Ah, Khaelieth. My good friend.
Thanks for sharing this. It was lovely casting my mind back over the various memories of the community.
From what you said, I was then asking myself what was it about the community, about UO, about roleplay, that drew me in? And why was it really that important to me?
I think with UO (and I guess the Internet in general), there was for the first time an opportunity to hang out with people who were on the same wavelength - and it was either too difficult to find those same people locally, or they just weren't there.
Being able to log in and instantly be surrounded by 50-100 people who kinda 'got you' and shared this crazy hobby of pretending to be guardsmen/rogues/samurai/mercenaries/orcs/undead/etc in a fantastical realm where dragons and magic exist... I mean, that sounds pretty trippy. And the depths that we plunged to in terms of how we portrayed our characters and the stories and culture that spawned as a result, was kinda crazy. Ground-breaking for sure. There were some downer moments, but there always are - and those moments were 1% of the overall experience that I can barely remember. What I do remember are things like being in Cove after weeks (maybe even months) of fighting the Orc invasion to suddenly see portals open and 100s of suped up Britiannians flooding in and destroying the horde. That definitely was an iconic moment for me.
I think, ultimately, I love world-building. I enjoyed the website far too much, and how that website existed almost as a part of the UO world. And I loved how we could customise uniforms, properties, and then add on our own rank structures, events, and so on. To do that all, whilst hanging out with a bunch of mates who were so passionate and creative, was wonderful.
Congratulations on your first, and your second on the way!
We just welcomed our second daughter Mabel into the world, in November. Personal time is basically non-existent; I struggle to game at all these days. And if I do get a chance to game, I'm usually thinking about the things I have to do around the house, or I just want to relax and read. It's crazy how you have so much time early on. Back in the day, I could've easily played UO 20-30 hours in a week. Now I'd probably have to fight to make it to 2-3.
Anyway, we pay that price for the beautiful people we have in our lives.
I hope all of you are well.
For Cove!
Surya
Player of Gregor and Serj
- And... Losis (The Crimson Rogues), Beorn (The Crimson Eagles).
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