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I played Ultima Online for over a decade. Missed the start by a year, but after that pretty much saw it through the highs and the eventual decline. Stopped play

I played Ultima Online for over a decade. Missed the start by a year, but after that pretty much saw it through the highs and the eventual decline. Stopped playing during grad school as I just couldn't do the hours needed and balance that with the career, school, relationships, etc. UO started out brilliantly simple - not much of a story line, some basic rules and a never ending cycle of PvP. This total risk of losing everything and having to start over, including houses being robbed and such, actually resulted in an almost life-like story line that players made themselves. Guilds formed, turf was claimed, order maintained or chaos wrought. Playing completely solo was really tough, just like surviving in the real world is harder by yourself. But the team managing the game seems to have decided that the difficulty and PvP were liability and not assets. They tried to retrofit the quests and what not to the game that really didn't need them. The result was, just as the article laments of more modern games - boring, predictable, safe experience. But what's the point? After enough complaining by the "old guard" UO team made Seige Perilous shard (server) with old style rules and punishingly tough economics. This kept me playing for another 6 years... I tried some newer games, but the safe/boring environment doesn't really let human creativity/nature come out. There really isn't much of "role playing". If I ever have time for games again, private UO servers with pre-trammel rules will probably be it for me. If they still exist that is.

will_pseudonym 10y ago
This reminds me of Westworld and the Man in Black.
chongli 10y ago
I played UO for years as well. I was on Lake Superior for a couple years until they introduced Trammel. Then I tried Siege for a few weeks but didn't have the foundation to get established with a group of people so it just turned out brutal and frustrating. Later on (early 2000s) I played on IPY, the extremely popular pre-Trammel free shard. From the get-go I had a friend with me and he introduced me to a friend of his from World of Warcraft. The 3 of us met another group of people and we joined up to form a guild. We were so successful that we all became friends and played on multiple subsequent free shards together. A few years ago I even took a trip down to the Bay Area to stay with some of them; they've become lifelong friends. Playing UO with a group of people you know really well that know how to work together as a team is a thrill like no other. Taking trips to a dungeon together and getting into street battles along the Vesper strip is just fantastic. On several occasions we found our whole group red (branded as murderers) and being chased by a mob of people from town. UO is the only MMORPG I'm aware of where you can actually steal items from other people. I had a ton of fun playing a thief who could also cast spells. So many people expected a thief to run away instead of fighting back! They got a nasty surprise when they attacked me.
- Outpox 10y ago
  A bit out of context but it reminds me how I met my current team 8 years ago on Crysis and the awesome memories I have with. We see each others for a full week every year, and I'm even flatsharing with one of them.
- sologoub 10y ago
  I didn't know anyone when switching to Seige. My guild basically disintegrated on Pacific server with most moving on to EQ, which I didn't really connect with. But doing Seige solo for a bit somehow added to the fun. Really wish I had the time to get back into it!

will_pseudonym 10y ago

This reminds me of Westworld and the Man in Black.

chongli 10y ago

I played UO for years as well. I was on Lake Superior for a couple years until they introduced Trammel. Then I tried Siege for a few weeks but didn't have the foundation to get established with a group of people so it just turned out brutal and frustrating. Later on (early 2000s) I played on IPY, the extremely popular pre-Trammel free shard. From the get-go I had a friend with me and he introduced me to a friend of his from World of Warcraft. The 3 of us met another group of people and we joined up to form a guild. We were so successful that we all became friends and played on multiple subsequent free shards together. A few years ago I even took a trip down to the Bay Area to stay with some of them; they've become lifelong friends. Playing UO with a group of people you know really well that know how to work together as a team is a thrill like no other. Taking trips to a dungeon together and getting into street battles along the Vesper strip is just fantastic. On several occasions we found our whole group red (branded as murderers) and being chased by a mob of people from town. UO is the only MMORPG I'm aware of where you can actually steal items from other people. I had a ton of fun playing a thief who could also cast spells. So many people expected a thief to run away instead of fighting back! They got a nasty surprise when they attacked me.

Outpox 10y ago
A bit out of context but it reminds me how I met my current team 8 years ago on Crysis and the awesome memories I have with. We see each others for a full week every year, and I'm even flatsharing with one of them.
sologoub 10y ago
I didn't know anyone when switching to Seige. My guild basically disintegrated on Pacific server with most moving on to EQ, which I didn't really connect with. But doing Seige solo for a bit somehow added to the fun. Really wish I had the time to get back into it!