Happy Birthday UO!
From
Drake@21:1/5 to
All on Thu Sep 24 07:56:12 2015
Happy Birthday old friend. Although nobody talks about UO here anymore save for the lone straggler every 5 years or so, I wanted to say happy birthday to Ultima Online - and possibly troll a bit for old (ir)regulars and see who still pays attention (I'm
looking at you Cortese). That and I simply refuse to let a bot have the last word here.
18 years, where has the time gone? There are young adults out there now who have grown up with UO as a gaming option during their entire lifetime. Personally, I've never found a match and I've tried pretty much everything (and still do). Free servers, my
own server, everything that claims to be a sandbox - all to no avail. Closest so far in the last 18 years was probably SWG.
I just recently resubbed and still sub from time-to-time on my original account from 1997, mostly out of curiosity and nostalgia since the game isn't really close to what it once was. I wasn't a charter subscriber and wasn't able to sub until the
following week - account info shows creatd 10/1/1997 - and that night I did register I waited probably between several minutes per page just to get through registration. At any rate, this is the day wikipedia says it started and that jives with my
recollection.
For any of you current or former players, I hope life has been good to you over these years and that this message finds you in good health and spirits.
Regards,
Drake of Pacific, Sonoma, Wakoku, Origin, and Atlantic.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
From
Drake@21:1/5 to
All on Fri Sep 25 09:50:35 2015
Ultima Online Public Beta Testers Dear Beta testers, fellow Origin
development team members, and fellow citizens of the first ever true
virtual world, Britannia:
Tomorrow, the world as you know it comes to an end. We are closing the
public beta test after the event planned for tomorrow.
You have just been part of something wondrous. Imagine now what you
will be a part of in the future.
Consider what Ultima Online has been thus far. It has been over two
years in the making: by far the largest, grandest, most complete
virtual world there has ever been. Since the pre-alpha test that many
of you participated in over a year ago, we have come so very far. At
that time we tested a concept with some early art and some UNIX code
running on a couple of servers to see if the virtual world concept
could work at all.
Now here we are, many months of hard work later, and the future looks
bright indeed.
We have three worlds, three "shards of reality," running on server
farms scattered across the United States. Each is a testament to the
future of online gaming. Each shard holds thousands of Earth-based
players, many times more thousands of creatures, and tens of thousands
of adventures.
"But is it fun?" you ask.
Oh yes, it is. Over the past few days I have spent many, many hours
traveling Britannia, sometimes openly in your company, and sometimes
discreetly following and observing. What I have seen amazes me.
I have witnessed brave adventurers delve deep into deadly dungeons in
search of danger. I have watched businesses and whole industries
spring up to supply the needs of these adventurers. I have seen the
blacksmiths auctioning off their wares in crowded squares, hiring
miners with guard escorts to bring them metal to forge, hiring bards to
calm the inevitable arguments and fights that break out in the fever of competition. I have seen intrepid crews take to the open ocean to seek
new islands, only to be surprised by other crews on pirate ships armed
with magic, ready to steal the contents of their cargo holds. I have
seen people master the arcane and difficult arts of magic, and become
powerful mages capable of transforming their shape and walking down
city streets, terrifying the populace.
I have seen a group of artists hold auditions for their play. I have
seen a wrestling pit marked off in the dirt, and crowds calling out
bets from the sidelines.
I have watched as scholars walked into moongates over and over,
building tables of destinations, to try to unlock the patterns behind
them. I have read the research into unknown magic, and waited for
players to discover the hints left for them.
Newspapers have sprung up, and great libraries have been founded to
gather the books of the world in one place.
I have seen people build lives here. Build houses and businesses. Tame
animals, and cry when they die. Bring old friends with them. Make new
ones.
Found cities--shiny new ones like Mystery City, which organized its
own town militia, and shanty-towns made of crates and abandoned
furniture. Use whatever words you choose: people have made HOMES here.
They have settled a new frontier, with all that implies--the joy of
breaking new ground, and the lack of conveniences it offers. The
frustration of meeting new, unknown obstacles, and the thrill of
conquering them.
This game--no, this WORLD--has already become much more than any of us
could have envisioned. Yet it is only now about to really begin.
We--all of us, game makers and game players alike--are walking down a
new road together. What is this that we have made together? Is it an
Ultima, with a finite plot? Is it like other multiplayer games, with a
clear goal to reach for? Is it just a huge medieval theme chat zone?
No, Ultima Online is far more than any one of these, it is more than
all of these put together. It is an Ultima, with an epic plot as yet
largely unrevealed. It is a world. It is now our second home. A living, breathing, changing place, that will provide constantly varying
experiences.
Just like the real world, the virtual economy and ecology will
change--even fail in places--as players either exploit or care for it.
As developers, we will be challenged by keeping up with the "holes" in
the "laws" of economy that players discover, just as a government must
continue to pass laws to keep the economy and ecology of the real world
on an even keel.
There is so much in the world of Britannia that you have seen... and
you are about to see much more. Many of the updates that we have made
have not been part of the public beta test process. You have yet to see Britannia swept by rain and thunderstorms, or snow falling gently
during the winter. You have not seen a crystal blink to let you know
your friend is calling you with his own attuned crystal from across the
world. You have not seen other things yet to come--the gatherings of necromancers building dread towers in clearings in the wilderness, the
wonder of a magic carpet soaring high over the mountains, or the pride
of being accorded the title "Dragonslayer" by all who meet you, your
deeds known and published to bulletin boards in the local taverns
across the land. It will not be long before we see the first wedding,
the first day that a couple who met in Britannia send news to us of
their child born somewhere here in our world, perhaps in Illinois, or
Alaska, or Germany. These and many other things will be adding to the
world of Britannia for months and even years to come, providing you
with excitement and challenges. We have not "finished" Ultima Online.
Finishing implies reaching an end. How does a world reach an end? It
grows over time. It lives, it changes. It evolves. It becomes a
community.
Come, join the development team, the gamemasters, Lord Blackthorn, and
I, as we discover together where that evolution will lead. The world
where the future of role-playing resides. The place where we have all
found another home...
Come live with us in the world of Britannia in Ultima Online!
-Lord British
Tuesday, Sept 23
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
From
twittrien@gmail.com@21:1/5 to
Drake on Thu Jan 31 13:06:04 2019
So good to see another UO fan on here. Yeah, I'm an old original player from 1997. Lake Superior shard. Usually logged in as "Velvet Jones". Completely agree with all your assessments. I haven't found any game like it ever since. God I miss (sort
of) the days when I was in the midst of battle and my wife would pick up the phone to make a call and knock me offline and I'd die because chars didn't automatically log out like they do now. And it was ALL like Felucca back then. I could go on and on.
Can't believe it's now been 22 years since the Beta release. Very cool.
On Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 10:56:13 AM UTC-4, Drake wrote:
Happy Birthday old friend. Although nobody talks about UO here anymore save for the lone straggler every 5 years or so, I wanted to say happy birthday to Ultima Online - and possibly troll a bit for old (ir)regulars and see who still pays attention (I'
m looking at you Cortese). That and I simply refuse to let a bot have the last word here.
18 years, where has the time gone? There are young adults out there now who have grown up with UO as a gaming option during their entire lifetime. Personally, I've never found a match and I've tried pretty much everything (and still do). Free servers,
my own server, everything that claims to be a sandbox - all to no avail. Closest so far in the last 18 years was probably SWG.
I just recently resubbed and still sub from time-to-time on my original account from 1997, mostly out of curiosity and nostalgia since the game isn't really close to what it once was. I wasn't a charter subscriber and wasn't able to sub until the
following week - account info shows creatd 10/1/1997 - and that night I did register I waited probably between several minutes per page just to get through registration. At any rate, this is the day wikipedia says it started and that jives with my
recollection.
For any of you current or former players, I hope life has been good to you over these years and that this message finds you in good health and spirits.
Regards,
Drake of Pacific, Sonoma, Wakoku, Origin, and Atlantic.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)