Ultima Online - Reminisce, Maaaan!
Michael 'Zonk' Zenke handily points me to a series of great Ultima Online retrospectives over at Nerfbat.com, written by Ryan Shwayder, formerly of SOE, and now of Green Monster Games (yes, the Curt Schilling-founded MMO firm).
The set of posts were actually inspired by Dan Rubenfeld's recently GSW-featured Ultima Online reminiscence - and Shwayder's first post talks about running wild in the seminal MMO: "Sometimes we’d tame a dragon, take him to the inside of one of our keeps, leave it there until it became untamed, and gate unsuspecting people into its deathly lair."
There's also a second part, which coos: "Occasionally, we’d find a relatively unoccupied enemy tower, and we would create a staircase out of crafted items (chairs, tables, or something, I don’t quite remember) to the top of the tower, then assault it from within or simply steal everything and go. Or I’d tame a dragon and have it fetch the items I could see on the inside of a house."
Or even a third one: "Anyone recall the black dye bin craze? The REAL black dye. Jet black, that made you blend into cave walls. Those things were worth a pretty penny after a while." Is it just me, or is some of this stuff more evocative than some World Of Warcraft story recounting, esp. because of the crazy house customization stuff and cheeky exploiting?
Comments
The fact that you could leave items in the environment left a lot of room for creativity in the game.
Folks would spell out their name in gold left in the grass. Or hide exploding potion traps inside of a bag, hoping to bag a trash-picking player.
Posted by: Gus Mastrapa | January 13, 2007 10:05 AM
I'm glad you enjoyed my Memoirs of a Britannian. Since it seems like people actually enjoyed the posts, I may have to recount more of the stories of my wandering journeys in UO.
Posted by: Ryan Shwayder | January 13, 2007 5:41 PM
I hate to play the role of Purveyor of the Cultural Norms, but....
I think these stories should be renamed "Tales of an Unrepentant Asshole." It has to be said that, the exploits these people took advantage of to rule the game, like making large impossible to reach or get away from via ship, probably drove many other people away from the game.
Posted by: John H. | January 13, 2007 7:04 PM
There were definitely a lot of bad things that happened because of the freedom UO gave you, but there are also a lot of good stories that don't involve someone getting screwed. I'll try to fire up a Part IV this week with just positive ones.
A lot of the problems that arise when you give people freedom with the game can be solved with good design and harsh repercussions, without overt illogical restrictions.
Posted by: Ryan Shwayder | January 14, 2007 8:03 AM
I remember one time I summoned a horse, sold it, and ran away laughing - knowing that they were only going to get a few seconds out of their purchase.
Posted by: Zamza | April 15, 2007 9:28 AM