I have been doing this quite a bit of late on forums that I own, mod, or am just a member on. It is proving to be quite difficult to sell people on the idea of returning to UO. The number one question that arises is "Have they done anything to curb the rampant cheating in UO?" I can't with anything resembling a straight face tell them YES THEY HAVE. A few have looked up EJ and respond back with "You are kidding right?" Most of the folks in these forums are in the 45-75 year old range and a amazingly large number played UO from 97-AOS with about 1/3 that played playing through SE. Most of these forums are of the survivalist, prepper, homesteader, and cooking variety.
Something I have noticed in those communities is that us heavily armed, backwoods bunker nuts really like our immersive video games that don't have a one and done end game. The other brick wall is the up front cost folks keep pointing out that IF they did go EJ and decided to go back to subbing that it would cost a pretty good chunk of change to upgrade and have all of the features......... More than they would be willing to pay for a 20 year old video game. That part is frustrating for me as overall we are not a poor segment of the population, and won't hesitate to drop $10,000 on a pallet of ammo or but a truck load of MREs but will freak out over $10 per month for UO wich IMO is about the cheapest and biggest bang for the buck entertainment around.... Short of the the free porn sites.
Almost everyone tried free shards after leaving official UO and out of the couple hundred people I have spoken with over the last few weeks only 2 actively play free shards with the general theme being "They are OK for a while but overall free shards suck."
So how do you promote a video game like UO that has so much negative history attached to it? The cheating and the cost seem to be the Two Major reasons people left and will not return at least in my circles.
So I am wondering if others have been trying to promote UO and running into brick walls largely of EAs own making or lack of dealing with? The cost I can counter with "Yeah you just dropped $40,000 on a CAT generator to power a cabin.......... that would power a small town, don't tell me you can't afford a couple hundred bucks for UO." The bigger one that I really have no counter for is the cheating that for all practical purposes appears to be allowed and condoned.
I am really not trying to be negative but until they crush the majority of cheating in the game and do so very publicly, bringing people back into UO that largely left because of the rampant cheating is going to be a monumental if not impossible task from what I am experiencing. I can't lie to these folks either and tell them it is better, or it is being cracked down on. It would take one log in to see otherwise and would then hurt my credibility within those communities......... Which given my position in some is very important, if I endorse or sell a product folks expect the full truth, the good, the bad and the big ugly warts hanging off the backside. And as it is the Cheating in its various forms is one big ugly wart hanging off UOs backside, that just can't be covered up or obscured. So give me something, anything to counter and overcome the cheating that 4 out of 5 people I speak with point to as a reason they left and as a reason they won't return!
Something I have noticed in those communities is that us heavily armed, backwoods bunker nuts really like our immersive video games that don't have a one and done end game. The other brick wall is the up front cost folks keep pointing out that IF they did go EJ and decided to go back to subbing that it would cost a pretty good chunk of change to upgrade and have all of the features......... More than they would be willing to pay for a 20 year old video game. That part is frustrating for me as overall we are not a poor segment of the population, and won't hesitate to drop $10,000 on a pallet of ammo or but a truck load of MREs but will freak out over $10 per month for UO wich IMO is about the cheapest and biggest bang for the buck entertainment around.... Short of the the free porn sites.
Almost everyone tried free shards after leaving official UO and out of the couple hundred people I have spoken with over the last few weeks only 2 actively play free shards with the general theme being "They are OK for a while but overall free shards suck."
So how do you promote a video game like UO that has so much negative history attached to it? The cheating and the cost seem to be the Two Major reasons people left and will not return at least in my circles.
So I am wondering if others have been trying to promote UO and running into brick walls largely of EAs own making or lack of dealing with? The cost I can counter with "Yeah you just dropped $40,000 on a CAT generator to power a cabin.......... that would power a small town, don't tell me you can't afford a couple hundred bucks for UO." The bigger one that I really have no counter for is the cheating that for all practical purposes appears to be allowed and condoned.
I am really not trying to be negative but until they crush the majority of cheating in the game and do so very publicly, bringing people back into UO that largely left because of the rampant cheating is going to be a monumental if not impossible task from what I am experiencing. I can't lie to these folks either and tell them it is better, or it is being cracked down on. It would take one log in to see otherwise and would then hurt my credibility within those communities......... Which given my position in some is very important, if I endorse or sell a product folks expect the full truth, the good, the bad and the big ugly warts hanging off the backside. And as it is the Cheating in its various forms is one big ugly wart hanging off UOs backside, that just can't be covered up or obscured. So give me something, anything to counter and overcome the cheating that 4 out of 5 people I speak with point to as a reason they left and as a reason they won't return!