Official Distro Shard?

[Luth]

Stuck players are rectified a stuck-script. Really, what staff would the shard need? Things run rather smoothly, at least in my experience. What are your most frequent staff-requirement experiences?

[melanius]

Like back in the day, when POL chose a flagship shard to be it's "representative", Mytharria, and then TSSE if I remember correct?

[Yukiko]

Wow!
I finally got something right!

*marks the date on the calendar*

The shard will need to have some staff but how many is the question and can you find enough to people to staff it.

[Luth]

I don't run a UO shard; I use POL for other games. So maybe I'm just ignorant, but what problems are so common that the shard requires full time staff to manage it?

[Yukiko]

Well, I was thinking that if we want to attract players it might be a good idea to have staff to actively plan InGame events such as oh maybe quests or "holiday" or seasonal events. It's just my opinion ofcourse but I think that sort of thing attracts people. I guess we could just have a typical "RunUO" type shard where newbie players get slaughtered right and left because people just log in to see how high they can get their murder count.

[Luth]

Would staff be on hand to protect said newbies against said murderers? If thats the case, why not just throw up a Trammel-only shard and save yourself having to find adequate staff?

I see how staff would be useful (planning quests, running events) but are they necessary to just run a shard?

[ncrsn]

[Yukiko]

Luth wrote:

[ncrsn]

Nice point you have there, Yukiko. Just one question: if the server would be staffed, whom would master the game? Most of us (idlers @ polserver.com) already have something of "our own" in a form of shard, I think most would like to stick in, so how could the good, active staff be gathered? How'd you do it?

Yup, there's really more than just one question.

[Yukiko]

ncrsn wrote

[Luth]

If the purpose is not to show off the shard, the culmination of a decade of work on the server core and distro package, but instead to show off the ingenuity, dedication, and most importantly, the abundant free time of the staff, then I was greatly mistaken.

To follow your analogy, a shipwright is responsible for the vessel itself; polishing the brass and chrome, as you stated. He wouldn't bother himself with choosing the right captain for the ship, or crew, or passengers, or cargo. Perhaps you see what I'm getting at.

Unlike you, I've not played on a single player run shard where the staff didn't utterly ruin the experience in the name of "fun." (Oh look, an undefeatable deamon suddenly appeared to ruin our guild training session! How fun! Whats that? A new castle for the GM's roommate? How fun!) In fact, my favourite shards were the ones that were bug-free, had all the features I'd come to expect, and left me and my cohorts to our own devices to make the game fun. I don't have a single fond memory of staff interaction, but many, spanning the years, of creating our own goals and achieving them. That was, after all, what Richard Garriott had in mind when he created this virtual world platform (note that I did not call UO a game; in the strictest sense, it is not).

Now I certainly see the virtues of creating a personalized starting quest for every player which rewards him with a rainbow steed and shiny armour of the heavens (it's done wonders for WoW), but that is not UO. (Or, at least, not the UO I played. I hear you guys have Ninjas now?) I'm all for showing off the ship for what she is, a sturdy boat in much need of a new coat of paint, but I think I disagree with your focus. If UO has become the quest-centric, instant gratification game that all other MMOs are, then I'm glad I missed it, and I withdraw my support. While I would be happy to continue contributing scripts to Distro and working on the Core, I wouldn't be caught dead playing Dungeon Master.

[Austin]

What im envisioning at this time is to upgrade that computer to have enough memory (currently only 768) to run the tech demo as it does now and the distro shard.

The distro is supposed to be similar to OSI but not exact. As it stands ive added little extra gimmicks and creative things to it just to make it a little more interesting.

[Yukiko]

Ah, well there's my blind spot I guess because I have never played on OSI shards. I've only talked to those who have played OSI. So I gather up until EA/OSI added the necromancy, paladin, spellweaving and other AOS/ML items that POL Distro features were pretty much the same as OSI, ie. no special effect ore and no potions other than the "standard" ones? Sorry for straying off topic but I was curious.

It's your computer/effort Austin. I stand by my conviction that you will need staff if for no other reason than to assist players with questions.

Oh and as far as the reference by someone about "us" having ninjas, that was an addition by EA/OSI and as far as I can recall many people ridiculed it and I refuse to script anything to do with bull-shido and ninjitsu. I guess it's time to revive that old ninjas versus pirates thread again.

[Austin]

The only reason I haven't considered elevated command levels is because I don't anticipate many (actually, if any) players regularly being on.

[Luth]

I played OSI servers up until they introduced Trammel. That killed the game. Any social structure that had come to exist (by players, mind, not by staff and game rules) was destroyed and the game died. I went over to Stratics and, yes, it appears that what I'd heard of Ninjas, and what you just mentioned of Paladins and Necromancy and all that crap is true. I'm glad I missed it.

I'm all for people adding new content to their shards. I'm even all for people staffing their shards with dozens of Seers and GMs crafting events and quests for players. And hey, if people want ninjas in their dragon-game, go for it. It's just not my cup of tea. A good mmo is one that does not require staff intervention. Maybe thats just the programmer in me talking......