what's your Green Acres story ?

[RawHeadRex]

It's 1998-ish and I was in my very first guild. Someone said, "I have a rune to a new place, all come in the gate." We exit the gate to see nothing but clean green grass. I just got dsl so I was fast, people still on dial up seemed fast. I marked a rune and ran around like a crazy person released from crazy jail. That's when the fun ended, the person who gated us said, "oh i forgot to tell you. It's illegal for us to be here."
It went from fun to sheer terror as all of us recalled without saying a word, hoping to not get banned or in trouble for being there.
Later the same person told us a 'one-hit dragon' roams GA and kills people who are not suppose to be there and to get out as a ghost you have to call a GM.
Like some prized artifact I put the rune to GA in my bank box and left it there, never to touch it. If I remember correctly, there was an amnesty for having runes to GA as long as you threw them away. I never went back.

 

[Basara]

There's nothing roaming GA anymore (they've had temporary events there), and you can't mark there anymore, but they probably have security alarms if anyone is there.

That said, I know some former players that during the height of blackrock, blew themselves into Green Acres from the tunnels north of the area (as blackrock would blow your through walls). They spent the day goofing off in the area. Now, Blackrock doesn't seem to do that anymore.

 

[RawHeadRex]

There's nothing roaming GA anymore (they've had temporary events there), and you can't mark there anymore, but they probably have security alarms if anyone is there.

That said, I know some former players that during the height of blackrock, blew themselves into Green Acres from the tunnels north of the area (as blackrock would blow your through walls). They spent the day goofing off in the area. Now, Blackrock doesn't seem to do that anymore.

wow lol no way i love it. Recently went to Wind to see how easy the Greater Dragon access was, seeing it upon entering brought back memories. thanks for that Basara.

 

[Evlar]

I actually recall getting my hands on a rune there many years ago.

We got a large group of over 30 players together and had a full-scale field battle. It was great fun. A GM eventually popped up, but actually let us finish what we had started, before sending us all to jail and confiscating our runes. Soon as the runes were confiscated, we were released.

The thing was, the GM in question was talking to us as we finished our battle. Everyone had good fun and no harm was done. I still had a couple of runes in "safe keeping", but on my last return to UO, they sadly no longer worked.

Would be nice to see the place opened up for some full scale PvP battles though. It was a bit like an early version of Mount & Blade lol...

 

[RawHeadRex]

I actually recall getting my hands on a rune there many years ago.

We got a large group of over 30 players together and had a full-scale field battle. It was great fun. A GM eventually popped up, but actually let us finish what we had started, before sending us all to jail and confiscating our runes. Soon as the runes were confiscated, we were released.

The thing was, the GM in question was talking to us as we finished our battle. Everyone had good fun and no harm was done. I still had a couple of runes in "safe keeping", but on my last return to UO, they sadly no longer worked.

Would be nice to see the place opened up for some full scale PvP battles though. It was a bit like an early version of Mount & Blade lol...

nice, very cool of that GM ! yep my rune didn't work either after my return.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

I have no idea the truth of it, but supposedly just before T2A's release, they had to move a bunch of people out who had housing in Green Acres (which was, at the time, much larger) in order for them to publish the expansion because many of the houses were actually in that landspace.

Again, no idea if it's really true, but it was one of the rumors back in the day.

 

[RawHeadRex]

I have no idea the truth of it, but supposedly just before T2A's release, they had to move a bunch of people out who had housing in Green Acres (which was, at the time, much larger) in order for them to publish the expansion because many of the houses were actually in that landspace.

Again, no idea if it's really true, but it was one of the rumors back in the day.

Really ! Do you know which shard that was ? On Baja way back when, someone placed a tiny house on top of the Mage Tower and a GM came and asked him nicely to leave 'or else.' Can't imagine they let people stay placed in GA, would love to hear if that was true or not.

 

[DevilsOwn]

isn't that where Draconi set up a destructible Luna for cannon testing?

 

[RawHeadRex]

isn't that where Draconi set up a destructible Luna for cannon testing?

:bowdown:

these are the things I'm really interesting in hearing about. was this an in-game event or something ? what in the world would we need cannon testing for ? ! I can just imagine shooting a cannon at Luna yellow brick walls, I would need to 'test the cannon' for at least a solid week before I could give an accurate report

imagine if we had cannon on ships, goodness.

 

[DevilsOwn]

if I'm remembering correctly, was shortly before the Magencia event, to test out the rubbles and the explosions.... I think we could pick things up, but could not leave the area with them


*looks for bottle of ginko biloba*

 

[Lady Storm]

Yes Devilsown it was.

I was taken to Green Acres for my birthday by someone who had permission to take me at the time (long time ago). I got to see the handbook for GM's. Was nice to see all that green.

I have other tales of Green Acres but not for your ears n eyes.

 

[RawHeadRex]

if I'm remembering correctly, was shortly before the Magencia event, to test out the rubbles and the explosions.... I think we could pick things up, but could not leave the area with them


*looks for bottle of ginko biloba*

so you and others and/or the shard were invited there or something ?

 

[RawHeadRex]

Yes Devilsown it was.

I was taken to Green Acres for my birthday by someone who had permission to take me at the time (long time ago). I got to see the handbook for GM's. Was nice to see all that green.

I have other tales of Green Acres but not for your ears n eyes.

hey that's really nice of them to do that and to be allowed to do that.
oh any GA stories you can share with us are appreciated, thx.
so gm's have a handbook ? cool

 

[Llewen]

I believe I was there once a long time ago when I was a councelor. I think I'm allowed to say that now, I hope. I'm trying to think if that is where we were told to strip naked before we got our smurf robes, it might have been.

My memory is very foggy, that was quite a few years ago, and I'm afraid it's not much of a story. Unless of course a dozen naked wannabe smurfs rolling around on the grass makes a good story... Ok, ok, poetic license, we couldn't exactly "roll", but maybe one or two of us danced...

 

[RawHeadRex]

I believe I was there once a long time ago when I was a councelor. I think I'm allowed to say that now, I hope. I'm trying to think if that is where we were told to strip naked before we got our smurf robes, it might have been.

My memory is very foggy, that was quite a few years ago, and I'm afraid it's not much of a story. Unless of course a dozen naked wannabe smurfs rolling around on the grass makes a good story... Ok, ok, poetic license, we couldn't exactly "roll", but maybe one or two of us danced...

oooooo initiation rights ! that's cool too ! did you log in and out as a smurf from an Inn at GA or something like that ? ooo which reminds me of the 'waiting area' or the underground boat area where Seer's and Smurfs would go and use it like some sort of elevator or something.

 

[Llewen]

oooooo initiation rights ! that's cool too ! did you log in and out as a smurf from an Inn at GA or something like that ?

Honestly, I can't remember. I remember we had to strip naked and drop everything in our pack before we were smurfified. But beyond that, I don't remember much I'm afraid.

I do remember that was my first taste of IRC and witnessing someone being slapped with a trout. And I remember that one of the smurfs spent half an hour defragging a 15GB hard drive, and someone piped up that it served him right for having such a huge hard drive (that was huge back then ).

Funny the things you remember.

I remember one of my calls someone was having problems with his white wyrm I think it was, and I couldn't even tell that something was wrong. He was not impressed. And I remember dancing next to Brit bank on one of my calls. It was great fun.

We weren't there for technical support, our main focus was helping newbies. If there was a problem we couldn't handle we'd pass it on to a GM. But I'm way OT now. I was only a smurf for about a month and not long after that the whole program was shut down.

 

[Lady Storm]

YO Llewen NO talking of Smurfie days hell want to get US all baned!! All blue/brown robe wearers I was informed that all who served are under contract still and yes you can loose your account for just talking of being one. You still work for EA in a way.
That contract is binding.

 

[RawHeadRex]

Honestly, I can't remember. I remember we had to strip naked and drop everything in our pack before we were smurfified. But beyond that, I don't remember much I'm afraid.

I do remember that was my first taste of IRC and witnessing someone being slapped with a trout. And I remember that one of the smurfs spent half an hour defragging a 15GB hard drive, and someone piped up that it served him right for having such a huge hard drive (that was huge back then ).

Funny the things you remember.

I remember one of my calls someone was having problems with his white wyrm I think it was, and I couldn't even tell that something was wrong. He was not impressed. And I remember dancing next to Brit bank on one of my calls. It was great fun.

We weren't there for technical support, our main focus was helping newbies. If there was a problem we couldn't handle we'd pass it on to a GM. But I'm way OT now. I was only a smurf for about a month and not long after that the whole program was shut down.

yes irc was 'it' then. i'm sure it's still invaluable and used by many. I've only seen one person slapped by a fish (hpe.) Thank you for that and for being a Counselor Llewen, I always thought how noble that position was and respected them for doing it.

 

[RawHeadRex]

YO Llewen NO talking of Smurfie days hell want to get US all baned!! All blue/brown robe wearers I was informed that all who served are under contract still and yes you can loose your account for just talking of being one. You still work for EA in a way.
That contract is binding.

ok ok I agree, nothing that will get anyone in trouble. Nothing has been said so far to merit 'crossing the line.' I just want (mis)adventures of times in GA, nothing more.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

i remember what i thought were dragons, maybe skeletal in cages or chained, guessing they were used for testing purposes.they looked different than anything i'd seen before. Seems they would also emit a gas cloud or something. cool looking stuff & weaps laying around that couldn't be picked up. Also several fence pens & a dungeon opening - probably the one higher up on the z axis coming from the dungeon in Fel(Khaldun i think).

 

[Llewen]

YO Llewen NO talking of Smurfie days hell want to get US all baned!! All blue/brown robe wearers I was informed that all who served are under contract still and yes you can loose your account for just talking of being one. You still work for EA in a way.
That contract is binding.

Whatever, they can feel free to ban me if that's how they want to repay me for my support and service. That was quite some time ago, and I can't imagine why they'd care about us talking about it now. And of course, there's no tie to accounts here.

But my intention wasn't to get anyone's knickers in a knot. Mum's the word...

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

There are houses in Green Acres right now on Atlantic.

 

[Crysta]

Those houses are part of the landscape.. they're actually the ones that were used in the KR promotional screenshots.




My only time going there was at the end of I believe the ML open beta.. they held a house construction contest and Drac gated us all into Green Acres to build a house.

 

[Andrasta]

I went to see Grounds Keeper Willy and all I got was a death robe

 

[Ransom_of_BiC]

I was friends with a dev back in the day who took me there once in 2003. We were talking about this just the other day.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

I went to see Grounds Keeper Willy and all I got was a death robe

Don't be sad...you got to experience something few players ever did.

I went to GA, personally, 4 times. The first time was from a rune IBN Shaun gave me. The second time was from a rune a member of PoV that was "Smurf" gave me, the second time was due to a gate that someone else opened, and the last time was from a rune I got from someone that no longer plays the game.

All four times, the experience was memorable, but uneventful.

It is an area of the map that not everyone sees. But in the end, its just a big grass area with nothing to offer. rolleyes:

 

[RawHeadRex]

I went to see Grounds Keeper Willy and all I got was a death robe

cool pics thank you! when i was there i saw a two story tall gate as shown here but only occupying a two x two space with no dragon in it.

 

[RawHeadRex]

Those houses are part of the landscape.. they're actually the ones that were used in the KR promotional screenshots.




My only time going there was at the end of I believe the ML open beta.. they held a house construction contest and Drac gated us all into Green Acres to build a house.

those houses are in baja GA as well.
the winners design was chosen for a uo promo ? who won ?

 

[RawHeadRex]

I was friends with a dev back in the day who took me there once in 2003. We were talking about this just the other day.

what did you do and see there , anything you can talk about ?

 

[RawHeadRex]

Don't be sad...you got to experience something few players ever did.

I went to GA, personally, 4 times. The first time was from a rune IBN Shaun gave me. The second time was from a rune a member of PoV that was "Smurf" gave me, the second time was due to a gate that someone else opened, and the last time was from a rune I got from someone that no longer plays the game.

All four times, the experience was memorable, but uneventful.

It is an area of the map that not everyone sees. But in the end, its just a big grass area with nothing to offer. rolleyes:

did you go just to sight see or what ? I notice in uocart some areas of GA are raised square areas of green grass close to the lil town. I wonder if those are dueling areas

 

[Crysta]

those houses are in baja GA as well.
the winners design was chosen for a uo promo ? who won ?

First, my story and the mention of the houses were unrelated. Just wanted to clear it up.

Second, can't remember who won.. it wasn't for anything major though.

 

[Athelas]

I don't have any screenshots unfortunately as this was many computers ago, but on Sonoma there was a place in GA called Darwins Play Pen that some Sonoma players may remember.





Athelas, [Treasure Trove] Museum, Atlantic

 

[RawHeadRex]

I don't have any screenshots unfortunately as this was many computers ago, but on Sonoma there was a place in GA called Darwins Play Pen that some Sonoma players may remember.





Athelas, [Treasure Trove] Museum, Atlantic

oh cool, I remember the name GM Darwin. Was the play pen a workshop of some sorts ? Thank you for the details.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

Really ! Do you know which shard that was ? On Baja way back when, someone placed a tiny house on top of the Mage Tower and a GM came and asked him nicely to leave 'or else.' Can't imagine they let people stay placed in GA, would love to hear if that was true or not.

Pretty sure it was all active shards at the time... I know word was it was a massive guild or two here on Great Lakes that had to be relocated, but again, I have no actual first-hand accounts I can relate, nor any screenshots, so I can't actually back up the veracity of these rumors.

I do know you used to be able to place small houses (the old 7x7s) on top of towers (and potentially castles and keeps, though I don't recall every seeing anyone one do that because back then it would have been an inconvenience to use it).

 

[RaDian FlGith]

YO Llewen NO talking of Smurfie days hell want to get US all baned!! All blue/brown robe wearers I was informed that all who served are under contract still and yes you can loose your account for just talking of being one. You still work for EA in a way.
That contract is binding.

There's no way any of us former Counselors are under any Counselor-related agreement anymore. First, we were only disallowed from discussing it while we were Counselors. Second, the best they could hope for from an NDA would be a year after termination of the contract. And third, it's not like there's any industry-standard secrets any of us Counselors were privy to.

Besides, most of us Counselors have fond memories of helping out other players and the teams we worked on. It was the bitter few that brought the program to an end.

 

[RawHeadRex]

Pretty sure it was all active shards at the time... I know word was it was a massive guild or two here on Great Lakes that had to be relocated, but again, I have no actual first-hand accounts I can relate, nor any screenshots, so I can't actually back up the veracity of these rumors.

I do know you used to be able to place small houses (the old 7x7s) on top of towers (and potentially castles and keeps, though I don't recall every seeing anyone one do that because back then it would have been an inconvenience to use it).

wow I can only imagine that fiasco of relocating a guild from an illegal zone like GA lol. yep the guy who placed the 7x7 on top of the mage tower was a player named smegol or something like that, he was always causing trouble and acting up for some reason.

 

[RawHeadRex]

There's no way any of us former Counselors are under any Counselor-related agreement anymore. First, we were only disallowed from discussing it while we were Counselors. Second, the best they could hope for from an NDA would be a year after termination of the contract. And third, it's not like there's any industry-standard secrets any of us Counselors were privy to.

Besides, most of us Counselors have fond memories of helping out other players and the teams we worked on. It was the bitter few that brought the program to an end.

Do you know if that 'underground boat dock' place was used for smurfs and seers to go from shard to shard ? Or did I dream that up while sleeping and it doesn't even exist ? On a seperate note, I hear Jail in UO is super isolating, I wonder if the GM's feel all lonely in there when they take someone there for questioning.

 

[Mapper]

Do you know if that 'underground boat dock' place was used for smurfs and seers to go from shard to shard ? Or did I dream that up while sleeping and it doesn't even exist ? On a seperate note, I hear Jail in UO is super isolating, I wonder if the GM's feel all lonely in there when they take someone there for questioning.

This place?

It's available on Europa by saying 'Shipyard' in a hut on Bald Island in Trammel.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

THANKS Andrasta for the pics, that's exactly what i was talking about, exc my views were in color, lol. limited time opportunity for sure

 

[Kallie Pigeon]

Green acres is the place to be. Farm living is the life for me. Land spreading out, so far and wide. Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside. That's all I remember

 

[RawHeadRex]

This place?

It's available on Europa by saying 'Shipyard' in a hut on Bald Island in Trammel.

huh interesting.

hmm that's the EC view but almost identical to what I remember, except the boats were in water, not on stone pavement. there was chairs/bench to sit on.
what is the 'shipyard' used for on Europa ?

 

[Mapper]

huh interesting.

hmm that's the EC view but almost identical to what I remember, except the boats were in water, not on stone pavement. there was chairs/bench to sit on.
what is the 'shipyard' used for on Europa ?

It was used for an EM event I believe, It isn't used for anything now, Just the odd Roleplay use.

EMs are generally very bad at cleaning up old events, But I really like it when spots like this are kept open.

 

[RawHeadRex]

I went to see Grounds Keeper Willy and all I got was a death robe

I see the dragon in the gated pen, then I see another ancient worm below Groundskeeper Willy. Any details on that? Did you bring a pet in the hopes to kill the roaming dragon ?

 

[Andrasta]

One of Heracle's friends who had the rune gated us in. We were all told we could be banned if caught in there which made it all the more exciting! Most of Green Acres was a big green empty field so we ran around for awhile being silly.

Once we got to that little area where Willy and his friends were we didn't last for long. I don't think you could damage any of them if I remember correctly.

I took a bunch of pictures as did a few of us so I'll see if I have more of them. Once we thought we'd had enough fun taking gray pictures, we had our transportation gate us out of there.

 

[Nexus]

Nothing else to say...

 

[Fink]

Weird, a character of mine back then dressed just like him.

 

[Bazer]

willy looks like a skeleton in clothes with his hand and arms looking like bones.

 

[Coppelia]

willy looks like a skeleton in clothes with his hand and arms looking like bones.

Yep, that's what bone sleeves do.

 

[Andrasta]

This is the only other one I can find right now. I can't take credit for the subtitles. One of my guild mates took this one. As you can see its a very nasty place.

 

[RawHeadRex]

This is the only other one I can find right now. I can't take credit for the subtitles. One of my guild mates took this one. As you can see its a very nasty place.

whao ! where did the liches and efreets come from ?