Stephen Emond Needs UO European and African Information

Stephen Emond, he of the huge “Ultima: The Ultimate Collectors Guide 2012” is on a quest to learn more about some potential European releases of Ultima Online expansions, as well as Age of Shadows in South Africa.

He posted this on Facebook:

Quest for Knowledge – European History

Over the years UO was released in MANY different countries. While the majority of them received some form of localization, others were direct imports. There are a number of European countries that EA specifically marketed various UO releases to, but information on them is lacking. The following were most likely direct imports from the UK, USA, or Asia-Pacific; but when you consider the localized Ultima releases from Greece, Czech Republic, Slovenia, etc anything is possible. What I’m looking for is confirmation on whether these releases were localized or not (and if not which region the import came from):

Third Dawn:
Norway

Lord Blackthorn’s Revenge:
Norway, Sweden, Denmark & South Africa

Age of Shadows:
South Africa

Samurai Empire:
France, Denmark, Poland & Australia

8th Age & 9th Anniversary
England

Link: Facebook

via Ultima Aiera

We are Not the Future of UO. Hell, We are Barely the Present.

So here’s the video again:

Stratics’ user Tina Small has put together a transcript that was posted on Stratics.

These are some of the things that stood out to me, and that I felt like commenting on.

I’ve already ranted about cheaters and scripters, so this will be a more positive look at the interview.

Focuses, Short-Term Plans, Long-Term Plans
Everything is focused on the 15th Anniversary for now, or rather using it as a kind of a timeline (my words). There is a focus on addressing unfinished systems, long-standing bugs, and revamping old areas. That is good!

New Players – Act like it’s the 15th Anniversary
You know a lot of people are going to show up to your party. If you give them crappy beer in the form of a shitty new user experience, you think they are going to want to come back and party with you in the future? Don’t give them Schlitz or Pabst Blue Ribbon, give them the good stuff that says you are interested in seeing them come back.

And make sure to have at least part of the high resolution artwork update available. A lot of folks are going to be looking at UO, and momma needs a new pair of shoes, or dress or something. You want them to get their foot in the door, but you better give them reasons to keep on coming through that door. 1990s graphics don’t cut it for a lot of potential players. There are people who might be interested in UO who might have still been in diapers when UO was in beta testing. They don’t get excited over the thought of playing Intellivision games and they ain’t going to get excited over UO’s 1990s artwork.

Ultima Franchise
Jeff mentions that there is “Lots of stuff going on”, not just with Ultima Online. At the start of the interview, he mentioned that his job is a lot more than just UO. I know I’m bitching, but we’ve been teased about other Ultima-related stuff for over a year now. I’ve said this before – it’s Ultima-related, and when you play something up for so long without talking specifics, people are going to start thinking that it’s just going to be typical EA – another Ultima project that goes nowhere and is canceled.

Subscriptions:
Jeff mentions subscriptions have climbed. I’m not sure what to say other than to put some money into more artists and into dedicated community relations.

Publish 75 and future publishes
Sometime this month (March). Upcoming publishes are focusing on the 15th Anniversary content-wise. Jeff discussed town loyalty, including obtaining city banners that declare who you’re loyal to.

Updating UO to “current” MMO styles
Jeff says no. I agree completely. If I want to play World of Warcraft or Rift, I will do so. UO does need to support modern computers though, namely higher resolution artwork.

Advertising
A question was asked about advertising. From a long-term UO player and MMO player point-of-view, UO is not worth advertising at this point. It needs a new website (UO.com), high resolution artwork, and a better new player experience.

I see this question come up a lot on Stratics and elsewhere. Look, UO gets plenty of free exposure from some very high profile MMORPG websites. Many people who have never played UO are aware of UO. The problem is they take one look at UO and flee in terror, or they go through the trial and are hampered by a shitty new player experience.

Merging Shards
Jeff says no plan to merge servers. I don’t know why people bring this up, it’s a ridiculous question, because you are going to destroy the community of whichever shard or shards are closed or merged. The fairest way to merge shards would be to set up a brand-new shard, and allow everybody from the shards that would be merging an equal chance at house placement, etc., on that new shard which to Jeff’s credit, he brought up.

Jeff understands how disruptive shard mergers is, but it’s a damn shame that some people don’t give a shit about their fellow UO players who are happy on their low-population shards. I would bet a large sum of UO gold that the players who push for shard mergers are not advocating their shards be closed, they probably want other shards closed and those players moved to their shard.

That leads me to this:

We are Not the Future of UO. Hell, We are Barely the Present.
You can’t continue down the road of catering to us older players while ignoring potential new players. I think it was JC the Builder who said that UO producers can never compete with real life. Players are constantly leaving UO, and we are lucky that so many are able to come back and that so many want to come back, but many will never come back. Real life issues such as children, illness, jobs, finances, all contribute to UO players leaving and never returning.

At some point, you have to decide that new players are more important than a lot of what’s going on with UO. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with trying to keep existing players around or bringing older players back, but the resources don’t seem to be there for accommodating everybody. I know that many hundreds of thousands of people have tried UO over the years and then left, but that pool of players who might come back is not as deep as we’d like to think it is.

I leave you with this thought:
We were all new players at one time. It’s time to say that you want to give a new generation of players a chance to walk in our shoes and experience UO. Right now, new players are screwed unless they find a kind soul to help them out.

UO Herald: The Yew Times – A Newspaper for Sosaria

A new feature has started up on the UO website, “The Yew Times – A Newspaper for Sosaria”, and it’s quite humorous. I’m not going to repeat the entire edition – you can find the link and a few examples below.

It is nice to see this kind of thing – it may seem like a small thing, but it’s one of those things that helps flesh out the UO world and community.

Examples – Articles:

Accidental Tourist Takes Trip to Distant Lands
The mystery of items disappearing from containers may finally be resolved. Dread Lord Popeye reported that he had been consistently experiencing missing items from his home and pinpointed the loss to an armoir on an upper floor of his tower. While further investigating, he somehow passed through the back of the armoir into a snowy landscape, where he soon encountered, in his own words “a female RPer Ice-queen and a midget in a sled” who tried to alternately bribe him with candy and intimidate him. Popeye claimed that he became suspicious of their behavior and insisted upon searching the back of the sleigh for his missing belongings, causing the “midget” to issue threats and becoming quite annoying. Lord Popeye was disappointed that it only took two flamestrikes to take out the both of them, and that his belongings were nowhere to be found. Popeye pointed out that if lightweight RPers are going to play by Fel rules, they should have at least some decent gear.

Examples – the Horoscope:

The Peddler-January
Good luck is on your side today, because you’re tapped into a sense of higher purpose… jacking up the prices on your Luna vendors.

The Mongbat-February
People will be watching you more in the following days…most often at the bank..pointing at your crappy armor.

The Phoenix-March
Remember. Others admire a person who is straightforward and genuine. Work on faking those qualities and you’ll earn tons of respect.

The Sea Dragon-April
Today is a good time to be bold and take chances. See that thing over there? Go poke it with a stick.

The Hermit-May
Try to make it a point to improve your memory skills or write things down more often. All your plants are dead.

Full Article: The Yew Times – A Newspaper for Sosaria

12 Topics That Would Make a Proper Producer’s Letter

In no particular order, the following is a list of questions I’d like to see the UO/Ultima Franchise Producer answer. To me, the following questions would provide an excellent producer’s letter, not the watered down producer’s letters that we get in reality. You know, the ones that pass through layers of bureacracy and only reveal a handful of new things that could be handled in one, and at most, two publishes.

Answers to them would provide us more of an insight to the future of UO than what we currently get.

You maybe surprised, but I’m not going to get into in-game mechanics or other aspects related directly to the game, although some of the topics below certainly tie into it. I’m trying to look at the bigger picture, and not what’s in the next publish or two.

I’m not even going to mention the high resolution artwork update. Well, I just did, but I believe it’s happening and I believe Jeff Skalski when he says it’s important to UO’s future, so I don’t have much to say, other than it sounds like they need more artists/developers to help.

#1 Community Relations
If you can request a half a dozen Event Moderators from the UO community to put in 20 hours a month, why can’t you request half a dozen UO players to put in 20 hours a month putting together stories for the UO Herald/UO.com?

If you can ask for people to run in-game events, you can ask for people to contribute to the Herald/UO.com. I would shut down this website or give it to somebody else, and gladly work on the Herald/UO.com, highlighting player resources, community news, fixing broken links, etc., and I know I’m not the only one.

Boosting community relations is one of the cheapest and most effective things a company can do for a game. Twitter, Facebook, these are tools to supplement, not replace, community relations. Third party websites are things that supplement, not replace, official community relations as well. Like it or not, it’s also a sign of how well a game is supported. Right now, UO’s community relations and website would not instill much confidence in new or returning players.

#2 BioWare’s Public Dedication to UO (or lack thereof)
If BioWare is as dedicated to UO as they claim, why haven’t we seen a new hire or two or why don’t we see more public support from BioWare for UO? It’s quite clear from where I sit that UO could use more resources. You would barely know UO exists from looking at BioWare.com. An Electronic Arts Vice President, the man who is over BioWAre and other EA labels, claimed that UO was “widely profitable”. The man who runs BioWare Mythic claims that he’s proud to be head of the studio that runs UO.

These people are in a position to do something to help UO out. If UO is “widely profitable” and if the head of BioWare Mythic is so proud of UO, then why don’t things reflect that? Why aren’t the profits being plugged back into UO to make it a better game and bring in more players? Why is UO barely even mentioned on BioWare.com?

Read more

Openings for Japanese-Speaking Event Moderators

Do you speak Japanese with at least a little bit of English, have 20 hours a month to devote to UO in a role that has nothing to do with your current accounts, and are you outgoing and creative?

If so, they are looking to add 6 players to the Japanese Event Moderator team. Details below.

Greetings everyone,

We are looking for 6 players that are creative, outgoing, and love to make events come to life on Japanese shards. These positions require you to be 18 years of age, and able to put in 20 hours a month. A small amount of English is a must to be able to communicate with the team. If you are interested in being a part of the Event Moderator team; please fill out the following application and return it to barmstrong AT ea.com.

Name:
Age:
Shard/shards you play on:
What language (s) do you speak?
Account names (no passwords please):
How long have you played UO:
Have you ever been a volunteer or worked with EA before?
What type of character do you like to play?
If you could change anything about UO what would it be?
Where do you buy bananas? (sorry couldn’t resist)
Has any of your accounts ever been suspended, if so what was the reason?
Write a short event that you would like to run on a shard, include the type of decoration and reward you would like to give.

Please remember you are not allowed to EM on the shard you play on.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Source: UO Herald