Interesting read...thanks!

Nice interview. But was the last question just a jab in the ribs for a yuk, or is there some serious truthfulness to that? (or were you merely alluding to UXO?)

I was fishing, and they "no commented" me. It wasn't meant to be snarky, just a throwback to the good ole days.

Good interview. I was looking at picking up the anniversary box this month, too.



Classic.

As far as “phat lewtâ€￾ vs. “virtual worldâ€￾ goes, the balance has been steady tipping in one direction literally from the very first year. They have steadily and consistently added items and contents and gizmos and widgets to the game year after year. They have tinkered with skills and templates plenty, which has required individuals to make and re-make characters often from scratch in order to remain at the top of the game.

Meanwhile, largely as a response against grief play, ever since the reputation patch they have build barriers into the game making it progressively more possible to make sure someone else does not interact with you should you not wish it. Things have gotten to the point that it requires considerable effort to actually get together and interact freely as a community. To do this you practically have to fight the game. The only tool that OSI has given us to use in doing this is guildstones, which for all practical purposes are unchanged since June of 1998. Oh, and by the way, some of their essential features are broke, and have been for years.

As things stand now, it is easy to add to the “phat lewtâ€￾ side of the equation. Introduce a new monster, a new item, a new template, and we all have one more rung to climb on our achievement ladder. But if they want to add even an ounce to the “virtual worldâ€￾ side of the equation, there are really going to have to go back and start at about June of 1998, and upgrade the guild and community tools from there.

Bring back cannibalism beeeyotch!

Otherwise known as leg jerky! Mmmm...

Too many players are convinced that "phat lewtz" and rehued monsters are what constitutes the "game" portion of a MMOG.

You can't underestimate the Diablo/Final Fantasy influence on that mindset. Of course, that mindset is used to playing alone or cooperatively, cheating like crazy, and never losing anything....and turns those titles into hits that sell millions of copies.

(Hey, wait a second....)

Simply a matter of suits whoring for cash and marketshare.

Bring the noise.
Cheers..............

Was sunsword the guy that masterminded the dex monkey? I can't remember the guy's name who ushered in that era. Hated that guy. Has necromancy gone live yet?

Necromancy went in with the Age of Shadows expansion.

It's pretty much just "a new magery", though.

Sunsword is most famous for his "It's not a mirror" quote back before UO:R was released and people were asking about Trammel. The poor guy has apologized for it repeatedly since then but it's not something he's ever likely to live down.

Heh. I didn't even mind that it was a mirror as such. But that was classic.

Ever since he printed those words, I've had this image of Arnold Schwartzenegger saying, "It's not a mirror," in my mind, intonated in the same way he said, "It's not a tumor," from Kindergarten Cop (which I saw on an airplane in case you're wondering why I watched that movie).

I can’t pretend to understand the business side of this but when someone with no I.T skills or experience can up a shard with this ‘code’ on in less than a day (As many people have done) this argument always falls flat with me.

He is correct in saying it would cater to a smaller audience but why would it require any further work? The point of the shard is that it would not be developed any further it would be a snap shot of a time period requiring no further work! I would also suspect it would not be manned by GM teams either so staffing would be no issue.

If they were very smart they would even release a box for where new accounts monthly fees are slightly higher to reflect a smaller target audience. This way they make cash out of a box and higher subscription rates (make it a download only install and save cash on distribution if necessary).

Anyhooo Not to worry. I won’t subscribe until they up a shard like this and I am sure a few thousand other people feel the same (Assuming all those on player run shards would resub). It is like a beggar turning down a wad of cash, fuck um.

Wow i'm surprised he didn't talk about the ever so quiet project X. Which is running around EA is that the new client for the 3D engine is the U2 engine used in UXO. There is also speculation of delaying UXO till like 2006 so they can merge it as an Ultima Online upgrade expansion with a new world added to it that was through the EA grapvine though. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I wouldn't ignore the PR side of it entirely. If they put up the classic shard and it became wildly popular, that would kind of imply that the last 5 years or so of UO's development were a series of horrific mistakes.

Not to mention that it's hard to come up with a ruleset everyone can agree upon...with/without precast, with/without insta-hit, with/without horse stamina, with/without special attacks, etc. Then it's a logistics issue about what positive changes you include after 1998, and how you develop the shard for the future.

Bring the noise.
Cheers..............

Let's use proper analogies here. EA would have to create the same number of classic shards as they currently have regular shards, and then have more players choose and stick with the classic shards in order to imply that the last several years of development were a horrible mistake. Success of a single shard proves little.

Sure, I certain that there have been a couple of cases where a single guy with little IT experience has set up a shard with available tools. But that is worlds away from what is being asked of EA when people request a classic shard. What they want is a classic shard, set up on modern robust business class servers designed to handle large loads of people, with reliabe backups and uptime, ample competent and informed support staff, and GM support to deal with player issues and bugs when they come up. They also are going to want a big fat internet pipe plugged into it. That is a hefty chunk of hardware costs and personell costs to dedicate to a niche of your market.

IPY offers a fairly good study in this very sort of problem. Many of the worst problems that occurred with that server could be traced back the the fact that the IPY guys couldn't manage the project on their own. They were forced to rely on people outside of their group to provide assistance in running and hosting the shard, and several of those people proved completely unreliable.

Shoddy code used to create half-completed expansions that are abandoned months after release so work can begin on the next big incomplete expansion is worth every tiny penny of $9.95 a month.

Once the price hit 'market levels', you are subject to 'market standards' and you didn't do it. I closed my accounts. Bring back $9.95 a month or bring up the quality. Finish all the broken features, complete all the incomplete expansions, and stop making new releases until that all is done.
THEN....MAYBE.... I'll come back.