Sparhawk
Grandmaster
A big hail to the guys and gals of UOF
Have played on your server now for a few days, and i'dlike to share my experiences so far.
Firsrtly, of me, uo was a huge part of my teen life, twenty years ago. While the full release game is not that old, most likely don't remember the two years of delayed beta release and the community of fans built prior to the game. Having previously devoured ultimas's 6 and the 7s, myself and schoolmates were extatic when osi announced the impending beta for UO. Many call the games graphics ancient, however back then we were treated to tantalizing cutting edge animated sprites, and mind blowing conceptual art that did exactly what it was supposed to. Spark the fertile imaginations of that eras gaming generation, we waited, and we waited, hanging on each new morsel of information release, as the beta start date was pushed further and further back. The Internet at the time was young and mysterious, long before there was a million chat programs. As an eagerly waiting fan-base we built our geocities guild pages, conceptualising strategies and hierarchies that rarely ended up aligning with the final game release. But this didn't matter. The buildup was as real to us then as the game is now, more so, fueled by nothing but teases of pixelated eye candy, and the promise of an ultima game taken to the next level... Well we had guild wars, we fought battles, we made alliances and enemies...we took ownership of towns and divided up properties without ever having stepped a digital foot on that cgi hallowed ground that was uo.
mIRC was our eventual home, however even before that places like Andy's Chat were our refuge, html chat rooms where likeminded enthusiasts could share in the hopeful energy of others. iCQ was born later. For me UO became a refuge for the common and uncommon growing pains associated with teens coming of age. I met extraordinary people and shared a large part of myself, regardless of the fact they lived almost a world away. This is of course all common now on the net, taken for granted. But in the beginning, causes like uo drew people together, the beginnings of digital communities, and driving a need for the communications tools now commonplace today.
In many ways the beta release was anti-climatic, after such a long wait. We were a swarm of newbies, each deposited in this strange world where all we had to go on was mugshots of our potential enemies, and extensive maps showing where, but not what we would find. People tended to split off in that moment, evidencing the truth of their own irl personas extended into the game. Some would explore their chosen hometown, remaining in the relative safety of the guard zone, even if it was an illusion most the time. Some took to the immediate forest, chopping woods and making campfires. Like many others, I bolted for the gate to freedom, one of many in a wave of gimpy tight pants wearing monster fodder, exploring the world around us.
I remember seeing Lord Blackthorne, and British (Garriott) give his speech. I remember the chaos that ensued as he was burnt alive lol. Apart from those who were killed in retaliation, We all paid the price by being booted from the server. I'm my mind it was worth it. It set a precedent, in that even game gods can be killed, just like us, our dead bodies littering the fields six deep in those early days.
I have many favorite memories of this beta time, and I truly believe one of the biggest parts to this came down to the unknown. The newness of it all made pkers rarer. Not gone, rare. Perhaps less driven by boredom many suffer from now. Trinsic was my chosen town, and one of my very first experiences relates to a certain hedge maze. Somehow I stumbled across it in the first few hours of gameplay, and in making my way central noted Sitting on top of furniture in one of the buildings was a pair of wands, which quickly became my prize. Over the next hour I explored those buildings, noting places I could not get into, until as was soon to be commonplace, the server went down. When it came back up again, a wave of brand new characters were made, as all past efforts were gone as if they never were. Once more I raced to my garden labyrinth, this time only narrowly retrieving my magical prizes before another lucky player got there. We explored a hidden room down below, and found certain combinations of clicking on the wall produced a weird opaque mask, over and over. You couldn't wear it, and it looked like the full version of the phantom of the opera mask. (I'd love to know what it was, and was used for, if anyone knows). Another server down, and this time, my rebirth saw me just narrowly reach the wands before my now competitor, not so much of a leed that he didn't notice my heist. The next few resets became a mad race, not all of which I won. To most, a server wipe now would be devastating. The loss of the staggering time commitments to building characters and accruing baubles would see many quit, in my opinion. At the time, we simply did not care. A wipe could happen any time. Maybe we would have an hour, maybe a couple weeks. Either way, the uncertainty of our demises drove the adventurer in us, forcing us to rush into the world headfirst and dagger wielding.
Flash forward to now, I come across a reference to UOF. A private server with a more old school sounding uo, committed staff and players? Hell yes. Being older and world wise, I temper my hopes with pragmatic reservation, as I now understand only some of the magic of those early days came from the game itself. Over the years I watched intermittently uo become something other than what I wanted, and it was easy to let it go.
Initially, I'm leaning into the hope. The self contained installer program...wow good work guys. I really didn't have the patience to mess around installing half a dozen programs. It took me two sittings, only due to downloading constraints on my busy home network. The second night, I throw the program up onto my projector screen and lay back on the lounge...lets see..what is this weird class stuff?? What the hell, a ninja??
I go for a custom job, trying to recreate my faithful paladin, Sir Sparhawk, only to find one of each name is allowed. Gah. Penalized for my multi decade hiatus. I settle for my childhood clan name, and throwing 50 in Mage and mace, head into the world. First things first, we must evaluate how tough mobs are, compared to old school. My first target was an eagle, and I soundly bashed its head in. OK, this is good. Next came a real test, a timber wolf. Old school would have seen me fleeing like a girl pretty quick, however, I trounce it into doggie death.
For some reason I have a wisp stuck to my arse. Yes ok, I feel silly about it now, but again this actually helped me tap into the mystery. Not knowing things can be good. Flash forward an hour later, and I'm cussing my light ball stalker. No one else seems to have one. Is it because I'm young, or is it a mage companion, something new maybe. Coming across the west Brit bank, I try to ask people, however due to the Aussie play time I guess, mostly there's just automatons endlessly repeating themselves. 60hrs of newbie protection sounds neat, so I store my gold. And head up to the cemetery I hope is still there. Very quickly I own the place, laying waste to undead. Somehow zombies have become more affluent, dropping 50-60gp, and at the spawn rate I'm thinking I could get some skills and a pile of gold for my efforts. My decision was to just keep the newbie stuff, build skills first so I have a chance to protect anything of value. Every minute I'm expecting reds to spawn and bash me and laugh at my newbie club. Certainly my wisp wont jump in to protect me, all it seems to do is give me some light, and buggerall at that.
On my next trip in one of the uber figures on the bank comes over to me, hearing my cussing and perhaps assessing my newbie getup. He gives me a magical black staff In trade, without even seeing the enchantments I'm blown away. Having sold my last lot pleb weapons to the blacksmith, I had been eyeing off the exact same generic staff! Now that's what a wizard should be wielding. Not only is Gandalf the White a flipping mind reader, but talk about generous! The staff is Silver, supremely accurate and might. Holy shit! All I can think is, this bloke is psychic. We talk for a bit, the adjustment is a bit hard from what I remember the game. Everyone has weird and colorful rides. He take me to a basement chest, letting me upgrade some of my stuff, explaining I can come back any time, it's there to help people like me. holy Shit! I'm starting to tap into that lost feeling of olde...where a game is a community, and peoples values shine through the pixels brighter than their pixel coin worth. As if that wasn't enough, this legendary fellow took me to Santas vendor house, my eyes boggling at the sights and sounds. Asking about my char build, he hands me a heap of magical armour, contracts for 1k of each reagent, a full spell book....then he gets me to wait at the bank while he ports around marking runes for me!!
I'm ten hours in now, and I have a very large bunch of questions. More so I have an interest in putting in the time to find out the answers. I also have goals, and in reflecting on this, I find I have made a transition. The hope burns brighter, a lot of the skepticism is gone. It's early days yet, and the need to find the right small group of people to andveture still plays on my mind. Due to the age of the server, have most those of quality and substance hardened themselves to the values of those who see past the pixels? If Gandalf(sp?) the White is an example to judge by, I have good reason to hope. Either way I will tackle this adventure head first and open minded, just as uo beta taught me many years ago, life lessons that have served me well for decades.
Have played on your server now for a few days, and i'dlike to share my experiences so far.
Firsrtly, of me, uo was a huge part of my teen life, twenty years ago. While the full release game is not that old, most likely don't remember the two years of delayed beta release and the community of fans built prior to the game. Having previously devoured ultimas's 6 and the 7s, myself and schoolmates were extatic when osi announced the impending beta for UO. Many call the games graphics ancient, however back then we were treated to tantalizing cutting edge animated sprites, and mind blowing conceptual art that did exactly what it was supposed to. Spark the fertile imaginations of that eras gaming generation, we waited, and we waited, hanging on each new morsel of information release, as the beta start date was pushed further and further back. The Internet at the time was young and mysterious, long before there was a million chat programs. As an eagerly waiting fan-base we built our geocities guild pages, conceptualising strategies and hierarchies that rarely ended up aligning with the final game release. But this didn't matter. The buildup was as real to us then as the game is now, more so, fueled by nothing but teases of pixelated eye candy, and the promise of an ultima game taken to the next level... Well we had guild wars, we fought battles, we made alliances and enemies...we took ownership of towns and divided up properties without ever having stepped a digital foot on that cgi hallowed ground that was uo.
mIRC was our eventual home, however even before that places like Andy's Chat were our refuge, html chat rooms where likeminded enthusiasts could share in the hopeful energy of others. iCQ was born later. For me UO became a refuge for the common and uncommon growing pains associated with teens coming of age. I met extraordinary people and shared a large part of myself, regardless of the fact they lived almost a world away. This is of course all common now on the net, taken for granted. But in the beginning, causes like uo drew people together, the beginnings of digital communities, and driving a need for the communications tools now commonplace today.
In many ways the beta release was anti-climatic, after such a long wait. We were a swarm of newbies, each deposited in this strange world where all we had to go on was mugshots of our potential enemies, and extensive maps showing where, but not what we would find. People tended to split off in that moment, evidencing the truth of their own irl personas extended into the game. Some would explore their chosen hometown, remaining in the relative safety of the guard zone, even if it was an illusion most the time. Some took to the immediate forest, chopping woods and making campfires. Like many others, I bolted for the gate to freedom, one of many in a wave of gimpy tight pants wearing monster fodder, exploring the world around us.
I remember seeing Lord Blackthorne, and British (Garriott) give his speech. I remember the chaos that ensued as he was burnt alive lol. Apart from those who were killed in retaliation, We all paid the price by being booted from the server. I'm my mind it was worth it. It set a precedent, in that even game gods can be killed, just like us, our dead bodies littering the fields six deep in those early days.
I have many favorite memories of this beta time, and I truly believe one of the biggest parts to this came down to the unknown. The newness of it all made pkers rarer. Not gone, rare. Perhaps less driven by boredom many suffer from now. Trinsic was my chosen town, and one of my very first experiences relates to a certain hedge maze. Somehow I stumbled across it in the first few hours of gameplay, and in making my way central noted Sitting on top of furniture in one of the buildings was a pair of wands, which quickly became my prize. Over the next hour I explored those buildings, noting places I could not get into, until as was soon to be commonplace, the server went down. When it came back up again, a wave of brand new characters were made, as all past efforts were gone as if they never were. Once more I raced to my garden labyrinth, this time only narrowly retrieving my magical prizes before another lucky player got there. We explored a hidden room down below, and found certain combinations of clicking on the wall produced a weird opaque mask, over and over. You couldn't wear it, and it looked like the full version of the phantom of the opera mask. (I'd love to know what it was, and was used for, if anyone knows). Another server down, and this time, my rebirth saw me just narrowly reach the wands before my now competitor, not so much of a leed that he didn't notice my heist. The next few resets became a mad race, not all of which I won. To most, a server wipe now would be devastating. The loss of the staggering time commitments to building characters and accruing baubles would see many quit, in my opinion. At the time, we simply did not care. A wipe could happen any time. Maybe we would have an hour, maybe a couple weeks. Either way, the uncertainty of our demises drove the adventurer in us, forcing us to rush into the world headfirst and dagger wielding.
Flash forward to now, I come across a reference to UOF. A private server with a more old school sounding uo, committed staff and players? Hell yes. Being older and world wise, I temper my hopes with pragmatic reservation, as I now understand only some of the magic of those early days came from the game itself. Over the years I watched intermittently uo become something other than what I wanted, and it was easy to let it go.
Initially, I'm leaning into the hope. The self contained installer program...wow good work guys. I really didn't have the patience to mess around installing half a dozen programs. It took me two sittings, only due to downloading constraints on my busy home network. The second night, I throw the program up onto my projector screen and lay back on the lounge...lets see..what is this weird class stuff?? What the hell, a ninja??
I go for a custom job, trying to recreate my faithful paladin, Sir Sparhawk, only to find one of each name is allowed. Gah. Penalized for my multi decade hiatus. I settle for my childhood clan name, and throwing 50 in Mage and mace, head into the world. First things first, we must evaluate how tough mobs are, compared to old school. My first target was an eagle, and I soundly bashed its head in. OK, this is good. Next came a real test, a timber wolf. Old school would have seen me fleeing like a girl pretty quick, however, I trounce it into doggie death.
For some reason I have a wisp stuck to my arse. Yes ok, I feel silly about it now, but again this actually helped me tap into the mystery. Not knowing things can be good. Flash forward an hour later, and I'm cussing my light ball stalker. No one else seems to have one. Is it because I'm young, or is it a mage companion, something new maybe. Coming across the west Brit bank, I try to ask people, however due to the Aussie play time I guess, mostly there's just automatons endlessly repeating themselves. 60hrs of newbie protection sounds neat, so I store my gold. And head up to the cemetery I hope is still there. Very quickly I own the place, laying waste to undead. Somehow zombies have become more affluent, dropping 50-60gp, and at the spawn rate I'm thinking I could get some skills and a pile of gold for my efforts. My decision was to just keep the newbie stuff, build skills first so I have a chance to protect anything of value. Every minute I'm expecting reds to spawn and bash me and laugh at my newbie club. Certainly my wisp wont jump in to protect me, all it seems to do is give me some light, and buggerall at that.
On my next trip in one of the uber figures on the bank comes over to me, hearing my cussing and perhaps assessing my newbie getup. He gives me a magical black staff In trade, without even seeing the enchantments I'm blown away. Having sold my last lot pleb weapons to the blacksmith, I had been eyeing off the exact same generic staff! Now that's what a wizard should be wielding. Not only is Gandalf the White a flipping mind reader, but talk about generous! The staff is Silver, supremely accurate and might. Holy shit! All I can think is, this bloke is psychic. We talk for a bit, the adjustment is a bit hard from what I remember the game. Everyone has weird and colorful rides. He take me to a basement chest, letting me upgrade some of my stuff, explaining I can come back any time, it's there to help people like me. holy Shit! I'm starting to tap into that lost feeling of olde...where a game is a community, and peoples values shine through the pixels brighter than their pixel coin worth. As if that wasn't enough, this legendary fellow took me to Santas vendor house, my eyes boggling at the sights and sounds. Asking about my char build, he hands me a heap of magical armour, contracts for 1k of each reagent, a full spell book....then he gets me to wait at the bank while he ports around marking runes for me!!
I'm ten hours in now, and I have a very large bunch of questions. More so I have an interest in putting in the time to find out the answers. I also have goals, and in reflecting on this, I find I have made a transition. The hope burns brighter, a lot of the skepticism is gone. It's early days yet, and the need to find the right small group of people to andveture still plays on my mind. Due to the age of the server, have most those of quality and substance hardened themselves to the values of those who see past the pixels? If Gandalf(sp?) the White is an example to judge by, I have good reason to hope. Either way I will tackle this adventure head first and open minded, just as uo beta taught me many years ago, life lessons that have served me well for decades.
