is your zoo full?..........donate gold to fill the zoo up and thus giving back to your said shard

Or ya could donate it to UOForums for future competitions

I go with the last two suggestions or a two way split

Donations to the Zoo or Forums either one sounds like a good idea. Also, you could start something similar to what we do on Legends. First Tuesday of each month there is a 'Help in Haven' event. We gather crafters, tamers, resources etc, and lend a hand to the newer players, including helping out with a bit of gold. Mind you, we actually do this throughout each month anyway, as we run across the 'Young', but having the regular event helps a lot as well.

Perhaps, you could dispurse it amoungst the young, or sponsor some shardwide events

Don't worry about the economy - chances are your share of the shard's gold is a drop in the bucket to what's generated by the scripters in a week.

What I would do, buy a large plot somewhere, in Britannia proper and not Malas/Tok, and build a museum dedicated to whatever you like in-game. Spend the money buying items (rares included) related to this interest, display them, set aside a gathering area in this museum for other like-minded individuals. Don't make this your home - instead treat it as a gift to the community.

Build up a collection of "history books" as well - use books with each item detailing the item's history, as well as books to discuss the history of your interest in general. Get others to contribute. Set aside a portion of this "museum" for a runebook library of locations that would be useful to somebody who shares your interest.

Hold weekly or monthly meetings of people with a like-minded interest. Use extra money you have for contests to generate outside interest, and hold auctions with donated items to raise money for acquisitions, as well as awareness. People like auctions, and people might help donate items.

Hold events outside of the normal meetings. If you like cooking for instance, arm yourself only with cooking utensils and do a dungeon run. Do recreations of famous events related to your area of interest.

Make sure and have it on an account you are not too attached to, so that if you quit UO or can't afford it, you can transfer it to another player who will oversee it.

Make it guild neutral if your interest involves one or more guilds.

I'm doing this on another shard, and it's very time consuming, but too much has been lost through IDOCs, etc., or is locked away as it is, and while the collection and compilation part is mundane and can be boring, I think the end result will be extremely useful.

The end result is:
- An additional community
- Preservation of your shard's history
- A place to educate people

Most of us realize that the information contained on the official UO site as well as other sites is woefully out of date. Use this museum to help bring up-to-date information to other players, especially new players.

Try to set time up during the week, with other players volunteering, where somebody is on hand to answer questions, or is available. Act as a counselor.

Stage presentations about the history of your interest, as well as ongoing information - ask for questions from people - many people don't realize certain things or aren't as educated as they'd like to be, and would like to learn in-game rather than go out-of-game to some obscure website.

If you can get a house next door or your museum has max storage, set aside an area of your museum for well-stocked vendors to sell items (at cheap prices) concerning your interest, "starter kits" for new players, as well as selling books about the history, and runebooks to important locations concerning your interest, for a couple of reasons:
- People can use these to display in their own homes (if they don't or can't copy the books or mark runes).
- Many new players don't have any idea of what to do to get started or what they need - a starter kit can help them out - it doesn't have to be fancy, but just a kit that if you were just starting out, of stuff you think you would need/use. Include books in this kit with tips.

The vendors probably won't defray your costs, but that's not what they are there for - think of them as another avenue of gathering people together and dispersing information, and with the vendors area have a rune library to other players who specialize in selling items related to your interest. A lot of times your area of interest maybe an afterthought to most merchants, and making it easier to obtain information or items of interest can help - think of it as a gift shop.

In other words, be the go-to place for your interest. If your interest is cooking, build a cooking-themed museum/gathering place, with examples of everything you can cook or consume, and a workshop set aside with work areas for people to use.

Work on getting people that share your interest, to engage in your interest at this museum - many times working together will help generate more ideas.

Most of all, don't try this on your own because it can :shocked: you at the amount of work involved. I have other people out buying items with me, compiling informatin and even have another player who is going to help design the building itself. Find others who share your interest, who can donate gold to help fund acquisitions, or who can donate items for auctions to benefit the museum or new players who share your interest.

Whatever you do, keep it fairly quiet in regards to what you are doing and where it will be, until you are ready to open the doors - otherwise you will be distracted, and you might have people jack the prices up on some things, or who see your unfinished project and think "that's it?" and not come back.

Most shards have a community events calendar somewhere, when you are ready, utilize them - it's what they are there for, and will help generate a lot of foot traffic. The people in your shard who are working to build community events and share information would love to have things like this to showcase.

The other benefit - by doing this, you will put yourself into contact with others who share your interest, whether they are new or old, and many times this might help you began to enjoy UO again if you feel that you've done everything you can. Seeing UO through the eyes of a new player is a good experience that livens things up.

Once the project I'm involved with is finished and open to the public, I'll share details here as well as what I think we did right or wrong, and how much interest was generated.

p.s. Maybe it shouldn't be called a museum, but a living history complex or something like that.

Also, gather or write biographies of "famous" people on your shard or in UO/Ultima that are related to your interest. If you can involve some of these people, even better.

Don't be afraid to ask for help from others.

I would go with donating to our zoo! It would be nice for Napa to have full zoo. It is looking pretty ill right now.

Either donate to the zoo, UOForums, or to me, I die... a lot, and I'm sure my friends are tired of donating to the DiP Insurance fund.

I go with UOForums (for competitions), the zoo or a museum on your shard or if you've got a really disgusting amount all three.

Well Terrence, i reckon i have more, wanna meet and compare gold piles? none bought from ebay. Maybe you should read my post on the rares collectors forum.

I almost agree with DiP....almost. I say either the zoo, UOForums conest, or me.

When he says me it doesn't mean me it means him.

Bad DiP bad