Lorthic
Knight
The state of Ultima Online.
To be honest, I don't really know how to start this out. I'm simply going to keep typing, and whatever comes of this, comes of it.
What happened to Ultima Online? What happened to UOGamers? What happened to everything we once stood and played for? Why, I remember back when I first started playing UO. I was about thirteen then, and damn, it was fun. Valient battles versus dragons, seeing my first balron in a dungeon and being scared shitless, because at the time, I wasn't as apathetic about the game as I am now. At the time, everything in UO meant something to me, simply because it was another world; a world different from mine own. A world in which I could relax, and enjoy the fineries of a different age.
A long time ago, when I first started playing UO, I wanted a house. I walked for days and days (literally, real-time days), and simply couldn't find where I wanted to build a house. Finally, north of Minoc, east of Reaper valley, just below the plains, there was a dense wooded area. I thought it was perfect. Now, all I had to do was find an axe so I could chop down those damn trees, is what I thought to myself. So, I found myself an axe. I tried for another three days to chop down trees, and I was getting so damn frustrated! Finally, I saw someone, and asked him, "How do I get rid of these trees? I really want to build a house!" After all, I'd seen plenty of other houses built in forested areas, and I wanted one as well. The guy laughed and was very kind. He told me, "Come on, man... don't you know? You have to find an empty spot and buy a housing deed in order to place a house. It's pretty simple. How long have you been chopping trees for?" I told him that it'd been three days, and again he laughed, yet I did not feel as if he were berating, or ridiculing me. It was an entirely different world, where I could interact with people I never would've had the chance to meet in real life. Ultima Online was a world of wizardry, of mighty heroes who lay claim to the corpses of even mightier beasts. Ultima Online was everyone's fantasy; a world with no true reprocussions. A world where you can enjoy that which you choose to, instead of life forcing upon you what it will.
Ultima Online was fun.
Now, as I look back on the "good ol' days," I smile to myself and laugh at the countless hours I've spent with my eyes glued to the monitor. As time has passed, however, the game has lost its edge. The game has lost its fun for me. I log in now merely out of habit, and because I've acquired so much that it'd be a waste to not do something with it. That, and I can on occasion find something to do that is entertaining; whether it be pvp, merchantry or joining a random guild and going on a dungeon crawl or treasure hunt. As I look back and reflect, comparing how I felt then to how I feel now, I can honestly say that I do not have the fun I once did.
How can this be fun? Constant flaming and shit-talking to one another, and I'm not innocent! I know this... and yet, I feel as if all of us, as a community, could do better to improve the gameplay of not only ourselves, but each other, which would in turn make this game far more fun than it is now. I don't have the solution, but if we try, can't we find one? Instead of putting in patch after patch after patch to cure the ailments of the game for merely a short time, why not revamp the entire god damn system? Let's find out what the players want--what they need.
Ryan, Krrios, Mark, Samara... all of the staff, the entire lot of you (even Terron!) have done such an amazing job at bringing UO back to what it once was, and even though nearly everything is the same, you'll never be able to patch the lack of faith the players have in one another. You'll never be able to bring back the spirit that Ultima Online once had. That is our choice, as players, as individuals, and as a community. It is our choice whether or not we will make this game fun, and to be honest, I don't think many people care. It doesn't seem as if people play this game to have fun, so much as they play it out of sheer habit, out of boredom. I wish, for just one day, that UO could be like it once was. I wish that once again the spirit of the players could rise and conquer all. I wish that on every screen there was something different. Battles meant something. Victors were crowned and known. Now, with all of the thirty party programs, hacks, cheats, scamming, exploits and whatever else... victory changes hands like coin.
I wish that for just once, everyone would just sit back and realize how they've made the game not only for others, but for themselves. Why do something you don't enjoy? Why live, or play, in misery? Would you stay with a woman simply because you believed that nothing better would come of this life? And the same goes for you women--why stay with a man when there is so much more out there? Why eat food that you don't like if there's something in the fridge that, even though it needs to be cooked, is absolutely delicious? If each and every one of us will take a step back and realize what we can do for this game, and for one another, I believe that this game could once again be truly, truly fun.
Forgive my rambling, and I have one more thing to say: Don't let a good thing die.
Thank you,
Lorthic
To be honest, I don't really know how to start this out. I'm simply going to keep typing, and whatever comes of this, comes of it.
What happened to Ultima Online? What happened to UOGamers? What happened to everything we once stood and played for? Why, I remember back when I first started playing UO. I was about thirteen then, and damn, it was fun. Valient battles versus dragons, seeing my first balron in a dungeon and being scared shitless, because at the time, I wasn't as apathetic about the game as I am now. At the time, everything in UO meant something to me, simply because it was another world; a world different from mine own. A world in which I could relax, and enjoy the fineries of a different age.
A long time ago, when I first started playing UO, I wanted a house. I walked for days and days (literally, real-time days), and simply couldn't find where I wanted to build a house. Finally, north of Minoc, east of Reaper valley, just below the plains, there was a dense wooded area. I thought it was perfect. Now, all I had to do was find an axe so I could chop down those damn trees, is what I thought to myself. So, I found myself an axe. I tried for another three days to chop down trees, and I was getting so damn frustrated! Finally, I saw someone, and asked him, "How do I get rid of these trees? I really want to build a house!" After all, I'd seen plenty of other houses built in forested areas, and I wanted one as well. The guy laughed and was very kind. He told me, "Come on, man... don't you know? You have to find an empty spot and buy a housing deed in order to place a house. It's pretty simple. How long have you been chopping trees for?" I told him that it'd been three days, and again he laughed, yet I did not feel as if he were berating, or ridiculing me. It was an entirely different world, where I could interact with people I never would've had the chance to meet in real life. Ultima Online was a world of wizardry, of mighty heroes who lay claim to the corpses of even mightier beasts. Ultima Online was everyone's fantasy; a world with no true reprocussions. A world where you can enjoy that which you choose to, instead of life forcing upon you what it will.
Ultima Online was fun.
Now, as I look back on the "good ol' days," I smile to myself and laugh at the countless hours I've spent with my eyes glued to the monitor. As time has passed, however, the game has lost its edge. The game has lost its fun for me. I log in now merely out of habit, and because I've acquired so much that it'd be a waste to not do something with it. That, and I can on occasion find something to do that is entertaining; whether it be pvp, merchantry or joining a random guild and going on a dungeon crawl or treasure hunt. As I look back and reflect, comparing how I felt then to how I feel now, I can honestly say that I do not have the fun I once did.
How can this be fun? Constant flaming and shit-talking to one another, and I'm not innocent! I know this... and yet, I feel as if all of us, as a community, could do better to improve the gameplay of not only ourselves, but each other, which would in turn make this game far more fun than it is now. I don't have the solution, but if we try, can't we find one? Instead of putting in patch after patch after patch to cure the ailments of the game for merely a short time, why not revamp the entire god damn system? Let's find out what the players want--what they need.
Ryan, Krrios, Mark, Samara... all of the staff, the entire lot of you (even Terron!) have done such an amazing job at bringing UO back to what it once was, and even though nearly everything is the same, you'll never be able to patch the lack of faith the players have in one another. You'll never be able to bring back the spirit that Ultima Online once had. That is our choice, as players, as individuals, and as a community. It is our choice whether or not we will make this game fun, and to be honest, I don't think many people care. It doesn't seem as if people play this game to have fun, so much as they play it out of sheer habit, out of boredom. I wish, for just one day, that UO could be like it once was. I wish that once again the spirit of the players could rise and conquer all. I wish that on every screen there was something different. Battles meant something. Victors were crowned and known. Now, with all of the thirty party programs, hacks, cheats, scamming, exploits and whatever else... victory changes hands like coin.
I wish that for just once, everyone would just sit back and realize how they've made the game not only for others, but for themselves. Why do something you don't enjoy? Why live, or play, in misery? Would you stay with a woman simply because you believed that nothing better would come of this life? And the same goes for you women--why stay with a man when there is so much more out there? Why eat food that you don't like if there's something in the fridge that, even though it needs to be cooked, is absolutely delicious? If each and every one of us will take a step back and realize what we can do for this game, and for one another, I believe that this game could once again be truly, truly fun.
Forgive my rambling, and I have one more thing to say: Don't let a good thing die.
Thank you,
Lorthic
and good luck