Gallahan - Good evening and welcome to tonight's Ultima Online House of Commons Chat! Tonight's discussion will focus on UO's Event Staff.
Gallahan - To as a question /msg or /query [QT]GD or [QT]Nadia

Sannio - My name is Sannio, and I'm in the Community Relations group for Origin Systems.
kieron - Howdy everyone, I'm kieron (the lower case "k" is intentional) and I'm the Lead Event Moderator for the EM program.
GM_Zilo - I am Zilo. You can call me GM Zilo. I do behind the scenes things for the EM program.
Glamdring - I'm Glamdring (duh). I'm the EM for the Lake Superior shard
Nikademus - Hi all. I'm Nikademus, Atlantic's Event Moderator
* Nikademus waves *
Masara - Hullo, Folks Im Masara the muse(EM) of Sonoma :)
Jyrra - Greetings, my name is Jyrra and I am the Event Moderator of the Pacific Shard.
Arilem - Hi all, I'm Arilem, the Event Moderator for the Europa shard :)
Sienna - Morning all! I'm Sienna, Oceania's EM. (And yes I am Australian)
Tiberias - Hello all. I'm EM Tiberias from Legends.
EM_Ariadne - Hi! I'm the EM for Siege, and yes I do play there. :D

Gallahan - Just a quick note: Please don't send questions to the deveopers or myself as these will be ignored
Gallahan - All questions should be directed via /msg or /query to [QT]GD or [QT]Nadia
Gallahan - Thanks!

Gallahan - *[DJ]psycho* There have been a countless number of people spamming at events, why dont GMs take action and Jail those? its a few people destroying for all people. (usually the same ones, Ive noticed)
kieron - Jail is one of the last resorts for dealing with a player harassing during events. We are increasing our efforts to take some of the event disruptors out of the area, and are working on new tools and procedures to deal with the spammers.

[QT]Nadia - <perianwyr> Will EMs be given latitude to do more small scale quests, in the style of old Seers?
Nikademus - Not during this evaluation period of the EM program. If the program is extended, things will be re-evaluated
kieron - Here's a little bit about the program that is moving behind the scenes. The EM program is under a 24 event trial period. When the trial period is over, the program will be evaluated for extension.

Gallahan - <[DJ]psycho> Howcome events dont focus more on Order/Chaos guards? they still means alot to the history of UO.
Sannio - The Order/Chaos confrontation is classic Ultima, for sure. But while there's a lot of fictional elements that we *can* put into the storyline, we're trying hard to stay focused.
Sannio - Staying focused helps the storyline seem more cohesive, which can also help the EMs job. In other words, there's only so much story you can tell within a given period, and keeping things simpler helps everyone understand what's going on and helps the EMs deliver a higher quality event.
Sannio - So, for now, there won't be an event devoted stricktly to Order/Chaos, but it's something great to put on the "past the test period" wish list.

Gallahan - <Valador_dinner> is there a way to know when a event will take place on our shard so we can plan on being there?
kieron - The best way to find out about events is simply to be in-game and check the town criers at the banks. We are having to maintain a difficult balance between event announcement, player attendance and the lag created by the participants and spawn.
kieron - We are looking into ways to improve the event notification system, including a fix to town criers.

Gallahan - *Amadeius* Is there any way of reducing the insane lag experienced (on europa) during any of these events? It's great that they are held in felucca but trying to fight in the lag is next to impossible :<
GM_Zilo - Pretty much the best way to reduce the lag, is to run events with smaller crowds. Events that are announced with a System Message, draw huge crowds, whereas the Town Crier method draw more manageble attendance. A way to battle this would be to run the same event, with smaller crowds, more often.
GM_Zilo - I think you'll see in the future of the program, we'll try to run more events, with less players attending. Barring huge epic type things that are to come. Running the same event multiple times, would also allow, targetting different playtime groups.

Gallahan - *Noxin* On some shard events that have moved to Felucia have been invaded by PKs, how do you feel about this? Does it discourage running more events there or show that there is popular interest from all types of player?
* Sannio notes that Zilo means "with less players attending *per event*" *
kieron - The purpose of the EM program is to provide events for all playstyles, whether they be primarily PvP, PvM, RP'er, Pk'er, etc.
kieron - We cannot have events on facets to the exclusion of Felucca, as this would shut out the players that participate in PvP. The PvP interaction in events has proven heartening.

Gallahan - <Navarone|Questin`> Is there any exact schedule for a shard to have an event like once every two weeks, or you guys just throw it whenever you have an event?
GM_Zilo - Barring obstacles that interfere with an event, all shards get two events per week.
GM_Zilo - I try to run one earlier, and one later, to target different crowds.

Gallahan - <C_Talanithus_UOLS> What is the current status of the EM "Probation Period"? Does it look like they will be here to stay? And if so, will they be expanding their ranks in the near future?
kieron - It is too soon to tell, but things are looking favorable. As to whether the program will see expansion, that will be decided if/when a decision is made.

Gallahan - *sturmur* No question, just I came to applaude the people at OSI for their continuing support to the UO community. They honour their work, not like some companies :P
Sannio - Thanks for *your* continued support. We certainly get our share of suggestions and critiques, but it's always great when players such as yourself also share their praise for what our team has been trying to accomplish.
Sannio - I'd like to take a moment to cheer the Event Moderators, if I may. They are a very dedicated group of people, and it's great to work with them.
Sannio - While it may have been OSI who initiated the current event series, it was the EMs who brought it to life.

Gallahan - *Duke_Winter_OwE* two part question, from an RP standpoint, what race is Kalis (on pacific) and when will his office be opening?
Sannio - Thanks again, sturmur.
GM_Zilo - Kalis Sevren on Pacific is human, last I checked. And, I will take the blame for the incomplete status of the Ranger Hall. Usually when an event is cancelled for whatever reason, I have time to build/decorate. Jyrra is next in line, Lake Superior after him.

Gallahan - <Bell_of_Ygg> Is there any chance in the future that EM's can facilitate the celebration of in-game holidays, such as Nu'jelm's Festival of the Mask?
kieron - There are no plans for EM support of player events. We have strived to hold events for all play types and not show favortism to any individual, group, or playstyle.

Gallahan - .Reminder: To Ask a question /msg or /query [QT]GD or [QT]Nadia.
kieron - Also, the EMs are contractually limited to 10 hours per week and to start supporting player driven events would push us way over that time limit.

Gallahan - <C_Talanithus_UOLS> Is OSI considering ever allowing EM like powers for guilds to run their OWN events? Perhaps with the creation of environments similar to UXO's private dungeons?
Sannio - Although it's an intruiging idea, the answer at the moment would have to be "no."
Sannio - Private dungeon systems are a whole different type of game mechanic than what UO culd allow, from what I understand. But we'd need a developer here to answer that sort of question in detail.

Gallahan - *Noxin* Several high-valued items have come into play through EM run events, lately they have been toned down and made into unique items rather than overpowered ones, is this trend set to continue?
GM_Zilo - None of the items given out in the events over the last few months, are what we would consider overpowered, especially when compared to exisiting artifacts. As far as unique items, I'm going to assume you're referring to things like "Spider Silk Woven Shirt" and "Cloak of Minax". Usually there will be one *uber* item every few events, with many of the uniques given out.
GM_Zilo - As just an FYI, nearly half the items we drop, aren't recovered by looters. They sit there and decay. So check those corpses.

Gallahan - <Necro> I read the answer about Felucca being included in the events.. what will be the frequency of those 2 events per week being held in a PvPable environment?
kieron - There is not a set ratio of how many events will occur on which facet.
kieron - It is essentially the storyline which determines what facet an event will take place on. Some events need interaction with one of the evil characters, like Minax, and this requires the event to be held on Felucca.
kieron - Other events don't have any combat with an evil character, or have combat with a character that can be handled by the AI, so these events take place on facets other than Felucca.

Gallahan - <C_Talanithus_UOLS> Are there any plans to improve the EM Application so as to allow EMs to run "evil monsters" that can freely attack in Trammel/Ilsh/Malas rule-sets?
Sannio - We're actually looking into this functionality. Being able to attack and be attacked by EM-characters outside of Felucca's PvP region is something we'd like to see happen, if possible. However, it's not as trivial a change as it may seem, so we'll have to see how the research pans out.

Gallahan - <Sarlock-Longbow> Has there been any consideration given to making the course of plotlines decided by player actions? (ie: if the players beat monster X, event Y occurs, if the monster escapes, event Z occurs instead)?
GM_Zilo - Yes, it was given, and is given great consideration. When creating the fiction we debate this choice nearly every event. It has already happened to some degree in events already run. For example, some shards imprisoned Ramuz the Mage, while others just took his word for what occured in that Moonglow house.
GM_Zilo - If we were to make this an institution for every event, we would need to restructure the way the events are managed. This will be something that will most likely be addressed/resolved, should the program continue.

Gallahan - *TethranTarm* Is there going to be anything else done with the Royal Guard? Such as perhaps higher ranks that players could advance to? Or would that be too selective and/or showing favoritism?
Nikademus - Currently nothing else is planned. The Royal Guard is meant to be open to all, adding higher ranks would become selective, and yes, would lead to complaints of favoritism.
Nikademus - However, many shards, including mine, are still handing out the sashes
Masara - Mine
* Nikademus twitches when he thinks about making those sashes *

Gallahan - .Reminder: To ask questions /msg or /query [QT]Nadia or [QT]GD.
GM_Zilo - Ohh the sashes...
Sannio - By the way, we're past the halfway point with the current series of events. Since we're closing in on the end of the story arc, expect things to heat up a bit.

Gallahan - *Nighon* Thank you for supporting the Australians with an EM, we really do appreciate it. Any idea if the events will be scheduled in Australian prime time instead of at 2am?
GM_Zilo - Oceania's events should all be run around primetime now. Around 4:30am here in Texas.
* GM_Zilo sets his alarm *

Gallahan - <Samara> Can I hv Ur robe?
Nikademus - No sleep for Zilo
kieron - You could if you could pry it off my body. See, when I was given the position, OSI used this nasty glue based off of Nightmare hooves. Dang thing is starting to itch, too....
GM_Zilo - I'll give you what I type to players in game who ask me that: You must defeat Sheng Long. The robe is a template, I cannot take my robe off, it is not really a robe (proves by putting on another robe). Last time I took off my robe I did 2 years in Jail.

Gallahan - A log of this discussion will be posted on http://uohoc.stratics.com shortly!
Sannio - Thanks everyone for coming!

Gilthas - Be sure to stop by the gift shop on your way out!
Masara - It was great being here.... See you all on the flip side! Thanks for coming!

Gallahan - Feel free to pop over to #ultima-online for free discussion!
Glamdring - LS folks....you are the best players. Thanks for supporting us and the events
kieron - Thanks for attending tonight, for the questions and the support you have shown the EM program! :)
Tiberias - See you folks on Legends. Ciao!
Sannio - Don't forget to tip your wait staff!
Jyrra - Pac rulz, 'nuff said. ^_^
GM_Zilo - I wanna thank all of you for coming to the shows. (Especially the non-spammy folk) I'm grateful to the powers that I have been involved in this chapter of UO. Stay tuned to the town criers. (Best towns to watch in are Britain, Moonglow, Skara, Vesper and Haven bank)
EM_Ariadne - Thanks guys, remember Siege is the *best* shard, do not be fooled by imitations
Sienna - Thanks guys, remember that Oceania is ahead of the rest, not just in time! *hugs*
Arilem - Thanks to all the Europa players! Be on the look out for some delicious cakes coming your way in the future! :)