Welcome to Britannia, noobs!

Confession time, friends. I'm penning this post a day early and publishing it later. Why? Reasons, of course. Just kidding, Path of Exile: Awakening goes live tomorrow at 3PM and I don't want to have a blog hanging over my head as I play. I do enjoy writing these, but I've got shinies to find! In Monday's blog, I promised that today I would bring something retro to you. And so I shall. Step into the time machine, folks, and I'll tell you a tale of a 15 year old boy and a love affair. *cue the music*

In the fall of 1997, Ultima Online was released unto the masses. It was (and still is) an open world, sandbox MMORPG.  The brainchild of Richard "Lord British" Garriot, it's aim was to create a world full of mythical creatures, mystical locations, and mighty warriors. Oh, and also blacksmiths, beggars, and bowyers. The appeal of Ultima Online was that you could be anything you wanted. If you wanted to create a character to roam Britannia with nothing but a handcrafted bow and a bundle of arrows, you could. Perhaps your deep down desire was to make a living as an alchemist, grinding reagents with a mortar and pestle to create potions of varying effects. Or, maybe, you wanted to seek out other people with the intent to strike them down with sword and sorcery. This, too, was permitted. You could own a house and thereby claim a parcel of land on a server. Congratulations, you owned a piece of cyberspace and no one else could take it from you! Well, except for the thief hidden outside the bank. He stole your house key and is looting it dry. (He gets to keep the house, by the way)

The stuff of legends, but necessarily in the traditional sense. I adored this game. I thought about it at school, at home, and probably dreamed about it a bit, too. Looking back, I'm almost positive that what drew me to the game was the thrill of the unknown. When the game first launched, it was "open player versus player." This means that any player can attack any other player at their discretion. Sure, there were places that were guard protected.  However, most of the game world was definitely outside of that protection. You always had to be on your guard.

The correct answer is run

Shhhhhh....I think I heard footsteps...

*waits ten seconds and then goes back to mining*

Corp Por

*dies*

Corp Por are the words of power that would appear over the head of a would be player killer during the casting of the spell "e-bolt."  Usually, one of these spells, or perhaps two would be all that's needed to finish off a haggard miner.  I know because I was there. I was that miner. A few times even.  But what a rush!  Never knowing what fresh hell lurked around the next bend in the dungeon or through the next copse of trees.

Minoc 4 lyfe

In the early days of the game, it was a fairly buggy affair. Lag was common, made even more so by the dial up connections we were all using at the time. Most of the snags were tolerable and could even add to the allure of the game. However, some could render the game unplayable at times and very frustrating.  I once had a character get "lost" within the game. I don't mean lost on the map and I couldn't find my way back to town. I mean the screen turned completely black. For all of the characters on that account. Quite unfortunate for my friends, as there were about four of us (all teenage boys with an addiction) sharing that account. This was back before (gasp) computers started becoming more commonplace in all homes and internet was even more rare. Only one of us actually had a computer and dial up, so we would all try to make a pilgrimage over to his house on the weekends. Then we would drink deeply of the game in eight to ten hour marathon shifts. If you were lucky enough to get there first. You would know when your shift was over because you'd feel the twitchy eyes of another junkie boring holes into the side of your head. At which time you would inevitably collapse on the bed in the sweltering bedroom born of bodies and frenzied computation.

The game was quite a success upon release. If you look at the subscription numbers compared to now, it seems very small, but for the time it was astronomical. Within six months of release, warts and all, subscription numbers reached 100,00 people. More importantly, the foundation was being laid for other games to follow in its wake. People often forget, or cite incorrectly, that Everquest came first. However, EQ came out almost a year and a half after UO released. Asheron's Call would come out six months after Everquest. I think it would be fair to say that while World of Warcraft may have made MMOs "cool", and Everquest made them "more accessible", Ultima Online was definitely what started the domino rally of the MMO craze we currently live in. I mean, really, who hasn't played an MMO?

Well, I wasn't asking you, anyways!

If you have a wont, you can still play Ultima Online. There have been numerous changes over the past eighteen (wow) years, but the core concept remains the same. Owing to the fact that the game was made with an isometric overhead view and 2-d graphics, it honestly doesn't look that bad, if you don't mind it not being 2-d. I've always found the look charming and it's certainly easy to discern what you are looking at. It's one of the few remaining MMOs that hasn't went free to play, however. You have to pay for the game itself and also pay a monthly fee. If you're bored and looking for a fun time, you could always slide on over and take advantage of the fourteen day free trial. When I'm feeling nerdstalgic, but don't want to shell out the money to reactivate my account, I usually go this route.. Usually by the end of the free trial I've sated my nerdstalgia and move on.

Have you ever played UO? Thinking of giving it a shot? Leave me a comment with your thoughts on Ultima Online below! #GameOn