Page 2 of 7 FirstFirst 1234 ... LastLast
Results 16 to 30 of 100

Thread: UF News: An interview with Mehul Patel, creator of Utopia

  1. #16
    Enthusiast
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Posts
    302
    The whole time I was reading that, I was wondering if you were going to ask a question about Jared Loughner.

    Something like: "It has been reported that Jared Lee Loughner, the Arizona Shooter, was a long time player of Earth 2025. Did you see those articles in the news? What was your first thoughts?"

    I was really hoping to see a response from him about that. I was curious if he heard about it and what he thought about it.

  2. #17
    Forum Fanatic E_Boko's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    2,655
    lol dreaming of deleting multis. tell him to come mod the forums and then can work his way up to be able to do that :-P
    Icy 4 8

  3. #18
    Member majordisaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Philippines
    Posts
    10
    great interview!

  4. #19
    News Correspondent flutterby's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    2,226
    Heavily disagree with Bishops disagreement of #7.
    Quote Originally Posted by VT2
    I should get a medal for all the common sense I highlight on a daily basis.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    <Bishop> I don't dislike Ezzerland
    <Bishop> We are just incompatible

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    <~Palem> I read that as "snuffleupegas gropes Palem" twice lol

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  5. #20
    Regular
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    87
    Mehul is the man. Literally.

  6. #21
    Forum Fanatic E_Boko's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    2,655
    I'm sry but the invite system is awesome. Its not OP so you can maake a SK in a day but its good enough that it takes a few ages to form a nice kingdom. I doubt id be playing if I was in a random ghetto. Half the reason I retired in the 30's
    Icy 4 8

  7. #22
    Post Fiend clark_kent's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    217
    Quote Originally Posted by flutterby View Post
    Heavily disagree with Bishops disagreement of #7.
    i heavily disagree with your disagreement with bishop disagreement of Q#7

    the game does allow you to play random, you're delusional if you think that old system was strictly random i think you neglected ie scripting, razing nubs, trading etc ..under the current system it allows everyone an equal opportunity to create the kingdom you so chooses infact if the current system was in place it might even have flourish since the game had player base if a random player creates an account had an option to invite a friend of two they would have done so.

  8. #23
    Post Demon
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Posts
    1,750
    Quote Originally Posted by Korp View Post
    How did they meet these friends to begin with? Everyone knew eachother from the begining and just decided to play toghter?

    So how do you explain all the new people ive met? You think that everyone that did trade before it was legal already knew each other? Cause i can easily say its not true, I didnt know a single person that played utopia and now I know a ****load.

    Dont get me wrong, I am all for legal trading, I am one of those that didnt consider trading really illegal to begin with. But I at least one of those that did really enjoy the aspect of just ending up in a random kd that you had to bond with and work toghter then as time went you get to know more people and traded yourself into better kds etc. Was just this part that i did really agree too "the entire premise of the social interaction of Utopia was built around interacting with people you didn't know and learning to work with them. It was a mix of learning diplomatic skills, politicking, etc."
    That's the whole point, that you can still random if you don't actually know anyone. Mehul wanted to force that on everyone all the time. Even if you left for an age because of real life issues, you wouldn't be allowed to return to your friends if he got it his way.

    Quote Originally Posted by Silversten View Post
    I actually agree completely with question 7. Despite playing in top kingdoms and taking crowns, I still have never had as much fun as those first few ages when I was just a random ghetto noob logging in twice a day.

    For those of us that are active, and post on forums, legal trading is the preferred option, but you have to remember that we are in the minority.

    The vast majority of players (especially before trading became so commonplace - WAY back) are no vocal on the forums, and do not play in top kingdoms. These players are what are essential for the game to survive.

    If all of the top players leave, the game goes on without a hitch, new kingdoms rise to the top and new casual players join.

    If all of the ghetto players leave, the game becomes stagnant. The ghetto players leave, and very few join because of the increasingly competitive nature of the game.

    I definitely wouldn't want legal trading removed now, in my position (I'm very competitive). However, in its current form, this game will not last, I think that is abundantly clear. The changes cater to the competitive minority, because we are the most vocal. What OMAC has missed is that despite being the most vocal, and active, we are not the most important player group to the success of the game.
    I think you underestimate the use of trading in ghettoes. I randomed around a little some ages ago, and didn't run into a single kd that didn't have some little group of people that knew each other real life and had traded to play with each other.

  9. #24
    Forum Addict Scavenger's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    1,007
    Good interview. Was affraid it was gonna be a re-run of the last, but am pleasantly surprized to see a 'different' Mehul here.
    Great guy Mehul. Wouldve loved to see the game truly function as he had it in his mind, but I realize that's an utopia.

  10. #25
    Sir Postalot
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Posts
    3,132
    I'm not sure how I feel about his answer to #7, especially since I was in the first supremely heavily illegally traded kingdom. Perhaps he was right.

    One thing I do believe is that the game was infinitely more fun and likely would have created a larger sustainble playerbase if it could have kept what it did the first few ages of existence: That you could randomly join a ghetto and be the top province in the game.

    At some point (around age 5) it became that you couldn't be a highly successful province in a nub kingdom because having 24 provinces to aid to you became too much of an advantage.

    At some point after that (about the time attack times went to less than once a day) you couldn't be a successful kingdom without people being entirely too active, or x-logging.

    At this point the userbase is in trouble because it takes a certain amount of crazy to have stuck with this game this long, and in genral, that type of crazy is incredibly abnoxious. People were much nicer in general when the game started.
    Last edited by flogger; 23-08-2011 at 06:33.

  11. #26
    Dear Friend Korp's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    8,837
    That's the whole point, that you can still random if you don't actually know anyone. Mehul wanted to force that on everyone all the time. Even if you left for an age because of real life issues, you wouldn't be allowed to return to your friends if he got it his way.
    But most of the time there is no point, since all the "good players" gone to better kingdoms and you are just left with other newbies. Then you cant trade yourself into a "good kingdom" cause you're a newbie either. As i said, I saw trading when it was illegal legal as well.

  12. #27
    Game Support Bishop's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    21,332
    The whole precept of "zomg you can play with a guy from 3k miles away" was cool back in 2000. Its just crazily naive to expect people to settle for it these days, hell, people didn't settle for it 9 years ago. We know, for a fact, that trading was rampant purely because of this. This aspect of the game was one that should have evolved years ago. Its hardly a stretch of the imagination to say that not being able to trade caused the downfall in numbers.

    It is, however, important to stress that allowing trading did not remove the concept of playing with strangers - its just that these strangers were aligned with your goals.

    It seems that after reading that interview it is a good thing that Mehul left. His ideals, which were very cutting edge, seems similar to the ads about space food capsules we can all expect to be eating next decade shown in the 70s. Things change, you have to deal with it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mehul
    The single biggest thing I told them was never to allow people to choose their own kingdoms - the entire premise of the social interaction of Utopia was built around interacting with people you didn't know and learning to work with them.
    For someone that designed and ran the game for years to not understand at a basic level why we traded and what that actually entailed is quite surprising.
    Last edited by Bishop; 23-08-2011 at 10:48.
    Support email: utopiasupport@utopia-game.com <- please use this and don't just PM me| Account Deleted/Inactive | Utopia Facebook Page | #tactics <-- click to join IRC|
    PM DavidC for test server access

  13. #28
    Dear Friend Korp's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    8,837
    The whole precept of "zomg you can play with a guy from 3k miles away" was cool back in 2000. Its just crazily naive to expect people to settle for it these days, hell, people didn't settle for it 9 years ago.
    Its still cool, you gotta have a bigger perspective than just your own where you played for x amount of years and probably bit tired of the game by now. I think it was better how it was before when trading was illegal, now the newbies are all in one kingdom and people that are "good" looks for "better kingdoms". That didnt happend as much before as it does now. Plus I think we can all agree how fun it was to get to know different people by creating an account if trading was legal when you started playing what kd would have accepted you Bishop, a newbie without no contacts, no network of people etc, nobody would have taken you in probably :P Or perhaps you had 24 friends that you wanted to play with from the start?

  14. #29
    Forum Fanatic E_Boko's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    2,655
    im sry korp but thats a fail. globalization is just so big now that i coudnt imagine not playing someone from japan on xbox live or someone from brazil on the PS network. nvm every game published on the interwebs. when i invite someone to join my kingdom idk who they really are, if they are going to live up to the ideals they posed to me. but i give them a chance to prove themselves and take it from there. the random kingdom thing is way to old now.
    Icy 4 8

  15. #30
    Game Support Bishop's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    21,332
    Quote Originally Posted by Korp View Post
    Its still cool, you gotta have a bigger perspective than just your own where you played for x amount of years and probably bit tired of the game by now. I think it was better how it was before when trading was illegal, now the newbies are all in one kingdom and people that are "good" looks for "better kingdoms". That didnt happend as much before as it does now. Plus I think we can all agree how fun it was to get to know different people by creating an account if trading was legal when you started playing what kd would have accepted you Bishop, a newbie without no contacts, no network of people etc, nobody would have taken you in probably :P Or perhaps you had 24 friends that you wanted to play with from the start?
    LOL? It happened tons - trading was actually worse amongst ghettos, and it still is.

    Its real easy to get a kd as a brand new player. You get to play with new people and play in a kd that suits you. This is far superior to mehuls outdated vision, because its simply outdated.

    Not allowing trading was never going to work, ever. The entire game was set up so that having all your slots played was vital.

    " Plus I think we can all agree how fun it was to get to know different people by creating an account if trading was legal when you started playing what kd would have accepted you Bishop, a newbie without no contacts, no network of people etc, nobody would have taken you in probably :P"

    Heretics did, irish slots/players were rare.
    Support email: utopiasupport@utopia-game.com <- please use this and don't just PM me| Account Deleted/Inactive | Utopia Facebook Page | #tactics <-- click to join IRC|
    PM DavidC for test server access

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •