Greetings Europa players,
As some of you will have known, I used to own an in game museum next to the Britain Swamps, displaying may rares (as well as many, many cow statues), and far more valuable in my eyes, the little books that had been written by players past and present, and which had been donated by many of you over the years to keep safe and be displayed for others to read in the future.
I stopped playing Ultima Online some time ago, as the magic was personally gone; I still have all the screenshots, documents, and memories of all the good times past stored away (and you can see some of my videos from public events I ran as a player here), but in order to keep the history of the game within the game itself for everyone else, I was dropping by every 3 months to re-sub, and to keep the Castle from dropping into IDOC state. The only visitors I'd see that day were of course the IDOCers checking it on the same time-table too, in order to loot and sell the items; but I hope that over the years those of more nostalgic intent visited, and found something inside to smile about, some echo of people they once knew in game...
I always meant to pass it on to someone else to maintain, when ever I decided to stop spending the money for what ever reason; I never got around to it however, as it meant spending time finding someone who still played as well, with a paid account, who could be trusted to think about the wealth of knowledge within as opposed to the real money value. I kept thinking "Maybe next month I'll be ready to call it a day."
However a combination of real life events, especially the constant electioneering in the UK which has left me extremely busy even with any free time I have (and a week to go yet!), led to me simply missing the manual payment and realising, a week or so later, the Castle was going to have gone.
In a way, it's a good thing for me, because I was holding on to something that had no value for me; I feel a little sad about some of the things, like the 4xGM chicken was in one of the Hutches, and that went toe to toe with the battle chickens at one of the last events I attended... but mostly I just don't feel anything much for myself. The behind the scenes stuff, and the absolute greed fueled disaster that was SotA after has burnt out much of my love for the settings. In a way, it's been kind of a relief to have to let go.
But I feel bad for the irreplaceable history for the server that was within. The Void Lobster on the wall was the first ever caught on Live across the entire game. And again, as always, the personal stories; the little romantic boxes that people had made for each other, with classic client jewel-artwork of teddy bears alongside soppy poems, and which had survived an IDOC before coming to me; and then potentially being lost again in mine. Odd books with single line puzzles, obviously part of some quest a player had made for another, which one day I wondered if someone would come back and remember what the solution to it was...
I feel guilty that all of that ended up lost due to simply not keeping track of the date. So, whilst I had a little time free today, I wanted to apologise to the server for letting it fall. I hope some of it made it's way to people who actually care for it.
And perhaps when it's time for the last waltz for UO, I'll pop by again to see it out, with that which made the game truly special; not ultimately the setting as such, but rather the people who put their hearts (and not their avarice) into the game in turn.
As some of you will have known, I used to own an in game museum next to the Britain Swamps, displaying may rares (as well as many, many cow statues), and far more valuable in my eyes, the little books that had been written by players past and present, and which had been donated by many of you over the years to keep safe and be displayed for others to read in the future.
I stopped playing Ultima Online some time ago, as the magic was personally gone; I still have all the screenshots, documents, and memories of all the good times past stored away (and you can see some of my videos from public events I ran as a player here), but in order to keep the history of the game within the game itself for everyone else, I was dropping by every 3 months to re-sub, and to keep the Castle from dropping into IDOC state. The only visitors I'd see that day were of course the IDOCers checking it on the same time-table too, in order to loot and sell the items; but I hope that over the years those of more nostalgic intent visited, and found something inside to smile about, some echo of people they once knew in game...
I always meant to pass it on to someone else to maintain, when ever I decided to stop spending the money for what ever reason; I never got around to it however, as it meant spending time finding someone who still played as well, with a paid account, who could be trusted to think about the wealth of knowledge within as opposed to the real money value. I kept thinking "Maybe next month I'll be ready to call it a day."
However a combination of real life events, especially the constant electioneering in the UK which has left me extremely busy even with any free time I have (and a week to go yet!), led to me simply missing the manual payment and realising, a week or so later, the Castle was going to have gone.
In a way, it's a good thing for me, because I was holding on to something that had no value for me; I feel a little sad about some of the things, like the 4xGM chicken was in one of the Hutches, and that went toe to toe with the battle chickens at one of the last events I attended... but mostly I just don't feel anything much for myself. The behind the scenes stuff, and the absolute greed fueled disaster that was SotA after has burnt out much of my love for the settings. In a way, it's been kind of a relief to have to let go.
But I feel bad for the irreplaceable history for the server that was within. The Void Lobster on the wall was the first ever caught on Live across the entire game. And again, as always, the personal stories; the little romantic boxes that people had made for each other, with classic client jewel-artwork of teddy bears alongside soppy poems, and which had survived an IDOC before coming to me; and then potentially being lost again in mine. Odd books with single line puzzles, obviously part of some quest a player had made for another, which one day I wondered if someone would come back and remember what the solution to it was...
I feel guilty that all of that ended up lost due to simply not keeping track of the date. So, whilst I had a little time free today, I wanted to apologise to the server for letting it fall. I hope some of it made it's way to people who actually care for it.
And perhaps when it's time for the last waltz for UO, I'll pop by again to see it out, with that which made the game truly special; not ultimately the setting as such, but rather the people who put their hearts (and not their avarice) into the game in turn.