I happened to accidently stumble upon this post and I felt I had to share my story.
How UO changed and improved my life:
My brother and I were a fan of the Ultima series long before Ultima Online. So when we heard they were making an Online Ultima, we were beyond ecstatic. The internet was still fairly new to us. But we knew it was going to be life changing. Imagine running around a virtual world, doing all the fun Ultima things, with other people!? Group fighting, harvesting, interacting was destined to be great. And it was.
It was one week before my 11th birthday when Ultima Online officially released. My brother had a job so he had a copy of the game. I had to beg and beg to get a week early birthday present. Finally the parents caved and they got me the game.
I was fortunate enough to have three phone lines, since my dad was an executive for a telecommunication company. 1st line was home phone, 2nd was for internet, 3rd was for my dads business line. Well we had multiple PCs, even in that day, and I knew I HAD TO play UO, so I had to make a choice of what line I was going to tie up, since I knew my brother would be using line 2. So I used the business line. I learned rather quickly that, that was the incorrect line to pick - lol.
So with the radio in the backround, the game installing, we are freaking out waiting to log in. And dealing w/ AOL dialup. *mimics dialup sound*. Soon enough I'm faced with the toughest choice of my young life. Character Name: What would I pick? What do I want people to call me? I turn and ask my brother, 'what should my name be'? I just got the sentence out of my mouth and Cotton Eye Joe by the Rednex comes on the radio. We still argue whose idea it was to use that as the name, but I'm pretty sure it was me. Every game I've played since 1997, I have been Cotton Eye Joe. And every person I interact with can hear that song in their head, and it to this day still makes me laugh.
So over the next year I got multiple of my school buddies to try the game. And about 8 of us played together from 98-05. But the story of how I met who is now my best friend is a memory that I will always cherish and laugh about. I remember it so vividly its insane. Me and my friend were sitting together in art class, talking about how we were going to go to shame and farm once we got off from school. Out of nowhere, this big red headed kid, who I've seen slaughtered children's lives in the hallway for making fun of his hair or weight came over to our table. He looks at us, and goes "What are you guys talking about!?" and he seemed pissed. At this time me and my other friend were both little itty bitty guys, and this kid was huge. We were like "ummm... UO man, UO". This ginger lit up like a fat kid at a candy store. He says so excitedly "I PLAY UO! I'm on Great Lakes". The teacher is now aware of the commotion and come over to save us, cause now these nerds are throwing terms she has never heard. So that evening, he made a new character Manifest Destiny on Chessy and gave up on his Great Lakes life, and joined us. 20 years later and we are all still friends, and still laugh about UO. Hell the highschool news paper even wrote about us as the UO Crew. I could post the article, but I don't want to release other peoples real names. But the article is amazing. I was voted the UO Guru lol.
In 2003 my father passed away very unexpectedly. I spent a lot of time on UO that year, and the immediate years that followed. It was during this time that I made life-long friendships with tons of people from UO. 20 or so that I still talk to ALL the time, especially with the help of Facebook. These people saved me from dark places, and I have done the same to them when needed. We have been able to help each other for years with many different scenarios. And it is amazing that as people we were able to come together, form such a strong bond, and keep helping one another when one is down and out for years and years all over an online game. It was OUR therapy. I can easily say it was my therapy.
I could go on and on and on, but sadly I gotta run to help a customer in distress. This game has forever changed my life, and pretty much everyone in my life's life. I very much look forward to this 20th anniversary celebration. There are going to be people I haven't seen in many many years. Fellow UO'rs celebrating the first and only (at this time) MMORPG to reach 20 years of online. Just saying that gives me goosebumps. Twenty Y E A R S . Next year UO can buy a drink, and I'll be there to give it the finest drink of all: A white russian.
Thank you all for still playing UO, thank you Bonnie and crew for keeping things moving -- even if we do disagree at times on where the attention is being focused. I will never quit this game. This game will have to quit me.
. But cool story or not, we all have a deep love for this game in common, and have at the very least made some awesome friends here. So my vote is no... this is not just a game, this is a family.
