[UO Herald] Notes from the Head Hamster

[UO News]

Hi Ho Ultima Online players! This is Gerald. Many of you may know me as the lead hamster running the UO servers.

Well as many of you know the team decided to move to upgraded hardware. What this means is that I’ve got a lot more time on my paws. Things were a bit scary there earlier this year, but you all know the race stops for no hamster.

While I have your attention, I wanted to give you some inside information on the team.

The team is actually all hamsters. You read that right. You can take it directly from my well-manicured tail that everyone one of them is a furry rodent.

Don’t be alarmed. Much of the game industry is truly run by all manner of varmint. There are voles in production, gerbils doing worldbuilding, and we don’t like to mention the content crew, but here’s a hint … they only work at night. I can tell you, from my cousins running the Battlefield servers, that a few of the graphics engineers at DICE aren’t allowed water dispensers until they ship 500k units. By my whiskers, I am happy to be with you all on Ultima Online.

With that, if you ever need anything, please drop me a line at [email protected].

Can’t wait to hear from you!

- Gerald



More...

 

[Nexus]

This is actually good news, considering the majority of the players of Ultima Online are members of one of the following families.

Pythonidae
Boidae
Xenophidia
Colubridae

I myself belong to Colubridae, come to think of it, 2/3rds of us are. I have to let you know I find great pleasure to know that thanks to this revelation there is actually one situation where it is appropriate to play with our food, it is also gratifying to see our food work so hard to please us.

 

[Lord Nabin]

I knew It!!!

Thanks Gerald!

 

[Taylor]

Much of the game industry is truly run by all manner of varmint.

I believe they prefer the terms "rodentia" and "chiroptera," to be socially aware...

Also, since bats and rodents are in different orders, could we get some feedback on whether the entire development team is vulnerable to vermin slayers?

 

[Miri of Sonoma]

The team is actually all hamsters. You read that right. You can take it directly from my well-manicured tail that everyone one of them is a furry rodent.

 

[Liquid_Ape]

Next time I Gere up for some "PvP", I will think of you.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

*mumbles about unembedable videos*​

YouTube - Hampton the Hamster "The Hamsterdance Song"


Someone had to...​

 

[Trebr Drab]

That's OK, Gerald. We're a bunch of packrats.

 

[Gerald the Hamster]

*waves*

 

[Lord Nabin]

That's OK, Gerald. We're a bunch of packrats.

:bowdown:

lol yep for sure!

 

[Crysta]

Well.. this would explain all the rats in high level positions...

 

[Vlaude]

*waves*

Get back on your wheel!

 

[Gerald the Hamster]

Get back on your wheel!

I'm off today. It's my birthday!

 

[Parnoc]

I'm off today. It's my birthday!

Oh my, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU lil' hamster!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[olduofan]

Get back on your wheel!

I'm off today. It's my birthday!

Tell you what Ill give you a cheese wheel if you can add some more male like colors to the new 5th year vet metal dye tub and 2 toned boat paints and cloth (from Halloween sound have been Easter cloth) the pastel colors are great for old lady's

 

[Mook Chessy]

Great, I'll pass this along to my RL friend Richard Gere.....










Weeeeeeeeeee!

 

[Sevin0oo0]

Thank You Gerald for posting, best info I've read in months! - it actually put me in a better mood. The community could use more posts like this

 

[AirmidCecht]

Hey Gerald! Glad to see you finally showing your hamster face around here!
It took some digging but I think I can confirm that yes the majority of the team is actually made up of hamsters!

Gerald does indeed call the shots

You will find them in QA

post shot from the High Seas

Getting moved over to SWTOR

and working tirelessly after finally arriving in Australia to kick up the new treadmill server then back to the US again

 

[Taylor]

Ha!

 

[Jhym]

I guess Sherry is relieved, she wouldn't want to have to deal with herding cats all day to get a release out.

I was under the assumption that the managers and customer reps were moles, popping out at random to be hit on the head by gleeful purple peeps.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

*waves*

*Waves back* Nice to meet you Gerald. Hey, I have a request. I run some servers at home and participate in some basic maintenance of our servers at work. I've also built my own computer systems and servers for nearly 20 years.

If you can, without divulging any trade secrets or security info, what are the basic specs of the servers running our beloved game? Cpu, multiple processors, ram, etc..

Thanks.

 

[G.v.P]

Getting moved over to SWTOR

Ugh jedi hamsters are so OP in SWTOR!!! I smell a nerf coming...

 

[Woodsman]

*Waves back* Nice to meet you Gerald. Hey, I have a request. I run some servers at home and participate in some basic maintenance of our servers at work. I've also built my own computer systems and servers for nearly 20 years.

If you can, without divulging any trade secrets or security info, what are the basic specs of the servers running our beloved game? Cpu, multiple processors, ram, etc..

Thanks.

If you want to watch a 43 minute video that goes into excruciating detail, you can see what CCP is using or buying for EVE Online, down to discussions of how much ram is in each different type of server, what the database servers run on, just how many hard drives they have, etc.:

YouTube - EVE Fanfest 2011: TQ's New Toys

Watch that video, take notes, and then you can assume that UO runs on about 5% of that hardware. And UO does run on blades.

 

[Lady Tia]

Welcome Gerald. I'll send hamster treats!

LOL at Airmid's "staff pics".

What else do the hamsters and others need?

 

[Woodsman]

Here are the real notes from the head hamster:

Ultima Online Spring Producer’s Letter | UOJournal.com

Spoiler

Had I seen this on any day other than April Fools, I still wouldn't have made it past the second paragraph before realizing how fake it was.

 

[Nimuaq]

Here are the real notes from the head hamster:

Ultima Online Spring Producer’s Letter | UOJournal.com

Spoiler

Had I seen this on any day other than April Fools, I still wouldn't have made it past the second paragraph before realizing how fake it was.

Spoiler

There are no typos! Its definately for April Fools.