PaxLair Community: UO Personified!

[Queen Mum]

Gathering at the beautifully decorated Skara Brae Community Center in Trammel on Chesapeake was in itself a rewarding rest for those who had traveled far across the lands to visit the PaxLair Community.



After introducing those in attendance, Mayor Winfield invited us to the Lost Dragon Tavern of Dragons Watch in Felucca, where we could enjoy fine brews, partake of excellent hand made foods, and fellowship while conducting the interview.



Once settled in at the Tavern, Mayor Winfield graciously announced that the floor was open to all questions about PaxLair...

Several hands rose at once and one by one, they received answers:

Q: Where did the name PaxLair came from, and what it means?

The name was proposed in early 1998 by Thelorn, the guildmaster of The Band and proprietor of the Second Chance Provisioners in PaxLair. The name means literally "Peace Place". We chose this name because in those days, there were no places in the Realm that were respected as peaceful places. Even the Britannian towns and cities were riddled with thieves. "PaxLair" fit well with our ideas to have a cross-roads for everyone where people of all types and natures could come, meet, talk, strategize, recruit, and have events. So even the name "PaxLair" is symbolic of our three tenets of Peace, Neutrality, and Role-playing.

Q: Could you give us a brief account of how PaxLair came to be?

The Band was the founding guild of PaxLair. The Band had about 12 houses on Prison Isle in Yew inside the guard zone in 1997. After several months, we wanted to find a new location for another group of houses, but not in the guard zone. This would allow more freedom of action and reaction while keeping our guild together. After much research of open areas, we found the meadow west of the Compassion Desert. On January 19, 1998, several houses were placed including the now historic Mage Tower.

For the first few months, people started to come around and we created furniture every day in our tower and other buildings. Shops started to service customers that wandered through. But some people would come through and take or destroy our furniture, and there was no way to store anything in town.

In mid 1998, a god [Interest Game Master] came to PaxLair because he heard it was becoming a hot-spot of activity. PaxLair had probably 8 guilds and around 300 people roaming around the meadow back then. The god saw the player interest in building a town and started "locking down" our furniture, setting up some secure chests, and creating some outdoor structures between the buildings for a better "town" atmosphere.

The gods seemed to experiment with our little town by testing new walls in buildings for protection, teleporter features, permanent lighting, and gathering areas outside. I don't think they just tested for the "mechanics" of things, but more for how the people reacted to changes and developments in a player community area.

Within about 6 months of it's founding, PaxLair established a role-playing government so people on the shard would know who to go to for information, get involved, or ask for improvement in town services and facilities. I became the first Mayor of PaxLair that year and we developed a working council.

Q: Do you see a difference in the type of players that now:
... Involve themselves with PaxLair...

Actually no. We have the same "melting pot" of people who are interested in all aspects of the Realm. From "PvP" combat to creating theatrical plays and festivals. It really is the same mix of interests that we once tried to solely accomplish in one town in Felucca.

What is different today is that PaxLair has grown to have more cities that offer opportunities experience a full spectrum of interests and play-styles. We have 5 cities in PaxLair today located on Felucca, Trammel, and Tokuno; and an outpost on Malas. In a few days, PaxLair will be called a player-statehood, not a player-town; this helps symbolize a full spectrum of opportunity.

… visit or interact with PaxLair, but are not part of the official Pax community?

That is hard to sense. I think the population on the Shard is lower than 8 or 9 years ago. And people "can more easily survive and achieve" things in the Realm today without needing teamwork. Our community is basically based on teamwork to do creative things beyond solo or small group experiences.

Some people come to our PaxLair cities out of curiosity; others just for events. Still others come to invade and more come to relax and meet people. We've actually always had these types of players coming to PaxLair. So I'd say there really is no difference now in who visits or interacts with PaxLair. There's just fewer people or people that can do so much more in the Realm on their own.

The interesting thing is people don't need to be part of the official PaxLair community to enjoy PaxLair. It is much like "visiting a town for dinner, a sporting event, a shopping experience, or [heaven-forbid] criminal activity, be chased by the law, and be brought to trial In fact, in our upcoming Age of Enlightenment, we will probably see much more interaction with non-PaxLair cities, guilds, and people. We will probably see trade agreements for shipping over the seas, treaties, wars, many quests, and help to young players.

Q: You have been the foundation of PaxLair, what keeps the player behind the character playing?

What keeps me going is one simple philosophy: To humbly help people create and maintain interest in a community that they can enjoy for years and years to come.

I keep my own interest because of the way I look at the Realm and PaxLair within it. For me, the "short-term" is 6 months out. "Medium-term" is 2 years. And "long-term" is 5+ years. So when something happens on a particular day or week that is disturbing or de-motivating, I do not react as if it is the end of the world. I sit back, listen, evaluate, and decide. I make decisions based on respect for others and the effects on our short, medium, and long term ideas for our community.

I think about the future, not the past. I learn from the past and leverage off what worked and did not work. As the Realm changes and the people within it, many of us in PaxLair keep trying new things to help build and achieve a realistic experience in the Realm.

There was a time when I had to take a break from the Realm due to [a 24/7 position in real life]. During that time I remained as "caretaker" of the city while two other mayors ran the city. So I was behind the scene from a support and long-term vision point-of-view.

Q: Player towns come and go in UO. How do you explain the incredible longevity and sustained success of your community?

We've lasted this long because of commitment, consistency, good leadership among many people, a fairly well documented history, and very few if any single points of failure. Our community is not based on one or two guilds or individuals. PaxLair is not a guild-city. I've seen some other towns fold because their primary guild folded, and that is sad to see. I've seen old towns fade because their leader had to leave.

PaxLair survives because we literally welcome anyone into the community who comes with respect and a sense of teamwork and creativity. Just the other day, we had an old player return to the Realm who was not a direct part of PaxLair in the past; but now after two months he operates a "blessed" establishment in PaxLair City, Felucca. This is because of his own creativity and sense of fair play in the Realm.

PaxLair therefore survives because of the people--many dedicated people--old and young.

Several more questions presented by our fascinated UOForums interview group included:

Q: Why doesn't PaxLair after all these years have its own brewery?

The answer was simple yet held technical complications. George spoke up quickly and said, "There is no grape press yet, but it is in the works!"

Q: Internally how are differences handled among the PaxLair governmental officials?

Mayor Winfield explained that very few differences surface among the community members and when they do, they are handled right away with respectful diplomacy.

Q: Who and what are the duties of the Knights of PaxLair?

Sir Monk, Lord of the Knights, describe that their main duty is to protect all the citizens of PaxLair and to uphold the ways of chivalry and virtue. This group of Knights and the Paladins of Virtue are especially intriguing so we asked to hold a future meeting to discuss more details and Sir Monk agreed to meet with us very soon.

Q: Does PaxLair provide public tours?

The Dutchess VanHorn announced that most welcomingly they do, and that it is the best way to experience PaxLair. With it's many locations and community members it truly is the only way to experience the magnificent realism of the PaxLair realm. To arrange a tour all one needs to do is contact tourism[at]paxlair.com to setup a day and time.

After we had finished our refreshments and listened intently to more historical facts, along with the merriment of John Duke’s humor, we were invited to visit a few of the sites that make up the PaxLair Community.

Our first stop was at the Spring of Courage, originally called the Spring of Knowledge, where we heard of how Mazrim's Touch had turned the water blood red and how Seer Daemeon sacrificed his mortal life to purify the spring water. You can read more of this fantastic history of this courage and dedication here.



Just a few steps from the Spring of Courage our next stop was at hand. The Mage and Necro towers called by many the Twin Towers, which has moongates to the first floors and teleporters that connect the two towers. On one floor is a collection of books inscribed by Seer Daemeon, which I have promised myself to return to reading as soon as time allows since the group was moving on to the next location I had to close the first book!



However, to my delightful surprise we headed to the Silent Rose Library and Theatre in Homare-Jima, Tokuno. With over 1000 inscribed books, mostly by role-players, as well as Runebooks to other great PaxLair locations being available for public reading anytime of the day or night, I knew I found a safe place to stay.




As the time passed swiftly we were in much need of rest, so our gracious hosts bid our group a fond farewell until the ‘morrow and we retired with great anticipation of joining in the celebration festivities this week during PaxLair's 9th Anniversary ... click here to see all the joyful events planned.

[Snugglebunny]

Was a wonderful event! Thank you for inviting us!

[Silverfoot]

Excellent. A true tribute to what UO has always been about in my minds eye.
Not PVP
Not PVM
Not housing nor items

But players coming together to use all of the above to make "community".
Somehting NO game itself can provide
The game can provide the tools, it's the players that provide the unique experience that keeps one wanting to come back.

Well done Paxlair, and Thanks Queen Mum for the interview!

[CatHat]

UO has always been about players coming together to use all of the above to make "community".

*nods Briskly in agreement - Well said.

:grin: :grin: :grin:

Cathat

[Masamune]

When I first began playing UO I was a frequent visitor to Paxlair.

I loved the idea of a player run town and I found many pvp battles there.

For the sake of nostalgia I am now part of a guild closely associated with Paxlair. Unfortunately, besides the occasional role play event Paxlair has become a ghost town. This has more to stay about the state of UO in general, though, than the state of the Paxlair government.

[Winfield]

Sometimes there are a lot of ghosts in PaxLair cities, making them ghost towns (darn those invaders *grins*). Other times you can hear the wind howl through the streets without anyone around to hear it (did it really howl then?).

We keep PaxLair alive in various ways, even if there are a few cobwebs growing in the corners. Interest varies through our different phases of "development". But one thing is for certain, PaxLair will be here until the end of the Realm (never we hope) and we don't plan to re-build or re-start ... we just keep using PaxLair, try many new ideas, and keep PaxLair open-to-all.

The state of the player community varies along with its interests, perhaps even shard by shard. Interests can vary for many reasons, including changes in the [game mechanics] or creation of [shard-wide quests]. This is a topic of observation and trial and error --- what interests people these days? What "skews" them from a teamwork community, or invigorates more teamwork? What works and doesn't work, for community development goals?

I posted a recent BLOG that may shed more light on early days of teamwork and player towns. The specific BLOG I refer to is here. All my BLOGs are here.

Sincerely,
Winfield, Governor of PaxLair