The year is 1999. It's early in the year, Ultima Online is almost two years old. Sosaria has divided into two armed camps, the blues and the reds. Never open an abandoned chest without checking it for traps. Always have the word "guard" in your "bank" macro. Preferably hide as soon as your bank box opens.
If you have 2000gp in your pack, it's time to go to the bank and get rid of it, before someone, or several someone's, help themselves to it. You have a war axe of vanquishing in your bank box. The only time you take it out is when there is less than an hour to go before server maintenance, and then you run, probably on foot, to Brit graveyard to thump some heads and destroy some armour.
There are also the sheep, and the wolves. The wolves know how to play the game, get ahead. Most of them have made their first million. A lot of them are in the red camp. Then there are the sheep. They get all excited when their resisting spells hits 70, or they have 100,000gp !!! in their bank box.
Fast forward fifteen years. I used to be a sheep, "back in the day". Sometime in the intervening years I created a character on a shard that I had never played before. But I've heard there is some good pvp to be had on this shard. I log on to that character. He has his appropriate skills at 50. But he is naked, with almost nothing on him. No gold, no weapons, an empty bank box - I think he may have had some kind of holiday ticket or two from the past few years. I'm not sure he even had a spell book.
Ok, I could have deleted the character and remade him to at least get that 1000gp and maybe a spell book. Or I could have done some begging, and probably someone would have helped. But I was too lazy to create a new character, and I didn't feel like begging. I felt safer, but something about the situation reminded me of 1999.
Fast forward a few weeks. I have an extremely crappy Shame suit, but it keeps me alive. I've made enough gold to keep myself supplied with bandages and reagents. I'm stock piling resources. My stats are set at their final destination. Some very nice person did give me a couple of power scrolls so I could keep training evaluate intelligence and animal lore - yes, a tamer. I have a stable full of useful newbie pets - who knew that ruddy bouras were such amazing tanks? I will be shipping in a proper suit sometime in the next few weeks, and my character is well on the way to being fully trained.
It clearly isn't 1999. I'm not a sheep anymore. I know how to play the game. I know how to start with nothing, and have fun doing it. And I've discovered that yes, the game is accessible to new and returning players starting from scratch - who know a lot. There's the real rub. I know where to get information on the fastest way to gain skills. I know that some nice person always has a crystal and corrupted portal in their vendor house that anyone can use. I know a lot.
And that is the biggest barrier for new players to overcome - knowledge and experience. You can give a new or returning player a basic suit, and a cheque for a million gold pieces, and that will make them happy. But what they really need is someone to spend a few minutes of their time telling them where to find information - telling them about uo.stratics.com, and uoguide.com. They need someone to share a few hunting secrets, and explain how to ignore the pvp-yahoo-wolf-wannabes in general chat, so they can actually use general chat to ask questions and get information.
Most of all they need someone to give them a few tips on how to get ahead. What can they do to make gold that will actually help them put together their first decent suit. I've got a very substantial care package coming to my new character. New and returning players won't have that. I may have partied like it was 1999, but it isn't anymore. The game is more complex than it was and there's a lot to learn, and the best thing you can do with that newbie that has just joined the party, is to share some of your hard won knowledge, and the lessons you have learned over the years.
That and maybe share a few stories from 1997 - 1999, when the game was far more dangerous, and more than a few of us had our arses handed to us by a sheep, or a deer...
If you have 2000gp in your pack, it's time to go to the bank and get rid of it, before someone, or several someone's, help themselves to it. You have a war axe of vanquishing in your bank box. The only time you take it out is when there is less than an hour to go before server maintenance, and then you run, probably on foot, to Brit graveyard to thump some heads and destroy some armour.
There are also the sheep, and the wolves. The wolves know how to play the game, get ahead. Most of them have made their first million. A lot of them are in the red camp. Then there are the sheep. They get all excited when their resisting spells hits 70, or they have 100,000gp !!! in their bank box.
Fast forward fifteen years. I used to be a sheep, "back in the day". Sometime in the intervening years I created a character on a shard that I had never played before. But I've heard there is some good pvp to be had on this shard. I log on to that character. He has his appropriate skills at 50. But he is naked, with almost nothing on him. No gold, no weapons, an empty bank box - I think he may have had some kind of holiday ticket or two from the past few years. I'm not sure he even had a spell book.
Ok, I could have deleted the character and remade him to at least get that 1000gp and maybe a spell book. Or I could have done some begging, and probably someone would have helped. But I was too lazy to create a new character, and I didn't feel like begging. I felt safer, but something about the situation reminded me of 1999.
Fast forward a few weeks. I have an extremely crappy Shame suit, but it keeps me alive. I've made enough gold to keep myself supplied with bandages and reagents. I'm stock piling resources. My stats are set at their final destination. Some very nice person did give me a couple of power scrolls so I could keep training evaluate intelligence and animal lore - yes, a tamer. I have a stable full of useful newbie pets - who knew that ruddy bouras were such amazing tanks? I will be shipping in a proper suit sometime in the next few weeks, and my character is well on the way to being fully trained.
It clearly isn't 1999. I'm not a sheep anymore. I know how to play the game. I know how to start with nothing, and have fun doing it. And I've discovered that yes, the game is accessible to new and returning players starting from scratch - who know a lot. There's the real rub. I know where to get information on the fastest way to gain skills. I know that some nice person always has a crystal and corrupted portal in their vendor house that anyone can use. I know a lot.
And that is the biggest barrier for new players to overcome - knowledge and experience. You can give a new or returning player a basic suit, and a cheque for a million gold pieces, and that will make them happy. But what they really need is someone to spend a few minutes of their time telling them where to find information - telling them about uo.stratics.com, and uoguide.com. They need someone to share a few hunting secrets, and explain how to ignore the pvp-yahoo-wolf-wannabes in general chat, so they can actually use general chat to ask questions and get information.
Most of all they need someone to give them a few tips on how to get ahead. What can they do to make gold that will actually help them put together their first decent suit. I've got a very substantial care package coming to my new character. New and returning players won't have that. I may have partied like it was 1999, but it isn't anymore. The game is more complex than it was and there's a lot to learn, and the best thing you can do with that newbie that has just joined the party, is to share some of your hard won knowledge, and the lessons you have learned over the years.
That and maybe share a few stories from 1997 - 1999, when the game was far more dangerous, and more than a few of us had our arses handed to us by a sheep, or a deer...
