Ultima Online: Why do people talk so fondly of it?

[Anarky]

I never had a computer capable of this game when it came out, and I don't think my parents would have understood online gaming fees...

But I have all these friends that played it when it first came out and they talk of how AMAZING it was and how any MMO that comes out is still not Ultima quality.

Did any of you guys play it and can you describe what was so great?

[Don]

I didn't think it was that great.

[SineSwiper]

Fondly? It was a griefing nightmare. Actually, I was talking with some friends who play the modded version (closer to the original version of UO), and have fun playing the evil characters.

[Anarky]

Fondly? It was a griefing nightmare. Actually, I was talking with some friends who play the modded version (closer to the original version of UO), and have fun playing the evil characters.

I think my buddies were the griefers...

[Julius Seeker]

This game was my first online rpg experience; I had 3 free months, I played for about 1 month. I remember disliking the game a lot.

[kali o.]

It was so good because of the freedom it provided. The freedom to be a killer (PK), the freedom to be a hero (anti-PK), the freedom roleplay, the freedom powergame.

Want to be a humble miner grinding away your living at your own little shack in the middle of the wilderness, hoping one day you are skilled and renowned enough to afford your own castle with an army of shopkeeps? Go for it. Want to be the slimy rogue robbing that miner at knife point? Go for it (but don't be surprised when that miner goes into town screaming about you and rounds up a posse).

The Britain X-roads on Pacific server weren't the same experience as the ones on the Atlantic server. The player base truely effected the worlds.

Ultimately, Origin started to screw up what made UO good - the freedoms went away and concessions to the nerf whiners took their place. Some people blame EA, but really it started with the penalties to red's (PKs/murderers). Nonetheless, early UO was great and influenced everything that came after (sadly, no one has gotten it right -- probably the closest would be early SWG...which Sony proceeded to mess up).

[Imakeholesinu]

I remember playing UO on my first PC. I spent many hours just dicking around. I did used to play on the WTF server which was pretty tight for awhile and it made the current UO look like shit.