Uo Promotion on old magazine

[UOKaiser]

Not sure what title to use. But I came across some old magazines I had. One was Computer Gaming magazine. The April 2004 edition issue #237. In there they advertised Ultima X Odyssey with a 2 page ad nothing fancy but that was not what caught my attention. On page 39 there is mmo news review by Ryan Scott giving a thumbs up and telling of the feutures of a 1999 UO shard. Advertising a free shard which i'll not name quoting "well over 1500 players, which is unheard of for an unofficial server"

Just found it interesting.Especially that it received such advertising on a well known magazine.

 

[Azaroth Dragon]

I always disliked that particular part of the article. 1500 was the number of online players, not total players.

We had many more accounts than that.

Edit: Also, I imagine you can discuss it since it's not around anymore.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

IPY I assume?

 

[Babble]

I think mmorpg.com still has some forums for 'never to be happen' UO games.

 

[UOKaiser]

It's just facinated me for a second that a free shard received such a mention. Had a picture of whole bunch of dead players in a town. Cool though as i was not expecting that and never noticed it before. I used to have free subscriptions to many of these magazines and I collected them for some reason.

 

[Azaroth Dragon]

...

IPY I assume?

Yup.

 

[Azaroth Dragon]

It's just facinated me for a second that a free shard received such a mention. Had a picture of whole bunch of dead players in a town. Cool though as i was not expecting that and never noticed it before. I used to have free subscriptions to many of these magazines and I collected them for some reason.

Free shards hadn't really amounted to much before IPY, so it was pretty novel to see a lot of people playing on one. The biggest grey shard online when IPY launched was probably less than 5% of our size.

So yeah, back then it was all pretty big news. You guys just weren't allowed to discuss it here.

 

[Babble]

Free to play does not mean everything is achievable without paying extra.

See it as with UO where for extra cash you get more bank room, more characters and so on.

 

[Hannes Erich]

Free shards hadn't really amounted to much before IPY, so it was pretty novel to see a lot of people playing on one. The biggest grey shard online when IPY launched was probably less than 5% of our size.

So yeah, back then it was all pretty big news. You guys just weren't allowed to discuss it here.

"They were wrong. I always knew that. Along came the right place and the right time, and IPY was born. Its popularity surpassed my expectations tenfold. The attention it received was incredible. 1500 people online averages, over 100,000 accounts created in total, and even appearances in gaming magazines. Nobody expected it, but maybe they should have."

-- In Por Ylem - A Piece of Ultima Online History.

While reading, note the similarities between the founder's description of IPY's community, and UO's current community.

 

[Llewen]

I find the whole bit about psychopaths very interesting. And it is something that the big publishers and developers of MMO's have to deal with all the time. It's why Blizzard has announced that they are going to be using real names on the Blizzard forums (my guess is it won't work), and you look at what AV has dealt with in producing and publishing Darkfall Online.

The internet attracts an awful lot of the genuinely mentally ill. Many of them can't work, and they are recieving disability payments, or other support, and they have all the time in the world, and MMO's are a perfect place for them to spend that time.

Then you have children who aren't being properly supervised, and there is little that is naturally more destructively inclined than a prepubescent boy. And there are people who would normally be too cowardly to act out but are given the Devil's Courage by the cloak of anonymity they wear online.

All in all it's a recipe for trouble that a small non-profit or hobby developer, or developer team, is ill equipped to deal with.

 

[Picus of Napa]

Only free shard I ever played. True bottom of the barrel just like the article says and great times. Sadly even glory days of IPY are long gone in this game and never to be repeated.

Long live the old players memories.

 

[Archie]

Only free shard I ever played. True bottom of the barrel just like the article says and great times. Sadly even glory days of IPY are long gone in this game and never to be repeated.

Long live the old players memories.

Slumming it UO style.