Japanese Shards Tree Building Project - II

I would like to wish a Happy New Year to all the readers of UO Musings (even the whiners from U.Hall) - My New Years Eve was a grand fun, even though there were some close calls with the fireworks!

To kick off the new year, I bring to you a very special report!

As some of you might recall, I had mentioned about stumbling into a strange event named "Tree Building Project" on Hokuto few weeks ago. While checking up on the progress of that event, I stumbled into what initially seemed to be yet another one of those excellent markets that they organize on all Japanese shards. However, this did not quite feel the same way as the previous markets that I have been to. For starters, there were no signature tent shops.

I arrived in front of a giant gate with scores of people on top of it (and a horse!),




As I moved further in, I saw people enjoying knife throwing,



I decided to test my skills at throwing knives too,




I had a very lucky streak of 7 throws, and before I knew it I was transported to the top of the gate. Apparently, it acts not only as a gate but also as a podium,



I was curious about where all of the cows were coming from till I saw this statue. As Peil explains in his post on stratics, this is some sort of Year of Cow in Japan and hence, the cow statue!



Further exploration, got me to a statue of a squirrel. Double clicking the squirrel revealed a pleasant surprise,



This is what the female character reward looks like,



Enjoy! Gates are available from New Haven and Luna on all Japanese shards. I will accept one of your rewards as a tip if you wish :)

Please, I do request that you respect the culture of the shard and not act immaturely. One more request, if you are going to use my screen shots on another blog, please do link back :)

Santa by EM Tailspin of Chessy

Genius.

Meeting up with EM Kanmare of Atlantic

So, I was fortunate enough to run into EM Kanmare of Atlantic. I have been checking the counselor's guild hall in Britain (behind the Mage shop) ever since I heard the news about them this past Friday.

It was bit early in the day for Atlantic but Lady Aalia was online. I quickly informed her and she decided to do an impromptu interview. You can read more about it here. I must say that Kanmare does have an interesting sense of humor and I am looking forward to the events by her.






















The summary is that:
1) Atlantic has two lead event moderators.
2) The events will start next year.
3) For now, the EM's are doing a meet and greet. Getting to know the audience!
4) For all you PvPers out there, she does like to do at least some events in Fel with a PvP context to it.

I would fully encourage everyone to get involved in their shard's event program. It can be a lot of fun and is one of those things that makes Ultima Online different than other games (in a good way).

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!

Hokuto's Tree Growing Project

Stumbled into this today. Not really sure how it works - I am guessing it works something like a community reward thing and you have to donate things. If anyone knows more feel free to PM me :)

Event Moderators Strike Back!

Latest announcement is that EM program is making a return. I am very excited about this.

Is it just me or last few months have seen a slew of very exciting changes regarding UO?

Seer Fair '08

Last week I made a post about the on going seer fair on Izumo. Actually my rather nosy guildmate Athelas informed me of the Izumo fair.. This weekend the fair seems to have moved on to Hokuto and I was lucky enough to catch it. Here are some of the Hokuto pictures,


I took a gate from Luna...






There are three colors -
two in the tubs and one in the bascinet.


















I guess the companions
on Hokuto like Blue!
















Taking the other gates randomly
to see what else is going on.

No idea what this is







I decide to ask a friendly looking chap
(after a few bows, ofcourse)








Alas!



















































Oh look a stage.
Actually a companion popped up on-stage a split second afterwards but I was too startled to take a screenshot.






Thats it! I think I have the shots from Izumo fair on my work computer. Will upload them if I find them.