Dariuas - Good evening and welcome to our 26th 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!
Dariuas - They drop by to answer your questions about UO, their experiences in it, and about their own contribution to the community. Our system is similar to the UOHOC chats. All you have to do is /msg a designated question taker with your question or comment.
Dariuas - Tonights guest will be Nikademus, Curunir and Riptide, the Ex Intrest Volunteer Leads. Please note, our guests are no longer with OSI, so they do not represent their views or opinions. Now while we are waiting for questions lets listen as our guests introduce themselves.
* Nikademus waves *
Nikademus - Hi all
* Riptide waves *
Nikademus - For those of you that don't know us, don't worry, we were well hidden in the community. ;)
Nikademus - I joined the Seer program in May of 1998
Nikademus - Hrm, then quit it for a month, and came back in Feb of 1999. :)
Nikademus - Became the Ancient of Atlantic
Nikademus - and then became the Interest Coordinator for Events Programming, along with my partner in crime, Kieron
Nikademus - Who cannot be here tonight. :(
Curunir - Hello everyone
Dariuas - Hi Curunir :)
Curunir - I was the training coordinator for the Seer program. I joined the program in May of 98 along with Nikademus.
Curunir - I started leading the training program about 1 and a half years ago, and was put in the "coordinator" position about 6 months later.
Riptide - Hi, I was the Plot Role Coordinator for that past year or so, right after the UO:R fiction ended. Basically it was going to be my job to handle a lot the paperwork for the next big fiction plot, which sadly never got off the ground.
Riptide - So instead I took it upon myself to create as many lists as I could (such as new interest vol power wish lists). I've played UO since 2nd Phase of beta and have really started to get back into UO now that I have more time on my hands.
Curunir - As an added note, I was a Seer on Lake Superior until I took on the training coordinator role. At that point, I didn't have much extra time to run quests.

Dariuas - Go ahead DarkBlade
DarkBlade - Hi
Nikademus - Hiya DB
Curunir - Hello, DarkBlade
DarkBlade - I actually had a few questions, but I think this one is probably the one I'm most curious about
DarkBlade - I wanted to know what your greatest memories of the volunteer programs were
Nikademus - That's really a tough one. Three years of memories to root through.
DarkBlade - lol
DarkBlade - I know how you feel...Can't remember everything =)
Nikademus - As far as in-game memories, probably arranging the town councils on Atlantic to meet with Lord British
DarkBlade - You mean like MTC?
Nikademus - Aye, Yew, Trinsic, Britain, Rivendell, and a few others
Nikademus - There's an article buried on BNN somewhere about it
DarkBlade - Wow...Didn't realize there were that many...I only know about Rivendell and MTC =P
* Dariuas casts Haste on Nikademus *
DarkBlade - lol
Nikademus - The players were so excited, it was fun to watch
DarkBlade - Dar, always trying to move along the thing...Seems we're going over the time limit =P
DarkBlade - So thanks =)
Curunir - I'm in the same boat as Nika... I can't remember one particular thing that stands out
Curunir - but I remember a lot of quests that were a lot of fun...
DarkBlade - Probably the greatest thing the volunteer programs brought into UO
DarkBlade - But that's just my opinion
Curunir - I think everyone had a great time when everyone could get really involved in a quest.
Curunir - I think it seemed the most fun when a player would do something unexpected that we had to react to
Riptide - I think one of my fondest memories was that of the fall of Trinsic. It was really cool to see so many players work together to defeat the forces of Minax. Really, anytime a player said, "Wow" or "that was so cool" was really great! :) Oh and laying seige to Cove as Kaltar was a blast.
DarkBlade - lol
Nikademus - As you can see, Riptide is more organized that Cur and I. :)
DarkBlade - I loved that quest =)
* Gilthas did too..even though he died a lot. *
DarkBlade - lol
Riptide - I think for a lot of people it was a highlight of their UO lives :)
DarkBlade - I remember getting downed by some dragon in the middle of Trinsic
DarkBlade - Wasn't that fun =/
DarkBlade - 1 hit kill fireballs are yucky
Riptide - those are never fun
Gilthas - I was away for the few final battles. *sniff*
DarkBlade - So anyway, thanks for the answers =)
Nikademus - Anytime
Riptide - welcome!

Gilthas - Well DB, you're still up. Heh.
DarkBlade - Neato
DarkBlade - I get to ask my other one?
Dariuas - yea
DarkBlade - !
DarkBlade - Ok, well my other question was what do you plan to do now that the programs have been dissolved
Gilthas - No it wasn't. =D
Gilthas - The one about joining the programs, I believe.
Nikademus - Ah, well right now I'm not playing UO. The closing of the programs ironically coincided with the birth of my son, so I thank OSI for giving me more time to spend with him. :)
DarkBlade - Actually that was in the first message I asked, but the one he's referring to is what drove you guys to join the programs?
Gilthas - Bleh.
DarkBlade - Look at the message, and see if you can't find it =)
DarkBlade - So feel free to answer either of those
DarkBlade - lol
Nikademus - as for what drove me to join the program, I petitioned to join the smurfs, and got a Seer app. :)
Nikademus - I was in a guild that ran a large player-run event on Atlantic, and OSI noticed us
Nikademus - Most of the guild made the Seer program
DarkBlade - Wow
DarkBlade - That's really cool =)
Nikademus - Aye, they were(and are) some of the most creative people I know
DarkBlade - May I ask what guild it was?
Curunir - I've actually left UO once the interest program was ended. Unfortunately, work has taken up a lot of my time, so I don't have enough spare time to get into UO.
Curunir - :(
Nikademus - It was before guildstones, called the Circle of Sages. Only about 10 people.
DarkBlade - Ah
DarkBlade - Curunir, be proud of yourself! UO is like crack, and it keeps people coming back. Congratulations for beating it! =P
Curunir - I also started in the Counselor program, and then moved into the Seer program. At the time, they only pulled from the counselor pool for Seers, except on rare occasions
* Nikademus was one of those rare occassions *
Curunir - the next time they decided to recruit for the program, they decided to put out an application to the public to find people.
Curunir - The original counselors had to use that same application, they just decided to move outside the vol programs to find people aftewards.
Riptide - I plan on plan on getting back into UO. I've had lots of fun with the orc senerio that Cal, Augur, and Gromm cooked up. As for why I joined up... the elder program was just starting up and I really liked the idea of helping shape a new program. Before that I was a counselor. What you may or may not know, one of the reasons the elders lost their black robes was because it was felt they made us look too "evil". ;)
* Riptide thought he would throw that last bit of trvia in there *

Dariuas - Your up Jhesi[DW]-
* Gilthas was a day away from recieving a Seer app in his mailbox. *sniff* *
Jhesi[DW]- - Yay me!
* Jhesi[DW]- curtseys to nika *
Jhesi[DW]- - Okay for all 3 of you
* Nikademus grins *
Jhesi[DW]- - What were some quest ideas (I want at least 2 from each of you:P) that you each uniquely though of; but that never took place; but you think would have been great?
Curunir - Hmm... You may not like my answers then, because I'm not sure I can remember any specifics :)
Curunir - Many times, though, I would come up with ideas that seemed fun in theory, but once you tried planning out the event, it would likely cause problems
Curunir - For example, you may want to have a thief in the quest, but stealing from players isn't the greatest of ideas :)
Jhesi[DW]- - mmm but you must have had your own ideas that you never saw take place
Curunir - Or even doing an event where there wasn't a "right" answer
Curunir - and players could choose which person they wanted to side with.... but starting a masacre isn't the best quest idea either
Jhesi[DW]- - so you'd have liked a thief quest, and a massacre quest ?
Curunir - Well.. the idea wasn't to have a masacre
Curunir - It was to make the quest ambiguous...
Curunir - where people may choose different sides for different reasons
Jhesi[DW]- - how so?
Jhesi[DW]- - like chaos/order but in rp ?
Curunir - Where each quest character is justified in their own actions, and its up to players to decide who was in the right
Curunir - but fear of players attacking each other usually kept those types of quests from happening
Riptide - One idea I was working on, but never finished, was that of a mage in moonglow experimenting with moongates. In the process something goes wrong, causing rifts to open up all over moonglow. The players would have had to figure out how to close the rifts before Moonglow got swallowed hole. This was before moonstones and the various other stories which have popped up about moongates.
Riptide - so at the time it was orginal, or so I think :)
Jhesi[DW]- - wow
Jhesi[DW]- - that would have been big
Jhesi[DW]- - (and good)
Riptide - yah, it would have been big :)
Nikademus - Mine have all been a comedy of bad timing. It took me over a year to get my RPC approved, and by that time I started doing more and more setups and admin stuff. Plus I always wanted to do a plot that Kieron gave me to run when he was still in the smurfs, but we never found the time.
Jhesi[DW]- - and another? :P
Jhesi[DW]- - comedy of bad timing?
Jhesi[DW]- - like sub stealing your staff at a pvp tourney?
Jhesi[DW]- - (:
* Nikademus chuckles *
Nikademus - That's just typical Seer-player interaction
* Nikademus winks *

Dariuas - Go ahead Gilthas
Gilthas - Whoo hoo!
Gilthas - Any real blunders during quests you'd like people to forget? Like accidently popping up at the wrong time (happened on Pacific, apparently they were rather upset aftwards)
Curunir - Yea, I think I got one of those... I suppose I can embarass myself...
Gilthas - Go for it. =}
Curunir - This was during the seige of Trinsic. I was playing Juo'nar.
Curunir - Usually, I'll follow around groups of players, and sort of keep tabs on them. That way, we could keep spawns localized around groups instead of randomly dropping everywhere.
Curunir - It makes it a little more interesting then just happening upon a zombie..
Curunir - at the time my fingers were moving faster than my brain, and instead of going to the player, I dragged her into hte middle of a spawn, where she died because she wasn't at her computer. :/
Gilthas - Ack!
Curunir - I just saw a ghost that said "wtf?!? hello???"
Riptide - Curunir freaked out ;)
Curunir - Fortunately for me, she was very understanding. I got all of her stuff back with help from Riptide, and after explaining the situation to her, she thought it was more funny than something to be angry about...
Gilthas - I had an instance like that. I was used as a human recall rune by a Seer from my shard. Teleported me half way around the contenent.
Curunir - Yes, I did :)
Gilthas - One minute, I was near Trinsic, the next I was in front of a tavern near Cove. *shrugs*
Curunir - I think that is the only thing I ever wished didn't happen, while I was in the program
Gilthas - *continent* - Sorry.
Nikademus - Seers and Elders were constantly mistyping commands, which always made for amusing moments. For me though, the funniest moment happened during the Trinsic battles.
Nikademus - One of our duties as Coordinators was to police the volunteers, to make sure they weren't going rogue and slaying newbies in Haven, etc.
Gilthas - Haven..? Pre UO:R...?
Nikademus - just an example. :)
Gilthas - Ah.
Nikademus - Well, one night I get all sorts of PMs in IRC from the vols on Atlantic, saying some demon was in front of Trinsic spawning monsters and attacking players
Nikademus - and apparently none of the Seer were doing it
Nikademus - So I logged in and tried to contact the demon
Nikademus - They weren't responding, so I jailed him
Nikademus - Called in the GMs and IGMs, to see what was going on
Nikademus - Turns out it was the head of the department, starting the next phase of the plot. He was playing one of the demon generals, Anmac. :(
Nikademus - er, :)
Nikademus - So my first jailing of a person turned out to be my boss. :)
Gilthas - Aww, no Riptide?
Riptide - I'm perfect :)
Gilthas - Of course.
* Nikademus thumps Rip around a lot with a heavy war mace *
Riptide - puch!
Riptide - er ouch too

Dariuas - Go ahead Kar-SP
Kar-SP - Hello. After having had the chance to review the quests which you all helped run and maintain, what areas of what quests would you have changed if you were able to and why? Thanks
Riptide - I don't have any specific quest, but I think in almost all of them I would have liked to have been able to reach the players better. It's extremely hard sometimes to get the players to realize that there are quests going on all around them.
Kar-SP - So you think the town criers and such didnt work?
Riptide - which is a real shame, because then players think that the interest team is lazy
Riptide - well town criers only reach a limited number of people
Nikademus - Trying to find the balance between too many players(laggy) and being able to reach as many as possible is hard
Riptide - most people don't spend any more time in town then they have to ;)
Riptide - plus reds can't go into towns
Kar-SP - Could you not do *system* messages?
Riptide - read NIka's comment ;)
Riptide - if we did that, we would get way too many players
Kar-SP - Ahhh, then the whole shard would flock there I bet
Nikademus - No, we didn't have access to that,
Riptide - and no one would have any fun
Nikademus - plus what Rip said. :)
Kar-SP - So there is nothing about the trinsic quest you would have changed?
Kar-SP - the ending, the green mummies & liches?
Riptide - well no quest is every perfect, but nothing I have time to get into
Riptide - sorry

Dariuas - Go ahead Lord-Xanthor
Lord-Xanthor - Were there any hard feeling between Gm's and Volenteers or was it more like they had no choice in the matter either? Id hate for them to take blame for what they had no contoll over.
Nikademus - You mean over the closing of the programs?
Lord-Xanthor - yes
Nikademus - Absolutely not.
Lord-Xanthor - after the closing, you still keep in contact, and keep the friendships.?
Nikademus - I have nothing but respect for Augur, Gromm, and Talos.
Nikademus - I still consider them friends
Nikademus - I didn't work long enough with Cal to develop that relationship, so I can't honestly say that about him.
Nikademus - Plus I still talk to Eidolon, and fiasco (without who the program never would have gone so far)
Curunir - I think Nika speaks for all of us. I haven't heard any of the volunteers say anything bad about the IGMs we've worked with.

Dariuas - Go ahead Littlefoot-West
Nikademus - Honestly the IGMs were usually under-staffed and worked extra hours just to do what they could for us
Littlefoot-West - First and foremost as a former Counselor I would like to say I am sorry to see the Interest program be canceled... First question I have is does OSI have a webpage where info on long past quests can be looked up according to shard or would I have to just look through player run archive sites?
Curunir - I'm not aware of any sites that OSI has with that sort of material. The only ones I know of are all player-run sites
Nikademus - The best locations are probably BNN and Stratics Secrets
Riptide - You might try asking on the UO boards
Nikademus - http://uo.stratics.com/secrets
Curunir - CoB has some information as well.
Littlefoot-West - okie...thanx for all ye time you are spending tonight and have spent in the program...
Littlefoot-West - have a nice night
* Nikademus smiles *
Riptide - One thing I just want to say is that we loved going quests for you guys. One of the greatest joys is seeing players talk about a quest we ran
Riptide - or see the articals they send to the various news sites
Riptide - if you guys really like a quest
Riptide - the very best way to let the people running the quest know is send stories
Riptide - to the various news sites
Riptide - its the best thank you that you could ever give us :)
Riptide - Cal, Augur, and Gromm I think have been doing a fantastic job lately
Riptide - with the orc stuff
* Gilthas agrees. *
Riptide - if you really enjoy it, let them know!
Riptide - Send those stories in to be posted! :)
Riptide - Thanks
Nikademus - I think most of the Interest Volunteers were in it to see the players enjoy themselves. I know I basically stopped playing because I wanted to be in robe form and visible as much as possible, because of all the "I never see Seers" post that are everywhere.
Nikademus - We're glad to have made it more enjoyable for you.
Nikademus - As for the new fiction, add to it! Make up your own events around what's going on. Spin your own tales

Dariuas - 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 on http://uohoc.stratics.com.
Dariuas - 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.
Nikademus - Thanks for letting us do what we could!
* Nikademus waves *
Dariuas - Please email [email protected] or [email protected] with suggestions for future guests or topics Thank you all and Good Night =)
* Curunir waves *
Gilthas - Thanks for coming!