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UO on Steam?

Sargon

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Supporter
I believe that selling a game through Steam is one of the best ways to advertise it. This is especially true in UO's case, where they have little or no advertising budget to speak of. If I were a new MMO player looking for a game to play, chances are very slim that I would be introduced to UO through the traditional UO Game Codes method of selling it. If it were available on Steam, that would potentially open UO up to a whole new audience who most likely would not have heard of it otherwise. That new audience may or may not actually purchase the game, but it couldn't hurt to try.
 
N

Nh'bdy

Guest
Steam is a DD service forwarded by Vavle. It's a digital download program that allows the distribution of games in exchange for USD. It is untaxed, to my knowledge, and regularly cuts amazing deals, including exclusive content, box deals, etc.

I am a regular steam using, and while you will pay more for a game on average, you can never lose the key or discs as all of your information is stored. It's also a decent community tool.

I added UO to steam via their 3rd party settings, but I'd love to be able to purchase Ultima from it.
 
O

Oppurtunity

Guest
Steam is like iTunes for video games, pretty much. You can search for games and purchase them.
 

G.v.P

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
My friends started me up on Steam via Left 4 Dead 2, and I was thinking the other day it would be cool if UO had achievements like L4D2 or even such as other MMORPGs. Like Star Wars Galaxies had certain things you could achieve in a list. Be fun.
 

Alezi

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
My friends started me up on Steam via Left 4 Dead 2, and I was thinking the other day it would be cool if UO had achievements like L4D2 or even such as other MMORPGs. Like Star Wars Galaxies had certain things you could achieve in a list. Be fun.
No thanks to artificial achievements. The sense of achievement when completing a character, killing a boss or being succesful in PvP should be enough.
 

lucitus

UOEC Modder
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I think EA has already contracts with Steam, Many EA Games are available on Steam. I also cant understand why they are not publishing Ultima Online there?
 

aarons6

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
if uo starts requiring me to run extra programs in the background to play that would probably be the last month i pay to play uo..

steam sucks, it uses up alot of resources and it crashes.. its like running the SA client to log into the 2d client..
 

WarderDragon

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
No thanks to artificial achievements. The sense of achievement when completing a character, killing a boss or being succesful in PvP should be enough.
Ultima Online already has a working achievement system. Sort've. The Slime Hunter Quest. The Library, Zoo, and Museum Achievement Titles. I'm sure you can think of others.

The problem is, if you're going to imitate an advancement system now being popularized in other titles, you need to finish it. Its like the two different versions of the quest system we currently have floating around (the older version actually looks better).
 
N

Nh'bdy

Guest
Steam has been a polarizing subject for the PC community since it's inception, I'd extend my humble opinion as far as to say it's found much of the same reaction in the industry it's self. I can tell you honestly that in four years of having a steam account and six years of owning my own Ultima account I've booted into UO via Steam perhaps a shy two percent of the time.

In speaking with an associate of mine, discussing steam, he conjectured that Battle Net 2 would be a steam clone, and the thought of a game using a virtual store and distribution method, along with social networking, guild networking and all the little 3rd party bells and whistles! Think..Steam, Stratics, Uoherald, UOEM.net, UO game codes, and the UO Facebook all jammed into one .exe. Hell, search UO too.


I'd install it.
 
K

Kiminality

Guest
If the classic client ended up on Steam, it'd probably be the first non-DirectX game on there.
I doubt any of the steam functionality would work out for it.
The overlay requires DirectX.
Steam achievements and such would require the needed Steamworks(?) functionality to be coded into both clients, along with whatever security they require.
So, aside from the whole digital distribution side of things, you won't gain anything much from Steam. Even if Steam was used for updates to the client, there's the problem that it would necessitate more work for the devs, especially if Steam wasn't going to be a requirement (which would be important, since people like to rage against things like Steam).
 

Aran

Always Present
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I will tear you limb from limb and feed the remains to a dragon.
 

Tanivar

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Never tried Steam myself though I have heard of it.

What EA basically needs to do is some minor scale (low-budget) advertising, and instead of focusing like it's some kind of a psychotic fixation on the hardcore combat aspects of the game, play up the low & non-combat aspects of the game that could well draw those that are not interested in hack & slash and have gotten bored with games such as the Sims or such tame games.

Most Modern Games can't compete against anything other than other combat games. So take advantage of this and focus the UO ads where the competition can't compete.

Put an ad on whatever serves as a Straticsdotcom for the Sims games with a link to UO & UOstratics and see how many check out UO. If some do sign up for UO, word of mouth at their old game may get more to try UO.

Most of UO's Crafters would probably fall into this catagory of Player.
 

the 4th man

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Steam?? They did "Nah Nah Nah Nah, Nah Nah Nah Nah, hey hey hey, goodbye"

(I retain useless knowledge)
 

lucitus

UOEC Modder
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
if uo starts requiring me to run extra programs in the background to play that would probably be the last month i pay to play uo..

steam sucks, it uses up alot of resources and it crashes.. its like running the SA client to log into the 2d client..
You dont need Steam running to play a pruchased game... and steam is successfull and stable.

Also it is not neccessary to pruchase Ultima Online via Steam, but it should be possible.
 

Heimi

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
if uo starts requiring me to run extra programs in the background to play that would probably be the last month i pay to play uo..

steam sucks, it uses up alot of resources and it crashes.. its like running the SA client to log into the 2d client..
Let me guess, the last time you used Steam was 5 years ago?
 
K

Kiminality

Guest
Steam is actually quite bulky/heavy. But, the UO clients are worse, in all honesty.
 
G

Granville

Guest
I think Steam would be great. I currently have all my other games in my Steam account.

The Friends network/Steam Groups/Event Notifications is also a plus.
 

Ender

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I love Steam, so sure. Also be great for letting UO friends talk to me while I'm playing some other game.
 

G.v.P

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
No thanks to artificial achievements. The sense of achievement when completing a character, killing a boss or being succesful in PvP should be enough.
UO already has achievements, just only a few of them, such as the Slime title on char mouse over and the Evil titles on char paperdoll. They do nothing for the user other than note their experience and they give the user fun things to look forward to aside from loot. Have you ever done a champ spawn, and if so, did you feel the experience was "artificial?"

A MMORPG might not want to model itself after an FPS (poor Tabula Rasa) in terms of the more crazy achievements, but then again, the great thing about achievements is the people who don't want to participate do not have to participate, while the people who do participate do not get any kind of unfair advantage.

In other words, it's just extra stuff to do for those who have done everything else in the game; it's like collecting a new set of items without needing to hoard pixels ;P.

One such example of an achievement could be killing one of each Peerless boss, another might be an achievement for killing Slasher, Navrey, the sand thief guy, and Tyball(sp).
 
T

Trevelyan

Guest
Put it on steam and there will be a wave of stupids playing!

But really, I think this is a good idea. As for achievements, they just ripped off Microsoft's achievement system. So as another idea, just put UO on xbox live! You can plug a keyboard into the 360, use the gamepad for movement and Robert is your father's brother!
 
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