Owl's Head looks like a homeless shelter

I honestly have no problem with how people want to decorate their homes. I think that if someone wants to just fill their lot up with junk, that is their right. But, I also believe that if I lived next to the pigsty, I would like some kind of option to not have that house killing my view of the world. There should be some zoning of housing types.

As far as the radio- I don't plan on using it unless they provide a station for original game appropriate music. Hearing techno or present day music kills my immersion. If I wanted modern day music, I'd play it in Winamp. Using such technology is a slippery slope. Just because Ultima 1 has a space ship and Ultima 7 has a Kilrathi ship, does NOT mean that it has any place in a fantasy setting (Easter eggs are Easter eggs).

The day that hover-boards, cell phones, mp3 players and present day music (Official Soundtrack) infiltrate this game, is the day I leave.

If this was called Shroud of the Avatar: Martian Dreams and was labeled as Victorian fantasy, I would have no issue.

 

I sense contention over [freedom to customize property] vs. the [freedom to adventure in a themed environment]

There can be no true non-judgemental approach without silence on the matter.

The development process itself will inherently limit the choices of property owners due to software capability and design - you have simply preemptively chosen to accept that the final software product is what everyone should accept, deferring judgement to whatever end result this is.


The question should be, how strongly do people feel about the issue. If it is unknown, and there are signs that it could be a product-breaking issue - then a system of determining players preferences on this needs to be established.

This is why I suggested the "hedge watering" concept. (which has it's share of caveats which I won't get into unless this heats up)

Of course simplicity begs to be able to enable or disable the hedge for each house per-user, and not bother with a voting system. This is probably the best and easiest solution if this issue is determined via some other means to be a risk to product acceptance.

 

It seems that the team gravitates towards steam-punk late 19th century technologies, and every artist needs to have their gig so more power to them.

I'd prefer a crystal ball that emanates sound from a select music hall and periodically requires re-charging from a trained enchanter but, hey this is the world of Ultima after all isn't it.

 

Yay! player junk, everyone has a right to ruin the experience of everyone else, Longer load times with tommys 100 wardrobe lot, Abysmal framerate with Janes picture collection, Please just give us a toggle to turn player house items off, Thanks.

 

Good point, a hedge wouldn't increase video performance as the items would still be loading into ram, even if not over the network

 

This sounds a little familiar like de ja vu lol. I was walking around owlshead thinking how interesting it looked. All the little personalities at work on their hard earned homes.
Some may not be finished with the ideas only forming in their minds. Some haven't been able to afford the house for their lot (like me)

I totally don't think Shrouds should be a cookie cutter world because for one thing we are not.

I think the only place to have limits will be town owners who want a certain look.

I totally loved walking around to get a glimpse of the aliveness of the community, so much more alive from other releases. We do not want to stifle the aliveness, just embrace it.

Things will change continuously. For example:

We will be getting some type of planting ability in our yards at some point so that will change things. I see people having fun, so please carry on.

warning, warning quote to follow lol ::::: "Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful"
**cheers everyone**

 

Since there are 6 pages to this post, and I haven't had the time to read all of them, apologies if I state something which others have stated.

I was a bit disturbed by the "modern/medieval" mix - until I read Blade of the Avatar. The book did not answer the question completely, but there were hints with lots of room to fill in the blanks (likely in future books).

My own "filling in the blanks" led me to believe as follows:

- solar system with a modern planet and an early medieval planet orbiting in close proximity;

- some people from the technologically modern planet (TP) had migrated to the medieval planet (MP) (maybe the get away from it all folks; maybe the rest had a 'hands off ' attitude);

- then there is this horrible collision of either two moons or perhaps a huge asteroid with the moon - perhaps even other larger asteroids that hit the TP (no idea on that one - but something obviously destroyed the modern planet). Since moons affect the magnetism of a planet and tides and such, this could have caused massive tidal fluctuations, etc., perhaps even triggering deeper events such as earthquakes?

- what was left was the remnants - those who survived this catastrophe, trying to keep their advanced knowledge alive. But that's not all -

- fast forward to "now" [which is apparently hundreds, if not thousands, of years since the moon collision - that I *did* get from the book] when we, as "outlanders" [from the modern planet's fallen civilization?] are managing to make our way to this medieval planet. The Tesla towers and so forth are what the TP folks who were here when the collision took place were able to keep going - knowledge being passed down generation to generation. But society doesn't have the knowledge it needs to leapfrog ahead - so instead, it's stalled, indeed, slowly deteriorating as knowledge is lost or falls on uninterested ears.

And what the foregoing does is give the Devs the ability to toss in a few anachronistic items which should not fit in a medieval world. This allows them to appeal to those Steampunk fans out there. And besides, it can be fun - *if* it's not overdone. I agree that if they add lasers, I would be very disappointed (I did see that post). But I don't think they will take it that far.

BTW, I'm not thrilled with the automatons for the same reason, even though I 'get one' in my pledge package. I am considering putting it in a box or something and not using it because I find it anachronistic - or perhaps, as an "outlander" I might be able to justify in my mind keeping it. I would think that the original inhabitants of the MP would be/should be terrified of the automatons, however.

I was not comfortable in UO when they introduced the ghastly mechanical monsters - for the same reason. Here, at least, they have put in the "back-story" for it. I know that as a medievalist (I'm a member of the SCA), I would prefer it if these things were not in the game. But I also know that I'm in a small minority and I understand that for promotional reasons, they need to appeal to a larger audience. So that is the trade off as I see it. And with RG involved, at least all of the medieval stuff is blessedly accurate! For that reason, alone, I would put up with the anachronistic elements the game has.

 

Theoretically, if you hate the look of someone's house, then it should not be too difficult to tell the game that on your PC you want a substitute generic timber cottage permanently rendered in its place. Of course, if you enter that property then the game will have to switch to what is actually there, but that is not likely to happen very often. Doing that would not affect anyone else, and would make the game experience more pleasant. It could potentially make the scene load faster, too.

 

Or you could say that your not interested in any player on multiplayer as there is a danger you might see or hear something that you don't like......why risk it?....just stick to single player offline.

To me, censoring what people do or see in multiplayer results in the movement away from a sandbox....that surely is taking the game in the wrong direction.

 

Possibly, but seeing rows of identical buildings surrounded by immersion breaking "decorations" is not good for role players, or anyone with a sense of aesthetics.
I'm sure there are better solutions, but in my view a solution of some sort is required. The one that I suggested has the advantage of not being visible to any other players, and therefore not affecting their game in any way.
(Unless they have an on-site vendor set up, in which case maybe they should pay more attention to presentation.)

 

Sounds like a player run town is a place for you.

 

Once again your reaction is to say play offline if you don't like it.....not much of a solution.

 

I don't see a solution because I don't really see the problem. If you play an open sandbox mmo then you have to accept other people, that includes the way they act, what they say and in terms of housing....their taste.

There will be plenty of PoTs that will restrict the design etc, other than that I would imagine it is either you live with it or play offline. I would be amazed if valuable resource was used up making clunky work-arounds in the same way I would be amazed if any official restriction was placed upon a player in terms if what he can and can't do.

 

Wow, what an entertaining thread. I'm still chuckling over many of the comments made here.

First off, a "homeless shelter"? I think that's a little bit much. I take it you disapprove of the liberal use of tents?

I have to say that most of the player "created" lot clutter is well outside of my tastes and offers little value to my roleplaying experience accept to identify people that don't understand the power of moderation (less is more). However, I do enjoy the spirit of the whole thing.

My kids for example will probably have a house somewhere in the game and it will probably be decorated in some hideous fashion and that's "ok" because that's how the real world is. I can't really tell you how often I see things I can't stand. There's a house on my street that someone decided needed to be painted aqua blue! I have a neighbor that likes to park his pick up truck in his front yard. Two days ago I was awoken to the sound of "BOOM BOOM BOOM, rattle rattle, rattle rattle" as some teenage idiots blasted the latest earth shattering rap song that to me sounded so ludicrous I made up my own lyrics to it.

I've been singing it to my wife for days. It goes like this, "BOOM BOOM BOOM, I got out of juvie and bought this car! BOOM BOOM BOOM, I have a 3rd grade education and I park in my yard! BOOM BOOM BOOM, I should be in school but I got no gas! BOOM BOOM BOOM, If you ask me to move I'm gonna kick your, rattle rattle, rattle rattle..." and it just kind of goes down hill from there in a flood of bad speaker car rattle.

So please, tell me more about the immersion killing of Avatar Radio and the poor tastes of this fantasy world. Do tell. LOL

 

Well, if it's a sandbox anyone should be able to do what they want right? Let them spell out swear words on their front lawns, etc...sure it's a sandbox but there are rules that should be in place. You don't have to accept people acting like monsters, sure a messy lot is one thing.....openly offensive is another(not saying that I saw that but if you think there should be no rules...where do these fall in?)

I do think one way to make it work is by not having plauer housing in the main parts of town...so they actually look like a town instead of a shanty.

I think maybe I should have said shanty town instead of homeless shelter since many of you got fixated on that comment...

You actually don't have to accept what they say because a) you can ignore them and b) they can be moderated.

 

I like Shanty Town better. I think that's a fair observation.

But so what? Owl's Head looks like a Shanty Town. Maybe the solution is that your character calls a spade a spade and when someone says "I live in Owl's Head!" you say "I'm so sorry, here have some bread."

 

Forgive me if I greet you with "BOOM BOOM BOOM" from now on in-game. You did it to yourself.

Given that only the rich can afford to buy a plot in the game, I think this is what is happening in Owl's Head:
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/11/29...-shanty-towns-so-they-can-pretend-to-be-poor/

 

Isn't the "selective multiplayer" supposed to address all of this?

I thought the idea was that you could opt for one of the following in your options menu eventually:

* single player
* only see your friends and their houses
* only see your friends and their friends and their houses
* see everyone

If me and my friends don't friend (edit) people who pile rubbish or make offensively shaped stacks of items(/edit), then we shouldn't see any for example

 

I remember that in the old Ultimas each town had it's own and unique style and you could identify it by this style. I fear that the cities will lose this special style and their personality by allowing players to "mess up" the cities. Imagine several lighthouses and castles in the tree city of Yew, mixed up with Viking houses and row houses etc. The whole personality of the city would be gone. It would no longer be Yew.
Either the devs should only allow fitting house styles for certain cities with player towns being those towns in which players can do what they want or they should offer the option for others to "turn off" player houses so that they cannot see them anymore...

So housing as it is now compromises the game experience for obviously many players. Is that what the devs want? Compromising the game experience for some players?

 

Actually, no. Housing is persistent and synced across all instances.