all the people who worked tirelessly gathering lanterns, setting up free vendors and/or houses. and also a big thank you to the many Necromancers, their trusty horde minions and others who cleared the fields so more lanterns would spawn!