Recent attacks, and an open letter to whom it may concern.

As most of you know we've been under a denial of service attack over the last few days as updates shown here:
http://www.uoforever.com/attack.php

This is in regards to an anonymous letter from a masked person that seems to have a deep angry issue with me and my personality. This same anonymous masked person claims to be the one who has been responsible for our recent attacks on our server. His request was simple : "What do I want? Not much. I want shane to repent. I want him to see the damage he has done to the community and I want him to appologise for it and promise to change in the future. Simples. I will then stop the attack."

Let's see if he is true to his word, because this is obviously about me personally as he did not go into specifics, and not our community (which he is currently hurting).

Either way keep in mind UO FOREVER will keep going, and attacks or not, we will do absolutely whatever it takes to keep this community strong at any and all costs.

-----------


First off, let me say that I love this game. I would have never started this server if I didn't. I have played almost all the major player-run shards since I stopped playing on the official servers. UO Forever is my last hope at keeping the nostalgia of the world we all came to love for the emotion, dedication, and depth that no other game has ever matched.


Throughout these two years, I have experienced the excitement and the dreads that come with a server. The initial land rush to the 5 a.m. messages — “THE SERVER IS DOWN.” It has been nothing short of amazing. To watch a vision come to fruition and sometimes even see what the team has made for the first time with the community. From arguing about one point of damage on an Ebolt to how entire systems can be remade, we have all been together.


This isn't a UO server; it is a community. The posts on the forums and the late night IRC chats are more fun than playing sometimes. We have had births, maybe even deaths. Disasters, problems, losses, reverts and triumphs have made these two years nothing short of amazing. We have done it together. Without players there is no game and with no guidance or change there is no future.


There have been rocky moments, players have been banned, reverts, and apologies. I have said things I regret and other things I could have said better. I have said things that should have been left unsaid. I take responsibility for all those things. This game inspires passion and I am no different than any other player in that regard. Do I sometimes think I know everything, when in fact, I do not? Yes. Do I tend to sometimes have an ego when writing things on the Internet? Yes, there is no doubt. I have noticed these things about me, awhile ago now, and have been working on such things even in real life. We are all human, and no one is perfect and I am not one to ever say I do not have faults of my own, because I do - we all do.


What the attacker is doing here is not harming me. If he thinks people are quitting, they are not. If he thinks that this will make me furious because we aren’t receiving donations during this time? It is not.


What the attacker is doing, more than anything, is hurting this very community, not me. He has created more enemies than I have ever done by doing this one thing. I am not frustrated, and I am not upset. However, the community is, and I would do anything for this great community, which is why I wrote this letter. So what I ask, is to keep them out of this.


What I have never done is harm another server. Never would I dream of attacking one of the few remaining places that people still come home to play. This isn't an attack on me, that may be the reason given but it isn't me who can't play — it’s the players. It’s the game itself. If you don’t like me, I am OK with that; however let’s move on and see where we can take this game into the next 10 years, based not on personalities but on imagination, innovation and dedication.


This game has always been about getting knocked down and getting back up and doing it again. We will continue regardless, moving or otherwise until our players can play again.


I want to thank you all, our community, for staying with us and continuing to build such amazing and enduring memories here on Ultima Online Forever.