Kansado
01-30-2003, 03:11 AM
Being a devoted player to UO for a period of about five years, I've finally realized my reason behind quitting. There were several phases of playing that I went through, and I would like to explain them so that maybe those involved in sculpting this game can learn from some of my own experiences with mmorpg games.
The first phase consisted of the creation of my very first character, and diving into the economics of the game as I tried to earn money for equiptment, spells, or whatever else my character may need.
The second phase involved exploring the world of adventuring outside the boundaries of the world I had already explored, searching for creatures to slay. This lead to the development of combat based skills and a small amount of the knowledge needed for player versus player combat. This was the second phase of
After that, I had my first experience with a player killer, which eventually led to an overall understanding of the game, its economics, and combat.
After gaining a few friends, I decided to created a guild, which led to gaining more and more friends in game, as well as enemies. With a guild, came a want for purpose in the interactive world that my character lived. This is where UO failed me, and where my interests started to die. After a period of time, guild wars became simple relentless attacks between the guild members that were active at the time, be it in a dungeon, a city, or the wilderness. Battles lost their apparant purpose, and there was no real purpose for guilds to exist.
However, I still played and mastered the game for what it was. It did occupy much of my time and was very entertaining, but the lack of being able to see my own character grow and influence the world around him gave me nothing to work towards after my character had become sage-like to others around him, knowing of mostly everything there is to be discovered. It seemed to me that all the time spent building my character into what I wanted him to be was wasted, for he could not impact anyone or anything around him on a large scale.
The purpose of this post is simply to relay my experience in UO to those here that are striving to create a nurturing and exiting gaming environment for all us mmorph nerds. I beleive that a world created to be changed by the characters within it in ways that impact politics, economics, and most of all, this physical makeup of the world and those in it. After all, a quest to save Vesper from attacking trolls is no fun if no shops are destroyed that in turn need rebuilt for the business to survive, which then impacts the city taxes and economics, possibly even affecting a city far off, creating an adventure for even those far away to divulge themselves into.
The first phase consisted of the creation of my very first character, and diving into the economics of the game as I tried to earn money for equiptment, spells, or whatever else my character may need.
The second phase involved exploring the world of adventuring outside the boundaries of the world I had already explored, searching for creatures to slay. This lead to the development of combat based skills and a small amount of the knowledge needed for player versus player combat. This was the second phase of
After that, I had my first experience with a player killer, which eventually led to an overall understanding of the game, its economics, and combat.
After gaining a few friends, I decided to created a guild, which led to gaining more and more friends in game, as well as enemies. With a guild, came a want for purpose in the interactive world that my character lived. This is where UO failed me, and where my interests started to die. After a period of time, guild wars became simple relentless attacks between the guild members that were active at the time, be it in a dungeon, a city, or the wilderness. Battles lost their apparant purpose, and there was no real purpose for guilds to exist.
However, I still played and mastered the game for what it was. It did occupy much of my time and was very entertaining, but the lack of being able to see my own character grow and influence the world around him gave me nothing to work towards after my character had become sage-like to others around him, knowing of mostly everything there is to be discovered. It seemed to me that all the time spent building my character into what I wanted him to be was wasted, for he could not impact anyone or anything around him on a large scale.
The purpose of this post is simply to relay my experience in UO to those here that are striving to create a nurturing and exiting gaming environment for all us mmorph nerds. I beleive that a world created to be changed by the characters within it in ways that impact politics, economics, and most of all, this physical makeup of the world and those in it. After all, a quest to save Vesper from attacking trolls is no fun if no shops are destroyed that in turn need rebuilt for the business to survive, which then impacts the city taxes and economics, possibly even affecting a city far off, creating an adventure for even those far away to divulge themselves into.