Five on Friday - June 23, 2006

1. What does the Gold Rune signify during an event?
Zilo: When you come to the Gold Rune, you've reached the end of the event for that week.

2. What if I play on the non-PunkBuster shard and want to play on a shard that has PunkBuster (or vice versa)? Will we have some way to transfer for a limited time?
MrTact: We are actively discussing this issue. Our thinking right now is that we would provide a way for players to transfer their characters in order to play on the PunkBuster-enabled or -disabled ruleset of their choice. There are obviously some complications with that scenario involving Siege and Mugen, but we have plenty of time to work out those details.

3. You said that a possible "Devil’s Island" shard might allow scripting? What about other cheat programs? Does that mean it would be a "free for all" shard with no rules?
MrTact: We have considered making it almost complete anarchy, and writing new Term of Service to allow for at least one shard with fewer rules about third-party programs and other currently restricted gameplay behaviors. However, we haven’t made any firm decisions yet.

4. I heard that PunkBuster is not very effective against cheats?
Wilki: While there isn't a method that can guarantee a 100% cheat-free environment, PunkBuster is a tool that will help us eliminate most cheating in the game. Most cheaters in UO download their cheats from public websites on the internet. PunkBuster will prevent these types of cheaters from being able to cheat in UO. While there will be a small number of sophisticated cheaters that will be able to fly under the radar for awhile before they're found, with the vast majority of cheaters removed from the game, they will be much easier to track down.

5. Is the acquisition of Mythic going to have any impact on UO?
Wilki: The EA Mythic team and the UO Team will remain separate units, so we don't anticipate any changes to UO or the UO Team due to the acquisition.