Global Chat

[Kat]

I think it has a lot more negative attributes than positives ones. I would really love to keep it turned off, but then I can't announce that I'm selling/buying anything. As much as I'd like to use the forums for that, we all know the forums aren't checked very often for trades.

Reasons Why Global Chat Should Be Removed:
1. People say inappropriate things on it even though it's a family shard. It happens almost daily and the person usually just receives a warning from a few people online, maybe a GM if they noticed.
2. It makes exploring and learning about different things 10x easier. Why wander around a dungeon when I can global chat and find out directly what monster and where drops an item I'm looking for? Players that earn everything too quickly, leave quickly. Go on an adventure! And if you're completely lost, try the forums, uo.stratics.com, uoguide.com for useful information
3. It makes trades practically instant.. which lowers patience for other things. What's wrong with trading on the forums? Not to mention.. the same 10 people spamming about buying/selling the same things. WE GET IT!
4. A constant stream of typing taking up a lot of the screen? Ew.
5. PM system, guild chat, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Ventrilo... the list goes on. There are plenty of other ways to talk to players.. This isn't an AOL chat room. Go talk somewhere else about what tv shows you like and what you're eating for dinner.

[Orbit Storm]

I haven't posted on the forums here in a while; and this just happens to be a thread with a topic that seems intriguing enough to discuss.

Reasons Why Global Chat SHOULDN'T Be Removed:
1. Global chat does at times have inappropriate content discussed from time to time, but nothing (as of late) that I have seen that should warrant removal of the chat feature altogether. Warnings generally stem from it being the person's first offense, or from something that isn't of much consequence.
2. The only issue with this is, that most people on the OSI servers utilize guilds and UO Stratics to answer their questions regarding spawn locations, items, etc. Therefore, with this being a player-run server with tons of customs; it would be insurmountably difficult to really make your way through Excelsior. Despite the "easiness" newer players have it now, it's still a good year, at least, until they can come remotely close to vets like Calan Caitin, BlaZe, Krazy G, and so forth.
3. Depending on the item being traded, the trades can indeed be instant at times. Regardless; expecting people to make use of the Market section here on the forum, for every single transaction, just wouldn't benefit the shard. I've always been a strong advocate of using websites; I request that guild members use the site I designed, but a lot of people just won't. Regarding those who "spam", well, some throw a notice into Trade chat every few hours and frankly, that's perfectly fine.
4. This one confuses me really. Having an active global channel is a wonderful thing. It promotes community, friendliness, and ensures interaction between new players with the veterans of Excelsior. Simply put, if you don't like seeing the discussions, turn off global until you need to advertise something.
5. The PM system, guild chat (provided someone is guilded), and Vent are all viable options; however the instant messengers you list are virtually obsolete anymore, especially with the emergence of Twitter and Facebook.


In short; judging by the arguments you made here, albeit they're valid points, are suggestive to a "role-playing" shard style. Excelsior has many, many members and every one of them are unique in their own way and some do enjoy role playing; but asking staff to have Global chat removed would only destroy the community. Players are able to interact and get to know one another.

Not to make an advertisement; but if you wish to have a server without global chat, you should check into several of the T2A era servers out there that don't provide those sort of features. I am most certainly not being disrespectful, just pointing out why I feel global should not be removed, and why it most likely would not be removed.

Have a great evening!

[Tahris Nayloc]

It is possible to disable the global chat client side, through the [c menu.

I've only been here nearly a week so I'd imagine my opinion doesn't weigh much, but I'll give it anyway. (Luck you!)

I like global chat because it is easy to get help. I like helping people figure out the best strategy to train various skills, or being able to quickly respond if someone finds themselves in a bind in the middle of a dungeon.

My only real annoyance with it is the constant Buying/Selling spam. I can understand wanting to sell a high end item or buy one relatively quickly, but spamming the same message 30 times in as many minutes isn't going to increase the chances of a sale and it's highly annoying to those who don't care. That said, I would love to see in-game chat divide between general talk and marketing.

Regardless, choosing to use the global chat system is a personal choice because it can be disabled client side. I suspect I'd find the game awfully lonely if I turned off global chat.

[TheWatcher]

Hey the 3 or 4 people who will read this

Maybe an answer is to utalise the in game chat tab (between journal and help) It is never used for anything besides the odd Blaze joke telling session.
For example, have this chat set aside as a market ie buying and selling of goods. This will then free up the chat for people who want to discuss life etc and make it easy for those who want to disable chat to do so, wihtout the threat of missing out on that valuable item for sale.

It wouldnt even require any work, just a little modoration and steering people towards that chat.

The problem of innappropriate behaviour will always exist on this shard and indeed in life because it takes all kinds of people. I belive we have good enough staff to handle these situations and nip it in the bud before they get out of hand. I think I have only seen one occurrence of unacceptable behaviour that went far beyond what it should and that was resolved within minutes.

It is a shame that the forums are not visited more often by people. This is a great fourm (lol I know lame) for expressing ideas and also a trove of information. If more than 6 people used this alot of the inane questions asked in global would not be needed... anyhoo

My 2c
TheWatcher

[madhatter]

global chat FTW... Would be dumb to take it out. enough said

[Kat]

I haven't posted on the forums here in a while; and this just happens to be a thread with a topic that seems intriguing enough to discuss.

Reasons Why Global Chat SHOULDN'T Be Removed:
1. Global chat does at times have inappropriate content discussed from time to time, but nothing (as of late) that I have seen that should warrant removal of the chat feature altogether. Warnings generally stem from it being the person's first offense, or from something that isn't of much consequence.
2. The only issue with this is, that most people on the OSI servers utilize guilds and UO Stratics to answer their questions regarding spawn locations, items, etc. Therefore, with this being a player-run server with tons of customs; it would be insurmountably difficult to really make your way through Excelsior. Despite the "easiness" newer players have it now, it's still a good year, at least, until they can come remotely close to vets like Calan Caitin, BlaZe, Krazy G, and so forth.
3. Depending on the item being traded, the trades can indeed be instant at times. Regardless; expecting people to make use of the Market section here on the forum, for every single transaction, just wouldn't benefit the shard. I've always been a strong advocate of using websites; I request that guild members use the site I designed, but a lot of people just won't. Regarding those who "spam", well, some throw a notice into Trade chat every few hours and frankly, that's perfectly fine.
4. This one confuses me really. Having an active global channel is a wonderful thing. It promotes community, friendliness, and ensures interaction between new players with the veterans of Excelsior. Simply put, if you don't like seeing the discussions, turn off global until you need to advertise something.
5. The PM system, guild chat (provided someone is guilded), and Vent are all viable options; however the instant messengers you list are virtually obsolete anymore, especially with the emergence of Twitter and Facebook.


In short; judging by the arguments you made here, albeit they're valid points, are suggestive to a "role-playing" shard style. Excelsior has many, many members and every one of them are unique in their own way and some do enjoy role playing; but asking staff to have Global chat removed would only destroy the community. Players are able to interact and get to know one another.

Not to make an advertisement; but if you wish to have a server without global chat, you should check into several of the T2A era servers out there that don't provide those sort of features. I am most certainly not being disrespectful, just pointing out why I feel global should not be removed, and why it most likely would not be removed.

Have a great evening!

I'm 99.99% sure global chat will never be removed. I just wanted to voice my opinion on why it sucks

PS: I've never heard of people on UO using Twitter or Facebook as means of communication.
PSS: T2A era shards are empty for many good reasons.

[Kile Morgan]

I don't like spam. I don't like seeing people always posting sell/buy as spam. If it weren't for the fact there are children in the game I don't mind adult language and to some extent adult content, after all you can buy liquor in the game.

I can respect you view but I really disagree with it. Global chat has many uses and to remove it because sometimes it is seen as abused I couldn't agree with. People sometimes macro mine which is an abuse but that doesn't mean you remove it. Another example is the evil overlord (whatever his name is) inviting people to town and talking trash to players. Now I assume it's +Vertas alter ego and it was meant in good fun but sometimes it gets on my nerves. I once responded with something he took personally. Now I'm sorry that was the case and did try to explain it was not an attack on him but on it. Does what was said by it about players, from players to it, or my comment about not wanting to feed it's ego mean global chat was abused? No. It means that everyone using it including you or me should consider what they are about to say. The rules for it are posted in a obscure thing called the codex which everyone should read.

[Craig]

You all do realize that global chat can be turned off with no affect to guild or pm chat. Just a thought, If you dont like what on global or it annoys you then you can simply turn it off with the [c then settings.

[Lust]

Well it looks like my "WTB 120 Archery PS, pm me if interested" message is getting some flame here. I will now spam it hourly instead of every 15-30 minutes. I have been trying to use the Market session but unfortunately I have been unsuccessful .

[Orbit Storm]

Considering I've seen it mentioned a few times now, I'd quickly agree to having a General Chat as well as a Trade Chat. The only issue is, that players have requested separate channels before for several things; one being a mature channel. As we all know, that was never implemented, but considering a Trade channel would be far more beneficial, it just might.

@ Kat -- Not to single you out, but you did directly reply to me, so.. Facebook and Twitter are most likely not used for UO (although my guild has a twitter!), however AIM, Yahoo, etc are far too cumbersome to use just to speak to people out of the game. To be honest, I could count the number of people I know, online or offline, who still use them, on one hand. I was simply suggesting that Excelsior was never designated as a role-playing shard, therefore it shouldn't be treated as one. (i.e. no friendly discussions regarding TV etc in general chat.) As for T2A shards, there are two I can think of right off the top of my head, that are doing quite well, and some would say just as well as Excelsior.

Using the argument of "I see inappropriate things said in chat" just won't work. Why? Because it will always come down to the age old arguments regarding what's right and wrong, and what's appropriate and what's not. You'll always have the parents who will attempt to shield their child from every possible "bad" thing via Excelsior, while those who would point out how Disney movies such as Planet 51 have suggestive content, (i.e. "that's a funny place for your antenna") and no matter what parent's wish for, it just won't happen. I'm stuck in the middle, and refuse to choose sides; so let's not have that argument!

Simply put, if there are players who don't like friendly conversation in general chat, then disable it. I've done that a time or two myself. It's not difficult and quick to perform. To me, I'd much rather see conversations about favorite foods and TV shows than mature content. But, I guess no matter what is discussed in general, someone will always have something negative to say about it.

[Tahris Nayloc]

Well it looks like my "WTB 120 Archery PS, pm me if interested" message is getting some flame here. I will now spam it hourly instead of every 15-30 minutes. I have been trying to use the Market session but unfortunately I have been unsuccessful .

I personally find no issue with every 15-30 minutes. It's the every 30 seconds I find irritating

[Orbit Storm]

Exactly; in a 30 minute time frame, there are easily a half dozen people who've logged in, and another half dozen who've logged out. You cannot hope to advertise once every 2 hours, or even once an hour and expect to make a sale/purchase. I suggested an in-game auction house a while back, accessible by a simple "[" command, but never received any responses on that. I suppose that would help quell some of the advertisements in general, but unless we garner support for the suggestion, then forget it.

[+Colibri]

I believe there will always be public chat, well unless if this shard grows to 5000 players online, where it would be hard to read any of it, but that isnt likely to happen.

One can simply disable public chat, by going to chat options (first type [c to get the list of players, and go to Options there, or type [co).
Keep in mind that when there's an important announcement, like a server restart, it's announced so that even those who have chat turned off, can see the announcement. (The way you can see for example "Announcement by +Colibri: the server will be restarted..")

There's also the issue of "has logged in/out" spam, for which i would like to make an option to turn this off someday.

As for regular spam in public chat, it's recommended that you give it a fair amount of time before re-posting. One rule was/is that you should leave at least 10 messages from other people, before re-posting. But if all of them are spam, then we didn't do much good here But i think once an hour message should be good timing - it's not much of a bother, and you should still reach a big audience of potential buyers/sellers.

As soon as i finish the new [exex (going to be a tool for trading commodities at first, and eventually upgraded into a sort of an ebay... an exbay if you'd like, hehe) all messages about selling items in chat will no longer be allowed. The new ExEx is at around 30% done, though unfortunately i havent had a chance to continue work on it for a month now. Need to finish some other projects first

P.S.: When selling/buying something, the purpose of the message isn't that every single person on the shard will see it, but just to get someone to trade with. So an hour, or even a couple times in the evening, is all good. Or perhaps after first message, another in 10 minutes, and another in 20 minutes, then every hour. So far the whole selling/buying spam is pretty much under control so there's no need to write rules about it.

[Kaiana]

I'd have to say the ONLY problem I have with the global chat is the buying selling spam, but it's usually not bad at all. Most people are really good at only posting the same thing in moderation. A long time ago I used to post every 5 minutes, then went to 15, and then decided even that was too much and went to once every 30. Then I got some pretty rude messages from a certain player who shall remain nameless about how I was spamming out the server with my once every 30 minutes messages....so now I only post once an hour. But I usually get responses, so no big loss. I guess what I'm trying to put forth is a weak thumbs-down on the B/S spam. It's usually fine, but there are occasionally people who don't seem to realize how often they're posting. *shrug*

[Fiacha]

I have my global turned off about 90 percent of the time now and it has only enhanced the playing experience for me ...but that's probably just me