Server Growth - What are you doing about it, and what can be done?

Hey everyone. I'm pretty new here, maybe about a week and a half at most. I'm very excited to be playing again and I feel very blessed to be apart of this particular community!

I just wanted to know what is being done by the server admins and just regular players to continue to help UO:R grow and allow more people to get information about the server?
Luckily for myself, I did a lot of research before I jumped here and figured out what server I felt was worth my time. I browsed /r/ultimaonline quite a but, but due to the amount of people negatively rating shards that they do not like; it seemed to not be of much help.

I am a UO:G Hybrid vet, (Been playing since launch) and of course Pacific on OSI. The reason I enjoyed Hybrid so much back in its hayday was the player count (Generally 1.7k+ even on weekdays.) I can't do all the neons and shit there so, well yeah that's why I decided to move here.

I was just curious about what is currently being done by the staff and community in order to bring more players to the server? I have brought a friend along and I am working hard to recruit my personal friends (Some who are familiar with UO, and some not.) I appreciate your help, and if anyone has any ideas about helping the growth of the server it; I would be happy to help anyway I could. I was thinking about writing into PCGamer.com and seeing if they would put an article out about the free servers that are up. (They posted an article last week about WoW: Nostraulus and www.swgemu.com) Was sad to not see an Ultima mention.

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I agree with you completely in that aspect but I mean getting the server seen by people who are not actively playing anymore or have never seen the game. I was thinking along the lines of marketing whether it is free posts on reddit, advertising on Facebook and or reddit. In this day and age there are so many ways to promote your product (In this case, our server) to a wide variety of people who are interested in this type of game.

I just mean if I was not aware of Ultima Private Servers, in this case I am someone who actually played OSI and IPY/Hybrid back in the day, so all it took for me to get back on was the thought "Oh well, I miss UO.. Gonna see if there are any free servers up with a good population."

Especially with FB Advertising, you can literally make it so the people who see the ads are people who are interested in Ultima Pages, MMO Pages, ect... Advertise to your direct client base.

Hey, I remember your post on r/ultimaonline. Welcome! Reddit is how I found this place too.

I agree with you about the promotion thing. I think it's tough since UO is a niche these days, so we're in a niche within a niche but yeah. The more people the better, and that doesn't matter at all if we don't KEEP those people.

One thing that I think is difficult is that the staff here is so small (on the bright side it means less dev drama compared to some of the r/uo shards). So I think promotion has kinda had to fall to the wayside a bit to focus on the actual server itself.

If I had to suggest some things:

folks with reddit accounts: come back and rep a little bit now and then. The top-upvoted post on that sub is @Basoosh's "things to do" comic still! I don't need to scroll through 8000 Rel Por (which is IMO a completely diff game) posts and that Korean guy spamming about his art revamp project. Next event especially, people need to plug.

Another thing, and I hate to bug the admins, but the website needs updating. The most recent patch according to the Renaissance front page is either Valentine's 2016 or 2015, depending on which part of the screen your eye finds first. When you first log in, the most recent update you see posted is from Christmas. Now, granted compared to some older shards (*coughangelislandcough*) this is still WAY better, but considering how often freeshards die off it's totally possible potential new players come over, see those dates and go "oh dang, guess they don't maintain this server anymore" and wander off.

If this was something players could take off the staff's shoulders and help with I would be all in, but I have no idea how feasible that is security-wise.

The updating of the website is indeed very important for increasing the player base. It's the first thing, I checked when I searched a Shard. And lucky for me, the homepage was updated back then when I joined here. But I have told this Telamon months ago; the homepage needs more regular updates. All the latest Freesists, fishing contests, piracy contest, Project Sactuary RP quests, monthly picture threads etc are missing.

The main selling point for UO:R is it's big and nice community and all the activities that are going on. But the homepage is in no way mirroring it.

I know the front page links directly to forum posts now...is there any way to set it up so some trustworthy volunteers could update it? I would volunteer, being the childless nolifer that I am, or someone more vet than me could do it. Or have the people who regularly run event threads (Krake/PS, Zyler, Cynic) able to post to the front about them? Then just take down the Easter Egg Hunt graphic from rotation, switch that "2015" on the patch notice in the top left corner, and the playerbase could handle everything else to make the website better reflect server activity.

Doing what I can to get the game out there via video:

UOR Video Contest

Keza's Gameplay Videos

Telamon has done a great job building the website and putting current material up for the public. Its not always 100% up-to-date but no one can expect him to keep up with the actions and events of 500+ players. The supporting staff is also small and their time is better spent in-game or in IRC to address player/game issues. I believe it is up to us players to spread the word of this game. We all have access to social media, in theory we could spread word of this game 500x faster then 1 or 2 members of the staff

Really, I think having the webiste updated has a big influence. And so far, this thread is very constructive. People are suggesting solutions and how to fix problems.

In my opinion, it's really worth trying to outsource the website updates to willing, skilled, trustable players.

What am I doing..... Dropping unused houses

Are you trolling ?!!?

Hopefully this can help with retention - I'd like to get this project picked up!
http://uorforum.com/threads/the-under-60-club-helping-new-players-fairly.17172/

Hmmm, perhaps we really should make a concerted campaign to get reddit exposure. I know people do go to the UO forum to look for private servers.

Can also link Keza's videos and other cool stuff in there.

Forgot to mention, when UO:R was streamed by Shandril on twitch we got a lot of new players.

Anyone interested in streaming and would be doing something where they wouldn't be mercilessly griefed?

Glad you feel this way; I wasn't trying to start a flame war. I work in management, and I feel like the only way to bring up a problem is if you have a solution to fix it; or attempting to collaborate on ideas.

I think this is a great idea. Just maybe a post and real responses from players on why THEY like the shard. If we could get a post with 10-30 responses from active accounts, just a paragarph or three on why the enjoy it here and how they spend their time I believe that would do wonders.

I also think streams would be great. I'm not sure if I am able to stream but it's Ultima.. so I will give it a go.

Shard Advertising - How to help players find Renaissance
http://uorforum.com/threads/shard-advertising-how-to-help-players-find-renaissance.1130/



Supporting UOR
http://www.uorenaissance.com/support

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Ok guys I will plan on making a reddit post about UOR.

I will post a thread in general discussion when the reddit thread is up. Everybody with an active account should post and/or upvote. If your a reddit lurker, make an account to support UOR.

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Yeah spamming reddit is a good way to get on their bad side. I agree about timing it with an event (even player-run) or showing content (honestly PS's rp event reports woulda been great threads). That sub is always moaning about lack of content other than server plugs, so giving folks something interesting to look at/read and then pointing them here is a good idea IMO.

One thing you can do to start is just peek at the sub (it's not exactly moving at lightspeed, once every few days should be fine) and if you see a relevent opportunity to mention UOR, go ahead. I try to do that when applicable and I know there's some others who do as well.

And if you post on other forums and can work it in, I agree that's a good idea. I tried quite a few other shards when I decided to try UO for the first time, and the main reason I stuck with it here was that it is really easy to get yourself going, without feeling like a charity case.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/4mmap0/old_school_ultima_online/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ultimaonline/comments/4mm9b9/started_back_up_on_ultima_online/