• Hail Guest!
    We're looking for Community Content Contribuitors to Stratics. If you would like to write articles, fan fiction, do guild or shard event recaps, it's simple. Find out how in this thread: Community Contributions
  • Greetings Guest, Having Login Issues? Check this thread!
  • Hail Guest!,
    Please take a moment to read this post reminding you all of the importance of Account Security.
  • Hail Guest!
    Please read the new announcement concerning the upcoming addition to Stratics. You can find the announcement Here!

Freeshards

SteelRust

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Never tried one, but now you got me curious. A question: how the FSs stand at this moment on the long-debated questions of Copyright and such?
 
Last edited:

DreadLord Lestat

Forum Moderator
Administrator
Moderator
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Social Media Liaison
Wiki Moderator
UNLEASHED
I have been on and off of freeshards since 2005. Unlike games such as WoW, EA has never taken any action. I saw new colored ores and woods on freeshards before they were introduced to official shards. I saw new magics similar to spell weaving and mysticism on freeshards before they were introduced to official shards. I believe that UO devs have always visited them and taken popular ideas from them. EA/Broadsword has never taken any action prior and I doubt they will now. Hell they don't even enforce no scripting. I don't believe the court costs would be worth trying to shut down private servers.
 

Danpal

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
EA/Broadsword has never taken any action prior and I doubt they will now. Hell they don't even enforce no scripting. I don't believe the court costs would be worth trying to shut down private servers.
I believe that EA and Broadsword would lose any case to start with. Kind of hard to get a court to rule in your faver if the defense pulls out 20 plus years of paperwork showing they done it for this long and was never a issue.
 

DreadLord Lestat

Forum Moderator
Administrator
Moderator
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Social Media Liaison
Wiki Moderator
UNLEASHED
I believe that EA and Broadsword would lose any case to start with. Kind of hard to get a court to rule in your faver if the defense pulls out 20 plus years of paperwork showing they done it for this long and was never a issue.
Not to mention, they have stolen a lot of ideas from it. it is just too bad that they don't employ any of these people to upgrade and make UO better.
 

Ning

Journeyman
I played on UOSA which was a good time being it was such a faithful representation of the T2A era and UO:R which I thought did a really great job with their content, particularly with fishing.
 

DreadLord Lestat

Forum Moderator
Administrator
Moderator
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Social Media Liaison
Wiki Moderator
UNLEASHED
They don't borrow enough to be honest. If freeshards can go back to pre-aos and pre-ren, then maybe Broadsword should look at that instead of making a new seasonal shard. There are so many things they could be doing to help the current state of the game instead of starting a "seasonal shard" that is once and done. Yes, you can transfer your character to another normal shard but I could just start a new shard instead. They need to ditch their current mindset and look into actually doing things to get people back.

I am not into PvP but look at Outlands. It has all kinds of custom content, made good use of old and useless skills (unlike the current remove trap crap), and has an active community. it was not my thing but I found my time there interesting.
 

Kylie Kinslayer

Stratics Legend
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Awards
1
I believe that EA and Broadsword would lose any case to start with. Kind of hard to get a court to rule in your faver if the defense pulls out 20 plus years of paperwork showing they done it for this long and was never a issue.
Nah... not really.

Civil litigation does have a statute of limitations, but that clock does not begin until the action is no longer going on. Which is why there have been successful cases of copyright infringement (music) that happened decades after the infringing track was released.

However it is doubtful BS/EA would ever do anything massive against them. Like Lestat was saying a lot of innovations do seem to come from freeshards... and imo freeshards drive people to the normal game about as frequently as they siphon them off.
 

Schuyler Bain

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
*WARNING* Wall of Text

I have been playing some form of Ultima Online since launch in September of 1997. I was in my mid-twenties and was not a husband or a father at that time, but now, 24 years later, I am both of those things and still playing UO. My adult kids are almost the age I was when I started playing and now they play with their Ol’ man.

I still maintain a paid account with EA/Broadsword, but I have enjoyed many “Free Shards” over the years. I still play on 4 with varying levels of regularity. Each one brings unique experiences i.e. custom content, legacy feels, larger and engaged player base, smaller and dedicated player base, Role Play heavy, PVM focus, PVP focus, near-current content, etc. At this stage in my life I still enjoy the sandbox environment and freedom to play however I feel like playing on any given day. I still discover new things in UO after all these years and that is due in part to free shards and the talented people who run them. I enjoy building custom houses, creating characters based on other franchises I enjoy and bound to the limits (or not) of a particular shard. I enjoy visiting old places made new, new places never seen before and best of all, meeting new people who still find joy in playing Ultima Online.

Kudos to the Stratics team for showing some support for the freeshard community. You have always been a great resource for the UO player base and a great place to hang out over the years. I still think back to the old Automatic Breakfast Machine (ABM) posts in the UHall all those years ago. I was even a moderator for the UO Players Corner for a bit. Good times, good times.

If you have never tried a Free Shard, I highly recommend it. You likely won’t love everything about any given shard, but you will likely find one that scratches an itch or two i.e. High Seas content, Support for Gargoyles (or not) or brand-new systems that enhance a certain game play you already enjoy.
 

Punktee

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Strongly recommend trying a freeshard out if you're interested in scratching that nostalgia itch.
Its definitely a different world than modern UO now, kind of like how WoW Classic is different world than their retail version.

There are alot of really bright individuals that do some fantastic work in the freeshard space, you'd be surprised by some of the content that has been created.
 

old gypsy

Grand Poobah
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Patron
I've been thinking about a free shard as a possible option after a 'blunderful' (not a typo) experience last year when I tried and failed to recover my original account, which I had closed shortly after we lost Ozog. I've also thought about making a new account, but I'm totally disenchanted with the UO account management system and not keen on paying a monthly subscription to effectively start over as a newbie again.

I first started playing about the time they introduced T2A. If I came back to UO, whether on an official UO shard or on a free shard, I wouldn't have much time these days to devote to it, so it probably won't happen.
 
Last edited:

Lord Nabin

High Council Sage - Greater Sosaria
Professional
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Glorious Lord
Let's keep in mind while most free shards don't charge admission, the do survive on donations to keep things going. It's basically the same.

Choose wisely and support whom you enjoy playing with.

*sips his glass of Good Old Moonglow Red*
 

Iyeron

Visitor
*WARNING* Wall of Text

I have been playing some form of Ultima Online since launch in September of 1997. I was in my mid-twenties and was not a husband or a father at that time, but now, 24 years later, I am both of those things and still playing UO. My adult kids are almost the age I was when I started playing and now they play with their Ol’ man.

I still maintain a paid account with EA/Broadsword, but I have enjoyed many “Free Shards” over the years. I still play on 4 with varying levels of regularity. Each one brings unique experiences i.e. custom content, legacy feels, larger and engaged player base, smaller and dedicated player base, Role Play heavy, PVM focus, PVP focus, near-current content, etc. At this stage in my life I still enjoy the sandbox environment and freedom to play however I feel like playing on any given day. I still discover new things in UO after all these years and that is due in part to free shards and the talented people who run them. I enjoy building custom houses, creating characters based on other franchises I enjoy and bound to the limits (or not) of a particular shard. I enjoy visiting old places made new, new places never seen before and best of all, meeting new people who still find joy in playing Ultima Online.

Kudos to the Stratics team for showing some support for the freeshard community. You have always been a great resource for the UO player base and a great place to hang out over the years. I still think back to the old Automatic Breakfast Machine (ABM) posts in the UHall all those years ago. I was even a moderator for the UO Players Corner for a bit. Good times, good times.

If you have never tried a Free Shard, I highly recommend it. You likely won’t love everything about any given shard, but you will likely find one that scratches an itch or two i.e. High Seas content, Support for work time Gargoyles (or not) or brand-new systems that enhance a certain game play you already enjoy.
Thanks for this information
 
Last edited:

El of LA

Babbling Loonie
Reporter
Professional
Premium
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
I just want to offer a warm and happy 'WELCOME!" to all the freeshard players on Stratics! I'm so glad that these forums are being offered. I am glad to see them here!

When I was AE of UO Stratics 'way back when' we were connected to, and totally dependent on, EA Games, and this was a total taboo. Even mentioning one or having the software for one on our pc could get us fired from the team. I had to keep a very long distance from them, but I kept up on my reading! ;)

Now in the days when Stratics has been 'cut loose' and we, Stratics.com, now have the flexibility to unite the ENTIRE UO-UOX gaming community, I'm just delighted to see this happen! I hope you all enjoy reading and posting on Stratics.com as much as I have since 2003!
 
Top