It's really more than just simple greed, at least most of the time.
In short, it's that unlike single-player games, we are in effect playing our characters' daily working lives, and people work for tangible rewards, even when they like their jobs.
In an MMO fantasy game, unlike a single-player fantasy game, we are with the character(s) pretty often. In a single-player game, we are mostly with them for the extraordinary moments. A single-player game is usually some great quest. (Find the Holy Grail; Slay the Dark Lord; Free the King.)
But in UO (same could be said I suppose about any MMO, but we'll keep it UO-focused, as we're all current UO players here!) we are with the characters all the time. Our characters go out and slay evil beasts, or whatever they do, for all kinds of reasons, some of which may be purely altruistic or religious. But, at the end of the day, food needs to be put on the table, and slaying evil beasts (or whatever your characters do), regardless of what the characters' other motives might be, does the trick.
In other words: We are in UO to a very great degree most of the time playing out our characters' everyday working lives. Whether you are PKing for insurance money; doing BODs; Imbuing to sell in your shop; or, in the case of my main character Galen, finding interesting antiques to sell; you are playing your character's daily job.
UO, contrary to popular belief, does have players who go out and kill low- to middle-end monsters for reagents, a little gold, basic items, etc. I've recently had occasion to wander Britannia and I've met them. I have to say I was a little surprised, but it also made me quite hopeful about the potential future of UO. Those are causal players who play a few hours a week. They are doing the same kind of things we who play often enough that we find it necessary to post on Stratics do. They are just doing it less often and focusing on things that are easier to kill and offer appropriate rewards with comparatively less time and effort.
So when we players say we like rewards? It isn't just greed. Sure there's an element of greed in some players, including myself. But, at the end of the day, the characters have to eat and survive and prosper and pay property taxes (off-stage property taxes of course) and stuff.
There are some times where it may be appropriate to expect us to do things with no tangible reward, or at least with only glory. Or, I suppose, to battle the chance of having the world permanently changed in a negative way. (To keep Yew from being permanently infested by the Plague of Despair, for example, or to ensure Magincia has a chance in Hell of being habitable again.)
Plenty of people fought against the Blackrock Golem/Demon attack on Britain before they realized there'd be a reward. Plenty of people went to the EM events on GL before items started to be handed out again (after an incident on LS which I witnessed, no items were handed out at all for awhile and recognition was the only reward). Even now that items are handed out sometimes, plenty of people go when it's painfully obvious there won't be an item. (The odds of there being an item two weeks in a row seem to be REALLY tiny, and yet I still see the events well-attended the week after an item drop.) Some people would fight against the Virtuebane invasion without a reward, though a lot less, and I think it's wholly appropriate that there are rewards for is. (Indeed, I like the idea of there being event rewards, don't get me wrong, I'm just saying many people would still do them without rewards.)
But, I suggest that this kind of thing is best kept to events. It's really best to not pretend that every high-level encounter is an endgame, undertaken for some plot-specific endgame purpose. There's nothing wrong with a character fighting, say, Dread Horn solely for ingredients or the chance at a Crimson Cincture to sell. Or with people expecting rewards from the Doom Gauntlet or Corgul or the Scalis Enforcer. The characters have bills to pay.
As much as you might like your RL job and as much as you might genuinely want to make a contribution, you are also there because they are paying you. As with us, so it is with our characters, and that's wholly reasonable.
If, say, the Dark Fathers would, if not killed in the Gauntlet, eventually infest the mainland and run about killing people and destroying houses randomly? Then you'd likely see some people down there even without artifacts to get. But honestly, such a thing would be a tad.....lame.
Having said all this? I've always found UO's reward structures to be fairly appropriate. There's not much reason to kill, for example, lesser hiryus...Save that you can get gold from them at a very respectable rate, and they sometimes have good loot. And that's been reason enough for one of my characters of late, which has been doing quite well fighting them. Ditto for other creatures, for example Dread Spiders. I once knew a guy who got a lot of money by framing, of all things, Crystal Elementals.
I still see people killing pirates and merchants (or, because the NPC merchants don't cause karma loss, one may RP them as smugglers, as I do), and likely will for some time to come, though the drop off will probably be substantial. But sooner or later, someone will want an orc ship and there will be none for sale. And someone will want the different ales for deco- or RP purposes, and there will be none for sale. And off we go to kill pirates and smugglers.
If something you're doing isn't working out for you, stop doing it and do something else. It's a veritable guarantee that something will work out for you, in terms of tangible and intangible rewards, sooner or later.
What all this adds up to is the following.
1. It isn't all greed when people want rewards for doing things.
2. Barring events and the like, it isn't reasonable to expect people to do things without any reward.
3. Indeed under the right conditions people will do things for few rewards, and/or for no reward save recognition, accomplishment, the attainment of RP-only goals, and the like. But please don't expect it to happen all-that-often, because the characters, like RL people, have commitments to meet and bills to pay! Events and Doom Gauntlet runs serve every different purposes.
4. Despite all that, UO's reward structure is more appropriate, and does the job better, than it is often given credit for. I'd like to see some changes, but if no changes occur, I don't think we're too bad off with the present system.
-Galen's player
In short, it's that unlike single-player games, we are in effect playing our characters' daily working lives, and people work for tangible rewards, even when they like their jobs.
In an MMO fantasy game, unlike a single-player fantasy game, we are with the character(s) pretty often. In a single-player game, we are mostly with them for the extraordinary moments. A single-player game is usually some great quest. (Find the Holy Grail; Slay the Dark Lord; Free the King.)
But in UO (same could be said I suppose about any MMO, but we'll keep it UO-focused, as we're all current UO players here!) we are with the characters all the time. Our characters go out and slay evil beasts, or whatever they do, for all kinds of reasons, some of which may be purely altruistic or religious. But, at the end of the day, food needs to be put on the table, and slaying evil beasts (or whatever your characters do), regardless of what the characters' other motives might be, does the trick.
In other words: We are in UO to a very great degree most of the time playing out our characters' everyday working lives. Whether you are PKing for insurance money; doing BODs; Imbuing to sell in your shop; or, in the case of my main character Galen, finding interesting antiques to sell; you are playing your character's daily job.
UO, contrary to popular belief, does have players who go out and kill low- to middle-end monsters for reagents, a little gold, basic items, etc. I've recently had occasion to wander Britannia and I've met them. I have to say I was a little surprised, but it also made me quite hopeful about the potential future of UO. Those are causal players who play a few hours a week. They are doing the same kind of things we who play often enough that we find it necessary to post on Stratics do. They are just doing it less often and focusing on things that are easier to kill and offer appropriate rewards with comparatively less time and effort.
So when we players say we like rewards? It isn't just greed. Sure there's an element of greed in some players, including myself. But, at the end of the day, the characters have to eat and survive and prosper and pay property taxes (off-stage property taxes of course) and stuff.
There are some times where it may be appropriate to expect us to do things with no tangible reward, or at least with only glory. Or, I suppose, to battle the chance of having the world permanently changed in a negative way. (To keep Yew from being permanently infested by the Plague of Despair, for example, or to ensure Magincia has a chance in Hell of being habitable again.)
Plenty of people fought against the Blackrock Golem/Demon attack on Britain before they realized there'd be a reward. Plenty of people went to the EM events on GL before items started to be handed out again (after an incident on LS which I witnessed, no items were handed out at all for awhile and recognition was the only reward). Even now that items are handed out sometimes, plenty of people go when it's painfully obvious there won't be an item. (The odds of there being an item two weeks in a row seem to be REALLY tiny, and yet I still see the events well-attended the week after an item drop.) Some people would fight against the Virtuebane invasion without a reward, though a lot less, and I think it's wholly appropriate that there are rewards for is. (Indeed, I like the idea of there being event rewards, don't get me wrong, I'm just saying many people would still do them without rewards.)
But, I suggest that this kind of thing is best kept to events. It's really best to not pretend that every high-level encounter is an endgame, undertaken for some plot-specific endgame purpose. There's nothing wrong with a character fighting, say, Dread Horn solely for ingredients or the chance at a Crimson Cincture to sell. Or with people expecting rewards from the Doom Gauntlet or Corgul or the Scalis Enforcer. The characters have bills to pay.
As much as you might like your RL job and as much as you might genuinely want to make a contribution, you are also there because they are paying you. As with us, so it is with our characters, and that's wholly reasonable.
If, say, the Dark Fathers would, if not killed in the Gauntlet, eventually infest the mainland and run about killing people and destroying houses randomly? Then you'd likely see some people down there even without artifacts to get. But honestly, such a thing would be a tad.....lame.
Having said all this? I've always found UO's reward structures to be fairly appropriate. There's not much reason to kill, for example, lesser hiryus...Save that you can get gold from them at a very respectable rate, and they sometimes have good loot. And that's been reason enough for one of my characters of late, which has been doing quite well fighting them. Ditto for other creatures, for example Dread Spiders. I once knew a guy who got a lot of money by framing, of all things, Crystal Elementals.
I still see people killing pirates and merchants (or, because the NPC merchants don't cause karma loss, one may RP them as smugglers, as I do), and likely will for some time to come, though the drop off will probably be substantial. But sooner or later, someone will want an orc ship and there will be none for sale. And someone will want the different ales for deco- or RP purposes, and there will be none for sale. And off we go to kill pirates and smugglers.
If something you're doing isn't working out for you, stop doing it and do something else. It's a veritable guarantee that something will work out for you, in terms of tangible and intangible rewards, sooner or later.
What all this adds up to is the following.
1. It isn't all greed when people want rewards for doing things.
2. Barring events and the like, it isn't reasonable to expect people to do things without any reward.
3. Indeed under the right conditions people will do things for few rewards, and/or for no reward save recognition, accomplishment, the attainment of RP-only goals, and the like. But please don't expect it to happen all-that-often, because the characters, like RL people, have commitments to meet and bills to pay! Events and Doom Gauntlet runs serve every different purposes.
4. Despite all that, UO's reward structure is more appropriate, and does the job better, than it is often given credit for. I'd like to see some changes, but if no changes occur, I don't think we're too bad off with the present system.
-Galen's player
