The ocean Needs More Content

[Lore Master]

The ocean is so vast but for the most part void of players. I feel there are not enough different types of creatures in the oceans why cant we have different species of sharks, whales, mermaids, sea hags, Sirens, sword fish, sea lions, seals, manatees, giant squid, Goliath squid, octopus, porpoises, man of wars, jelly fish, crabs, lobsters, manta rays, sting rays, groupers, striped bass, clams, oysters, star fish, tuna fish, horse shoe crabs, sea urchins , sea slugs, eels electric and non electric etc. I could go on and on but those are just some suggestions I can think of.

• I know some of these are in the game already some as aquarium creatures only what I wish for is that these creatures can be seen from our ships swimming in the oceans and many of them should be catchable through fishing nets and through fishing poles many of them should be mountable on our walls like swordfish and sharks which would be cool.

I would also like many imagined creatures or legendary creatures added to the oceans. Kraken's and sea serpents are cool but more monsters should be added to the oceans as well and many of the creatures I mentioned should be able to attack us as well. enemy npc pirates sailing there pirate ships, chasing us and attacking us with great treasure that cant be gotten any other way except by defeating the pirates would be a huge plus as well. even if only a few of my suggestions where added I truly believe the oceans would be a lot more exciting and less lonely as well. thanks for reading I hope you like feel free to comment or post your own suggestions or creatures or what ever you want added to the oceans if any.

 

[Cetric]

2011 Ultima Online
Pirate Expansion

 

[Lore Master]

2011 Ultima Online
Pirate Expansion

lets hope they not only add pirates but a lot of new creatures as well I mean the only creatures you can visibly see in the ocean is sea serpents, krakens in tokuna ocean only as far as i know unless you use a special fishing net, dolphins and sometimes water elements there better then nothing but it gets boring after a while seeing those four creatures over and over again with nothing new we need a lot more variety of creatures if you ask me

 

[hawkeye_pike]

New ocean content? Seafaring expansion?
How about something like this:

http://www.aschulze.net/ultima/blog/blog_20090220.htm

 

[Old Man of UO]

New ocean content? Seafaring expansion?
How about something like this:

http://www.aschulze.net/ultima/blog/blog_20090220.htm

Spend much time contemplating that? HEH

I'm all in for it. When do we get it?

 

[thelust6]

New ocean content? Seafaring expansion?
How about something like this:

http://www.aschulze.net/ultima/blog/blog_20090220.htm

This looks awsome! I'd prolly drop my land based activites just to play this

 

[Harb]

Nice job Hawkeye. Might want to repost here if thats OK with the Stratics folks. May prompt further discussion, but on first look, it's impressive as is!

 

[kelmo]

Nice article Hawkeye. I would think the whole boat issue would need to be revisited before seafaring could happen.

 

[Connor_Graham]

why cant we have different species of porpoises.....any of them should be catchable through fishing nets

If you start catching porpoises in your fishing nets I'll be forced to sink your battleship. Got it?

 

[MoneyMaker]

If you start catching porpoises in your fishing nets I'll be forced to sink your battleship. Got it?

I swear it looked like a Tuna......... Tasted like Tuna, too.

 

[MalagAste]

I'd love to see a great many changes to seafaring... nice ideas there!

 

[Lore Master]

If you start catching porpoises in your fishing nets I'll be forced to sink your battleship. Got it?

I am an animal lover too but this is just a game so i am ok with it in a game but not in real life.

 

[Snakeman]

Very nicely thought out, like one before said... Did you put much thought & effort into that
Again Nice Job

 

[wee papa smurf]

Its like GTA with they massive airports, so much space and so much more that could be done with it

 

[Lore Master]

Very nicely thought out, like one before said... Did you put much thought & effort into that
Again Nice Job

thanks I posted an idea like this before but my old account was erased by stratics because I did not log in for months. only took me 5 to 10 minutes to post this and double, check the spelling and research some of the info online. I could have written a lot more but I did not want to type too much or many people may have not read it all.

 

[Lord Gareth]

I always thought EA/Mythic should have done an ocean city you could build on and such. A true pirate dock city *smiles*

 

[Gowron]

Couldn't agree more. Hawkeye Pike, that was a great set up of ideas. However, I do have some nit noid disagreements.

Player run docks:
1. If a player runs a dock, shouldn't the ship captains pay the player to dock, vice the player paying the bank?
2. Rather than spending money for blanket repairs, how about Tailors, Blacksmiths, Carpenters, and Tinkers effecting repairs directly from a specified gump window attached to the boat? I'll admit your way would be easier, but I think for the player base, it would expand the value of crafters.
3. I like the Letters of Marque concept in bringing PvP to tram, however, will it also be tied to some kind of map/radar picture giving direction on where to find targets. That's alot of waterspace to wander.
4. I don't like limiting folks to numbers of boats and not being able to recall to a boat. However, I do acknowledge the merits of your input. I also would keep the refresh system of boats as they are. I would only advocate the docking to perform necessary repairs. After all, in a Naval environment, it is necessary at times for ships to remain "on station".

These were meant as constructive criticism, and no dig intended. I'll be the first to admit, that I couldn't have come up with anything as detailed and large scoped as yours.

I do believe that there's been a couple of Champ Spawn recommendations as well.
I recall a Pirate Champ Spawn in and around the island of Bucc's Den and some kind of Sea Monster Champ Spawn in a particular area of waterspace only to be reached by boat.

Letters of Marque required in Fel (no chance to get counted) and Free for all in Tram?

 

[Jesara]

Great ideas here! Hawkeye, your plan is fantastically well thought out and workable. I'm for anything that will make the seas more interesting and fun.

 

[Harb]

Gowron,for sure it's more than a little awkward to begin any "critique," criticism or adjustments/recommendations to what clearly is a superb concept from Hawkeye, I know how you feel I think. Things that hit me immediately were I'd prefer to see marques linked to British or Blackthorn (order/chaos on the seas if you will, Tram & Fel), factions, and a "pirate" free for all option in Fel only marqued from Buc's Den. Murder counts have to remain integrated IMO, though I suspect marques well employed would give a broad range for combat sans counts. I like marked sails opposed to flags, I suppose on a trimast ship you might fly as many as three. I don't like muskets, but would love to see various cannon options including swivel guns. I'd also like to see wind/ weather have a combat effect, and aimed fire at decks, hulls, or masts. I think ammo can vary. I don't dislike player run docks, so long as city ports, and possibly a new city on the water offer similar features. I think something needs to happen in the ocean's "basement," that lower level of tiles historically shyed away from.

But I'm with you as well, my hat's off to Hawkeye on this one, very well done. I also think there is a great opportunity here should EA/M nurse this one through. The concept began with a player, but there's also been a slew of ideas over the years easily integrated into an overall revamp. Should they say, yep we'll do it, and open up the discussion and let the thoughts flow, it may be the first time the game's players actually determine their own expansion. Say in six months, they put out a detailed concept statement based on dev review of player inputs to let us know where they're going, then they could then vest however much time might be needed to make it so. I don't know of any other game that has embraced their player base in such a manner.

 

[Toptwo]

Incredible Hawkeye!

EA should be hiring you for staff!!

This could even be run as a whole new game!

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Good feedback, Gowron and Harb! I especially like Harb's Letters of Marque suggestions. The reason why ships should be limited is, that (if properly docked) they will not decay anymore. We don't want the coastlines to be cluttered again. Because the size of your crew plays a role, and ship to ship combat is a big goal, recalling onto a boat should be prohibited, to prevent exploiting the system.

I always thought that the landmass of Britannia is so deserted, yet is has so much potential for fantastic gameplay. I think, after Stygian Abyss, increasing the landmass any more won't be necessary. Instead, there are many many ways to make Britannia a dynamic and exciting place for adventure.

My column is a collection of ideas I had over the past years. There's still a lot of room for improvement, of course. My goal was, to show what would be possible, if only the ship code in UO was cleaned up.

Never forget that in 2003 the former game developer Sunsword, encouraged by Leurocian, discussed the possibility of a seafaring expansion. He was totally confident that new 8-directional ship movement code, revised water tiles, new ship art, new sea monsters, houseboats, a ship combat system, and related content was do-able, utilizing the capabilities of an expansion team.

I wonder how messed up the ship code in UO really is, as nobody yet dared to touch it.

 

[Stupid Miner]

New ocean content? Seafaring expansion?
How about something like this:

http://www.aschulze.net/ultima/blog/blog_20090220.htm

Ooo a new Boat thread! how many years has it been since our last one of these? too many it seems...
Once wrote a similar idea to yours... not nearly as long or good though. I could email it to you if you want to read it.

Some things that I think could use improvement:

1) Shouldn't there be an option to allow anyone, not just friends, to anchor at a dock?

2) Crafting
-It would enhance crafting a LOT if, instead of buying boats, one could craft them. Could be assembled similar to bulk order deeds in that you would assemble it piece by piece (sails, cannons, frame, anchor, etc. etc.). Since it would take tons of resources (a few thousand boards depending on the size of the ship)
- Rare woods could count as multiple boards (but wouldn't affect the color of the ship)
- I agree with Gowron, would be much more interesting to have players repair ships rather than making it gold sink. (gold sinks are boring)
- Repairs cost no gold other than what the crafter charges, but one board would only repair 10 hp (+10 hp per level of board). Crafting ships would then take as many boards as it would take to repair them from 0 to full HP.
For the largest ship (Carrack) that'd be 5,000 plain boards, or 2500 oak, or 1667 ash, or 1250 yew, or 1000 heartwood, or 834 Bloodwood, or 715 Frostwood. (tweaking may be necessary)
- For Cannon building should take GM in blacksmithing or tinkering for the barrel, and Carpentry for the base. They should be crafted separately, and assembled like the ships (bulk order style). 5000 ingots and 2000 boards is *way* too much. 500 ingots and 200 boards would be enough.

3)Cannons
- Should allow for different types of cannons and cannon shots
- Regular cannons would be rather inaccurate when targeting players, 1/3 chance for the shot to hit the player directly and 1/3 chance to pass by on either side (could hit other objects on a miss). Direct hit on a player would do 50-65 damage (70 damage is too high, could too quickly wipe out a crew if two cannons coordinated attacks) if the shot passed by 1 tile next to the player, he would take half damage. (Fun fact: IRL a cannonball doesn't have to hit someone to kill them, passing too close can create a vacuum of air which collapses the person's lungs )
- Accuracy could be increased if they added a boat-related skill
- Different shots to consider:
- Grapeshot: 5 tile spread with 25 damage to any person hit. Low ship damage
- Conflagration potions: stuff a bunch of conflagration potions into the barrel to get the same effect on the enemy ship with increased damage. Could target sails with these to slow the enemy down.
- Explosion potions: up to 5 potions could be shot at once which would land in random locations on the enemy's boat

- Rifled cannon which could only shoot a rifled shot: twice as fast as a regular shot, double the accuracy, same damage as regular shot.
- cant shoot other types of shot because they'd damage the cannon's rifling.

- all types of shots would be craftable
- damages calculated above are considered direct damage (yea just try to deflect that cannonball with your shield!)

4) Allow for boarding other ships to allow hand to hand combat.

5) Pets to aid in your seafaring battles! And a few more animals too.

Giant Sea Turtle
- unaggressive wild
- tameable
- rideable
- very good resist
-decent damage to ships
- 2 control slots

Dolphins
- unaggressive wild
- tameable
- rideable
- extra damage to sharks
- bad damage to ships
- 2 control slot

Large Shark
- aggressive wild
- tameable
- very good damage against other animals
- bad damage to ships
- 2 control slots

Small Shark
- aggressive wild
- tameable
- good damage against other animals
- bad damage to ships
- 1 control slot

Whale
- unaggressive wild
- tameable
- lots of health
- good damage to ships
- 4 control slots

Marlin
- Fished up
- mountable (on trophy)

Starfish
- fished up with net
Possiblility- resource for alchemists (Health regen. potion or somethin like that)

Oyster
- fished up with net
- chance of having a pearl

Sea Horse
- unaggresive wild
- tameable
- rideable
- bad damage to ships
- 1 control slot


Just take whatever you think seems good and add it to your Blog post. And PM me if you want me to email the idea i wrote previously.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

1) Shouldn't there be an option to allow anyone, not just friends, to anchor at a dock?

2) Crafting
-It would enhance crafting a LOT if, instead of buying boats, one could craft them. Could be assembled similar to bulk order deeds...

3)Cannons
- Should allow for different types of cannons and cannon shots...

4) Allow for boarding other ships to allow hand to hand combat.

1) If anyone could use your personal docks, it soon would be pretty cluttered. Maybe a dock owner wants to prevent some strangers blocking his docks, while his friends or guild mates don't have any room left to anchor their ships.

2) Sounds great.

3) Sounds good, too. However, I didn't want to make things too complicated in the beginning.

4) Allowing to board ships would probably lead to massive player griefing again, and we don't want that.

 

[Stupid Miner]

4) Allowing to board ships would probably lead to massive player griefing again, and we don't want that.

Actually, I meant this as a purely battle situation. You could avoid players from grief stealing ships if only the captain could move the boat, which would require killing the captain to steal a ship.

 

[Gowron]

Ooo a new Boat thread! how many years has it been since our last one of these? too many it seems...
Once wrote a similar idea to yours... not nearly as long or good though. I could email it to you if you want to read it.

Some things that I think could use improvement:

1) Shouldn't there be an option to allow anyone, not just friends, to anchor at a dock?

2) Crafting
-It would enhance crafting a LOT if, instead of buying boats, one could craft them. Could be assembled similar to bulk order deeds in that you would assemble it piece by piece (sails, cannons, frame, anchor, etc. etc.). Since it would take tons of resources (a few thousand boards depending on the size of the ship)
- Rare woods could count as multiple boards (but wouldn't affect the color of the ship)
- I agree with Gowron, would be much more interesting to have players repair ships rather than making it gold sink. (gold sinks are boring)
- Repairs cost no gold other than what the crafter charges, but one board would only repair 10 hp (+10 hp per level of board). Crafting ships would then take as many boards as it would take to repair them from 0 to full HP.
For the largest ship (Carrack) that'd be 5,000 plain boards, or 2500 oak, or 1667 ash, or 1250 yew, or 1000 heartwood, or 834 Bloodwood, or 715 Frostwood. (tweaking may be necessary)
- For Cannon building should take GM in blacksmithing or tinkering for the barrel, and Carpentry for the base. They should be crafted separately, and assembled like the ships (bulk order style). 5000 ingots and 2000 boards is *way* too much. 500 ingots and 200 boards would be enough.

3)Cannons
- Should allow for different types of cannons and cannon shots
- Regular cannons would be rather inaccurate when targeting players, 1/3 chance for the shot to hit the player directly and 1/3 chance to pass by on either side (could hit other objects on a miss). Direct hit on a player would do 50-65 damage (70 damage is too high, could too quickly wipe out a crew if two cannons coordinated attacks) if the shot passed by 1 tile next to the player, he would take half damage. (Fun fact: IRL a cannonball doesn't have to hit someone to kill them, passing too close can create a vacuum of air which collapses the person's lungs )
- Accuracy could be increased if they added a boat-related skill
- Different shots to consider:
- Grapeshot: 5 tile spread with 25 damage to any person hit. Low ship damage
- Conflagration potions: stuff a bunch of conflagration potions into the barrel to get the same effect on the enemy ship with increased damage. Could target sails with these to slow the enemy down.
- Explosion potions: up to 5 potions could be shot at once which would land in random locations on the enemy's boat

- Rifled cannon which could only shoot a rifled shot: twice as fast as a regular shot, double the accuracy, same damage as regular shot.
- cant shoot other types of shot because they'd damage the cannon's rifling.

- all types of shots would be craftable
- damages calculated above are considered direct damage (yea just try to deflect that cannonball with your shield!)

4) Allow for boarding other ships to allow hand to hand combat.

5) Pets to aid in your seafaring battles! And a few more animals too.

Giant Sea Turtle
- unaggressive wild
- tameable
- rideable
- very good resist
-decent damage to ships
- 2 control slots

Dolphins
- unaggressive wild
- tameable
- rideable
- extra damage to sharks
- bad damage to ships
- 2 control slot

Large Shark
- aggressive wild
- tameable
- very good damage against other animals
- bad damage to ships
- 2 control slots

Small Shark
- aggressive wild
- tameable
- good damage against other animals
- bad damage to ships
- 1 control slot

Whale
- unaggressive wild
- tameable
- lots of health
- good damage to ships
- 4 control slots

Marlin
- Fished up
- mountable (on trophy)

Starfish
- fished up with net
Possiblility- resource for alchemists (Health regen. potion or somethin like that)

Oyster
- fished up with net
- chance of having a pearl

Sea Horse
- unaggresive wild
- tameable
- rideable
- bad damage to ships
- 1 control slot


Just take whatever you think seems good and add it to your Blog post. And PM me if you want me to email the idea i wrote previously.

Rather than doing a conversion of one type of colored wood to equal X number of regular boards, why not use the same number of boards but to have certain effects for their use.
For example (and I'm shooting from the hip, I haven't considered anything in depth)
Oak: 10%, 20%, 30% increase to hit points of the hull
Ash: 10%, 20%, 30% increase to hull speed
Yew: 20%, 30%, 40% increase to hit points of hull. Yada yada yada.

A very expensive use of rare woods, however, I think it would be much more interesting than a simple math conversion.

 

[Gowron]

Also, I know of a few Pirate role players that would likely come back to the game if these ideas were incorporated.

 

[Stupid Miner]

Rather than doing a conversion of one type of colored wood to equal X number of regular boards, why not use the same number of boards but to have certain effects for their use.
For example (and I'm shooting from the hip, I haven't considered anything in depth)
Oak: 10%, 20%, 30% increase to hit points of the hull
Ash: 10%, 20%, 30% increase to hull speed
Yew: 20%, 30%, 40% increase to hit points of hull. Yada yada yada.

A very expensive use of rare woods, however, I think it would be much more interesting than a simple math conversion.

(The quote in your post is too long. Just cut most of it out by using ellipses)

Something that would give varying strengths and weaknesses to each type of wood would be interesting. <tangent>Now that i reconsider it, it would be interesting if the woods gave boats a muted color (frostwood to a greyish blue) if done right.</tangent>

For the wood type effects maybe something along the lines of:
Oak: 10% damage reduction, but 25% speed reduction.
Ash: -10% damage reduction, but 25% speed increase, and 25% storage increase.
Yew: 10% Hit Point increase
Heartwood: 15% damage reduction, 15% Hit Point increase, 50% speed reduction.
Bloodwood: Regenerates 1 HP per second.
Frostwood: 50% speed increase, -7,500 Hit Points

Or whatever...

 

[Viper09]

/signed with big bold letters

 

[Stupid Miner]

Ooo! we need to have the ships personalizable! Perhaps a few craftable pigments with preset colors (various wooden shades only) with an option for making the trim another color. And a selection of flags: a jolly roger, an Order of the Silver Serpent flag, and perhaps a flag for each city? The different parts flags would also be dyeable. Throw in a couple of nice prow designs too.

 

[Gowron]

Ooo! we need to have the ships personalizable! Perhaps a few craftable pigments with preset colors (various wooden shades only) with an option for making the trim another color. And a selection of flags: a jolly roger, an Order of the Silver Serpent flag, and perhaps a flag for each city? The different parts flags would also be dyeable. Throw in a couple of nice prow designs too.

Jolly Roger, Order, Chaos, Flag for each city, and for Fel, flag for each faction.

I like the way you think Miner.

Thanks for the pointer on the quotation stuff.

DEV'S THIS IS GOOD STUFF! MAKE THIS HAPPEN!

 

[Omnius]

This is the best idea in UO history. I don't think it's wrong to say that EA should fire someone and hire that whole pirate expansion idea guy. Or just give him money for brilliance.

 

[Laina]

Some awesome ideas here!

A pirate expansion is something players have been asking for years now - it always seems to generate a lot of enthusiasm. I wish it would get the attention of the developers and given more serious thought. I would love to see it myself

 

[Gowron]

This is great stuff, and I'm bumping this thread in an effort to get the Devs to take notice.

Draconi allegedly commented that this would be worth looking into some time ago.

I don't want this to go away without dev response.

 

[Gowron]

Folks, how about some more discussion here and a little more support to something that this game desparately needs?

Seaborne adventures! Yo Ho Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me!

If this goes without response, I will post all the words to Barnacle Bill the Sailor (UNCENSORED).

 

[Shelleybean]

New ocean content? Seafaring expansion?
How about something like this:

http://www.aschulze.net/ultima/blog/blog_20090220.htm

Wow, those are great ideas. I've always thought the seafaring aspect of Utlima Online had great potential. I remember Admiral Ruffie and absydian and several other players with great fishing/pirate ideas over the years. I do hope a pirate/sea expansion can be done in the future.

 

[Gowron]

Seriously, folks, Chrissay or Draconi should really respond with at least an acknowledgement that this has been read. There's been alot of really interesting feedback to ideas that some folks have put alot of thought and effort into.

 

[Foolio the Bard]

Seriously, folks, Chrissay or Draconi should really respond with at least an acknowledgement that this has been read. There's been alot of really interesting feedback to ideas that some folks have put alot of thought and effort into.

Actually, that is something they will definitely not do due to legal reasons.

If you have a large, elaborate idea that is original and posted somewhere, and then an EA developer says "I LIKE THAT!" and then it shows up in their game a year later, they could be sued.

 

[Gowron]

Actually, that is something they will definitely not do due to legal reasons.

If you have a large, elaborate idea that is original and posted somewhere, and then an EA developer says "I LIKE THAT!" and then it shows up in their game a year later, they could be sued.

While an interesting point, that would invalidate 90% of the posts in this forum. With all the "Dev's need to do this" and "Dev's need to do that", by reason of your arguement there's no sense, as they can all claim it was their idea.

Either way, there's been many posts over the years about a need for additional content in the maritime arena of UO, that this issue should not pass as the previous ones had.

 

[Lady_Calina]

Hawkeye has a great idea I know he's been wanting those changes enacted for quite some time and I think it would be really neat to have a 'pirate expansion'. Customizable ships ^.^

 

[Rogal]

I'd love an upgrade to the whole UO maritime area. I still get out there and fish

 

[Foolio the Bard]

While an interesting point, that would invalidate 90% of the posts in this forum. With all the "Dev's need to do this" and "Dev's need to do that", by reason of your arguement there's no sense, as they can all claim it was their idea.

No, "90% of the posts" on this forum do not constitute a large, elaborate, original idea or design. Saying "i think the cloaks should have more hitpoints" does not qualify. But drawing up a large design with text, pictures, and original ideas aplenty and hosting it on your personal site easily passes the test of something that COULD (not would, but could) reach this legal area. That is the difference. Why do you think there is no longer an Ideas Den here?

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

No, "90% of the posts" on this forum do not constitute a large, elaborate, original idea or design. Saying "i think the cloaks should have more hitpoints" does not qualify. But drawing up a large design with text, pictures, and original ideas aplenty and hosting it on your personal site easily passes the test of something that COULD (not would, but could) reach this legal area. That is the difference. Why do you think there is no longer an Ideas Den here?

If the law was not by "interpretation" you would have no argument. I do not really agree with you but you are more or less unfortunately correct. On the other hand, they do not have to take the entire idea, but they could acknowledge they read it and come up with their own idea on how to handle this situation. Meh...

 

[Gowron]

No, "90% of the posts" on this forum do not constitute a large, elaborate, original idea or design. Saying "i think the cloaks should have more hitpoints" does not qualify. But drawing up a large design with text, pictures, and original ideas aplenty and hosting it on your personal site easily passes the test of something that COULD (not would, but could) reach this legal area. That is the difference. Why do you think there is no longer an Ideas Den here?

If the law was not by "interpretation" you would have no argument. I do not really agree with you but you are more or less unfortunately correct. On the other hand, they do not have to take the entire idea, but they could acknowledge they read it and come up with their own idea on how to handle this situation. Meh...[/QUOTE]

Both great points. I stand partially corrected as the later response meets the majority of my intent. The Devs should step up and acknowledge this.

 

[Foolio the Bard]

Acknowledging they read it would be the worst thing they could do from a legal standpoint. If they did come out with a navel expansion that looked just like one that was posted somewhere else, and that person was inclined to sue (yes, not likely, but follow me here) then in court the best defense is to say they never saw it, and that the similarities are coincidental.

Listen, what I am saying is not groundbreaking or original, it is basically de facto policy at large firms like EA -- especially in creative businesses, which is why most places to do accept unsolicited manuscripts, recordings, etc.
It opens up a whole bag of problems in copyright law.

 

[Stupid Miner]

a navel expansion

*snickers*

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Acknowledging they read it would be the worst thing they could do from a legal standpoint. If they did come out with a navel expansion that looked just like one that was posted somewhere else, and that person was inclined to sue (yes, not likely, but follow me here) then in court the best defense is to say they never saw it, and that the similarities are coincidental.

Listen, what I am saying is not groundbreaking or original, it is basically de facto policy at large firms like EA -- especially in creative businesses, which is why most places to do accept unsolicited manuscripts, recordings, etc.
It opens up a whole bag of problems in copyright law.

Something has to be copyrighted to fall under copyright law.

But again, they do not have to take the idea lol. I knew where you were coming from, that is why I said if law was not by "interpretation" there would be no problem here, it is funny how a law can be written out and seem to be completely understood, but people somehow find a way around it because they are stupid and interpret it differently than 99.9% of the rest of the population, and just because they are able to interpret it differently a judge can be like "oh yea I see your point". There are TONS of lawsuits that judges side with the idiot, err I mean complainant. If we need examples of this then I would provide them but I think everyone understand this to be true.

As I said they can just not copy anything but the very basic idea of this thread and not have to worry about a law suit.

 

[Foolio the Bard]

As I said they can just not copy anything but the very basic idea of this thread and not have to worry about a law suit.

Definately. They would have no problem doing that.

I was merely pointing out that they have policies against commenting on specific things like this. People in the thread were asking for Dev input, and I was just trying to tell them why the Devs likely would not be providing that input -- especially if they had any seafaring ideas in the pipeline.

I would love a Pirates-themed expansion. Let's hope SA does well and allows them to do it.

 

[Derium of ls]

Hawkeye, EA is stupid if they do not hire you

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Hawkeye, EA is stupid if they do not hire you

I do not need to be hired, I have a very good job.
I provide these ideas as food for thought, hoping that any game developer will eventually read it. I know that if you're involved into a large project, an opinion from the outside can be very helpful, if it is presented in the right way. If you're not member of the UO team, you have a different view on things.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

As I said they can just not copy anything but the very basic idea of this thread and not have to worry about a law suit.

Are you sure about this? That would be illogical, because I provide these suggestions exactly for the purpose that any UO developer takes them and makes the best out of it. That's the object of these suggestions. Why should I sue them for improving the game??