RoleCraft: A Look at Ultima Online RP

This week in RoleCraft, Jim Moreno looks back at the RP scene in one of the very first MMOs: Ultima Online

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Funny timing, as I was once a long time roleplayer in UO, belonging to one of the communities you linked to (Atlantic Roleplay Community), and I have just recently decided to drop in for a month or two.

Just a little bit of buyer beware for roleplaying in Ultima Online... Be on the look out for anyone that decides to roleplay anything powerful. I'm not just talking about some kind of 'I am a demigod lolz' stereotype, but I mean anyone that claims authority, leadership, influence, etc. Not just out of character, but in character. I am not trying to say that these people are all bad, but that there is a long running trend where the worst dramaqueens imaginable can crop up among that stereotype. Many of them acquired their self proclaimed statuses by chasing people out of the game with drama.

TL;DR, see for yourself if someone is as much of an influential old timer as they claim they are, don't just take their word for it, because you won't experience the real fun of Ultima Online roleplay if you are weighed down by the awful drama that occasionally erupts, or if you are tarred with the same brush as these self proclaimed super-veterans. Some of them really have been roleplaying in the same community, on the same server, with the same character for literally TEN YEARS, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll be good to hang out with.

Roleplay casually and enjoy. If you end up on the Atlantic shard of Ultima Online, I highly reccomend the Moonglow Town Council (neutral magocracy) and the Realm of Umbra (lawful evil dictatorship).

EA destroyed UO. And we blame their bad decisions of implementing trammel and corrpupting the game by trying to be like Everquest. Now we have the plethora of garbage games like WoW that we see today thanks to them. I agree UO had something going in 1997 and the RP was amazing but they ruined it and it is time for it to die. This story has no comments because the ex UO community is angry with what UO is today. They have failed us and MMORPG newcomers only know about WoW and nothing else because of their failure to understand what players want.

Thankfully a game like Darkfall is coming out very soon that truly understands what UO had to offer back in 1997. I truly recommend you take a look at this game if you want a better experience of UO's RP with a jolt of adrenaline flowing through your veins. I hope Darkfall takes this industry by the horns and returns back to the MMORPG roots which is about player interaction, freedom, and the ability to physically and psychologically shape the world, not being led by the hand on an endless treadmill to no where. In Darkfall YOU are the story and content. Lets just hope they have a little more accountability in their formula than what UO had for it to be a success for both PvPers and RPers alike. I'm also glad to see other games in development such as Mortal Online and Renaissance: Chronicles of Chronia taking note of everything that went right in UO: pre-trammel and trying to recreate an improved version of that utopia.

It is mind boggling to me how EA can totally ignore the large market of players they left hungry for UO: pre-trammel. People are begining to notice a hunger for change in this industry and I'm glad. Notice how UO is popular for what it WAS and nobody really talks about or is trying to recreate what it IS today. They can release all the "expansions" they want, that is not going to change the fundamental flaws of the post trammel era.

UO is the Michael Jackson of the MMORPG world, a king back in its day but one scary mofo to look at today... and graphics are not the reason.

Wow a blast from the past. Hey there Jim, how the heck are you! I run the Atlantic site (along with a few other great rpers). I don't know if you remember me but we worked in Britain together when there was a town council.

I am still around and we have much excitement most of the time. I would love to meet up with you ingame sometime.

Your old friend
Molly
26686220

Well, hello Molly! :) Be on the look out for Dresden Kane, my character now there. ICQ = 457396116