Nalates wrote:Dot, I think you have it. I see the logical divisions you list. I also think story and in-world building have strong influences on the infrastructure.
Thanks for the reassurance.
Re infrastructure following from story and in-world building: One way forward (using the OS-based grids as a trial run) might be to build on what is already happening, with a mix of home-based part-time sims and full-time regions on different grids and simhosts, and to develop a server/region that allows relatively straightforward travel between grids. That would allow each building group their independence, while starting to trial ways of supporting cross-grid travel. In UU terms I guess this would be akin to facilitating cross-shard linking.
JW, how does this tie in with what you are wanting to do? And should we take the discussion of content on OS-based grids elsewhere, given that it is not purely Uru-based?
I'm trying to think of how someone trying to get a sim/region/age, whatever, up and running or someone new wanting to get to one of the alternate ages would think of it.
I anticipate Uru fans will want to see places that age writers/builders ... have made. Because of my SL connection I may be biased, but I think as they see what others are doing they will want to try their hand at small things. From there larger things and eventually entire ages.
Umm, it didn't work like that with Paislee and myself, where we STARTED in SL with building areas with pre-built well-designed objects, working up to whole sims, and then using a mix of our own and others' creations -- but this might be because we started our 'Uru exile' in There, where all things are prebuilt and land is relatively cheap. The next step for us, with hosted regions on the OSgrid, is a combination of factors from both SL and There: build it (mostly) yourself, plus cheap land.
So, things start with getting there. Then how to get around. Next how to build little things, then bigger things then ages. Once they can build ages then how to share them (servers and hosting). Once they are at that stage it is then about how to get word out and players in and how to share the age so all can play. I think that process needs to be supported in the forum structure and information arrangement.
Suggestions for prioritising and organising information (mostly Wiki based):
(a) How to get there, sort out avie, move around, tp within grid, tp between grids (this might need to be set up per grid)
(b) How to set up region -- home-based; where to look for hosted options, and costs
Tips on building would be further down the line because there is already a lot of info out there -- and skills learned in SL are transferable to the other grids.
I see the publicising of what is out there to the wider community as a separate task/project. It could be both in-world, maintained at the linking region, and off-world, akin to the Age list maintained for Drizzle at
http://www.the-deep-island.de/uru-ages/uam.updates.htm, for example.
Some of the challenges for MMOG makers is how to allow players to shape the story (Devokan journals, public in-world bulletin boards, forum threads). Another challenge is in how to allow players to affect the world. ... I think we can work those things out and create new ways to create a game that is more dynamic than MOUL was. ...
I would suggest that allowing fans to shape their world is essential -- whether through designing/building or through events or storytelling. That is going to be a challenge for pure Uru. Some of us have been spoilt by our time in exile -- we've seen (and shown) what more might be possible. (Nalates, let's talk about squee tracking in GoMa.
)
I have lots of ideas for things we can do. I am hesitant to put massive effort into something only a few will be interested in. I'm also reserved in what I suggest for others until I have gotten try some things my self... However, if we ... can help OpenUru.org organize and lay foundation for a future 'shard' and 'region' hosting system... \o/ ...and getting to do it with tolerant and thoughtful people... I think it should be fun and attract others.
Agreed