Alton - Good evening and welcome to Ultima Online Celebrity Chat. UOCC is a forum wherein we bring to you celebrity guests from the UO community, ranging from website administrators, OSI personnel, counselors, seers, and even roleplayers and PKs from your own shard! They drop by to answer your questions about UO, their experiences in it, and about their own contribution to the community.
Alton - Our system is similar to the UOHOC chats. All you have to do is /msg a designated question taker with your question or comment. However, when it is your turn, rather then a moderator pasting your question in the chat, instead we set +voice to you and allow you to talk with the celebrity guest yourself!
Alton - We ask that you please keep your questions on topic. Our guests are not on the DEV team and cannot answer when necromancy is going to be released. Also, this is not a forum for debates...if a particular thread goes on we may ask you to put it off until after the chat has ended.
Alton - Our question takers tonight will be... Niobe, Tigger, Xenadragon.
Alton - Now why dont the everyone tell a little about themselves.

DenDragon - hello, my name is Ryan Findley, better known here as Den or Den Dragon
DenDragon - I've been playing UO since the last phases of Beta (I feel like I'm at an AA meeting ;)
DenDragon - I created UO Stratics back in Oct of 97 in order to provide information that I felt was too hard to find or downright unavailable
Excalibur_Bane - Hello there, I'm Excalibur Bane. A smith :)
Excalibur_Bane - I joined UO back in July of '97, and then I founded the UBB in Febuary of '98
Excalibur_Bane - I felt smiths needed representation. So I founded a guild to do just that.
Kazola - Hi, I'm Kazola, and I have been playing UO since the second phase of beta in July 97..
Kazola - I play on the Great Lakes shard primarily, and built my tavern, Kazola's Treetop Keg and Winery, near Yew, in March of 97. I have owned and operated it ever since.
Kazola - er.. 98 :)

Alton - Lets starts with the questions.
Sie_Ming - Hail all, I happen to have a question for each of you.
Excalibur_Bane - Well, to answer your question. Start small, don't overplan. Some professions don't have as much interest as smithing and mining did.
Sie_Ming - Here's the question that's an answer to...UBB has been instumental in getting smithing and mining concerns of players in front of the design team. Do you have any advice for other groups who wish to duplicate your success?
Excalibur_Bane - Sorry bout that ;)
Sie_Ming - It would be hard to find skills (non-combat) with that much interest at all. hehe
Excalibur_Bane - Agreed. Many guilds have formed however based on the ideals I used.
Excalibur_Bane - The FCB, BOW, etc.
Sie_Ming - You can add the alchemy guide to that list too (though we dicided not to be a guild)
Excalibur_Bane - Aye, as well as the Alchemists Of Sosaria.

Sie_Ming - Can I ask Kazola a question too?
Kazola - Sure :)
Sie_Ming - If the design team would implement any suggestion you would make for player run establishments, what would you ask for?
Kazola - Hrm, that is a good one...
Sie_Ming - (didn't want to make it easy for you)
Kazola - My tavern has been around now for a year and a half.. and when I first started, there was alot less support then.
Kazola - Furniture could be stolen..
Kazola - It was very hard to decorate, and the murder system allowed for alot more conflict too.
Kazola - Many of the things i wished to see have in fact been implemented.. but as for more..
Kazola - I'd like to see more decorating possibilties..
Kazola - More addons, more exterior decorating such as flowers and lights..
Sie_Ming - Perhaps the ability to decorate outside your building?
Kazola - Definitely..
Sie_Ming - oops, I type too slow (sorry)
Kazola - It would be nice to see some of the lesser used skills such as cooking be used more.. I've always wanted to be able to brew ale and wine :)
Sie_Ming - Thanks Kazola
Kazola - Sure thing :)

Sie_Ming - If there's not a back log of questions I have one for DenDragon too.
DenDragon - sure, shoot
Sie_Ming - As you look at the various UO fan site, is there something that you see missing? Any ideas for a site that you would like to see (without giving away any future plans I suppose).
DenDragon - well, we of course want to see some more stuff dedicated to UO2
DenDragon - but asides from that, I think that the UO web community is very well rounded... of course, we can always use more quality sites dedicated to specific topics--all great UO sites start as a homepage on GeoCities
DenDragon - well, in my experience at least ;)
DenDragon - out of all MM games, I do believe UO has the best web community surrounding it
Sie_Ming - I sure havn't seen anything better. Thanks for the answers everyone.
DenDragon - so, in short, I don't se anything glaring missing, but good additions are always welcome
DenDragon - Thanks Sie :)
DenDragon - now get back to work!
* XenaDragon chuckles *
DenDragon - :)

Kazola - Hi Jim :)
JimSpellhurler - Hi there
JimSpellhurler - i have a question for kazola
Kazola - Sure
JimSpellhurler - with the fishing changes and most people looking for the "bottles" what in your eyes do you see could be implamented to help its roleplaying nature?
Kazola - Hmm.. well..
Kazola - I'd like to see more action on the seas in general..
Kazola - Perhaps NPC pirates sailing around.. more interesting sea creatures..
JimSpellhurler - do you see it as a viable roleplaying character? other then a pirate?
Kazola - Well, it's certainly a profitable one, if you have the patience to become a grandmaster.. but with any skill, roleplaying requires more than just practicing a skill, it's a frame of mind too :)
JimSpellhurler - okies that was all i wanted to know thatnk you for your time :)
Kazola - Perhaps makign it possible to bring home the big fish..
Kazola - and make trophies? :)
JimSpellhurler - oo yes! :)
Kazola - Thanks Jim!

Blakheart - Hail! I have a question for Excalubur Bane
Excalibur_Bane - Evening Blakheart, shoot :)
Blakheart - How can we get UBB into napa?
Blakheart - Also, how bout a per shard price guide?
Excalibur_Bane - Well, that's a complex issue. It's a matter of interest on Napa. In the past it hasn't been all that good.
Blakheart - (and Tag sends you a cross-shard kick in the pants hehe)
Excalibur_Bane - Shardmasters were few and far between and they didn't last long because they got frustrated from lack of player involvement.
Excalibur_Bane - I knew I had that coming ;)
Blakheart - Aye. We have started new cities and guilds to gain interest
Blakheart - We will try again when stronger I guess, thank you.
Excalibur_Bane - A shard price guide is definately a possiblity.
Blakheart - aye big price differences in the shards
Blakheart - Thank you for your time!

SaintTwinsen - Whee
DenDragon - hello, Saint
SaintTwinsen - Hello the three of you, please to meet you all
DenDragon - you as well :)
SaintTwinsen - My question this night is directed towards the *infamous* DenDragon :)
SaintTwinsen - Den - Yea yea, you're famous! (Isn't it great?)
DenDragon - :D
SaintTwinsen - But before then, who were you? I recall that you played Ultima Online yourself...
DenDragon - well, I'm starting to fade into anonymity ;)
SaintTwinsen - Would you mind telling us a little bit about your history with Ultima Online, such as shard / character information, roles, etc?
DenDragon - yes, my main char was Ravensblood... brooding guy, but nice all around ;)
DenDragon - sure
DenDragon - my main shard has always been Atlantic--even though I live on the West coast, go figure--but I've also played on Pacific from time to time
DenDragon - again, Ravensblood was my main char--a spell-wielding swordsman, of course :)
DenDragon - he got deleted about 6 months ago, however
DenDragon - I'm still sad about that :P
SaintTwinsen - Why?
DenDragon - server-side glitch :(
SaintTwinsen - ooh!
DenDragon - after that, I played my other characters more--particularly Ferrin Doremes, an obnoxious fop
DenDragon - yeah :P
SaintTwinsen - How did this monster we call "Stratics" get started?
DenDragon - well, I started the "UO Statistics Site" in order to create a place where people could come to find weapon and armor stats
DenDragon - it eventually evolved into an entire network, once it got a bit more popular
DenDragon - that's the short version of the story :)
SaintTwinsen - And look where we are today...
DenDragon - yeah, it's been a snowball
DenDragon - heh
SaintTwinsen - I'm verclept
DenDragon - lol
SaintTwinsen - I must be going now, thanks for your time :)
DenDragon - I can see that
DenDragon - thank you! :)
SaintTwinsen - Alton, take away my voicebox you meanie!

AngelStorm_UOChesapeake - Hail and well met! *curtsies gracefully* I have a question for Kazola and one for Den...sorry Bane, try as I might, I can't think of anything I want to ask ye!
Kazola - Hi Angelstorm!
Kazola - I'm ready for your question :)
AngelStorm_UOChesapeake - Kaz: Any suggestions for player run communities on INCREASING participation in their endeavors?
Kazola - Ah..
Kazola - Sure..
Kazola - One of the most important things to having a successful community
Kazola - is for the owners and founders to spend a good amount of time there
Kazola - You need to greet others, and spread the word around
Kazola - People won't return to an empty place :)
Kazola - Also.. try to form a group who will be responsbile for hosting events
Kazola - These can range from simple free drinks nights, free item nights, or a quest of some sort
Kazola - Advertise alot too
Kazola - on the popular websites, such as stratics :)
DenDragon - :)
Kazola - It also helps if you make your place unique in some way
Kazola - A house with vendors is nice, but there are tons of them around
Kazola - Making a webpage where members of the community can communicate out of game is good as well :)
Kazola - I also have written a guide on my own website
AngelStorm_UOChesapeake - Seems like we are doing all the "right" things then. :o)
Kazola - which is a bit out of date, but still useful
Kazola - my website is www.kewl.com/kazolas :)
Kazola - don't ask me about the name.. hehe
AngelStorm_UOChesapeake - Thanks Kaz!
Kazola - Sure thing :)

AngelStorm_UOChesapeake - Den your next :o)
DenDragon - uh oh :)
AngelStorm_UOChesapeake - With the addition of shard news to UOSS, was there ever any consideration (or possibly under consideration now) to use the already developed sites for that portion of your news?
DenDragon - we're always open to taking on already-existing non-UOSS sites
DenDragon - we've been bringing on subsites for years now, and would love to bring onboard shard-specific sites that are of high quality
AngelStorm_UOChesapeake - Subsites meaning hosted on UOSS?
DenDragon - yes, that's Den-speak ;) sorry bout that
AngelStorm_UOChesapeake - Guess that leaves us out since we have our own purchased domain eh? :o)
DenDragon - hehe
AngelStorm_UOChesapeake - Thanks Den...I have been curious why we are "competing" :o)
DenDragon - we've worked with sites that are on their own domain--usually not a big stumbling block :)
DenDragon - no reason for that, of course ;)
DenDragon - e-mail Xena, we can start talking
DenDragon - thanks for the questions :)
AngelStorm_UOChesapeake - I'm not hard to find...and since we share reporters *grins*
DenDragon - true

Blakheart - Hail again, a question for Kazola
Kazola - Hi Blakheart
Blakheart - can you explain the requirements for having a tavern(or city) blessed? Were contests a major factor?
Kazola - Sure..
Kazola - First of all.. becoming blessed is a long process..
Kazola - It doesn't happen overnight.. and you shouldn't create a place for the sole reason of seeing it blessed.. but because you honestly want to help the community
Blakheart - aye
Kazola - Basically.. you need a popular place.. one that has been around for a good amount of time
Kazola - many places have waited several months before being approached about blessings
Kazola - From what I've heard.. once your place becomes well known..
Kazola - seers will visit, usually incognito..
Kazola - to check it out
Kazola - if they see it's doing well
Kazola - they will recommend it
Blakheart - One of the cities(Mith)is already blessed...do you see blessed cities becoming part of the no pvp zones?
Kazola - Hm,m that's a difficult question..
Kazola - I have no idea what htey plan to do.. but
Kazola - personally I wouldn't want to see it at my place.. sometimes we do have nasty attacks but overall it's part of the world, and we're used to it
Kazola - and it does help bring the community together as well :)
Blakheart - thank you! And great site for your tavern!
Kazola - Thanks!

haver - Question for DenDragon or anyone with the Stratics site:
DenDragon - hail haver
haver - Hail! :)
haver - I tried out the shard message boards, and they seem a bit...clunky...you have to click around a lot to get into and out of threads
haver - Has there been any consideration to experimenting with different board formats, such as javascript or a different CGI variant?
DenDragon - yes, we have been debating different message systems
DenDragon - overall, we feel that the UBB system provides great features and a controlled environment that fosters intelligent conversation
DenDragon - we've also kept the older WWWBoard system for more general conversation
haver - Also, the shard boards are just a tad hard to find in the left pane, perhaps I could suggest linking to them as well in shard news
* XenaDragon pounces haver *
DenDragon - that's not too shabby an idea
DenDragon - hehe
haver - whoops!!
haver - (picks himself up off the floor)
Tigger - :)
DenDragon - eventually we'd like to find a single script that has all the features that we want, but this is the closest we've come so far (the dual boards)
haver - ok, thanks. I'm done.
DenDragon - okee :)
DenDragon - thanks for the question!
DenDragon - btw, if you find any excellent board scripts, feel free to shoot the URLs to [email protected] ;)

[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - Hello there.
Excalibur_Bane - Evening Pam.
Kazola - Hi Pam
[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - I know your not all Dev, and everything.
[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - But I wondered what your all going to be doing when UO2 comes out,
[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - Will you pack up and go?
[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - or stay?
[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - Thats for all of you ;)
Kazola - Well
Kazola - I plan to definitely try out UO 2 :)
Kazola - But I also plan to be in UO for a good long while
[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - Heh, ok.
[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - Anyone else? Or are they lifeless?
Kazola - hm...
* Kazola takes pulse *
DenDragon - well, we are lifeless, but that's besides the point ;)
[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - hehe
[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - What about you then, Den. If you are alive...
Excalibur_Bane - Well, I too plan to stay with Uo. Probably to the end. I imagine I will try UO2. I'm not usre how smithing is gona work though :)
[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - Ok..
DenDragon - to be honest, I'll probably be moving onto UO2. With the death of Ravensblood I have nothing left to live for! ;)
[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - Ahh....sounds like me....banned...
[-[-[-pam-]-]-] - Allright thanks.
DenDragon - heh, thanks
* [-[-[-pam-]-]-] Waves *

Patience_Euro - Oh
Patience_Euro - Hello!
Kazola - Hi Patience :)
Patience_Euro - To follow up Blackheart's question (about being blessed) in your experience, what style of Role Play most attracts the seers? On many servers, some tavern style places have been blessed, obviously the Interest dept. notices that. But, do you think that different styles of Role Playing, and unique ideas are smiled upon?
Kazola - I think unique ideas are definitely smiled upon..
Kazola - I've seen a variety of places on GL get blessings..
Kazola - the Temple of Mondain, which was an evil roleplaying guild's keep..
Kazola - Red Devil's tower, which is a very popular auction house
Kazola - Cove Merchant's guild, a popular blacksmithing shop near Cove gates
Patience_Euro - But, for groups such as evil vs. good, would you consider it "more difficult" even if there is a great audience of people?
Kazola - Well, the key thing, is to make sure your place is open to everyone.. you can have an evil theme.. but if you go around killing all of your visitors, you won't have much of a community :)
Patience_Euro - Well...if it is In Character to make visitors give praise to the guardian, that is bad?
Kazola - I don't see how it would be..
Patience_Euro - Well, community people wouldn't survive long would they? :)
Kazola - Well.. you'dh ave to find another way to enforce it without simply killing them, I guess :) But create fiction for your place..
Kazola - make it well known for its beliefs and principes.. hold events that relate to that
Kazola - try to do less killing :)
* Patience_Euro grins *
Patience_Euro - Okay, thanks!
Kazola - Sure :)

Dewdrop - This for For Kazola and Excalibur bane. what was it like to meet Lord British.
Kazola - O..
Kazola - er.. Ok..
Kazola - It was quite an experience, and quite amusing as well..
Kazola - it was my tavern's first anniversary, and it was quite surprising to see him appear..
Kazola - of course, my ISP decides to give me problems, and I ended up "fainting" twice while he was attempting to speak to me :)
Kazola - EVeryone got a kick out of that..
Kazola - Then, later, some Chaos guild players came, and demanded Lord British to pay his taxes :)
Kazola - But overall, it was quite an honor to meet him
Kazola - Definitely one of the more memorable UO experiences i've had
Excalibur_Bane - Well, I met him last year during a festival on Serpent's Hold for smiths on Atlantic.
Excalibur_Bane - It was quite interesting. I remember for about 45 seconds or so, he was grey and non invulnerable. I missed my chance. ;)
Excalibur_Bane - He said a brief speech and then he went around and shook the hand of every smith at the festival.
Excalibur_Bane - Which weren't very many, but still I thought it was pretty nice of him to do so.
Excalibur_Bane - We talked for a few mins before he had to leave. Interesting fellow indeed. :)
Dewdrop - Thanks sounds like it was a great and alot of fun i hope i get to meet him someday.
Kazola - Thanks Dew :)

Alton - Thank you for attending tonight's UOCC. Remember, UOCC occurs every other Monday night at 7pm CST. The log of tonight's chat will be posted tomorrow on http://uohoc.stratics.com.
Alton - Please feel free to join us here in #ultima-online at any time of the week for help in game, the latest UO news, or just to chat. Have a nice evening.