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Ultima Online Celebrates 10 Years
The well known EA-run MMORPG Ultima Online is now celebrating its ten year anniversary. At the time, Gamespot referred to the game as a 'buggy, unplayable mess.' Here's to another ten years, UO. 'In recognition of the game's 10 year anniversary, EA has announced the "Return to Britannia" initiative. Past subscribers of the game can download the free Kingdom Reborn update through Ultima Online's Web site, and then play the game gratis until October 9. EA will also be hosting a number of events during this period, including a monster hunt where players can win loot such as an ankh pendant necklace, a map of Brittania, an Ultima Online commemorative sculpture, and a virtue armor set.' I think it's also worth pointing out that UO isn't the first big graphical game to hit ten years; that would be Meridian 59.
You can find a copy here:
Pimps and Dragons
Innovation makes enemies of all those who prospered under the old regime... -- Machiavelli
*Corp Por*
Q: I am short, useless and provide no value. What am I? A: a sig
Let us not forget Muds. PvP on MajorMUD's was one of the primary reasons I'm able to type as well as I (for the most part) do. Some of the boards we played on had anywhere between 50 to 500 player peaks at the time, depending on how much exposure it had, and some were donation supported instead of subscription.
I mean jebus, its still around today as well, and they have an actual market of people paying for a massively multiplayer text based game. Its definitely not shine, polish, and brand name thats keeping them around.
Ice Cream has no bones.
Ha, kidding. I remember being a part of the UO beta myself back in '97 - those were great times. Hell I was actually there when Lord British was assassinated - it was an impossible to control lag-a-thon (dial-up FTW!), but at that time it was an unparalleled experience.
I went on to play UO after the beta for about a year before I called it quits. After being lag-killed for the 20th time or so I decided to give my hard-earned house (literally about 30 hours of tailoring skull caps) and my boat to my guild and move on
God made me an atheist. Who are you to question his wisdom?
Its bittersweet because as much as people complained about OSI back in the day, they ran it LIGHT YEARS better than ea ever did. So grats i guess to the hollowed out shell of one of the best and most forward thinking games of all time. I still cannot build a house in any game since*.
*POS and 0.0 stations are almost houses but not quite.
People like to point out that other games came before UO, and that it isn't the "first" MMO.
To those people, I remind you (cough) that UO was the first MMO to be a major success: to hit 100k subscribers, setting the standard for judging MMO success for years to come.
It brought a world to life, introduced an entire generation to a new way of playing online, and opened the doors for games like EQ, DAOC and WOW.
It brought joy to hundreds of thousands, and frustration, and angst and anger and every other emotion one could think of.
It brought people together and foreshadowed the massive impact the internet could have on our social lives.
Oh, and it was fun too! Between 97 and 99 for some, between 2000 and 2003 for others, and even in 2007 today.
So, here's to the longest running, continuous, subscription based MMO - here's to another 10 years!
For anyone who wants to see where UO is going, check out some screenshots of the new client:
http://boards.stratics.com/php-bin/uo/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=uouhall&Number=7421553&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=31&fpart=all&what2=postlist
To those people, I remind you (cough) that UO was the first MMO to be a major success[...]
Of course, it all depends on how you define "major success". If we define it as the game that had over 1M subscribers in North America, then UO is merely a historic oddity compared to WoW.
(Caveat: I run the company that currently owns Meridian 59.)
While Meridian 59 didn't live up to its potential (IMNSHO), it was still a success. For a while, 3DO was only making significant income from two areas of the company: Meridian 59 and lawsuits. Considering that M59 began as a small garage development project, not a project from a large company using a long-cherished IP, it succeeded quite admirably.
But, you can split hairs and try to define who was really "first" in what capacity. Even your highly qualified statement, "So, here's to the longest running, continuous, subscription based MMO[...]" doesn't describe UO because you forgot commercial text MUDs; I believe Gemstone is the game that matches that description. In the end, both M59 and UO influenced online games. M59 even influenced UO by going with a flat-rate monthly subscription model, which set the trend for the rest of the games you mention.
Anyway, no need to put down other games to make UO seem better. It's nice to see games that reach the 10 year mark at any rate.
Have fun,
Brian "Psychochild" Green
MMO developer's blog
All three people still playing the game feel very proud of this fact.
Well UO was one of the first MMORPG's. Back then no one knew that if you made it more like a job you could sell millions and millions of copies. The developers simply didnt know any better and just tried to make the game "fun". Poor, poor bastards. ;)
God made me an atheist. Who are you to question his wisdom?