Free Shard Developers, what motivates you to develop and operate a shard?

[Yukiko]

This is for any shard developer no matter what emulator you use. I assume because it is posted on the POL forums, if I get any response, it will be mostly POL shard developers but the question is open to RunUO, ServUO, Sphere, or any emulator.

From the list below, in order of importance please list the things that keep you motivated in developing your shard:

1. I like building the map.
2. I like making buildings and decorating the world.
3. I enjoy writing code.
4. I like running quests.
5. I like having players playing on my shard.
6. I enjoy finding and fixing bugs in the code (Yes, there are people who derive great pleasure in this.)
7. I like being the "god" in charge of a world.
8. I have a reason you did not list. (Please specify your unique reason.)

Remember to list all that apply to you, in the order of importance.

Thank you, in advance, for your participation.

[Kloede]

5. I like having players playing on my shard.
1. I like building the map.
2. I like making buildings and decorating the world.
3. I enjoy writing code.
4. I like running quests.
6. I enjoy finding and fixing bugs in the code (Yes, there are people who derive great pleasure in this.)
7. I like being the "god" in charge of a world.

Would be my order.

[Pumpkins]

1. I always wanted to have a fully functional and bug free ZuluHotel distro.
2. I enjoy writing code.
I started my project as the graphic guy and ended now being the scripter. I rly enjoy scripting in escript, still have a lot to learn.
3. I enjoy finding and fixing bugs in the code.
90% of the time is me reading old scripts made 20 years ago or scripts made by horrible scripters. I still enjoy trying to understand what they wanted to achieve, why it is not working and then rework the code.
4. I like building the map.
I lost countless hours editing my map and other files.
5. I like having players playing on my shard.
6. I like making buildings and decorating the world.
7. I like running quests.
9. I like being the "god" in charge of a world.

[ThisIsMe]

3. I enjoy writing code.

Ultimately I think this is my top position. I enjoy coming up with an idea and getting it going. Taking the virtual clean piece of paper and writing out something that does something. I like the idea of coming up with an idea I've not seen and trying to implement something within the constraints we are forced into using at times, sometimes this goes well, other times it fails in a horrific firey crash.

6. I enjoy finding and fixing bugs in the code (Yes, there are people who derive great pleasure in this.)

I like coming across bugs or bad code, (what determines bad code is sometimes as controversial as defining "Hate Speech" of course) and fixing the bug or rewriting code to be neater, tighter, better.

1. I like building the map.
2. I like making buildings and decorating the world.

These are tied, I like decorating about as much as I like world building. They go hand in hand and I enjoy looking at architecture and trying to implement some of it in ultima. My favorite being probably the most boring, Tudor style and ultima unfortunately lends itself to a similar look in game which in my case tends to mean I overly use that style in building design.

5. I like having players

Ya this is a given but unfortunately i feel like at times they're a secondary thought while I work on some blobs of code.

8. You didn't mention

I enjoy researching a basic understanding of how real world examples of a system works. Whether it's apiculture, Caseiculture or Metallurgy. Alchemy offers an interesting challenge but I have done a fair bit of research into alchemy and its symbols and recipes and measurements. Even researching cultures to base races of npcs on is something I've spent hours doing. Delving into languages fictional and non fiction for power words for custom magic systems, while tedious is something I enjoyed and spent a good amount of time on, countless hours really.

Hopefully this helps. And yes, number 6 gets me into trouble at times if you consider the fixing bad code as fixing bugs which I do, theyre sort of hand in hand in my opinion.

[kevin]

5. I like having players playing on my shard.
3. I enjoy writing code.
6. I enjoy finding and fixing bugs in the code (Yes, there are people who derive great pleasure in this.)
4. I like running quests.
1. I like building the map.
2. I like making buildings and decorating the world.
7. I like being the "god" in charge of a world.

[DevGIB]

1. I like building the map.
2. I like making buildings and decorating the world.
3. I enjoy writing code.
4. I like running quests.
5. I like having players playing on my shard.
6. I enjoy finding and fixing bugs in the code (Yes, there are people who derive great pleasure in this.)
7. I like being the "god" in charge of a world.
8. I have a reason you did not list. (Please specify your unique reason.)

3+6
5 (because 6 doesn't always happen without 5)
after that i'm not too bothered

[AsYlum]

8. I use freeshard stuff to learn new things. It is much easier when you have a goal.
3. I enjoy writing code.
5. I like having players playing on my shard.
6. I enjoy finding and fixing bugs in the code (Yes, there are people who derive great pleasure in this.)
1. I like building the map.
2. I like making buildings and decorating the world.
4. I like running quests.
7. I like being the "god" in charge of a world.

[Austin]

7

In Discord Yukiko says I must elaborate...grump.

I don't remember why I did any shard work - I just remember the reputation I was stuck with.

I didn't really enjoy the shard part - I think most my motivation was to create really flexible packages that enabled shards to share code more easily... but most people running shards were very concerned with protecting their castles.

And that's when I found more interesting things to work on.. like liver failure and so I left POL development.

[MuadDib]

3. I enjoy writing code.
Always the top option for me with most things. Taking a challenge and overcoming any obstacles.

6. I enjoy finding and fixing bugs in the code (Yes, there are people who derive great pleasure in this.)
Always. Love the challenges.

5. I like having players playing on my shard.
I got into this side after starting to help out and eventually taking over on IcronticShard when Ego left.

[*Edwards]

I used to love learning to code coupled with a passion for the zuluhotel world I used to play on . Yet, at the end of the days, it was for "my" players.

Cheers all

Note: Austin made a good point. I remember some very, very old posts on our yahoo channel arguing about going open source. At the time, it wasn't common to see open world projects. I still believe today it helped POL by a LOT to open the core files, and for the distro devs, to share their worlds.

[Yukiko]

When I logged in to the forums the other day and saw this topic marked as unread, I clicked on it and scrolled to the latest post, which was at the time MuadDib's post. I read what he said and then scrolled back to the original post (OP). I had not yet noted who started the topic. After reading the OP I wondered who started this thread. Then I looked and saw it was me! I must be getting old, for I had forgotten about it.

I also realized I had never posted my reasons for running a free UO server. I had intended to but I did not want to influence anyone else's thinking. So, here are my reasons:
3. I enjoy writing code.
5. I like having players playing on my shard.
6. I enjoy finding and fixing bugs in the code (Yes, there are people who derive great pleasure in this.)
8. I have a reason you did not list. I started my shard, Hope Lives, because I enjoyed playing on a now-defunct shard, Journey's End (JE), and I made some acquaintances there. The owner of JE had some argument with someone about the server and literally pulled the plug from the wall. So we needed someplace to play and that is why I started my server.

As to the reasons I left out:
1. Map building is a pain.
2. I am not an artist or an architect. So making buildings and decorating is out.
4. My imagination for creating quests is very limited. My idea of a quest is "Go kill 12 trolls and bring me their heads."
7. I DO NOT want to be the god in charge of a world. I see how much trouble the true God has with this world and I don't need that headache.

Thanks to everyone who has responded so far. It's a little late in coming.
Hopefully, some more folks will add their input.

[plu6h]

7. I like being the "god" in charge of a world. (just kidding! xD)
5. I like having players playing on my shard and providing a unique and fun experience.
1. I like building the map.
2. I like making buildings and decorating the world.
3. I enjoy writing code.
8. I have a reason you did not list: (trying new language features)
4. I like running quests.
6. I don't enjoy finding and fixing bugs in the code