Ultima Online in the Land Of The Rising Sun II - Hokuto Christmas Market '08

So, I was lucky to stumble into a Christmas market. I have been to quite a few normal Japanese shard markets in the past but never to a special holiday one before! As always it amazes me how much the players participate in these markets. They are the ones who are gating to it, running shops, organizing games, doing a lot of the decoration and most importantly, being civil.

Thoughts on the upcoming EM program

I stumbled across this gem of a post while browsing through a thread on U.Hall where people were talking about what they would like to see coming from the new EM program

Events that have content and aren't just a race to kill stuff and get items. Examples of this can be seen on most of the Asian shards. They have awesome locations made by the EMs here, there, and everywhere. The locations are weaved into the events and then left up as a new part of the history of that shard. I have seen awesome docks with ponds and picnic areas, beautiful gardens with seating and paths to roam, and my favorite was a huge maze area with monster statues not in game locked down in strategic locations. I was told the last was some huge game that players were involved in and the huge multiscreen playing board was left there as a part of history. Most of these areas have gates to them from main towns and have markers and information about the event. On one shard, I even found shops that had been named as superior shops, given huge standards and benches outside of their houses and then a runebook library was erected at an event site with runes to the shops locked there by the EM. I thought that was very cool.

This kind of advancement of the history of the shard and interaction with its people is what I am looking for in an EM. Items are nice, but they are boring for 99% of the participants without more depth then kill this and hope you are one of the few lucky ones... O.K. the event is done, now leave...

Even if I didn't get one of the items, I would figure it time well spent if some killer new location or decoration of an existing location came from the events. Heck a few nice benches around WBB and a plant or two would make me smile forever more when I recalled in to do my banking.

Hunter Moon [HOT] Atlantic

This post by Hunter Moon captures what I have always felt EM events should be about. They should not merely be a shard version of a global event! Global events are great but they are IMPERSONAL. EM events have to be personal and enrich the history of the shard. Japanese seers/ems/whatever have done a fantastic job at this and it really shows in the pride their players take in their respective shards. I suspect this is due to the longevity of their program which gives their guys a real chance to get in sync with the pulse of the shard. The real challenge for an EM is not just to create a good time from their event but to do it in a way that inspires players for months and years after the said event.

Whoever we get as an EM on Atlantic, I urge that person to make a real effort to get a grip on the long and rich history of the shard. No only we have a large role player community, but we also have a rich history concerning everything from merchant malls to guilds to PvP and everything in between. Inspire the citizens of Atlantic to once again interact with each other and rebuild their communities!

Ultima Online in the Land Of The Rising Sun - Part 1

As a merchant in Ultima Online, I have had the opportunity to travel to the land of the rising sun quite often. On every single one of those visits, I have ran into examples of the best UO has to offer. Something about the Japanese culture and Ultima Online creates true magic. The community of players is still thriving there and I feel lucky to have witnessed it. The same type of culture was present in the North American shards too in the early years but somewhere along the road we lost it.

When I read about Draconi and other developers visiting Japan, I was inspired to make this post. I truly hope that they had a chance to see the unique flavor Japanese players bring to Ultima Online and figure out a way to replicate it elsewhere. Here I will try to pen some of the things that make Japanese shards unique:

1) Everyone is on foot: People tend to get off their rides and talk to you on the foot. I am not sure why but this simple act somehow makes conversations lot more personal and friendly.

2) Respect for fellow players: You would be hard-pressed to run into the kiddie behavior that is so rampant on North American shards nowadays. If you set up a nice table with books and chairs in a corner of the bank doing whatever that you need to do, you will not have to deal with people who will pick up everything and trash it. When you are done dealing with a stranger, they will bow to you. You are also far more likely to run into random acts of kindness.

3) Art everywhere: Vendor backpack art is everywhere. I have seen some amazing backpack art done by players on Japanese shards. It is a pity that I do not have any screenshots. When I tried to replicate this on Atlantic, it was bought up by people within a day every time. Eventually I just gave up on it. However, the love of art does not simply stop at backpacks. You also run into the most amazing lockdown art in houses. I have seen everything from a giant car, to robots, to a crane drinking from an open faucet (all done by using other items and locking them down strategically to make one piece). A much higher percentage of people take pride in their houses than in North American shards.

4) Player events: It is true that Japanese servers have seers/gm's that facilitate events but nothing is a success without the involvement of players. I have seen giant markets (screenshots to follow) teeming with player stands. It is like going to a carnival in real life with exciting things happening at every corner, ranging from poetry recitals, to karaoke, to dance/fashion competitions, to auctions. BTW, bagball is huge on Japanese shards and you can still run into a good game of bagball.

Japan and UO are truly a fine match and I curse myself for not being able to speak the language. I will try to write about what are the main issues faced on these shards from my perspective next time.

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The following pictures are from a shard festival. Such festivals are fairly common on Japanese servers. This one was almost done when I got there so slightly deserted. Notice how many of the tables, books, and other decorations set up by players have not been vandalized.



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No idea what they are doing standing in that line
but I have seen it often. Never had the guts to ask whats going on :P


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