PEC program cancelled

Please take a few minutes of your time and send off an email to Mesanna (Bonnie) to show support of this PEC program

The PEC program supported the players and the players support the game and the PEC/EM program

I have an event scheduled on Sunday 10/27 @8pm est and someone has already come an chopped all the benches I had out for this event. Without the help of a game master there will be  no end to issues that players events will encompass in the future

Bonnie@Broadsword.com

Please take a couple mins and send off a short note in support of the PEC program

Thanks

Queen Arya

Atlantic Shard

Toad Town


Comments

  • KirthagKirthag Posts: 541
    edited October 2019
    Throwing my support in with this.

    Player Events have ALWAYS been a big part of UO - from the many battles and wars fought by rival guilds and factions to the many Rare Fests hosted on the shards and all sorts of things in between. I had organized many events myself - bar brawls, chicken fights, story nights, craft fairs, shard-wide events coordinated with guilds, small and intimate parties, weddings, even community house-building (where we donated the house to a new player). All these, and more... where I wished I could get help from those who actually make the game. I did this in Felucca (pre T2A) on Atlantic, and even on Napa, pre -Trammel. Granted, an interested Seer or Counselor might help announce the event via a system message to the masses on the shard - but for the most part, I was on my own. I had to announce and market these events, find creative ways to deal with wandering Reds, furniture choppers, random naked streakers, thieves, and just all around disruptors. What really helped me was the growing popularity of my events, and the guilds that were involved - - - but those days are gone now...

    In today's UO, we need Broadsword's help to put forth an organized event. There are just too many griefers out and about for any sort of event outside of a player's own residence. Official support helps to attract the players. It shows that there is, indeed, a two-way conduit between the Player and the Game's Keepers to some degree. Sometimes, a Player's event idea becomes a staple (Rares Fests come to mind) and wouldn't be feasible without the help of BS employees (be they PEC, EM, Dev, or even you Bonnie).

    I understand Budget is a concern... but doesn't cutting off this service add to the already bleeding loss of revenue that is happening? It may not be felt now, or even for the next few months - but this ONE aspect of the UO is at the core of what helps make this one of (if not THE ONLY) enjoyable sandbox game out there. Player Events help to bind each shard's community - Players have low resources and no management tools to operate their events without them being disrupted, or even ruined, by those who make a point of griefing.


    What other solutions could be found with the PEC role being eliminated?

    • Asking EM's to help with Player Events? Is this a possibility now? It might prove to be beneficial - more justification and unity between the Players and the EMs might be a good thing.
    • Can we have a Volunteer Program again? Maybe - instead of having a Volunteer on one shard, make the Volunteers rotate between shards (and have an iron-clad contract agreeable with both parties, reasonable scheduling, and non-disclosure being a part of it). Shard Rotation would lower, or even eliminate the temptation for favoritism. A Volunteer cannot help players on the same shard two times in a row - something...
    • Can BS make guidelines for people to submit events for approval and request help by whichever dev/EM/BS employee would be available (and qualified) to assist with an event? Much like how the Seers did back-in-the-day... they just kinda showed up if they knew an event was happening. Of course, that caused MORE people to show up to an event, but at least they behaved, or fear the HoG or even Jail time (oh... that Jail!).


    There needs to be something Bonnie.... this is the core of what makes it all so special in UO.

    @Mesanna



  • Sorry I have never seen a PEC. one or two times an advisor. All we got as support is by our EM.
    I read that some shards will miss them, but I don't. 
  • BTW. That did not mean that I see thoose actions positive. We as as player base need committedssupport persons.
  • SableSable Posts: 239
    Trismegistos, I don't think you know what the PEC program really is and this may be no fault of your own.  Perhaps before cancelling the program outright, try advertising it better.  The PEC was a service that players could contact to support player run events.  On Pacific, Kahlan would contact the PEC to set up moongates from Luna to her auction house at the specified auction times.  Roleplayers ran events where the PEC would spawn creatures to play out a battle in-game.  The cool thing was, the PEC didn't only spawn the villains but also spawned members of Eldurane's virtue army to help fight.  If you didn't see the PEC, your shard likely never bothered to engage their services.
  • psychopsycho Posts: 284
    edited October 2019
    When this thread was created my first reaction was "what is PEC???" but instead of posting i waited, now many hours days later Sable explained it. Based on this I dont think Europa had a PEC ever.
    We've had auctions where normal players gate to from Luna, we've had player run events where hartbringers were spawned by normal players, we've had normal players spawning scalis at magincia docs.
    we have daily meetings at britain bank everyday, theres some chairs there did the PEC spawn these? only thing i can think of, they been there for a few years.

    Appart from this what the game needs is active players who arrange RP events, PvP duel events, spawns monsters like Scalis, public hunts to peerless or corgul, helpfull players with sw circle, answers question people may have, maybe even run player run shops with the basic stuff.  I dont know if all shards have this, but I believe this could be done without a PEC with special powers.
    We have to remember special powers opens for abuse also.

    Thank you
  • CookieCookie Posts: 1,246

    I am also a Europa player.

    I also didn't know what a PEC was. Rather than make myself look stupid, I waited for Sable and my friend Psycho to post and explain it to me. :D

    Really all the game needs, as Psycho says, is players to get off their arses and do stuff. Then stuff happens.

  • Because you did not know what a player event coordinator was, speaks volumes.

    I come from a very active shard and on most evenings there is standing room only at Luna bank, its stable or gate. Our General chat could drive most players insane- but I love it. it tells me to keep plugging in there with events and helping or holding Rares festivals (prolly do not know what that is either-heh)

    I agree if players held more events it would keep things active. When you have a couple bad apples moving all your props, it gets frustrating.

    It can take several months of planning, farming & spamming for that one fallen log you need, or item your missing,  then have some one come along and pick everything up you and your guild mates worked so hard to put together.

    During a rares festival we have an entire week of events players put on.

    All im asking for is to keep in place what we had, advertise about it more and I will keep helping the players from my little corner of Toad Town

    At my event tonight there will be an empty chair where the PEC was supposed to be sitting during his introduction. I invite @Mesanna and the Dev's to come sit there.


    CYA all tonight

    Queen Arya

    Atlantic shard

    Toad Town

  • KirthagKirthag Posts: 541
    Cookie said:

    Really all the game needs, as Psycho says, is players to get off their arses and do stuff. Then stuff happens.


    Yes, you're right. 

    Speaking from experience, yes - Players really should be able to put on their own events - I agree with this 100%. It is feasible - and I've done wonderful things running events without the PEC. However, the help from the game's producers (announcement on the PEC page, barks from the in-game NPC Herald, temp gates, griefer control, supplying specialty MOBs) really adds a bit of authority to any Player event, making it more enjoyable for those who participate. Now, maybe some of these events are exclusive to a guild or select group of individuals - but the services of the PEC helped to enrich the game for these people. Not /every/ event is a public one, but it is the public events that really do succeed with PEC assistance.

    TL/DR

    My opus was organizing and managing a shard wide fair on Napa... not once, but twice (first was Spring, the second was Fall). I coordinated with multiple guilds who put on mini-events at scheduled times. I gathered runes to these mini-event locations, having multiple sets in a book at each location (well, there were 3 books actually at each location - that's how much participation there was). Guild leaders organized their people and communicated with me for their needs - most of the time it was prizes and that meant gold. 

    That first fair had a maze house, dungeon run, crafting challenge, fighting pits, story contests, pack-deco challenge, thieving contest, naked dungeon battles, taming contest, a play, song contest - just to name a few. Door prizes, gold, crafted mementos... all this supplied by donors, participating guilds, and myself.

    I built and updated a website, had tables on it showing dates and times for each happening - updated those tables as needed (constantly). I spewed on every forum I was registered on to drum up interest. People created new toons on Napa just to attend. My large tower was the hub of all activity over each fair period. My ICQ was never more active.

    It was glorious!

    On the flip side....

    I was so burned out over these events - and NOTHING else could be done... I ordered so much pizza, Dominoes new my order before I called! I didn't have a real guild at that time, just I and a couple of friends got this going - but I did most of the management.

    I did an analysis after the Spring event and realized almost all of the issues we experienced couldn't be avoided without developer help. 
    1. Constant griefers at every scheduled event. From spamming over text to PKing attendees. 
    --- We countered this by asking the M^F and their Bear Clan to run guard duty - but as the days went on, it got harder and harder to do. We couldn't expect players to be there 24/7 over several days - just doesn't happen.
    2. Helping new toons get around the world. Most people who came from other shards (prior to shard xfer) had barely any skill to participate - so training them and providing gates meant some other people just couldn't participate while providing those services and the materials necessary.
    --- Having gates provided by a PEC would have made things soooo much better for people attending!
    3. System messages. Without the bark of an NPC or a General Chat, people would forget when such and such would begin. There was a whole lot of running around to each city's bank making announcements. 
    --- Pre-Luna, the WBB was the bank to sit at. But a player had to stand there and bark announcements... which is not that much fun all told. And that player most times had to have the ability to make gates. I never made so many gate scrolls in my life as I did during these events!
    4. Gank-squads in the dungeons. Granted, we expected some level of PKing to happen, and warned participants about this. Still, Rez-killing players 30+ times, or killing every single healer within 5 screens of a dungeon entrance, makes for a non-fun dungeon crawl.
    ---- The second fair, we had a "red killing contest" - which I didn't like doing for this actually spurred a whole lot of bad blood for a long time, but we decided to fight fire with fire and if the PKers wanted to be involved, well, they got to be. Honestly, it was a bit of fun /during/ that part... but the aftermath I could've lived without.

    When people asked if I was going to continue with the Spring/Fall fair tradition in the following years, I opted out. The Spring fair was 4 days, the Fall fair 3 days. I just couldn't do it - emotionally, financially (I used vacation days to do these events - 1 week each time, and that entire week I was in UO prepping, setting up, and running the fairs), and physically. My back still spasms from the thought of sitting in my chair for all those hours. The Napa Valley Faires never happened again.

    And I wondered why no one else would pick up the ball. Guilds much larger than my meager helper-squad could have easily have done this. Even loose groups of friends would have been able to take up the reins. But no one did. And why? Because they want to play UO and not work UO. I had hoped the fair would inspire the participating guilds to host more public happenings - and they did, for a wee bit.  It got so the same people were organizing things, and they started to feel the burnout. They lost the fun part, finding (just as I did), that they were /expected/ to do /something/ every weekend.....

    We also play UO.. and we still want to enjoy the game.

    That is what putting on an event is in UO. A bit of enjoyment, but really a whole lot of work. And I enjoyed doing it, for the words... "The Event Is The Reward" is really what it is about for me, and I believe a whole lot of others who organize, put out their own resources, dedicate the time, and work to put on a good event for others on their shard. I think we all subscribe to that philosophy. 

    The PEC (and any volunteering from the devs) just made the events so much easier to organize. It also gave an air of officiality to the entire thing. I attended many PEC events on multiple shards, enjoying the creativity of the Players augmented by the tools and abilities of the PEC (or EM). 

    I plan on doing events again on Pacific... but I've been procrastinating a whole lot. Why? I look back over all the effort I've put in over on Napa, and it kinda makes me cringe a little on the inside wondering if it will just be another see-saw of enjoyment and frustration. What is so ironic, I was drafting up my PEC request submission just as the announcement came out. Checked my email, and read the newsletter... 

    Le sigh.

  • SableSable Posts: 239
    The PECs don't belong to a shard.  There was usually one PEC, most recently Raine, that you emailed and set up the plan for the event beforehand.  It was something like, "Hey Raine, I want to run an event next Saturday in Dungeon Rock of Ilshenar where the players battle Twilight Harpies.  Can you spawn maroon colored harpies in there at 7 PM PST?"  If Raine was available at that time, then your event was good to go.  Otherwise, you'd hammer out a time that would work.  Again, if you didn't see the PEC or the PEC's work on your shard, it is because players didn't engage their services.
  • Let the EM's help, most shards have a good relationship with their EMs, and the shard's EMs will be more likely to know their people and what they want.  Just a thought
  • JudasJudas Posts: 230
    Thank you, Queen Arya, for posting this.  I have also e-mailed Mesanna directly about this, and encourage others to also, so she can realize that removing the PEC was a mistake.

    On Catskills, over the past few years, we've used the PEC many, many times to create some wonderful events.  In particular, the RP community has relied on it to create story-based events and conflicts that are simply not possible to pull off without this kind of support.  It's also been very important for the growth and stability of our community, and keeping people's interest. I just did my last PEC event at the beginning of October (approved by Raine right before he quit), and I was intending to do more soon.  I know a number of people who were planning to as well.

    And that's just Catskills; it's obvious from this and other threads that the PEC was used on a lot of other shards as well, for a variety of different purposes.  So I find it difficult to believe that the demand for this isn't there.

    I hope that either @Mesanna reconsiders this decision, or at least provides us with some kind of replacement such as one of the options suggested above.
  • unfortunately I dont know what a PEC is but I do know what a player event is and quite honestly its a lot of work to set one up but it has been an integral part of UO since the dawn of time, removing the PEC program could possibly be a necessity on the part of Broadsword due to funding etc, they may have decided to cut funding in certain areas, Quite honestly though some sort of interaction between em's and players still needs to be maintained, just using em events as a means for the gold sellers to make money is not necessarily a solution..
  • SmootSmoot Posts: 389
    its such a small time commitment that i dont see why a GM cant do it.  Im sure they would even enjoy breaking the monotony of just answering pages.
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