[maka]

Thanks for clearing that up Hate! I was getting a little confused myself, especially since I knew almost nothing about XUO's history.

Think there is a link somewhere on the page, it is how ever not all that detailed so I'll make an attempt


This might be boring to most and it has no importance at all and it is definitely off topic, but this post has first hand information of how the [Run]XUOs started, ended, what grew from it/them and how. Its here to clarify some things, even if it doesn't really matter, just see it as a non-mandatory class of RunXUO history:p I just couldn't sleep and the feeling of nostalgia snuck up on me.


"RunXUO"
RunXUO was the baby of Chro, he created the foundation and concept and no one else. He went to Jakko with it and Jakko got impressed and decided to give it a try as injection and crashes were really a bother at that time. Jakko, Fallzone and Chro was in from the start, I think strife tagged a long a bit later (not 100% sure when). Only devs in the beginning were head dev Chro and Strife to some extend. Fallzone might have done tweaks but I do not think he was coding. Jakko (no offence) has never done anything for RunXUO but provide the hosting.

My story on RunXUO started as a player, then a helpful player [script wise], got promoted to Couns, then to GM, Seer, Dev and finally to [a coding machine] Admin. The reason to why I abandoned the RunXUO project however, was not cause it was too "roleplayish", it was cause we (Only me and Strife at that time, and long before that too) had no clear direction or goal in regards to where we wanted to take the server. We wanted different things and result of that were a major jumble and a shard that was beyond saving. There was a lot of stuff done that I didn't agree with and that stuff was done without asking me. Some of these things lead to major inflation in the game and essentially removed all the worth of items and skills.

That was actually one of the reasons things (skills/items) were so hard to get in the beginning of INX (no clue how it is now). I didn't want to make the same mistake that I saw happen with RunXUO, so, before I was sure that the balance was good, I chose too see it as this; You can save a server if loots are bad quantity/quality wise or if monsters are too hard, but If you've pumped in weapons, gold, items (but also items that are from a different era than the one you are trying to emulate) and all kinds of hunting and skill bugs, then only save is a wipe.

Therefore, the reason to why "RunXUO" died was due to inflation, an excess of random ML/Samurai items on a sphere lookalike, lack of development after I left and cause of poor scripts. RunXUO was kind of a learning project for all the coders, which is this case was Chro, Strife and me, in chronological order:p RunXUO was actually the first successful sphere emulation on runuo and we were kind of "stalked" on the RunUO forums:p

Anyways, Chro was not on the team for a long time (he was however the guy with the idea and he set the foundation), Strife went on to code on his ideal server, a AoS/ML mix (if I'm remembering right), and I went on to make mine, "Makas XUO".

"Makas XUO"
My server had good quality code and it was, according to me, the perfect shard of its kind. My reasons for closing the server down how ever, was not the fact that the scripts were bad, it was due to the fact that I believe it was slowly dying due to dwindling player population. The server was so niched at PvP that everything else got kind of discarded. The PvP part was wonderful (according to "us":p) and even though the [15~50] people playing might not have seen it, or even agreed with me, I was sure that a pure PvP server is going for certain death in the long run.

There are not enough people that play a server solely for the "XUO PvP" and that leads to low population. Low server population leaves you with a lack of "free world" PvP that leads to boredom, even for the 1337 pekayz. PvPers often forget that they would probably enjoy playing a server that is a little bit different from their niche if there were 20 people in destard every time they recalled.

So, my attempt at saving the old [PvP] play style and feel, as I do not believe in sphere, was to go back and fiddling with the recipe. I knew that what a PvP shard needed was players, but I also knew that a PvP shard wouldn’t attract any new ones. The perfect answer was a merge.

The beginning of the merge and the end of "Makas XUO" For a merge to work I needed to find a server with a high population, Sphere style game play and *cough* lack of developers (so that I actually have something to offer, as a maximum of 50 players isn't that great). I found IN:R, started "spying", and noticed it had all of that. IN:R (or rather, IN) even had something more, it had a working non-PvP concept. (Please, I'm not talking bad about the PvP "you" guys had, what I'm trying to say is that you had so much more than just PvP.) I tried to get in touch with Coldrake and Rob (?) but got discarded, not sure why, but I guess that what I said I could do was considered bragging/lies.

At some point, while playing other servers, I got in touch with slaquer (I think it was cause he ran a server and I was considered a bugger). We spoke with each other on MSN but nothing more really. Some time later, he found out of what I was trying to do (which was "save" Sphere game play and XUO). He then referred me to Coldrake and I then managed to get an "audience". I think he got it by testifying that I could do what I told them I could, and he got that by being on my server (or by knowing people on my server). Coldrake, Rob and then some others logged on to one of the XUO versions and that is kind of where the real deal began.

We started talking and arguing, both "sides" wanting to save what we held dear. I did how ever not want to work for "a server", I wanted to work for XUO, and as the essence of XUO to me was the PvP, I was kind of rock solid on that point (IN:R was in REAL need of developers). I think these discussions were going on for like two or so weeks on the less famous "staff merge forums", where Taran, even then, was a front figure for the IN "side". We essentially "agreed" (this is something that was still a big issue when I left) on a concept we thought could work: IN with XUO PvP. We figured that if we had something to attract players that felt the game was more than just PvP, the people burning for PvP would benefit too however, even if they might not see it as such. We also thought that the players coming from the stripped down and niched XUO would grow to enjoy the new aspects of the game too.

Anyways, back to the topic, the closing of "Makas XUO". After those two weeks, when we at least had a plan, I announced that I would be closing XUO down for a new and better server. People were informed of our plans from the merge forum, but some disagree. They were sceptical to the idea but I gave them the promise that I would not change the PvP aspect of the game, even thought we might have a lot of people against us, and that a lot of players benefit the PvPers too. "Makas XUO" finally closed down, with players still playing, and we started working towards something bigger.

The End
As a little ending of this story I'd like to say that I still believe in the IN-X concept. If there is a UO shard that should work and bring joy, it is this one.

Bye again:p?