What hooked you on UO?

[Dannyboy]

If I remember correctly? Cal in the recent video chat asked players to discuss what sort of attracted them to UO, or what made them stay. What happened to make you think, yeah this is the game I want to play. I think the whole idea of this was so they had ideas for the new player experience they are working on.

If I have got this wrong, mods please feel to delete or lock this. But if I have got this right

What did attract you to UO?

More importantly what made you stay? What game play elements got you hooked or what gameplay elements do you enjoy the most?

What if any, were your omg "this is the game for me" moments and why?

 

[Storm]

I has played Ultima starting from nearly the beginning before it became ultima online!
And I will never forget the fun my roomate and I had when I made a computer in class and he bought us the first game and it was ultima! God did our girl friends hate that game we played it hours and hours at a time!

That was the start then we ended up playing with the beta and oh lord it was on! the crafting the vast options of what to do! it was like its own little world you could literally get lost in!
And I was hooked and have been here ever sense !

Storm

 

[Vlaude]

I, like a few others, started playing when I was 13. At the time my real life best friend played with me and we had some pretty awesome experiences together. As we grew older real life opportunities and changes took us away from the game at different times. He plays WoW now and I tried it and hated it, so I came back to UO because I had advanced characters to play on already. Most of my old friends no longer play but I've made some good new ones to play with. So friendship is what keeps me going on here.

 

[Dicimiie]

The very first time I logged onto the Lake Superior server and saw another player to interact with, I was hooked. It really was that simple where I'm concerned. I thought to myself "how cool is it that I can play a game simultaneously with thousands of other players, and have the opportunity to actually interact with every one of those other players?

More importantly, though, was what kept me playing. I absolutely fell in love with the crafting system. This was even back during the time before the current crafting menus. The old menus were horrid in comparison, but I enjoyed it all the same. For me, there was a certain satisfaction in creating an item with a maker's mark, and having someone else use that item. I also enjoyed sitting at the forge in Brit and repairing people's armor and weapons. I could spend hours just doing that. The player interaction was what I enjoyed. I didn't need super magic items, I didn't need a fancy customized house (I had a small tower for a very long time). All I needed was customers that needed the services I could provide, and I was set.

One other thing that kept me playing was the vast arrays of things to do within the game. On the off chance I'd get bored with crafting, I'd hop on my warrior and head out to Shame just to beat up on some earth elementals. Other times, I'd jump on my fisherman and go fishing up treasure. Still other times, I'd get on my mage (pre-necromancer) and see what I could blow up. I also had my treasure hunter for when I really wanted to go hunting. There was always something different to do.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Several elements got me in, and kept me.

-Good environment for RP.
Enough background to have something to play off of, but unlike, say Lord of the Rings Online or any MMO set in the Star Wars franchise, you're not playing in someone else's story that you already know the ending to. Maybe you'll never be the Luke Skywalker of the story even in UO, but the point is that you don't really know that you won't, whereas in Star Wars that role is already fulfilled. And, unlike in a single-player game, you do not have to be the big hero or even to try. Hell you could have a full in-game life and never once touch the meta-fiction story arcs save for sometimes you might have to escape it if you unwittingly stumble into it.

The EM events only solidify this element for me.

-Right sandbox/directed experience mix.
One way to look at this element is the non-RPers version of the previous element.

Pure sandbox would be boring. Pure directed experience is a single-player game that happens to have some NPCs played by life people. UO's seen as a pure sandbox but it's really not,and that's a good thing.

You can have a full in-game life and never do a quest, or only take quests to get you into certain areas you otherwise wouldn't have been able to get into, never work an event, never do a storyline. Or you can fully immerse yourself in nearly-everything. The odds of fully immersing yourself in literally everything are small as there's simply too much to fully immerse yourself in.

-Trammel.
The last 2 elements got me in and kept me for awhile, but I'm one among many who aren't as vocal on these boards, who Trammel kept in the game when I was thinking of exploring Everquest. As UO was constituted before Trammel, it presented a pure sandbox for a select few and a directed experience to most (being e-mote ****d in the wilderness; smack talked to; house dry looted while a few dozen folks looked on and laughed, ready to gank you if you attacked the thief; etc.).

I simply never saw as many people just walking around, experiencing the world before Trammel as I did after Trammel. At some point, "can you help me get to my corpse" became much more likely to be a sincere request than an attempted lure.

-Galen's player

 

[Kasumi_Chan]

My first PC Ultima was Ultima 7: Serpent Isle, but my first Ultima was Ultima 3: Exodus for Nintendo.

 

[Dannyboy]

Thanks for sharing and kick starting the thread guys.

What got me interested In Ultima Online was that I had played Ultima 7 the Black Gate when I was about 15. Back then and even by today's standards I would say it was a pretty unique game In that it allowed you to interact so well with the world around you. If you saw an item you could probably use it, steal it or something.

So when UO came out I was naturally interested, It really captured the feel of the Ultima games and it offered the same sense of freedom to be able to do what you wanted. I still believe this and the community is what sets it apart from other games and what has kept me hooked for so long. To echo what storm said to fact it's like a world you can get lost in.

Hunting is my main activity while I'm playing too. Not really for the gold any more, it's just nice to work as a team sometimes to take down the bigger tougher stuff. And while I was new it was one of the most exciting things for me, all these new dungeons to explore and creatures to slay. I think my best UO memories revolve around killing a new creature for the first time or been taken to a somewhere like the bone wall to finally gm swords.

 

[Tanivar]

What hooked me is that UO is a world, not a set chain of quests you have to do to 'win', and that it doesn't use Levels, you can make friends in game, play different amounts of hours, and still be able to hunt together, never getting to far apart in Level.

What holds me here, despite the AoS changes, and the excessively irritating High Seas booster, is the Crafting. Unless they screw over Crafting again like they did with the BOD system and monster loot becoming better than what Crafters could make, I'll be here until they pull the plug. With High Seas now piled onto AoS, I doubt I could put up with it again.

 

[Frarc]

Friends.

 

[NuSair]

Even though I started with Ultima III, I'll bypass that and go what kept me in UO.

I hate non-consensual PvP combat.

I hate UO's attitude toward griefers (ie- you, the person they are griefing, can always go somewhere else). It feels like they are rewarding that type of play.

But, what did keep me in, is that I could do somethings I liked inside of town and never have to leave. Up until recently, I had a character who had never been outside of Britian (Fel/Tram) except to go to my house. This is a character that I started back in 1998. He was a blacksmith/alchemist/scribe.

If it hadn't been for that, I probably would have quit the game back in 1998 and never came back.

 

[Percivalgoh]

I had a friend who played from the start and used to go to his house and watch him play and even sit at the computer and play his characters for a while. It was the escape for me. Playing was like being this character for a period of time, and not so much like a game. That is still what keeps me playing.

 

[Gorbs]

A college roommate got me to try it in early '98. Being able to interact with other players kept me in the game. The pvp elements got me hooked. I quit sometime after AoS came out and came back right after SA was released with the intent of mostly pvping, but oddly have spent very little time doing so, other than killing some Yewbies from time to time for a quick laugh.

 

[Annonymous User]

Because uo is rl to me. whats that one thing people do when they get bored of uo ? like camp or log or something idk something to with a fire and camping... well I don't ever do that... no logging out for me


before someone thinks I am serious no it was a joke, but yes percivalgoh's post about it being a character for a period of time and not so much like a game... and the connection you establish with your character. Back in the day you didn't want to die because of the time and effort you would place in to your toon, that you would get some what of an attachment to it, and death only cheapen the experience..

 

[(Taler)]

It was definitely my blacksmith character. Standing at brit forge repairing things for people while making friends with the other blacksmiths.

Not to mention that first time I crafted something with my name on it and the feeling of being handing something to repair that had you name on it.

 

[Deb]

Actually several things got me and kept me hooked. My brother introduced
me to UO back in 1997. It was an inexpensive way for me to talk to my
family. We lived a couple thousand miles apart. ")
Then I discovered taming and still have her to this day. I met some great
people in game and we have stayed friends for years, even those that
no longer play.
Customizable housing kept me hooked even longer.
There are 2 reasons I still play and that is FRIENDS and the Diversity
in UO. No other game out there has this. I have tried the new and improved
games with their "cough" great graphics and NO THANK YOU. They may
have better graphics but the grinding is a no go for me. And they can get
real boring after awhile.
So here I still am and will be till they close the last shard down.

 

[AzSel]

The Europa Roleplaying Community is what has kept my interrest of UO up, or Id have quit some years ago.

 

[MalagAste]

I picked up UO:R off the shelf when I got my first PC. I wanted some games and I loved playing D&D when I was younger so I bought it.

I was hooked pretty quickly, loved the idea that eventually I could own my own place. That was a thrill. I still remember that little 7x7 small tower. I was so excited.

And then I met my first RPer... I went to a Tavern Story night and met some serious RPers.... from then on I was very happy.

I've stayed for the friendships and the role-play. The fact that there is no end to the game... It's just open. What ever you can imagine it can happen... that sandbox is such fun.

And the house deco and design is one of my favorite aspects. No other game compares. Everytime I think about perhaps trying another game my first question is... "Can I own a house? Deco it?"... if those answers are NO... then it's well that sounds interesting BUT....... I have WAY too much invested in UO to just quit and play something else that I know will only be a passing fad for me.

UO holds my attention because well... It's got so much to do. I can work my 50 characters if I like... I get tired of one make another... haven't finished working every skill to 120 yet... Don't have all my characters maxed..... thinking that if I ever do I might start building 7xGM characters on other shards even.

Don't have billions of gold and don't need it. I have a great group of friends though.

 

[Cailleach]

What got me into it, 5 years ago, was my husband returning and bringing me with him. He's back to not playing, I'm still here.

There will never be another game with the freedom to be what you want to be that UO offers. Yes, there's bits that need fixing, and there's games systems that need tweaking, reworking, whatever. But still, it's the freedom.

What keeps me here? The people. Every single time, the people. My guildmates and alliance guildmates, many of whom have become very good friends out of game too. The other stratics staff, some of whom have moved to Europa and my guild. The staff room on skype also. These guys are the best. And the other friends I've made in game, who have become friends out of game also.

I know that at some point, I'll have to take a game break. Real life has to come first. But it will just be a break. And I will keep in touch with my friends while I'm away, because I love them dearly and can't imagine my life without them.

 

[G.v.P]

I think for me it had to be the prostitutes. Oh. Wait, that was Dragon Age.

Actually, I joined UO back in the day to impress my friends, because everyone was too cheap to play a MMORPG back then. And I really liked the idea of owning a smithy shop house. Of course, a few years later, when every other MMORPG out there had housing and was in 3D, my plan didn't work out too well, rofl.

 

[Nexus]

Well that's sort of a mid-length story. You see it all began back in 1998.......

I was in the Marine Corps. then, stationed in Beaufort, South Carolina. Being single I lived in the barracks on base but made it a point to spend plenty of free time with buddies off base when I could. One of them asked me to come over and check out this new game he had gotten into the Beta testing for. Yes it was Ultima Online, though I didn't remember the name later, I watched him travel around a bit kill a few monsters and checked out some of the towns. I loved it when I first saw it, but unfortunately I didn't have the luxury of Internet access in the Barracks at the time. I did a few deployments, and eventually received my discharge paperwork, and headed back to my home town. Once I was settled in I was out shopping one day and noticed a box for Ultima Online: The Second Age on the shelf at Wal-mart. I was checking out the back of the box when I realized, this is that game! I picked it up and installed it that night. I did remember that mining was safest in Minoc, from what I had seen in the past while watching my buddy play those couple of years ago, but I'd inadvertently created my character to start in Britain. After getting some directions I headed out towards Minoc and promptly got lost. Not really knowing the game yet, I went up and asked the guy with the Red Name for directions... After a Rez he sent me on my way with good directions and I proceeded to begin my journeys in Sosaria.

That one interaction watching someone else play in a living world was enough for me to get hooked. I will admit I stepped away from the game for a few years right before AoS until after SE launched, but I still thought about it.

 

[Viper09]

Housing, sandbox, several skills that no other game has really offered in depth like UO has like fishing, cartography, tailoring, blacksmithy, carpentry, etc. Heck, even begging! You really don't have to go out and hunt. I really love how you can just set up a house nearly anywhere even like setting up your own town if you can organize it.

 

[Rumil of Lorain]

I came from Legends of Kesmi, didn't plan to stay it was free for thirty days. I went out of town towards the Brit cementary and saw an Ogre been here ever since. What can I say at the time it was awesome to see a real ogre you know what I mean now not even a second glance, The reason I stay now is because of the friendships I have made and lost