Reflections after one day in Ultima Online

[Galendae]

Smart and deliberate go out the door when you get followed by people from the time you log in to the time they kill you over and over again within guarded areas? Why bother starting a new game unless you know someone as powerful as yourself who can just hand you everything they need?

I appreciate your help, and want to continue playing on this shard. But I can't mentally justify not being able to go to the bathroom while my character is at the bank for fear of his untimely death/looting.

Quit. This shard will chew you up and spit you out because you are entitled, weak and unable to adapt.

To think you are from New Hampshire....I am ashamed.

[nubnub]

I was walking around downtown Dallas yesterday and got tired so I decided to lay down on the sidewalk and take a nap... and wouldn't you know some losers assaulted me and robbed me while I was sleeping! The entire city of Dallas is a horrible place and I would not recommend anyone visit a city where they are not 100% safe/secure.

[Mulahey]

Thanks to everyone who offered me a free handout to get me to stay on this shard.

Unfortunately nobody here answered my question. Why bother discussing expanding your game when new players are chastised, insulted (Thanks Mulahey! I am indicative of an entire generation of loser video game players and you are better than I), and driven out of the game itself? Why bother inviting new players in?

Given the amount of people I witnessed killing me in town and other places, it doesn't seem like the majority of players want anyone new involved in this shard. In that case it is easier to go somewhere else.

Like I said it isn't the game itself that is ruining the experience-its the players. As with all other MMO's and online communities, its the people-not the game-that ruined my experience.

Please don't patronize me "This game is rlly hrd lolz newb" because I played it years ago and understood it then. I chose this shard because it is supposed to be welcoming to new players. I want to play the game, kill dragons and giants, not log off for 30 minutes hoping that same guy isn't still standing there so he can keep killing me.

From your reaction to what I wrote to you earlier with best intentions it seems to me your anger and frustration comes from outside of UO. (Again, no offense meant). As in real life, there are a lot of both jerks and good guys in UO so I guess you just happened to meet the wrong people. There will always be PKs out of town, but please do not cry over being killed IN town as this is often a welcome ritual a lot of people went through (myself included!). Again, I'm not trying to justify whatever happened to you. Also, please do not take everything too personally (referring to your reaction to my first post). I would offer you assistance in game, but unfortunately I'm an eternal non-PVP n00b since 2011. All I want you to understand is that you getting killed has nothing to do with this shard's population (allegedly) not being welcoming enough to new players! In fact, it's just the opposite. We are doing everyhing we can to raise the population here, as without it there will be no true UO. Best of luck!

[Kaivan]

I'm sorry to see that you've decided to leave UOSA as a result of your first experience. I had hoped that you would reach out to other players in an attempt to find some assistance with getting on your feet (I was the GM who responded to you last night with that suggestion), but it sounds like you would like to get on your feet on your own, and I can understand that position.

I'd just like to reiterate a couple of things said in this thread, and put a few more things out there as well.

First, I would like to echo the point that UOSA is a rather difficult server to play on due to the mechanics that are available here. Unlike most servers, as Sighelm has pointed out, we strive to replicate the mechanics that were available in the game circa late 1999, which means that certain techniques for attacking and killing players - even in guarded areas - are possible to do (although it typically took the coordination of multiple people in 99, whereas here it takes the coordination of multiple accounts). This means that many times, you will run into players whose sole intent with certain characters is to kill those who are building characters, or simply AFK in the wrong part of town. Many argue that this just heightens the sense of the game as it stood in 1999, as it makes towns rather unsafe similarly to how they were unsafe in 99 (mostly from thieves at the time), whereas others argue that it detracts from the game and is just an exploitation of poor mechanics that never should have been possible. However, despite the positions that different people take on this issue, a fact of life on UOSA is that it is possible to do these things, and that some people will do these things to you. However....

The second point is to reiterate what has been said by Boomland, and to a similar extent, others in this thread: This is not how all players act on UOSA. It is important to consider that while many people on UOSA do choose to have this attitude, many players are willing to assist a new player in getting on their feet on UOSA. The help can range from the offers you've received from Orion for a safe macroing house to the offers that others have given to simply show you the ins and outs of surviving on UOSA. Obviously it is your choice on whether and what kind of help you choose to accept, but I think that it is equally important to consider that while some players will intentionally grief you, many will and have - in this thread - offered a helping hand on this server. Beyond that, I don't think that any of these players can generally offer any more than that...

Which brings me to a third point. One of the central questions that you asked in your first post was essentially why players grief new and underpowered characters in town, thus reducing the chance that new players will stay on the server. While there are several hypothesis that can be offered for why this is done, I don't really think that anyone here can or should be asked that question as we can't know what's going on in anyone's head. Additionally, when someone does offer an opinion, it can only address the question in the broadest of terms as seen in this thread, where the vast majority of responses can be boiled down to a tl;dr of "This server is tough unlike newer games, and people will kill you because they can". Beyond this broad generalization, no one can answer why 3 separate people killed you while you were in town.

A fourth point that I'd like to ask about simply addresses your comments regarding being killed in town. A good example of what I'd like clarification on can be taken from your second response where you said the following:

Smart and deliberate go out the door when you get followed by people from the time you log in to the time they kill you over and over again within guarded areas?

Can you provide more detail on exactly what was happening here. To me, and to a couple of others in this thread, it seems unusual that you would be actively killed over and over by the same person while under the protection of the town guards with no way for you to do anything about it. While it is not impossible for this to happen normally, it typically takes a pretty specialized set of circumstances to make it happen relative to the expected experiences of a newer player, and I'd like to find out more about the exact context of what was going on. You may find that a relevant solution to your problem exists and that the help that other players can provide in understanding the era mechanics will help you to prevent this from happening in the future....

Which brings me to my last point, which is just a question based on one of your responses: When did you play UO on OSI servers (if you don't mind the question)? The reason that this question is relevant is that depending on whether you played the game in 1999 or later, your experience of UO at the time would have been very different, and that difference can be reflected here to some extent. Without getting into any of the specifics, the game in 1999 allowed players to "grief" others far more than it did later on, and the resulting attitudes that players held for how the game should be played at that time were equally different. Many of those mentalities of that bygone era can be found here on UOSA, and to some extent, your concerns may simply be the result of different expectations for how the game should be treated. Overall, this may simply be a case of when in Rome.

[eggmona]

I agree with others and would simply reiterate that this game can be very harsh for people who don't understand their own vulnerability and how to skirt the most common dangers.

That being said, when precautions are taken its almost too easy to avoid being killed when you don't want to be. ie I had a character last week I was training, in town, for about 3 days.. just sitting around. The trick? don't idle at West Brit Bank, or even Britain for that matter; its a hotbed for pickpockets and griefing of all sorts.

e: to answer the question, UO is harsh in its natural state and getting new players to stay means having them actually like the ever present danger. getting killed is just a part of this game (an avoidable one).

[Onslaught-]

This server isn't meant to be fair, it's not meant to be welcoming. It's meant to replicate the era in which Ultima Online was at it's highest in popularity, and it does so very well.

If you have a problem with how Ultima Online was in 1997, then we are sorry you feel that way, since the rest of us on this server enjoyed it very much.

If you can't handle the grief and tormentors found in town, you would not last a minute outside of town. It's probably best that you found out early.

Good luck to you and your friends.

[Ahbuddy]

One day evaluation, really? Any game on the market requires more than a 24 hour time sink in reading up on it alone, let alone playing it. After almost two decades of playing/experimenting UO on different servers, and hundreds of hours of reading research, I'm still not only learning new perks, but finding new ways to enjoy different varieties of the world in which so many are able to escape real world daily life. Your only going to get back out of it what you put in. As for us allowing you to be killed in town, well that is part of the adventure, to be more cunning than the pkers. Advice is to join a guild and macro in their guild hall. Hiding at a bank other than Britian or in some trees in corner of town is a good habit when going afk. There are more helpful players here than ones that rub you the wrong way, as with most MMOs.

[Kasper_Valentine]

As Kavian points out...

Overall, this may simply be a case of when in Rome.

You can always do to others as they have done to you.

Naturally just because you can doesn't mean you necessarily want to. But hey, why limit yourself to strictly honest activity...? The world of Britannia is rich and, as we're all blissfully aware, full of danger. Never be afraid to sample (or embrace) killing, robbing, looting, stealing, burglary, deception or any of the other more illicit opportunities UOSA has to offer.

TOUCH the DANGER ! TASTE the DANGER !

Of course, as I mentioned, not everyone wants to stab their fellow man and grow rich from their plundered bounty. This is fair enough and completely understandable. Based on the following comment I'd hazard a guess that you follow an honest playstyle...

Please don't patronize me "This game is rlly hrd lolz newb" because I played it years ago and understood it then. I chose this shard because it is supposed to be welcoming to new players. I want to play the game, kill dragons and giants, not log off for 30 minutes hoping that same guy isn't still standing there so he can keep killing me.

I hope you don't find this patronising, Mike, s'not my intention. But as many people have already pointed out, the problems you experienced are easily circumvented...

* Log off when away from the keyboard. It's a minor annoyance but one thoroughly worth considering (get yourself an inn rune and you're golden).
* Make a macro to call the guards.
* Re-familiarise yourself with the notoriety system to make sure you're not committing criminal actions without realising it and/or mugging the innocent in sight of the guards.
* Get a feel for the various flavours of player. You can generally spot when trouble is coming your way. S'not an exact science but s'a fair bet that if someone is named 'dfdsgxgn' then they're probably keen on manhandling your corpse.
* Learn from your mistakes and harden yourself against the mean streets of Britannia.
* Encourage rather than discourage your friends to join, a pack is greater than a lone wolf.
* Try to see the funny side of things. Turn on auto-death capture in the screenshots section of Razor and chortle as you repeat past butchering.

I greatly admire your decision to decline the countless offers of assistance and can thoroughly understand your desire to achieve things yourself, so in a nutshell...

* Don't give up.
* Don't despair.
* We're a horrible bunch, but we inhabit a wonderful server.
* Give UOSA a month to win you over.

I hope to see you around !

[Taboo]

Every single person who has responded to this new player, including the gms, has downplayed this person's first impression and I think it's ridiculous.

Do not speak about era accuracy when players are running around calling each other niggers and fags. That is the sort of community that has been fostered here. That includes the pointless harassing with grief kills that often don't get the person anything. It's just another part of the mindset of the typical player that has found a home here in this community. It's literally not era accurate. Sorry that you people seem to fail to see that.

This idea that "not every play acts like this" is nonsense when considering the huge ratio of players who do.

Stop patronizing him and being condescending just because he's trying to let you know there's a problem.

He doesn't need a trammel. What a load of BS.

On behalf of UOSA, I'd like to apologize for how you have been treated and the long winded justifications in this thread.

[FearItself]

This version of UOSA is definitely not on easy mode.

In fact there is no difficulty adjustment option, this means you have to adapt to the difficulty of the situation.

Every single grief and or bad time will teach you a lesson my friend:

•when killed and you have items taken you realize it is always best to either stash your valuables in the bank, if in town and afk, that way if you die you won't lose anything.

Always keep Rune books and runes, if important, in the bank, use one rune on your person to get to the bank to use your book ect. This will erase the risk of having your runes taken from your corpse.

• you can make a AFK Macro that calls guards, which will stop any town killer, you can fit the "guards" into your skill macro so you can continue to gain skill

•town killing is small time grief, when you get a house you will have more lessons to learn for security and or survival, location and friendly connection will help you a lot. Small houses are the only "Safe House" but it is still possible to PK In Ways.

•you can find a guild or even make one to gather other new players and even recruit some experienced players to defend you and your friends, there are many players who are looking for fun. It is easier to support eachother while new or returning player than it is to go solo.

There are many things to learn, when you do learn these things over time you will understand how this game version works better and will be able to help other new/returning players.

I run a semi active guild, I plan on making a come back but my real life can't gurantee me playing consistently... but you and your friends are welcome to join, I can help a lot ect ect.

You need to know the tips and tricks to survive

Hang in there, things will get worse but they will get a Lot Better too.

Play the game for fun, don't invest your emotions into it if you are susceptible to negative feelings too harshly. It's a game

Good luck and feel free to contact me.

My IRC is FearItself.
My in game name is
Fear Itself -(Bard Mage- Guild Leader)
Agent Orange -(Hally Mage- Guild PvPer)
Crazy Horse -(Tamer)

P.S
Get Rich Quick Scheme while adventuring Sosaria:

•MAGE, Provocation / Taming:
-Bards are one of the easier skills to GM, you can make a good deal of profit by farming on this type.
-Tamer take a long time to GM but are the best for farming gold and items.
-80 skill Mage has the ability to cast Gate Travel spell, if you are aware of IDOC housing then searching for these will be very profitable. IDOC = In Danger of Collapsing... a house with this notification on the sign will fall within 17 hours give or take, and all of the items inside are dropped to the ground, making it available to be taken.

Try to save up for a Patio house, this house is primarily used for IDOC, you can drop items on to the fence of this house and the item will drop into the patio, which no one can grab.

By using Gate Travel you can gate from the IDOC to your Patio fence, grab a container or item, walk through the gate, drop container or item on the fence, return to IDOC and grab more... wash and repeat until all items are safe within your patio.

My first week I spent hunting idoc and I made millions.


Good luck

[PorkTornado]

Smart and deliberate go out the door when you get followed by people from the time you log in to the time they kill you over and over again within guarded areas? Why bother starting a new game unless you know someone as powerful as yourself who can just hand you everything they need?

I appreciate your help, and want to continue playing on this shard. But I can't mentally justify not being able to go to the bathroom while my character is at the bank for fear of his untimely death/looting.

Quit. This shard will chew you up and spit you out because you are entitled, weak and unable to adapt.

To think you are from New Hampshire....I am ashamed.

He's prolly from Farmington or Ossipee. With all the other 'no backbone' lowlifes

[eggmona]

Every single person who has responded to this new player, including the gms, has downplayed this person's first impression and I think it's ridiculous.

Do not speak about era accuracy when players are running around calling each other niggers and fags. That is the sort of community that has been fostered here. That includes the pointless harassing with grief kills that often don't get the person anything.
...

Stop patronizing him and being condescending just because he's trying to let you know there's a problem.

He doesn't need a trammel. What a load of BS.

Hey no offense, but the OP did not mention anything like this. He said he was getting killed repeatedly in town and alluded to himself being unattended while it was happening. In that sense he very much is talking about not wanting to die.

I think the responses have mostly been appropriate. Multiple people have offered the OP guidance on how to avoid the circumstance of being killed repeatedly while afk...

[nubnub]

Do not speak about era accuracy when players are running around calling each other blah and blah.

Zero mention of that in this thread by parties involved... posturing for the "uosa lives matter" movement?