what makes a good server?

[pyrosage]

Ive noticed that there are alot of shards around that have a player base of like 5 to 0, and i was wondering...why is that? Is this simply because the people who make these shards dont put time into them and just rush through to get it public? What draws players? All the new servers im seeing are just these cookie cutter, everythings the same as the one before it on the list servers. how do you go about fixing this? what can you do to draw alot of players, not gonna lie, i want a player base of about 30, id be happy with 20 even most times. At least then i can run decent events. my shard is still in development, and will be for a while. Yet i still wonder if mine will just be another of the cookie cutter shards, the same, nothing new. My apologies if this is in the wrong place, just wanted to see how everyone else felt about this. (no offense to the young shards with a 5-0 player base)

thanks,
pyro

[Lord_Greywolf]

people do not want "cookie cutter" shards - agree with that

now what draws people people to shards - that varies by each person actualy
(and the last statement is the real one - rest is more for help)

some like RP, others like PvP, others like "Monty Hall" type shards (give them everything they want), some like it easy, some like it hard, some expect to be 7x gm in 1 night
ot all varies

but i have been public now for 18 monts+ and i am not up to an average of 25-35 players on at a time with a playerbase i think of 50-60 (give or take)

but i have built it from the ground up, put in tons of time on it, scripted what I wanted in there - i think that is more important than anything, and is what makes a shard something to attact other players

Build it how you want it, not how others want it - that way you are pasionate about it, and your players can tell that

PvP only or freebie or easy shards get lots more players, but they also rotate through more players coming and going - they get tired of it fast

i admit my shard is a tough shard, and it isnot for everybody - it is D&D style based with custom class/level/race system - lots and lots of other custom stuff also
even tons of custom graphics
if i made it easier, then imigth get more players, but then i would probably loose a lot of the current ones
we beilve you get what you earn
like i said - not for everybody out there

so make it like you want it -- put the mustang spawns in the middle of the swamp if you want instead of where osi put them (exagerated there, but puts point accross), build what you want, script (or get a scripter to work for you) and make items you want
use scripts from here, but tweak them to what you want them to be

I would rather have the players i have now - that are regular and want to play here for what it is (the way i want the shard to be), than 100-200 players that just keep getting recycled and have the shard be what others want it to be

so - what does attract them - a good owner that is pasionate about his shard and players - they can tell!!!!!

[pyrosage]

thanks much man, i appreciate it, thats the kind of answer i was looking for, your right also.

thanks
pyro

[sirvent36]

Yeah, there's a lot of shards that are the same. Maybe they'll improve or build on them. Free shards sure bring in the crowds though. If some of those servers would be more creative, they'd look more appealing to players. The custom maps that some servers have are great. If one of them could create a shard that had a map Europe or the surrounding areas of the Atlantic that would be awesome. They should create different rules too, like owning housing in town. Even different guild and combat rules. But don't get to the point where it gets tacky. I like the way that UO doesn't have the level up D&D/WOW crap.

A good shard is different, creative and has good support and makes a name for itself. All this would appeal to lots players.

[nomad707]

Originally Posted by Lord_Greywolf

)


Build it how you want it, not how others want it

Shouldnt you build a shard how the players would want it? to get a bigger playerbase? that was always my theory, and worked well..

[peregost]

Main thing you’re trying to accomplish here is a dedicated group of people who will play on your shard a lot.

1. You need to create a story line for your shard to help start it out. It helps if you have a plot because it makes the players feel like they are apart of something.

2. Make it so when people create there characters that they have to make them in Moonglow, Britain, Magincia, or a player city. This will allow so there is heavy population in areas and it will likely disperse out to the other cities.

3. What I mean by player city is that makes a city on your own with its own stronghold and add it to the moongate list. This allows so people can meet each other in one spot.

4. People don’t like free shards because they have to start all over. So make gaining skill really easy. As you said 0.5 until level 90. Allow people to start 3 skills at 70 so it allows some leeway.

5. Set the mage vendors so they sell a lot of reagents all the time for CHEAP. Like 2 gold coin per reg. This will allow the mage population to get levels faster and it doesn’t affect economy at all.

6. Set so players cannot get a profit off of maps.

7. At the beginning slash staff members of there GM status only keeping 1 GM at a time to receive calls. This will allow more population and show more people playing.

8. Sell neon hair on vendors instead of given away. Sell the neon hair for 10k per dye this will allow of getting money to circulate out.

9. Get rid of super neon items. Make them rewards for quests or tournaments you have on your shard. It will add uniqueness. Everyone having neon stuff is just retarded in my opinion.

10. Make it so players can’t reach super secret places. Aka the pvp arena and stuff. Keep that stuff off limits until tournaments. If you want an arena you can make one in your player city.

11. Make it so gold drops 20% more on monsters a 3% chance to get a better item. This will add more money to the economy. Raise ship and housing prices by 5%.

12. Make it AOS custom housing. This will allow people to build there own houses which I think and everyone will agree is a great addition.

13. Have the dye tub room and all the special rooms as like a GM meeting room.

14. Make the arenas wider and have normal UO colors until tournaments of course.

15. I can’t give any opinions on pvp balancing because I don’t know yet what is being abused and what isn’t.

16. Make it so all players start with 5k gold so they have enough to get going.

17. BIG ADVANCMENT: Make it so miners gain very quickly .5 per gain and make it so ore drops more often (all types).

18. Make it so Pack Horses/Pack Llamas can carry more weight.

19. Make taming gain at .5 until level 85 where it goes by .2

20. You may want to limit the number of characters. I would put the limit at 2 but that is your choice.

21. Have blacksmith vendors pay 3% more for armor and shields.

22. Make it so vendors only need a very little amount of gold to keep them up and running.

23. Put Lord British and Lord Blackthorn in their respective castles and MAKE ORDER AND CHAOS FACTIONS.

24. As I said before make a storyline.

25. Make it so there aren’t that many houses in towns.

26. Make it so Magic resist gains by .6 and make it so you CANNOT buy or get a scroll past 105 in magic resistance.

27. This is probably bullshit but check if there is a program where u can watch how much gold is on the shard. This would make the economy perfect since u could keep not a lot of gold but not a little.

28. Make it so people cannot house hide. Make it if a player attacks another player he cannot run into a house and if he is under attack by a PLAYER he cannot ban or remove the PLAYER attacking him from the house. This is not the same for monsters. Monsters can be banned.

29. Make a veteran reward system so people do not get ethereal mounts early in the game. Make them play to earn them.

Idea for a story line:

The world is ripped apart and much divided. The factions Order, Chaos, Showdowlord, and Minax all hate each other with the Council of Mages looking over it…. Neutral. Britain is in brutal war with Chas and has to fight everyday for survival. Minax is located in the bowels of Skara Brae hiding in hidden places fighting anyone who comes in there way. But a fierce evil is apparent in the world. Dark creatures of fury and meaning have come to invade Britannia. Minax is rumored to be allied and same with the shadowlords. Which side will you choose? Who will rain supreme!?!?

But of course, everyshard is differen't and all of the above do affect the attractiveness of a server, that's just a list of a small section of what my brain was thinking at the moment.

[Tomahawk]

the best type of shard is the shard that has a good community with staff members that do not interfere with players.

also, a good shard is one where admin and players have a good relationship aswell as player input.. remember you can be the worlds best admin but its the players that make your shard what it is.

[Vhaerun]

I have to agree with LG on this. If you are creating a shard, create it how you want it. If you want skill gains to be fast, everyone starting with an ethereal mount, large amounts of gold, and lots of magical weapons/armor/etc, then make it that way.

The shard is your shard. No other player or GM has the right to tell you want to put into it. If you love your shard, you will get players that feel the same way. Other players will log on, see it's not for them, and go someplace else. You may not get 1000+ players, but if the shard isn't to your liking, you're not going to like playing on it, GMing on it, or working on it.

[Nature Boy]

Gather 100 people in a room and ask them what their favorite food is and you will get 100 differant answers. Even though half the people may have said pizza was their favorite food, you will still get 50 differant variations of favorite pizzas. This is no way to descide what you want to eat for dinner.
I recently played my first AOS enabled shard ever and it was a no skill cap, have everything in the game in a week, every script in these forums was there type shard. This was GREAT for learning the AOS system, but it grew boring in about 3 weeks. The shard had no imagination and did not reflect the shard owner in any way and it turned out, all the owner cared about was being in the ConnectUO top 10 and gave out daily rewards for voting when his staff sent [online open browser commands to vote 5 or 6 times a day.
Ive played shards where there was no originality but the deco through out the shards was stunning.
Ive played shards where the over all balance and game play was well monitered.
Ive played shards where the scriptors were outstanding and everything was a challenge.
Each and every shard Ive played, I have seen something worth mentioning or replicating myself in some shape or form.
Over all though I have to agree with Greywolf, You have to do what you feel is best. Sometimes that means giving the players a little and still keeping some for yourself. But regardless no matter what, the best shards I have ever played are where I could tell the scriptor had spent alot of time and thought on the script and put in alot of love and themselves into the scripts. Players DO see that and I think deep down, everybody likes a challenge and it shows on these cookie cutter shards when a staffer announces a quest and the players begin to drool. My personal philosophy is give them what they want, but do it in a way that you can sit back and be happy with, (one that kills LOTS of players hourly), but thats just the kind of pizza I like.

[FingersMcSteal]

A good shard Admin/Owner makes a good shard... unfortuantly i sux at it

[Nature Boy]

Originally Posted by peregost

Main thing you’re trying to accomplish here is a dedicated group of people who will play on your shard a lot.

1. You need to create a story line for your shard to help start it out. It helps if you have a plot because it makes the players feel like they are apart of something.

2. Make it so when ........blah

I didnt even get all the way through the post before I rolled my eyes. Actually I didnt get past the special hair dye thing not because it was right or wrong but because youre selling an absolute and with the tens of thousands of players there are no absolutes. Maybe this worked for you but I believe you went out of the scope of the question...way out. I dont think I ever played a damn good shard that had a story or theme, some players may like that while others, it may turn them off. I truly think the best shards arent themed or dont have "a way of". They are a balance of PvP, PVM, and RP, with a good depth to the shard thats well balanced with plenty to do over a long time span. If players cant set goals, then they get bored...for the most part...I believe
Anywhos, this precise recipe for stew may have worked for you, and made you happy with your "product", but I really dont think shard success is based on hair dyes. Like I said before, sometimes to get a wide player base (and I mean a variety of types), you have to give the players what they want BUT how you want them to get it. Making special hair dye craftable ONLY may be a better method and it gives players something else to sell which builds a player economy and those have been the best shards Ive played, ones with an active player economy and THATS what gets players together, not just cities.
Broaden your scope of the world of possibilities. Theres no one recipe for success and it deffinately shows with the variety of shards on any shard list. But success to you may be different than success to me or any other shard owner. With all things, there has to be a balance backboned with passion and who is to say what that passion is. It takes all kinds.