Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards

Halister Marner · **Site Programmer** Joined: 05 Oct 2006 Posts: 2225

What would everyone think of a UO Automap server for the RP community?

The general idea is, when an RP'er logs in, they can login to the UO Automap server and see where all other RP'ers who are also logged in to the UOAM server are.

This would make finding players rather easy, however I do need to know what everyone thinks of this idea, and how many would actually use this on a regular basis before we make a monthly financial commitment.

We would be using the services of a friend of Molly's, Viceroy (Of UORadio), his hosting site can be found here: http://www.mmoghosting.com/index.php

They also offer Teamspeak, Ventrillo and UOAM servers for guilds, alliances and other organizations. The key here is to have a host with 99% up time and support.

Let me know what you all think, and if everyone would actually use the UOAM server or not, in other words, will it end up like the chat room, or will you all login to the UOAM server regularly to increase, promote and co ordinate roleplay and other activities?
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Mairsil · Lore Master Joined: 02 Jan 2004 Posts: 1241

I can't speak for anyone else but I'd be heavily interested in it. Cear Dallben and I have been using UOAM with just the two of us and even then it is amazingly helpful/cool. I could see the potential for harm if used incorrectly, but I think if it was a general tool to see where rpers are hanging out and thats it, it would be a good thing. I'm not sure how many people in the com would use it, but I would.

A few notes:

- This could do a world of good for the solo rpers that like to walk a certain town or area (Isk comes to mind). If you could log in and see oh 'theres a couple mtc'ers in glow, and oh theres a couple U in Umbra, but hey, who's this person walking down the road by themselves..'

It could really promote random rp in random places..you wouldn't have to go to a tavern to find it *or have that mentality at least*

- We'd want to figure out a couple guide lines for it.. I.E. What happens in war situations? Would we want to make sure people were using it only when they are rping or would it be open to them if they are not?

Guide lines will also be critical to the issue of whether or not knowing a person's location is meta gaming. I'll go ahead and point out now that I don't think it is if you are just using it to find a general area and initiate random rp, but at the same time you'd want to make it clear that you can't use it to magically know where any one person is at any time.

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As for vent/team speak? Hard to say. A couple groups already have their own servers and I don't know that they would see a point in switching.

I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject when I'm less tired.

P.S.

The Chat is Bad@ss, I just rarely use it because I only check the forums for a little while each day. Uo on the other hand, I sell my soul to for hours on a nightly basis.
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Azunda · Journeyman Joined: 15 Mar 2005 Posts: 295

Morier · Adventurer Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 79

I'd use it.
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Halister Marner · **Site Programmer** Joined: 05 Oct 2006 Posts: 2225

I don't think the voice chat is feasible at this time on a community wide scale, simply because I can't monitor it, and taking care of fights or arguments would be impossible. I'm sure you all wouldn't like me yelling at you in real time as opposed to just on the forums. Wink

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Jonathan Strathmore · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:15 am Post subject:

I'd use it as well.

Cal Hurst · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:26 am Post subject:

UOAM Servers are fun. Legion had one back in the day that I ran off my old laptop.

As for Ventrilo servers, they are relatively cheap. I still operate the same one I have for about 4 years now. www.ventrilo.net

In 4 years of service, we had ONE problem with it. And the company recognized it before I could call them to inquire about it and logged into the ventrilo server and spoke to us about it. I thought that was highly commendable. They asked that I reboot the server, and the problem was fixed. I think Kuja was there for that.

EDIT:

UOAM Servers are easy to run off a home computer. That way you get direct access to the server. And it takes up virtually no bandwidth.
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Tai Kwan Leap · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:37 am Post subject:

this would be a great benefit for smaller scale groups like mine.
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Imryrr Armunn D|O · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:47 pm Post subject:

I would use it if it didn't add tmi, like name tags. Sounds like a very handy tool for finding random roleplayers when no one "seems" to be around.
Could hurt stealthers if misused, of which case, I'd say we all gang up and take turns killing the misuser just for fun.
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Dan · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:03 pm Post subject:

Yes.

This is a good thing.
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Yolen Grath · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:30 pm Post subject:

I would absolutely use it
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Teh Glouris Lrod Kujabis · Transcendent Spammer Joined: 29 Dec 2003 Posts: 5740

If anonymity is your concern, then backspace over your name before logging in UOAM Razz

Or just put a few spaces or something.

The only concern with a uoam server is metagaming. It will happen. I mean, the very definition of a uoam server to assist roleplayers find eachother is metagaming, but you know, a little bit of metagaming to FIND roleplay is just fine, but the point is that there will be a line that can be crossed, and that line will be crossed often, especially because the line is in different places for different people. If you are ready for that, then sure, get a UOAM server.

However, I would mention that everything ARPC organizes kind've fades in time... Look at tavern nights (shut up, I don't care if they are running -right now- or not, I mean the countless years that they were NOT while everyone was trying to revive them, and if someone says they were running the whole time, then they sure were dead as a doornail), the wiki that was set up recently, etc. I'm willing to bet that a few people will use it but a bunch wont, considering I ran one myself for a while off my old laptop, and that was the pattern I observed.

So all in all, 'meh', I think maybe a handful of people might find some roleplay with it, but so many more will ignore it, use it for metagaming, or use it for the worst kind of in game chat imaginable (UOAM chat goes right into your UO window, ew). Trust me, I heard many times over the years about some of the big alliances the community has had... Some of the guilds ranted constantly about a few people or a few guilds in their alliance that just rambled on and on and on and they had to turn alliance chat off. I don't think you can turn off uoam chat, but I could be wrong.

Halister Marner · **Site Programmer** Joined: 05 Oct 2006 Posts: 2225

We've got one for this month to test and see how many use it, please see the new sticky for info on how to connect and our server info.

If you need help getting it to work, post in the Support and Feedback forum, or PM me and I'll be glad to answer any questions and even walk anyone through how to connect if they need assistance.
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Halister Marner · **Site Programmer** Joined: 05 Oct 2006 Posts: 2225

I also added a walkthrough on the top of the forum for those who need to know how to connect. It should be fairly concise and easy to follow.
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Sara Delan · Sage Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 579

I'm using it right now! And I'm loving it! *Big, fake infomercial smile*