Did anyone catch this news story?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Proteus Tempest, Apr 14, 2022.

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  1. Time Lord

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    This sounds very close to what is being described by Lord British

    Holding game coin is encouraged through lvl requiring NFT use

    It takes a massive amount of real money to make play money o_O
    ~TL~
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2022
  2. Burzmali

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    Honestly, they are late to market and they aren't bringing anything to the table that won't be brought by bigger, better teams probably sooner than LB can release a product.
     
  3. Anpu

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  4. Barugon

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  5. Cordelayne

    Cordelayne Bug Hunter

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    Yup, typical word salad.
     
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  6. Burzmali

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    On top of that, they've "founded" a new game "studio" called DeMeta, and now a month later they still have zero web presence, zero hiring requests floating around and all their "employees" are still just part of the venture capital company funding this boondoggle.
     
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  7. Time Lord

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    Sitting in bed recovering, I had allot of time to search for answers and develop an opinion about open trade markets vs NFT/Blockchain and how I feel they drag down or help any game....
    This is what I've thus far found for my own truth:

    From what I have found, there are many financial people who say that NFTs & Blockchain will have a very hard time with any rising interest rates by the US.Fed.Res.

    I think it may be a very long time till this venture with Lord British will be alpha ready, or even beta ready, which would mean that markets could change by then to something more NFT/Bblockchain friendly.

    I've also found that it takes allot of real world $ to make any money as an NFT/Blockchain player, to the point that it's a lucky thing to have even recouped what the NFT had cost.

    All of this, every bit of it has turned me off to such games. I now believe that NFTs kill gaming and the resistance to open secondary markets are game killing. UO was open secondary market and did well, having a dedicated fan base due to that open market, even if a player didn't engage in it, as it was that open market that supported the die hard dedication to the game.

    No-Trade I see now as a shortly profiting game killer with no redeeming long term qualities... and NFTs, they are just a ponzi scheme where even those at the top will struggle to recoup what they've invested in them.

    NFT/Blockchain games and no-trade games I think all have a finite life span, lacking "The Lost Ultima Virtue of Infinity".

    "Change my mind, I dare you!" o_O
    Money, the Ninth Ultima Virtue?
    [​IMG]
    From Ultima IV "Quest of the Avatar"
    ~Time Lord~
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2022
  8. Tiina Onir

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    Well I used to have a sub, I dropped it over this... so how much was it making them? At least a little from me.

    The flip side of that is now we have far more lots then we have players. It makes the game look even deader then it actually is.

    Some of us did pay that. With the broken commitments, we didn't get what we were told.

    That's called "right of first sale" and it happens in every industry. The solution isn't the absurd one of violating all trust we have in you, it's to make new things. If doing right by your existing customers "doesn't make sense," that's a excellent reason for your existing customers to become your former customers, and complain to places like MOP about your practices.

    Now you're just being hyperbolic. I managed to get some of the most obscure items in the game for IGG. That can't be an option for these items now.

    It's absolutely a breach of trust. They said one thing and did the exact opposite. They didn't even refund us the difference.

    Do you think that means sales went up or down? I strongly suspect they have gone down (Why would I buy from someone I don't trust?), and combined with actually selling for less, well is it any surprise Chris is abandoning ship?

    You missed the bit where the in-game economy has also been gutted by this. Not that there weren't problems with it before, but these drove another nail in the coffin, driving away more players.

    That you're okay being told one thing and then it changing when fulfilling the original obligation is mildly inconvenient is on you I guess. I know I am not alone in dropping subs over this garbage.
     
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  9. Boadicea

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    srsy chris dont leave us for some NFT bullshit <3
     
  10. Barugon

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    Too late.
     
  11. Ancev

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    Hmm.. there's talk of Coinbase going bankrupt. They were just about to launch their NFT marketplace.
     
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  12. Boadicea

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    ;(
     
  13. Dinsoo

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    Geez, I wonder why.
     
  14. kaeshiva

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    I think its hard to know, as we don't have visibility of the financials or even reliable player numbers, its a lot of speculation. I can only answer for myself:

    They are getting more money from me because I now buy everything (that can be) directly from Catnip and I don't resell anything for $. I think this was their objective and it works.

    But there are losses, as well -

    When they decided to "retire" some stuff that I was on the fence about buying, I decided to go ahead and scoop them up based on the premise that they'd no longer be available. And to my dismay, not only are they available, they are available even cheaper than they originally were during the "get it before its gone!!! hype/sale/etc." So that's a fool-me-once scenario that wont be happening again. Although, there is potential for new players to be new purchasers of these items that didn't exist if they were truly "gone forever". Its hard to say if this balances it.

    I also reduced my number of active subscriptions when they started with the heritage stuff, and my actual coto expenditure dropped pretty significantly too because I refused to buy awkward no-trade crap that I had to try and manage on one account when I play several (and collaboratively decorate deeds and POT besides, and can't pick up stuff placed by other people, etc. frustrations). It isn't that I wanted to sell it or even trade it, its just a lot easier to decorate from your inventory than from containers or moving stuff (in fact sometimes moving stuff is just impossible) and if you can't physically pick it up because you bought/placed it on another character/account then well, its unusable. And you STILL can't store the crap in boxes and it makes a huge mess. I still hate heritage items personally, and that combined with the change to permission systems that it caused (the owner of the lot no longer owns everything on the lot, things placed by other people revert to THEIR banks) has caused so many issues that none of us even try to collab decorate anything anymore.

    However, I have to consider whether or not these changes, as frustrating as they are, aren't better for the long term plan, for all the potential customers-to-come who might want to buy things being able to do so (as opposed to not at all). I don't condone the way it was managed, and certainly don't blame anyone who bought things as an investment for being salty about how it was handled. I absolutely understand being angry about it and understand never wanting to spend money again with a merchant who behaved this way. Its justified. If I bought a car for 50k after being told it was "limited edition!" and the next day the dealership sold the same car to 100 people for 5k ea, even if I never planned to sell the car, that's going to sting. So I get it.

    But, for me - I play/enjoy the game still, and I need my stiletto heels and my cherry blossom pavers, so I still buy things. I have no expectations beyond enjoying my digital toys. I think if we can address some of the core off-putting game mechanics that are affecting player retention / onboarding, the potential number of new consumers would tip the balance. But we still have a long way to go to capture wider market appeal (need less punishing/timewasting mechanics, better balance, meaningful PvP, and lateral/alternative progression/achievements, imo).

    I do not think the decision to upset the secondary market was made lightly, and I can only assume it was made looking at a long term revenue plan knowing it would absolutely shatter the confidence of a lot of people short term but in the end, do more good than harm. We can go back and forth all day on "how people treat customers" but I mean, its done, its irreversible at this point and the trust is lost. If they came out with a new thing today and said "limited time only buy now!" don't think many of us would be fooled again, would we?

    But I still play. I still have fun. And I still need sparkle-dye shoes and potted azaleas and disco balls. And I do, sincerely, want the game to succeed and be around for years to come. So I decided to forgive them for heritage items and for making things I spent way more on a few years super-cheap now. That's easy for me to do, since I never treated any of it as an investment to begin with. This is my monthly entertainment budget, I can spend it here or I can go spend it buying show tickets and booze and whatever and its just as gone. For those who invested, and lost - I feel for you, it sucks, and you're within your rights to be upset, and I wouldn't blame you for never spending another penny. But I don't see how they could have extricated themselves from a downward spiral without some sort of drastic action, and braced for the consequences, which continue to reverberate.
     
  15. Time Lord

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    Lets take a look back at the expected and presumed to be "First NFT of Shroud of the Avatar"

    The Windmill Village Home as presented by "The Mad Hermit"


    Did you hear what he said in the video? He said what was commonly on all our minds at the time, as this was a "Richard Garriott Game". Not a blockchain item, yet presumed or heavily suspected to possibly be of unique in-game advantage, as most modern NFTs are now touted as to be and make money from them.
    "and that's something to still think about for our game" o_O~Time Lord~
     
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  16. Dinsoo

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    The Mad Hermit bailed back in 2016 I think. Any idea why? Give it your best educated guess. Also, since when was this ever 'our' game? I am curious about that.
     
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  17. Sean Silverfoot

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    God Almighty get a life...........
     
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  18. Time Lord

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    Many things were "intended" to make it into our game but never reached the funding stage due to SOTA being a crowd funded game with limited development funds from the onset.

    Our coconut travel was an NFT of sort which was known to be finite in it's usefulness. I didn't think coconut travel would ever go away, but I did expect it to be over-taken by faster mount.

    Things that were investment minded or uniquely advantagouse were and are getting taken out of our game, or their unique usefullness being taken away through expansion of abilities in other things and other such sweeping out the door as the coconut travel. What we buy now cannot be traded and thus cutting outside market re-sell.

    In all the regard above mentioned, the new NFT games are much the same, and has caused most NFT games to have a finite life span, from hyped excitement to an end when population for any game reaches it's max. When such games reach that max, then the programers are off to catch the next new wave presenting the same similar things in new ways. I don't think there's anything sinister about it, as this is what has happened throughout gaming history. This is nothing new we're dealing with, yet I do however object to no-trade having been introduced to our game, as it's that "alive market" which can keep a game going for many years into it's future, irregardless of any further development programing.

    The above is not the only way to keep a game or our game going. The above mentioned open-market without no-trade does suffer in further development cash flow not being a guarantee, while no-trade does insure that a certain dribble level of development funding continues, which does insure a certain level of development staff retention and support.

    Our game may not be "Hot", but it is and will continue to be "Available" with a continuing level of development. It is in this way, that I see the "Papa Richard, Star & Papa Chris" handoff as a very good thing because it allows new blood to come into influencing our game's directions in new idea programing.

    What is not an NFT was this :confused:
    [​IMG]

    But that will allow our game to be an (in the spirit of) Ultima Game forever, which is a great advantage as this extended team of programers keeps moving Ultima ahead.

    I know our game (thus far) will not go in the NFT direction, a direction that I feel is a finite direction with a beginning and an end. I also know we have been stearing our game away from being an "Open Market" to become a more "No-Trade Market", yet I do feel we should look for things, or a section in our COTO Store Sales, for "Open Market" items, intended to keep our open markets alive, while also securing our No-Trade for our continued life support.

    What I mean through all of this is o_O...
    We should not slowly kill off one or the other types of trading. I think we should make clear distinction between them, but not eleminate either. I also feel that our game does need a certain amount of "Pay to Win Items", as that is what NFTs in gaming are. NFTs are meant to make money through gaming and also provide unique advantage within the games they are. An NFT's best expression seems to be, being a useful item in the game that can be sold outside the game and it's atractive placement in a game (as this new LB game seems to be) gives advantage to that NFT.

    We need to produce items meant to prop up our collect and tradable outside markets while also keeping other items in a no-trade COTO store only market, and also allow the in-game P2W advantages of NFTs in items that are not Blockchain NFT, yet usefully player owner advantaged to be sold to support our game.

    If a windmill did something advantagouse, this would be a good example of a low grade specialized P2W, without effecting any combat.

    When we are looking at this new LB game and all these other NFT games, it causes us to wonder where the future of "our game" is headed, and I think we need to plot a wide option course as that seems to be our games trademark "a great deal of more gaming options with much more to come".

    ~TL~
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2022
  19. Dinsoo

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    Which God?
     
  20. Sean Silverfoot

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    Pick one........
     
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