Warning: Not proofread (no time).
Buried in a locked thread is
this post from the Producer, which seems relevant to the concerns in this thread (if not the actual specific question). (I have no idea why this thread was locked, I didn't explore it fully to find out, and I'm not going to.)
As I have never linked to a specific post before and I'm not certain it'll work properly, I will also quote the text of the post:
Great question ... I'll try to be thorough.
(Not sure exactly what he was responding to...Probably a question similar to the one in this thread, I guess? Or at least expressing similar concerns.
The focus this year is "The Live Game". We are trying to drive more roleplaying with the fiction, and with the update to factions, we'd like the system not only to be about PvP but give others who don't care to PvP a reason for participating.
What we find is that during an "Expansion" year the live game doesn't get as much attention while we're prepping goodness. So we'd like to let the playerbase know we're paying attention, and supporting what IS not just adding more stuff.
Many of the changes and direction will be addressed through fiction. We have folks dedicated to the Factions SYSTEMS specifically, and Shade and I (along with an additional game designer in the studio) are hashing out the main story arc. It's going to be dastardly. I tried my hand last year at writing a little bit, and it was met well ... I won't be doing much, but I'll get to be more creative.
I was an English major at USAFA ... but I guess not even Word 2007 can account for all my gaffs <-- Edit ... I spelled gaffes incorrectly but leaving it!!
<reads back to make certain he doesn't leave anything out>
As far as players who are actually playing the game ... Yes, we actually have several folks on the team who are more than committed to understanding the game and play it. Within the team, and also through the EMs we have several checks in place to make sure we stay in touch not only with UO ... but core Ultima. In addition, the team plays together weekly on Baja. Finally, Mesanna is the Divine Angel ON all shards so she'll snap at us if we get too out of hand.
Thanks everyone for all the encouragement. Yeah last week was rough, and I can't promise to always be around ... but if the team gets as warm a reception as you've given me, I'm sure you'll see more of us.
If not ... I'll nerf everything and start from scratch ... *
* - (Disclaimer: The previous sentence was sarcasm.)
Interesting.
On a related note, I have to point out that the use of the Trinsic Invasion scenario from years back, in an attempt to bolster an argument that UO used to be more interactive storyline-wise, is extremely odd to me.
Because the devs from the time had specifically cited that as an example of a storyline that we as players could
not impact. The big climax, they have stated, was timed and the outcome was pre-determined. We as players were supposedly just there to participate, in the sense of contributing to the fight, not participate in the sense of impact the actual outcome.
Interesting, eh?
I didn't participate in that fight, so I have no idea how accurate that assessment was. I was playing at the time but had no idea the fight was going on. Events back then, it's easy to forget, weren't announced or publicized well. It was very easy to miss both "meta fiction" events like Trinsic, and the Seer Quests. I was forever barely missing both. Things are, I would argue, much better now on that scale.
At any rate, the lessons of the Trinsic event, the devs from the time stated, led to the scenario system we had some years back. The idea was to have an outcome that the players could determine, but where the results wouldn't be a flat-out disaster. They used the example of a scenario wherein if the players lost, Skara Brae would turn into a dungeon.
Some players, probably most, would want to rescue Skara, but some would like the idea of there being a monster spawn inside a city. So it's almost, if not quite, win-win.
As an example that wasn't hypothetical, let's take the "
Plague of Despair" scenario. Quoting from the article I linked to:
* "Winning" meant that Yew remained a swamp, but the plague itself was gone, monsters stopped spawning in Yew, and NPC Escort quests would recognize the city.
* "Losing" meant that Yew remained a swamp, the plague still persisted, monsters continued spawning in Yew, and NPC Escort quests would not recognize the city.
Also let us take the
Magincia Invasion. It was possible to "lose" the climax to this event.
My personal view if anyone cares? (Assuming anyone is still reading.)
There is a place for events that we as players can effect the outcome of, where our shortcomings will cause some great loss to occur.
But there is also I would suggest a place for meta-fiction scenarios, where the storyline proceeds and we're swept up in the arc, just like the NPCs such as Queen Dawn and Queen Zhah are.
Why should our characters be somehow immune to the march of history, the wrecks of elements, the clash of worlds, the sad wings of destiny, and the quiet call of fate?
One of UO's greatest strengths is its ability to capture many different elements. We have PvP with no purpose, PvP with purpose, PvM with no purpose but personal purpose, RP, PvM with purpose, quests, events....
Our events and fiction should reflect this diversity as well.
There's a place for events unique to each shard (EM events), game-wide events that we can impact (Plague, Magincia), game-wide events that we can just participate in without really impacting (Trinsic invasion, Warriors of Destiny).
They can all flourish here.
-Galen's player