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18 Years On, Ultima Online Is Still Going
An anonymous reader writes: Ultima Online was released in September, 1997. It was the game that popularized graphical MMOs, and somehow, it's still running. Rock, Paper, Shotgun took a dive into the game to see how much it's changed, and who still plays it. As the community has shrunk, it's become increasingly tight-knit, and giving up the game now means giving up a social circle for many players. Even though newer MMOs have eclipsed the game's functionality, UO has a dedication to the full adventuring experience that later games haven't replicated. From the article: "While initially I couldn't understand the appeal of Ultima, when I decided to shake off the limitations of an early level character and simply explore for myself, I found a game world with a lot to offer. Player created civilizations, unique monsters, and the sheer mystery of the world combine to keep this ancient MMO compelling. For all the ways in which the genre has improved, Ultima Online remains one of just a few MMOs that let you live an alternative life. That feeling of ownership ... combined with the diversity on offer, keeps players coming back day after day."
A good shard (UO-speak for a custom server) would have great GMs regularly creating events for their players. I've played through a week-long monster invasion on Minoc, a war between Trinsic and Yew, a murder mystery involving 100+ players, and more custom "dungeon" areas than I can count. The last dungeon I remember was a play on Alice in Wonderland.
I haven't played UO in about 10 years, but custom shards gave hands down the best MMO experience I've ever seen even compared to current games.
UO:R didn't kill it. EA did. It was just time for a sequel, it was getting dated. There was a sequel on the pipeline, but EA bought Origin and axed it in favor of making low budget expansions and milking what was there instead of risking a sequel. I hate EA to this day for that. They killed the beat mmo franchise to ever exist.
No to all of your questions. Better go skydiving or crocodile hunting instead.
Here, let me quote TFS to you:
... combined with the diversity on offer, keeps players coming back day after day."
"I found a game world with a lot to offer. Player created civilizations, unique monsters, and the sheer mystery of the world combine to keep this ancient MMO compelling. For all the ways in which the genre has improved, Ultima Online remains one of just a few MMOs that let you live an alternative life. That feeling of ownership
Does that help, or should someone post an mp3 of themselves reading it for you?
One UO Freeshard I play has animal breeding. You can tame and then breed animals to get more powerful pets which you can then use to take down monsters in the dungeons.
I bred cows all the way to "max." My cows slaughter dragons with ease.
Breeding cows in UO turns out to be tricky. See, there's a bug: cows and bulls can't breed together, they're considered separate animal types. But all cows are female, so cows can't breed with cows either. You first have to magically transform some of the cows to the male gender before you can breed them. And it takes 20 to 30 generations to breed an animal like cows up to the game's max.
Thus I refer to my cows as "Daemonic Transgender Inbred Battle Cattle."
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
Trammel was badly implemented. Involuntary PvP systems don't mix well with non-PvP systems.
Several Freeshard Trammels which do away with PvP entirely are a blast to play. The uber-pvp freeshards that do away with Trammel also work fine.
The trick is this: they're really two very different games which attract two very different kinds of player.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
The problem arises when you make bad associations over the years.
Your brain is an association engine - it silently catalogs all the feelings you get when doing something, and uses this information for prediction in the planning [brain] section.
Over the years, you've built up associations between programming and discomfort in various forms. Now, when you consider going to do some program, your brain automatically recalls all the pain and discomfort that this brings.
The planning section uses the risk/reward equation, and there's usually other values to consider. Normally, the "value" you get from programming is enough to outweigh the discomfort you get. You get rewards for doing it, like interacting with people, figuring out problems, and so on. Getting money is more of an intellectual reward - there's no "feeling" associated with money per-se. (Unless you're Scrooge McDuck and feel joy over just having money. Most people aren't like that.)
Over time, the negative value of the discomfort has grown, relative to the positive value you get from completing goals, learning new things, or social interactions.
It's the same as a lathe operator who gets back pain from stooping over all day long. He'll eventually get tired of doing something he once loved, even if he doesn't remember the pain.
It's *very* difficult to reverse this. You have to build up positive associations, and enough of these to compensate for the negative history.
You can try adjusting your work environment ergonomically: make it more physically comfortable to type, for instance.
You can try getting into a new field: switch from web work to microcontrollers, for instance.
You can try switching to a new environment: shop your resume around, and join a small company with a manager/people you really like.
You can try rewarding yourself for completing goals: promise yourself a slice of pie if you complete such-and-so task today. (Make sure you realize "this pie is because I completed such-and-so" task while you're eating it.)
You can try taking a vacation, but that won't fix the underlying problem.
Good luck!
The main problem I think is, there's only so many times you can take parcel x to somedude y in the next zone and have it feel like a new and interesting experience. I agree that it would take something like VR to make it fresh again. What I don't understand though is why so many MMOs follow the exact same formula instead of trying something unique.
Taking acid works too.
tell that to all the people who play nethack.
when religion is no longer the opiate of the masses, governments will resort to real opiates.
Tried wow. it felt like everquest in "easy" mode. I could see why it would appeal to many.
Everquest had a sense of wonder I will never feel again. Nothing was documented. Gm's showed up personally to give you your second name or marry characters. It was extremely hard and was a lifestyle. You had to play 40+ hours a week to keep up.
You could lose everything and be badly hurt. You needed other people to survive. The 72 person raids demanded huge political guilds with massive logistics,strategy and tactical skills. We won't see 72 person content again.
It's sort of like DND vs all the other systems that came later. They were more polished and had some great ideas. But there was something primal in DND that I never found elsewhere.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.