Future of the ARK Program

[Cariadast]

Today Umbrols from FunCom, in the Customer Support area announced the discontinuation of our beloved ARK (Advisors of Rubi-Ka) program. You can read the details on the FunCom forums: https://forums.funcom.com/t/future-of-t ... ram/230929

We at AOU are at a loss for words as to why this would be happening, so the only words we can offer are THANK YOU to ALL of the Advisors of Rubki-Ka, present and past, for the dedication you showed. As well as the hard work you gave, and the unconditional support you provided to this game and its community.

Thank you for carrying the needs and concerns of the players through the years, and helping players when times called for it. AOU has appreciated and enjoyed working with you over the decades and is proud to have had a number of you counted in our staff and ranks here at AOU.

You will be deeply, regretfully missed.

We will not forget!

Update: Message from Spacequest

Spacequest — Today at 7:14 PM BST (GMT+1)

Transmission online…

I need keep quite, incase they hear me, but I saw a new Alien ship, I thought i would investigate before putting out the call to arms.

Upon entering the ship I lost all my powers and had no defence, the door shut behind me.
Quickly I ran to hide behind some strange alien containers, their I could see a new type of alien, never seen before. If I move I could be seen and disintegrated.

Oh no! I feel the ships engines starting, I am trapped!
My comms is loosing power, what is this ship.
I must say this quick before my comms fails.

This maybe the last transmission to you all.

All I can say is you are the best and I have enjoyed every moment and event with you all, I hope myself and the events team have brought you a smile into your life. I must tell you something really important before my comms fails. What ever you do don't ………….

End of transmission…

[bitnykk]

I’m fully clueless since 24H that ARKs were shut down.

Few infos posted by ChrisT & Rooibos honestly didn’t help to enlight it at all. We hear you guys have contractual obligations so we can’t blame you directly (you’re even paid to receive the shitstorm in proxy of company which is never comfortable), but to say the least, that corporate decision was brutal, cloudy and painfull all at once. & the fact you guys may agree doesn’t change how it’s received by the community.

AO is THE game that made FC what it is, no offense to their other titles, & also the one that received the least care since over a decade - if not more. Most of the activity/content/guide was/is offered by players themselves (and i’d proudly count myself in) either via orgs, public bots or websites (AOU ftw !) & many other volunteer projects as GridStream & ARK. To me, that all make the “Anarchy” spirit beside of the “Online” tech, in the deep political sense that word brings - a more horizontal way of managing things, if you will : by players for players.

Therefore in all honesty, i really do not see when & how those playerbased projects would cost ANYTHING to the company, further i’d even sincerely assert that they SAVE/D a LOT of money/time/people/insert-whatever-else-asset to compensate that certain lack of love the game is subject to, current “maintenance mode” being the latest.

We’re in a new era since awhile, & it would have made total sense that AO became way more opensourced a long ago. Renewing models, textures, playfields as much as designing new quests, dungeons and bosses would have been done for long & nearly freely if the corporate was up-to-the-date enough. Docaholic’s work gave hope awhile. But instead of this, they decide that …

All i can say to conclude is witness how sad we all are & thank all ARKs for their time & dedication. Fairwolf Spacequest Rainys plus all the others i cannot mention here. So long …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfOHjAF50AI&t=1950s

[Snakebite]

ARK started going downhil when FC discontinued the Petition answering side of ARK. I never did understand the bonus of doing that...
It filtered out the easier stuff and left the GMs in peace to deal with the serious stuff!

Exploits and Events kept things going as long as they could though, so it was still possible to spot ARKs around RK.

The various GMpf events/celebrations were always fun!

RIP ARK

[Cariadast]

ARK started going downhil when FC discontinued the Petition answering side of ARK. I never did understand the bonus of doing that...I never did understand the bonus of doing that...
It filtered out the easier stuff and left the GMs in peace to deal with the serious stuff!

When FC started adding newer games to the rotation they already had, they developed new CS software. FC for a decade allowed ARK to ride the coattails of the original software AO used, keeping it separate from the others.

When FC decided to consolidate all the CS software so GMs could more easily work petitions across games, AO was the last they switched over. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the system, there was no way to ensure ARKs received only info about players and petitions from those that were just in AO. For security reasons, they decided ARKS should not have access to the combined games petition/CS software and closed the petition portion of the program.

Exploits and Events kept things going as long as they could though, so it was still possible to spot ARKs around RK.

ARK had a rough adjustment, but as always, they were strong and created a new ARK program based on more directly interacting with the community. ARKs in all areas were extremely active in the last 5+ years. They were even recruiting a couple of years back.

Community Director Fairwolf made sure to have ARKs out and about, himself more than any other. Additionally, some in director positions were actively working to help players by advising them how to handle issues, and where to direct their queries when they were unable to help themselves. They were doing more to assist the overworked GMs than I think most realized.

When ARK Island was closed on June 13, 2023, ARK was not fading in any way. They were an active part of the game, and the community still. They were working hard with the GMs on stopping exploiters, those crashing the game and helping to fix in-game issues. They were also always trying to keep the peace between players while also providing us with activities when FC couldn't find the time or trouble to do. They were still very strong.

The GMs, who were left to announce this do not seem happy about it, and stated it was a call much, much farther up the food chain. This leads me to wonder if these "decision makers" remotely realize what they have done.

[Snakebite]

When FC started adding newer games to the rotation they already had, they developed new CS software. FC for a decade allowed ARK to ride the coattails of the original software AO used, keeping it separate from the others.

When FC decided to consolidate all the CS software so GMs could more easily work petitions across games, AO was the last they switched over. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the system, there was no way to ensure ARKs received only info about players and petitions from those that were just in AO. For security reasons, they decided ARKS should not have access to the combined games petition/CS software and closed the petition portion of the program.

Oh, I KNOW why, I just never understood it...
Taking AO GMs away from AO and making them 'global GMs' for all their games was just never going to work properly, it's diluting the knowlage base that they had.

[bitnykk]

To sum up, ARK shutdown is a bad move with horrible communication. Nothing can justify this (and they didn't care to).