L
Lady_Kat
Guest
[size=+4]Vox Populi - Oceania Speaks
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Lately there has been much debate regarding our shard; one question in particular that has been thick on the tongues of many citizens would have to be “Is Oceania on its last legs?” What more, is the very game itself dwindling away?
Are the doomsayers correct? Or is the spirit of the community still alive and well? Are we really just a shard of Luna bank sitters or do people have other, more engaging pastimes?
But not all talk has been negative, the recent introduction of the Abyss Housing and Ricardo quests seems to have drawn many 'absent' players out of their hideaways. Is this enough? What more could be done?
Armed with a quill and several rolls of parchment I set off to Luna to put these questions before the player base, so all would have a chance to hear the voices of the people.
How active do you perceive the Oceania shard to be?
40-50 active accounts. I think people are active, just because you don't see them in Luna doesn't mean they don't play.
- Evolution
Not very. Just a few wondering how many inhabitants will need to leave before we are permanently evicted.
- Aerona
I see people commenting on the forums 'The population is bigger than it was so many months ago' etc. I'm in two minds about this. In general the shard appears empty, but when the Ranger of the Abyss quest was operating everyone came out of the woodwork.
I think Oceania's biggest problem isn't lack of population, it's lack of community. There is little/no community spirit present on the shard.
- Vahran
There are enough people, we don't need tonnes.
- Kurack
Inactive and quiet but more active than it has been for the past two years and on what seems a slight increase. There are quite a few key community members gone, which makes it appear more 'dead' than it really is. The few that tried to spark community actions.
- Dain
It's just right for me. Not too busy.
- Thorn
What is your favourite in game pastime?
At the moment I'm enjoying having a look at all the new content.
- Maelgwn
Although they are fairly quiet these days, I enjoy the EM events. Other than that, I'm turning into a gypsy hunter.
- Vahran
Role-playing my old Orcish character.
- Revolution
Role play. But there are exactly zero role players about. The last major Role-player left for Baja.
- Aerona
PvP or solo PvM. Actually... I forgot that PvP doesn't exist anymore of late.
- Dain
Events where all players have to unite to achieve something. Be it a quest, monsters etc. It is probably the only time players are unified because everyone is playing for a common purpose.
- Lady Aurora
Have you participated in the recent Abyss Housing/Ricardo quests? What is your opinion of them?
Abyss Housing: Yes. Ricardo: No.
Not too bad for a MMO quest. A little better than "Go kill me ten of this!" or "Fetch ten of that! Take me to there!"
- Evolution
I have been following them, although neither religiously nor closely. They're good and certainly promote activity in game. But they falter in the 'community' aspect, they in no way require you to even acknowledge another player's presence. They're not 'team' events which is disappointing. I found myself motivated only during the early phases. I have many accounts, I gain all the possible rewards early on and then lose interest.
- Dain
I did both quests on all characters, they were okay. The housing one went well for my guild. The Ricardo once was a bit repetitive, just trawling each character to all the spots over and over.
- Thorn
Yes, both of them. Very addictive, I did both quests on multiple characters.
- Julia
Yes, whilst they provide a short distraction, they are not really all that different.
- Aerona
Ricardo, yes. It wasn't too bad, though I am hoping there is more to it. It'd be good to have some use for all those strange words.
- Maelgwn
I did participate, though not the Ricardo one so much. Dare I say same stuff different day?
I much prefer some of the other events we've had. Where all players unite for the off chance of gaining an item. Because unfortunately that is all anyone cares about.
- Lady Aurora
In your personal opinion, what could be implemented to improve the game?
Increase the artificial intelligence of monsters, make them "smarter"
- Revolution
Local advertising. Without more people playing it will never improve.
- Aerona
I'd like to see more variety in bosses. As in bosses you need different character types to kill... rather than always using tamers.
- Maelgwn
Do something about the EM events. I miss most of them as I don't know about them. They should run for a week instead of a one hour deal that no one knows about, that way everyone can participate.
- Kurack
I missed out on some of the previous big events while away from the game. I would like to see something like the invasions brought back, more well thought out challenging events.
- Thorn
I'd like to see more local people play. I don't ever see UO advertised anywhere. I think those that play on this shard in particular are either returning players or children of people who played in the beginning . Very, very rare to find an absolute new person, which is unfortunate.
- Lady Aurora
There are four aspects I would implement:
1) Modernise the system so your RL location doesn't affect which server you have to play on.
Such a change might have a negative effect on Oceania but a positive one on UO as a whole.
2) Implementation of a variety of classic shards as suggested, Pre-AoS, pre Pub 16 etc.
3) A much more active in game event system. More Event Moderators so there are ADVERTISED events most nights that encourage participation and teamwork.
4) Advertise the game, I think the last box set I saw of UO was the 10th anniversary one. I play pretty much every MMO out there these days, and it's difficult finding someone that has even heard of UO. Pretty much all the 'new' players to UO are just old players returning after many years break.
- Dain
I would like to thank everyone who took the time to speak with me, your time and munificence was greatly appreciated.
