Platinum has little to no value.

The term you are looking for is "get away". If you use "got away", you are insinuating that it is no longer happening.
Lets not lie to each other.
We all know that there are still quite a few people with 6+ accounts and 3-4 forum alts.

COUGH SHAD COUGH

Love you frenchie.

Still making stuff up with nothing to back it up I see? Take a step back and try and defend your last batch of bullshit before serving more. Your hiding from it, skirting around the pile of it you left on the floor, face your bullshit man. I really want to hear where or how you are coming to these conclusions.

civil words

civil words!

Taxation is theft.

Normally I would agree somewhat. However in this case it is not a "tax". As taxes do not remove money from circulation. It just moves it elsewhere. In this situation, what we're calling a tax is a sink. It removes money from the economy/circulation thus hindering inflation.

This shard has been online and stable since 2012. 5-1/2 years later and we honestly have only had a small amount of inflation. Gold sinks in UO are important for the economy's health, but I'm not so sure there is a problem we need to fix here.

What factors affect the demand for platinum coins? Economic growth, substitute price/demand, changes in population, and market speculation.

Economic growth - There is a strong link between the demand for platinum and the rate of server economic growth because platinum is (viewed as) an essential input into many player's lives. When the economy is expanding, the demand for platinum rises. A good example of this is the price of platinum just after a major holiday event like Night of Horrors. It goes up as new players become established (usually a month or so).

Prices of substitutes - This one is tricky but it indeed can and has affected the market. Substitutes in this case can be runebooks, dye tubs (and individual charges), ethereal mounts, and platinum offered as acceptable exchange for auctioned items.

Runebooks, dye tubs, and ethereal mounts typically match the current accepted price of platinum coins. However, a rogue auction can place a runebook at a lower that expected price as a flash auction. A desperate player perhaps, or one that is *pixel rich, that needs tangible currency quickly. Get two or three of these auctions in the span of one month and market speculation comes into play. A new price can and has been set to match the reduction set by these flash auctions.

It is customary to offer platinum coins as acceptable trade currency for auctions. Historically this is often set at a significantly lower amount than the current general consensus of the direct sale of the product (platinum coins). It reflects individual demand of the auctioneer, whom values gold higher than platinum. While this is generally viewed as a douchey move it must be noted that this action is pivotal in reducing inflation of platinum coins.

Substitute demand again, reflects server economic/population growth. A flash auction will see no action when the product(s) are not in demand. This may be the trigger of the price reduction.

Market speculation - This is a difficult modifier to define as it is wild and unhinged. Why? No regulation. Fluctuations in underlying supply and demand have arguably the most impact on platinum coin prices. Some can argue that the current price of platinum reflects the unsubstantiated "hype" over CUB being finally introduced this year. Which, introduces a different commodity... copper coins.

You see, gold, platinum, holiday, and yes even copper all have one thing in common. Their value is directly proportional to a difficult metric to predict let alone track... that being activity.

I'll leave you with an example.

A group of friends have recently left their go-to game. There are 5 of them. They come here. Due to their experience and organization it doesn't take them long to fill out a character set that's in line with their objective... PvP.

They need blessed runebooks and ethereal mounts. That's 5 people hitting the market at the same time with demand.

Now I ask you all, what will that do to the price of platinum coins?
Will they be purchasing platinum directly or hitting the substitute market?
Can it be manipulated by the evil bad people? Will "the man" keep them down?

@El Horno
Let me make sure I understand what you are implying...

You think that no one currently on this server is buying/selling for USD?
You think that no one currently on this server is running more than 3 accounts?
You think that no one currently on this server has more than 20 houses?


Also, about my previous post you keep quoting:
You think that boss mob spawns are fine?
(within the last month)
I killed 7 green harpies in 1 hour
I saw 3 diseased elementals up at the same time and I killed 2 of them
I killed 8 colossus in 90 minutes and got a statue from one
I killed 6 Balrons and got a purveyor.. and then kill 9 more, and got it again

Real estate
Lets talk numbers
there are X number of houses on UO:R
lets exclude smalls out in the middle of no where that have no desire/value
I am saying as far as any desirable house goes, that yes, 90% or more are owned by the same 10-15 and their pretend alts

Taming scroll:
When I left in 2014, I could solo fill a scroll in 10-12 hours... like find all 23 animals by myself
The guild I was in was running the quest every night. AC / Atraxi / Peep / Garrion / Gravity / DaTamer would get the scroll filled during the day and then at night we would run the quest... like every single night.
We all had masks, statues, bond slots, etc
We were spamming IRC for people to come get free bonding slots...
And now... you could spend 20 hours looking for a wolf or bear
People are paying up to 250k for a bonding slot
We were giving green meat away, and now people are charging up to 50k for it


But please, read the top part of this post again and tell me you believe that crap.

@DaTamer I'm just going to focous on the part where you say that 90% of the desirable houses are owned by 10-15 people.

Do you honestly, truly think that's true?

Go to north of Minoc and run around where all those keeps are, you'll see 10-15 individual players houses there. Those are some of those guys only big "desirable" houses. I pay pretty close attention to the buying and selling of big houses as I'm saving for one final "end goal" house myself and there is no way that 15 people have ALL of them.

It's just not true buddy.

@Sheepdog
I'll tell you exactly what I believe
There are 10-15 people currently on the server that are running 9+ accounts
There are 10-15 people currently on the server that are buying and selling for USD
There are 10-15 people that have 20+ houses each (desirable houses)

And about my 90%, I will say that is a guesstimate
It is possible that number might be slightly lower
It might be 20-25 people own 90%
But with "800 accounts active", if everyone was following the rules, that would put 266+ active players...
What's the forum high? 100 active people posting, maybe a few more?
What's the IRC high? 120 active people responding/talking? maybe a few more?

How about this Sheep... why don't you tell me what you think.

Another thing @Sheepdog
Its no secret that I have played on several other servers
I have played on servers that have 40-60 people actively playing
I have played on servers that claim 700 people actively playing
I have played on servers that claim 300 people actively playing
This server claims 800+ active accounts, which again is 266+ active people (3 accounts per person)
100 accounts you can see daily at the banks
another 100 you can run into in dungeons
another 200 you can see macroing in houses

thats 400....

Do the math for me and please explain how there are 266+ people running 800 accounts

That is what leads me to believe there are lots of people still running more than 3 accounts
Telamon gains nothing... not a single anything... by lying about the number of accounts or bluffing them.
So in my mind, that means....what I have been saying
If you have another suggestion I am all ears.

Attempting to mask unsubstantiated numbers you "believe" to be educated "guesstimates" as data to support baseless claims about the health of this server (or anything in life for that matter) is a futile effort.

This is like watching a puppy chase his own tail. It is comical, nonetheless.

I ain't dying on this battlefield.

Boring day at work, so trolling a forum was on my to do list.
Glad you are enjoying it.

I wish programming wasn't so damn boring sometimes.
I do tire of creating an uproar all the time.

This is my face reading your post:

This is my face after reading your post:

Here's a suggestion. Let's play Ultima Online!


I hear there's an alternative way, instead of typing. It's through this software called Edge or Blade or something.

If i get in, i'll try and hail you!

hmu

icq 8675309

Out of all 216 replies to this post @Evil Dead "I don't pk at pussy o'clock" is by far the best comment and deserves a award itself

datamer: You think that no one currently on this server is buying/selling for USD?
Elhorno: I don't think many people do this. I'm sure it happens, but doesn't really bother or effect my game, other than just a general loss of my respect of the person doing the buying.

datamer: You think that no one currently on this server is running more than 3 accounts?
Elhorno: I'm sure a handful of people do this, and risk losing all their accounts.

datamer: You think that no one currently on this server has more than 20 houses?
elhorno: doubtful

Datamer :You think that boss mob spawns are fine?
(within the last month)
I killed 7 green harpies in 1 hour
I saw 3 diseased elementals up at the same time and I killed 2 of them
I killed 8 colossus in 90 minutes and got a statue from one
I killed 6 Balrons and got a purveyor.. and then kill 9 more, and got it again
Elhorno: Yes I think boss mob spawns are fine. Turn your char pvm profile to public and we can see the actual #'s of haries and gamyums etc that you have killed. I really doubt the data will support your anecdotes. http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/pvm/130236

datamer: I am saying as far as any desirable house goes, that yes, 90% or more are owned by the same 10-15 and their pretend alts
Elhorno: This is idiotic. I can, in yew alone, find well more than 15 known players houses. Are you so jaded that you think we are all the same person?

Datamer: Taming scroll: When I left in 2014, I could solo fill a scroll in 10-12 hours... like find all 23 animals by myself
Elhorno: Nothing has changed in regards to zookeeper mobs since then except for maybe an abuse here and there of static animal spawns like the grizzley bear that used to spawn in the moonglow zoo. People would camp in there and every morning wake up with multiple raging grizzleys. Other then random stuff like that, the mechanics regarding zookeeper mobs is the same. Also nobody pays or charges 250k a slot, and peculiar meat doesn't sell for 50k a piece. Are you on a different server then the rest of us?

Datamer: There are 10-15 people currently on the server that are running 9+ accounts
Elhorno: I REALLY doubt it, but who knows. It would be fairly easy for other players to spot this.

datamer: There are 10-15 people currently on the server that are buying and selling for USD
Elhorno: I REALLY doubt it, but who knows. The level of trust, and gold, to even be willing to broach this subject with people would make this seem very unlikely.

datamer: There are 10-15 people that have 20+ houses each (desirable houses)
Elhorno: Absolutely false. Idocers would be see this.

datamer: But with "800 accounts active", if everyone was following the rules, that would put 266+ active players...
elhorno: Where are you hearing "800 accounts active"? I would imagine we have way more active accounts then that(Do you mean like logged in at any given point or overall active?). Also I've heard many times from @Chris that the average # of clients open per player is more like 1.5, so if by active accounts you meant logged in at any given time, I believe the # of players at any given time is closer to 400-500.
Sosaria is big, so no point trying to do a tracking study to find and confirm this. That would be silly.

datamer : If you have another suggestion I am all ears.
elhorno: Ya I do. Put this on.

Ok, @DaTamer

I think that you're speculating and expressing an unverified personal opinion with no true analysis or facts to back it up. Which is a dangerous thing to do.

You could be completely right. You could have nailed it completely. I don't have any analysis or facts to substantiate OR disprove any of your statements.

What I do have, however is faith and trust in Chris when he says that he does find, catch and punish people who do exceed the three account limit.

I've also got faith and trust in the majority of players here to play the game fairly.

That may be naive, that trust is completely blind. But I know several of the forum members here in real life, I know some of the players here in real life, 13 to be specific and I know for a fact that none of them do what you're suggesting because those people I do trust.

I also know lots of players in game who aren't on the forums (which is crazy) and I also know players who aren't on IRC, I played for about 4 months here before I ever logged into IRC.

I have absolutely no doubt that there are one or two players who are using VPN's and other methods, there's always a mouldy grape in the bunch, I have no doubt that those players are fake macroing skills to gain plat, I also have no doubt that at some point Chris will catch them doing it and ban them. Because I have faith in him.

Do I believe that 10-15 (or even 10-20 as you later ammended it too) own 90% of the decent properties? No. No I do not. It's not plausible.

Do I believe that 50-80 people own 90% of the decent spots? Yea probably, but that's to be expected, when I'm still here in 5 years time I'll probably own some nice spots too, because I've stuck around while the tin foil hat wearers have jogged on, muttering to themselves about the cyber illuminati.