06-16-2012, 11:08 PM
Short answer is that UO server populations are unpredictable and as far as I know there's no secret to instantly draw in hundreds of players.
I still think that the SW:TOR fallout combined with no other good games out at the moment was the cause of our huge growth. The fact that we took out advertising right when it was happening was also a huge benefit.
The problem is, as has been repeated, is that UO is an old game and most people only play out of nostalgia. The stars aligned right and we got a huge influx of players looking for something to do, then they lost interest when new games came out, Diablo 3 being the huge one. Soon it'll be Torchlight 2.
As far as I know, we have no plans to take the server offline since it's super cheap to keep it up. If we get a huge spike in playerbase though, I doubt it would be due solely to what GM/Admins are doing. It would most likely be the effect of the gamer population's movement as a whole.
I still think that the SW:TOR fallout combined with no other good games out at the moment was the cause of our huge growth. The fact that we took out advertising right when it was happening was also a huge benefit.
The problem is, as has been repeated, is that UO is an old game and most people only play out of nostalgia. The stars aligned right and we got a huge influx of players looking for something to do, then they lost interest when new games came out, Diablo 3 being the huge one. Soon it'll be Torchlight 2.
As far as I know, we have no plans to take the server offline since it's super cheap to keep it up. If we get a huge spike in playerbase though, I doubt it would be due solely to what GM/Admins are doing. It would most likely be the effect of the gamer population's movement as a whole.