UO article from GDC Online 2012

[Luka Melehan]

Gamasutra - News - Ultima Online creators remember the good and bad of its early days

 

[FrejaSP]

But one year later, when beta 1 was shown at E3 1997, the game didn't have much in the way of AI. So, to fake it, developers back home were actually playing the NPCs live.

"People were amazed by the AI," joked Koster.

I remember a npc, that was joining the chat I had with a friend ingame, and I was thinking, that was amazing. He was playing his own little game, replying to something my friend said but still staying in char as a npc.

It was an amazing time.
I also remember how I got Freja's spellbook filled with spell on Atlantic. A guy, dressed in plate I think, could had been Lord British or a GM being on a "normal" char, told me to borrow him my spellbook and follow him in the house with a stair near Brit Bank, he then said he needed his vendor and a vendor showed up on in the house, no idea if it was a npc mage vendor or a player vendor. He filled my book with spells and gave it back to me.

I miss devs and GM's being more active ingame and I like Menessa do show up ingame sometimes.