POLL: What brought you to Ultima Online?

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

I was an ultima fan. Even more so, a Origin Systems fan.
I bought the first Ultima for the Apple ][ and it came in a zip lock baggie!

I also played other Origin games in the '80s.
Ultima
Autodual
Moebius
Ogre and some others.

I had heard of UO but it was not till 1999 when I bought The Second Age.
I've been here ever since.

Origin used to be THE game company...


Crusader: No Remorse
Crusader: No Regret
Wing Commander 1 - 5
Strike Commander
Privateer


You have not lived until you have played the original Privateer.

I wanted to meet and marry Chris Roberts back in the day!!

I always used to dream about being a crewmate on the Tiger's Claw! I was sort of like Angel, but hotter! ")

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

BChatter by any chance?

I will say no, since I don't know what this is.

But I saw that you were an Autoduel fan. Did you ever play Carmaggedon??

Much fun!

 

[Harlequin]

I will say no, since I don't know what this is.

But I saw that you were an Autoduel fan. Did you ever play Carmaggedon??

Much fun!

BChat was a channel on bnet

I didn't play Carmaggedon though. Did play GTA and also the tabletop Car Wars.

Origin was really a solid game company - "We create worlds".
I also played the Wing commander series and Privateer 1 & 2

 

[Olahorand]

Played Ultima 4 upward and did see all the reports in game journals (ImaNewbies adventures?). The Internet connection fees have been unpayable in that time.
Later I purchased a box of Ultima IX, which came bundled with UO 2nd age (?).
After playing half of Ultima 9 I decided to test that other game.
After ending my young time I lost all my stuff to a giant snake which cooperated with an Internet outage. Crazy shouting about this unfairness of letting me die even if I am not connected any more, a player (Duke Ascalon on Drachenfels) heared that, picked me up and equipped me with fine GM made stuff in his house in the desert. Found another ingame friend at that time (who long left since then) and got hooked.
*Salute*
Olahorand

 

[GhostGL]

Long time Ultima fan. But i was on irc i think in the #Quake channel. And somebody said something about Ultima Online. I was lucky enough to get get in on the beta. Sadly i missed the alpha.

 

[Uvtha]

My friend was in beta. He showed it to me, said i should play, when it hit stores in late 98 I got it. Here I still am :|

 

[Kratos Aurion]

I was introduced to UO by a childhood friend. Since then I've become a pretty good Ultima fan. I can't say I've played all the games but I'm more or less up to date with the lore/content etc.

 

[Nok]

But I saw that you were an Autoduel fan. Did you ever play Carmaggedon??

I played Autoduel & Carmaggedon too. Autoduel was good for it's time. Carmaggedon was GREAT fun.

 

[Hildebrand]

A friend of mine got me into Ultima 3. The manual had the best pics of monsters, lore, cities, etc. And played all the other solo games too.
Origin was the bomb back then! "We create Worlds"!

Played and finished Wing Commander 3, Privateer, Underworld 2, and "watched" my cousin play the other games like Savage Empire, Martian Dreams and others I didn't get to buy.

It took me a while to accept the online concept, but when I saw the 8th Age on the store shelf... it was begging to be bought!

 

[Aislinn]

My husband. All of a sudden, he was glued to his computer. It was join him or become a UO widow!

This. I'd never heard of UO until I met my boyfriend. I couldn't see how a game would be so great that he could totally tune me (and the rest of the world) out for hours on end..it looked boring. Forward ahead a year or so, he got tired of my complaining and offered to create/pay for an account for me. It's a lot more fun to play, than to just watch over someone's shoulder. I became instantly hooked and have been playing the past few years. My daughter got an account not quite a year ago and my son is counting down the days (okay, years) until he's old enough to play as well.

 

[deadite]

I first discovered Ultima on the NES and got hooked. Later, I met a friend who had a PC... he had just bought Ultima 6. My mind was blown. We would take turns playing, just watching each other and trying to solve the puzzles and beat the game. When Ultima 7 came out we did the same thing.

This same guy introduced me to Wing Commander, but that's a whole different forum topic... in essence, I became a diehard OSI fan.

Eventually I got my own computer as a high school graduation present. It was a Pentium 75mhz with a CD Drive. Wow! The first thing I did was load all the Ultimas on it and played through Ultima 8.

Somehow, I can't remember where, I heard about the UO beta. I got lucky and sent in my $5 for a disc. It was a pain to get it working... I had to buy a new CD Rom drive because my original drive actually hooked into my sound card for some reason. I can't remember exactly, but it was just some wacky Packard Bell setup. Once I figured that out I was good to go!

I bought the game in September 97 from a Media Play and have played on and off ever since. I think my account is at 8 years. I've tried other MMOs but the only one that ever dragged me away from UO for any significant amount of time was DAOC.

 

[Thav12]

ran out of crack, needed another (only slightly) healthier addiction... (jk)

but I voted for number 2, got to the game when it first came out (was it before or after netscape? and before or after the first pictures on a "browser" downloaded in only 15 minutes from switzerland?) BEST game EVER made, and still is. DESPITE THE WHINERS ON THIS BOARD INCLUDING MYSELF.

oh, and ultima I-III on an apple with a green monochrome screen, or IV on my most prized floppy disk drive on the atari 600XL (in color!!!) should have been banned as an illegal substance by the DEA as well. And I still play carmageddon, every day, just not on the computer, but in my head driving to work

 

[Kimberly]

My boyfriend wanted me to try it. I believe so I would stop referring to it as "that damn game". Seven years later, I'm glad he did.

 

[gunneroforgin]

I fell in fascination with UO when it it first came out in 1999. There were about 5-6 people who would stay after hours at work to use the office network to play games. I used to watch them play many different games. One of them was UO. there were 2 things that got me hooked, one, was the medievil ages aspect of knights in armor and fighting and exploring a, and this is # 2 ,a 2d world. 2d graphics was really what drew me to the game. I didn't actually begin playing UO until 2001 as my poor pathic 486 33 mz computer didn't have a big enough hard drive to run the game even with the the disc in the the cd drive. Also the fastest internet connection I had was 9600bd dialup connection. I replaced it with a better computer in 2001 and upgraded to dsl to get AOS upgrade when it came out. I have been playing several hours a day every day since march of 2001.

 

[Sadrith Mora]

I was a big Ultima series fan, and RPG fan in general. At the time i believe i was playing 'Daggerfall' which was pretty engrossing back then. I would read game magazines, and caught a small back page article on Ultima Online. The write-up made it sound like a bad game, but it didn't stop me from wanting to try it out for myself.

In Jan. 1998 i got online for the sole purpose of playing Ultima Online, and have been playing since.

 

[Dor of Sonoma]

So we all love (or have loved) Ultima Online. I'm curious as to how we all discovered this unique game... So what brought you here?

Feel free to share your nostalgia!

Ahhh...such memories! *grins*

The original owner of my account bought UO when it hit the shelves, October 11th, 1997. He kept trying to sell me on playing it at the time, but I was too busy with my work shedule to even take a look at it. Then one day, I was walking through the house, and I heard some incredibly lovely music. I followed it to its source at the end of the hallway, and asked, "What is that?!" "Ultima Online", came the answer..."Here, you want to take a look?" I stood behind him, staring at the screen, as he showed me scene after beautiful scene. As an artist, a longtime wargamer and participant in Renaissance/Living History reenactments, I was enthralled. And the music! I was sold, but still unable to try it out until June of '98, when I had a short break in my work schedule.

By then, I had inherited the account. He had moved, taking the CD with him, but leaving the game installed on my computer, along with the pertinent details for the account. I had no manual, no CD, knew no one to ask advice of...in short, I was utterly clueless. So! I decided that I would create a character who would assist parties of players (hey, I didn't know!) as they wandered through the land, fighting evil and promoting peace. Heh...to that end, I chose a template of the time...*winces*...a Bard, who would strum her lute, causing all nasty conflict to cease and Peace to ensue. I looked at the options included, and dismissed Provocation as being an Evil skill (I could not imagine wanting to make anything into a slave to do my bidding by causing harm to another) Therefore, Dor began at the Vesper Youth Hostel with a template and only two skills: Peacemaking, Musicianship, and...13 strength. (If she even sneezed too hard, she would die) *coughs*

In those days, Vesper was a veritable hub of activity, and the Warrior's Guild (with the four practice dummies) was literally standing-room only. You would have to wait your turn in line, sometimes for an hour or more, to get your chance at training there. I therefore moved into the Warrior's Guild for the next couple of months (I didn't know that you could log out in inns till much later), training fervently to raise my strength by training in every combat skill, interspersed with Music and Hiding. (I also didn't know that players hate the sound of practicing Bards...I actually found the sound appealing When I was ready to log out, I would sneak into the Warrior Guildmaster's room there and hide, then unroll my bedroll, light a campfire and log out. It was the only way I knew of, to log out. *laughs* I was so afraid that if the Warrior Guildmaster caught me trying to sleep in the back room, they'd ban me from the building or something.

My big, huge goal was to own and weild a Sword. A Real Sword, unlike my [practice] longsword. However, I was penniless and so I began cutting kindling with my newbie dagger and selling it to the smithy for...one gold piece per stack? Two? After quite some time of raising money in such a (tedious) fashion, I proudly walked to the armourer's in Vesper, and pointing to the shiny new Viking Sword that was glittering in the display case, purchased it. Imagine my dismay when I was too weak to even take a couple of practice swings with it...*laughs*

Oh man, I have so many more memories about starting out...the hushed feeling of great anticipation when the chest would slowly open as the theme music beagn to play, revealing the ruby gem to press..."Entering Britannia..." always such an exciting moment...! Learning how to walk, by trial and error (I had no manual, remember?)--took me two days of trying, before I could enter a doorway, and then...omigods! "Being perfectly rested, you shove through..." "SHOVE?!" I would never shove! Shoving is so rude! I spent weeks abjectly apologizing to anyone I "shoved", certain that they would kill me for being so rude, if I didn't make it immediately apparent that it was an accident...

 

[MalagAste]

For me...... I got my first computer.... and outside the Sims which I "HAD" To have... I was looking for something fun and interesting to play..... I picked up UO:R off the shelf..... it looked interesting.....

I brought it home but it wasn't until maybe a month or so after that I cracked open the box..... read the manual that came inside... (YES it had an actual PLAYERS GUIDEBOOK!)..... which of course on every other page WARNED about talking to other players and how you should suspect them all and not trust ANYONE!.... I was almost afraid to log in...... but log in I did..... Been hooked ever since.... can't stop playing.... Though I have tried....

I've looked a dozens of other games... but none of them has half of what UO does..... I'm not into space games, not into guns..... I like Medieval stuff.... Knights, Kings, Castles ..... dragons.... so that puts out a bunch of MMOs and though I played all the FF games.... the Online game did little to NOTHING for me... sure it has pretty pixels..... but that's about it.. it's a level game just like everything else... mostly....

I guess I really like UO cause you don't have to DO anything..... and you can BE anything you imagine....

And of course since AoS it's like partly the Sims!.... I can design and deco to my hearts content..... as well as RP.... Hunt..... Murder!.. Steal..... And hehe Beg... what more could a anyone want?????

 

[LadyKeroOfAtl]

Actually my finding uo is kind of amusing.

I was looking on Amazon i guess 9 years ago now and it compared UO to 'The Sims.'

Was the first I ever heard of the game and I grabbed it.

 

[rieley]

Death of The Sims.

Tried so many games to fill that void in my 'gaming life/community'. Then found UO, and online gaming just got better! Who would have guessed?

Some of the Sim's Devs also worked UO, I could see it in the game play. I'm here to stay.

 

[Moonwynd]

My second oldest son brought UO into the house. I would be cleaning or doing dishes and watching/listening while he was playing. I'd ask questions about what was going on. One day he came home, said his friend was online and he had to meet him in the game. I watched as he got on his horse, ran across Vesper (I didn't know what Vesper was at that time), and met his friend. They were battling monsters and training skills, going in and out of buildings, etc.

Well, after about a month or so, I wanted to try it. I got on his character and was told I could create my own character and so it goes. I was addicted. That was back in 2000... been pretty much addicted since then except for about a two year hiatus around 2004-06. My son quit after about a year.. he was in school and working and didn't have time. My other sons played for awhile but quit. My daughter and I on fairly regular these days. She started playing when she was about 8 yrs old, I think... maybe she was 9 though. I tried WoW and played for awhile. It was fun but UO had more to offer. WoW was just killing stuff and crafting is difficult due to the higher skill levels require harder to find resources. I overlapped playing both for awhile but found myself logging into UO more and more frequently and at this point, haven't logged onto WoW for several months. Not that I won't ever log onto my chars there again but I doubt I'll ever be addicted to it. Unless something changes drastically in UO I'll be here.

 

[MissEcho]

You notice that what you would/should consider to be a 'normal' option for a poll of this type is missing entirely from the list?

"Saw it advertised/promoted by the company and figured I had to have it"

Judging by the responses so far 51% came by word of mouth. It makes you wonder what 'advertising' would do for UO.

 

[Magdalene]

My, at the time, BF started playing because a friend recommended it to him. First I watched him play, but that got old quickly, so I got my own account and we played side by side or each one from respective home.
Curious enough, even when we were going through rough patches as a couple we would still play together... But at some point we separated for good, including him moving to a different game, and I'm still here.

 

[Cinnamon Delare]

My boyfriend at the time was playing it and I thought it was so neat that I just had to try it! I had been RPing online before then.

 

[ofatlantic07]

Oh, good ol' UO. So many memories. Well, I was first brought to UO by close friends who loved computer games. I had never even played a computer game at the time, but my family had just bought a computer so I decided to give it a shot. This was late 97 and I was 12 years old at the time. I absolutely loved it. I fell in love with the game. My friends who brought me into the game eventually quit after about 6 months to a year because they hated getting killed my PKs. I actually witnessed the moment where my friend decided to quit..poor fella. We were at 'the penn', for those of you who don't know what that is/was, it was the little part of land right above Minoc. It was a pretty hot area back in the day, now its loaded with keeps and reapers =/. Anyway, he had just bought a new boat, which back then cost A LOT, and it took a lot of time to get gold. He was messing around with it, and somehow a couple dreads came up and killed him while he was on it, boarded his boat, and sailed off with it. lol! I laugh now, but boy was he upset at the time..I felt bad for him. He quit right then and there. He moved on to EQ or something but hated that even more.

I'm rambling now..anyhow. I played from late 97 until I quit in 2000 I believe..sometime before AoS. The last patch I remember had something to do with med and mages running around with no armor at all. I just came back in late 2006 because I got really sick with mono, and it messed me up for quite a while. I'm still playing and I can't seem to quit! I really need to though, because its so damn addictive!

 

[Mirage]

The death of my Grandfather....bless him.

It was at his wake, my nephew was trying to get me to play this really cool "online" game called Ultima Online that had just come out.

Next day, bought it... haven't looked back yet.

Mir

 

[AEowynSP]

A friend I was housitting for back in 2001 had it and told me to try it, I have been hooked ever since.

 

[Darkholme]

I was a huge fan of the Ultima series of PC games, such as Ultima 7: The Black Gate, etc... When I heard about there being an online version of Sosaria, it was a no-brainer. Of course at the time of the games opening I didn't have regular internet access, so it took me a few months to get in, but when I did it hooked me in for many years.