Subject:  Syn's big day out at OSI's "The Festival of Spirits" *pics* |
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Syn
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Date Posted: Fri, Nov 01 2002, 12:59am
This write up was done by Talbot & posted on the uo.com boards. As I couldn't have said it better myself, I didn't, so here is Talbots post...
Festival of the Spirts Feedback
I really enjoyed seeing an interactive event take place in the game again. It brought back a lot of positive memories from the days of the Interest Program and the limited interaction that I had with IGM Talos when he was still employed by Origin. It's nice to have things other than "players" that talk back to you specifically as a person in a way that a coded response never could. It was also delightful to see a playful side to the people behind the job titles.
From prior experience as an interest team member (Arch Elder) I know how difficult it can be to handle a crowd of UO Players, and while some advance preparation could have been done to streamline the process the staff rolled very well with the disruptions. Something that should be considered (because crowd spam has allways been a major issue at events) is some form of localized squelch...regardless of the event, large or small the disruptive minded player will seek to focus attention on themselves if the "text" part of their arsenal could be defused before they are able to begin their barrage it might help out quite a bit in future events to reduce not only the spam on the screen but the amount of lag.
The decorations for the community center were both in theme and appropriate and it was lovely to see a normally drab and empty building put to good use, well decorated buildings are something that I'd like to see on every shard and in this particular instance an excellent job was done for Great Lakes. Since the counselor program is no longer a possibility perhaps more conversions could be done to help improve the "feeling" of otherwise empty and useless NPC real-estate.
While the decorations were excellent the absence of a physical barrier to help control the crowd was disapointing. Even though the fence was erected as a barrier during the event some prior planning could have ensured that the area was friendlier to the objective of the evening. Also more "broadcasting" devices were needed. Even though he served as the "MC" Sannio was the only event host that could be heard "over" the spam and while he is an excellent MC it would have been nice to have heard more of what the other event hosts had to say.
I enjoyed the Q/A portion of the event however it was a bit chaotic and disruptive for such a large-scale events; perhaps in the future in lieu of a Q/A segment some other activity could take place. Q/A is great for a smaller, more subdued crowd however the liklihood of a Q/A friendly environment occuring at a scheduled, single-shard event is very unlikely. The solution of breaking up the Q/A into different areas was a good idea and I think that had it been planned before hand it could have served to help reduce the sheer number of players present.
If the event center format is to be used again in the future it might be advantageous to code in doorways that prohibit mounted players, pets, hirelings, or escorts to enter the area. Regardless of the presence or absence of this barrier, the rules of the event need to be enforced and offenders or their "pets" removed if the event is listed as being "no-pets."
Another consideration is the number of people present and the "boredom" factor, while the mature responsible player can sit quietly and patiently through an event the more "action" minded individual might appreciate a "special" spawn or contest to occupy their time (and subsequently distract them from disrupting the "quieter" event.) Maybe in the future an action oriented event could be ran at the same time to help draw off the easily bored and potentially disruptive.
While I am not a fan of "gifts" I am very appreciative of commemeratives that allow a player to have a physical (okay so its pixel) link to having attended or participated in a "special event." Even something as simple as a "coin", sash, or in this case even a renamed pumpkin can serve as a physical focal point for memories. I liked the "awards" that were presented to the winners of the costume contest (even though you didn't pick my Killer Tomato as the scariest) and I appreciate their significence, but even though I didn't "win" I would still have liked to have had a physical "keepsake."
Thankyou for taking the time to plan and host the event. I sincerely hope that more are in the works for the future because with each one we get a little bit closer to that needed balance of human interaction and code that's necessary for an interactive game of this scope. Below is my report card for the evening, Happy Halloween!
-Talbot
Overall --- C+
Setting --- A+
Content -- B-
Fun Factor -- C+
Crowd Control -- C-
Enforcement of Rules -- D
Staff Interaction -- B
IC Content -- D
Memorable -- B
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The event was attended by 100's of ppl
Note the blue screen...
A collage of the days events...
The Designers, programmers & ppl behind the scenes...
The Ballot boxes...
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