A Long Story

The Start

I began playing Ultima Online at the age of fifteen. I was given the game as a gift on the release date. I didn't really know what I was doing, and for the probably the first three months I did little more than wander the wilderness, try avoid player killers, and raise my skills painfully, slowly, manually. The day I finally hit ninety swordsmanship was a revelation. I can remember it fairly clearly. A friend and I went to Covetous, as we usually did, in order to raise our skills and make some gold. I had a bardiche, probably of ruin or might, and a newfound confidence. As a newly minted master swordsman, I felt I was finally ready to join the world of player vs player combat rather than fleeing on foot. (I didn't have sufficient magery, or even knowledge of how magery worked, for quite a long time.)

Back then, UO was absolutely bustling with players. Covetous was a series of impromptu hunting parties. We ran room to room, attacking with abandon and viking swords anything we came across. (Viking swords, I was always told back then, were the best weapon for fighting monsters.) As we left to make the run back to Vesper, a red player appeared, attacked one of our number, and began to pick the corpse. We all stood silently inching our way to the door as we always did when I suddenly found my courage. I called out for everyone to attack and ran in with my bardiche. He dropped me in probably two swings of what came to be known and feared a few months later as a "pre-patch" weapon. High end weapons were quite deadly then.

I was shocked. I had worked so hard still to remain powerless, and it was all for naught. I had a number of experiences, some simply informational (including a short free resist training session along the road from Minoc to Covetous bank) but mostly negative, that had lead me think this way, but the mocking words of that player killer in Covetous upon knocking me off my high horse so easily really set my mind to getting better.

I did the only thing I could think to do: I started reading everything could find on the still fairly primitive world wide web. I learned to macro by sticking coins in keyboards, I learned what skills were effective, I learned how to use magery, and I even ended up with one of the first, and very primitive, macroing programs for Ultima Online. I learned a lot, but I still didn't have the gold I needed to make a real go of it.

One feature of Ultima Online that is long gone is the old flagging system. It was a quirky system with many, many failings. Among those failings, if you attacked a player who had stolen from you, the guards could be called on you. A number of enterprising young thieves had figured out how to game the system: Steal near the edge of town. If you get away unscathed, you get to keep what you stole. If you get attacked, run for the guards and feast upon your foolish victims remains. This practice was widespread. The outskirts of most towns required a mad dash to avoid the hordes of thieves that would instantly descend upon you as you left or entered town.

After my run in with the player killer in Covetous, something inside me changed. I saw then and there at the outskirts what I must do. I rolled a thief and began to join the hordes at the end of town. Loot I had never dreamed of was my reward. I was by no means wealthy, even by the standards of the day. But eventually I could afford a small house, and I set my sight of bigger dreams. I needed gold to train, to make the player vs. player character, to take down the red players who had so oppressed me and my friends for months. But something changed. I began to find joy in simply being the bad guy and, in particular, being the thief. I refocused my energy on stealing and began rethinking about what I wanted to do in Ultima Online.

At this time, two more influences washed over me: Xavori and the Insidious Brotherhood. Xavori was a roleplaying thief, and the Insidious Brotherhood was a (sort of) roleplaying band of player killers. I decided to adopt a backstory and make a thief. A kind thief by the name of Ilya Gpat showed me the basics of raising stealing, organizing backpacks, and basically how to play the game in a focused way. Still, I was a kid, and these "famous" players (Xavori wrote for a well-known UO webage called Stratics and the IB had been featured in a very short story in a magazine) didn't pay me much mind. I posted to their forums with no responses. I showed up at their hangouts, only to be killed or laughed at. Eventually, they got used to my appearing and simply ignored me (aside from Ilya Gpat). I eventually tired of roleplaying, rerolled as an archer (using an exploit to GM archery free and in one night), and began an all out assault on the players of Ultima Online. (Archery in those days was insanely overpowered. A state of affairs that lasted for maybe a few months. I became a fencer once it was brought down to Earth.)

In those days, Ultima Online was a game with endless possibilities. It is a game that could never be recreated. The game's rules were wide open. It was a Wild West atmosphere and everyone who wanted to play an online game had to be there. Everquest and its kin eventually sapped the numbers, and Trammel sapped its spirit, but the early days of Ultima Online were perhaps the greatest time in the history of video games. But things died down. I focused on my burgeoning career as an absolutely awful guitarist in a punk rock band. I played Everquest. I probably even touched a lady part or two. Life caught up with me, and one day I shipped off to college. Ultima Online was but a distant and happy memory.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.05/ultima_pr.html


The Freeshard Experience

Somewhere in the haze of college, word got to me of a rebirth of Ultima Online. Players were creating their own shards, with their own rules, and EA was not shutting them down. I heard stories of IPY: the chaos, the intensity, the challenge. I began to hope to play again. But years passed and I had a busy life. After college, I checked into it again. I found a shard that seemed to suit me: Metropolis. With the wisdom of hindsight, I set out to do everything I always wanted to do in Ultima Online but never tried: I made crafters, I joined a large guild (C^M), I bought large houses, I became fairly proficient in player vs player combat. The best thing about Metropolis for me was the guild. I made friends there. I had experiences with them. We went on hunts. We had enemies. We fought and laughed and we discussed our personal lives. I still keep in contact with two players from that guild to this day. (I bet you're reading this, Syllums.) Eventually, the shard imploded. The shard owner didn't want to keep it going, and he passed on it on to a man who renamed it Project X and ran it into the ground with absurd rules and constant giveaways. I drifted away from Ultima Online again with only a few days spent briefly as Oprah on Angel Island.

Months passed when Syllums contacted me: He knew of a new shard that he thought I might like. It would be a recreation of the pre-Trammel era. It was called Ultima Online: The Second Age. It was perfect. I started with a clear plan. I had tried all the things Ultima Online had to offer on Metropolis. I wanted return to my true love: stealing. I rolled a bard to get me started and the first chumbucket, a macer thief, to get my adventures on their way. I had always been one for getting out and doing things. I never liked collecting and I never liked taking myself very seriously. On Metropolis, I was mostly known for constantly looking for fights and for constantly seeming to be somewhat touched in the head. It was put on, but it was fun. I took to the same on UOSA, but as a near full-time thief. I was, for short while, the only serious thief on the shard.

One day, after a rather hilarious altercation with an angry young man named Hemperor, I decided to share the events with the shard. The response was, to my great surprise, incredibly positive. Even Hemperor came around to laughing at himself. I had already wanted to rob the shard blind, but this story really gave me focus. I wanted to rob the shard blind and have everyone enjoy it.

Ultima Online, for me, has always been at its best when it is a no holds barred game. The element of danger that you can only get from a player makes the game something entirely different from any other game I have ever played. You can lose your loot to a monster in some games. You can lose your loot to a player in a few games. But in Ultima Online, I can take everything you have ever worked for over the course of months and months in a matter of thirty minutes. Some times less. I recall once stealing a house deed from a player who screamed at me as I fled to West Britiain bank, only to immediately hop a gate into a house that I proceeded to loot of everything. My IRC private chats were aflame with angry players.

I enjoyed the challenge of stealing from players, of concocting elaborate plans, of improvising to get things when my plans went awry, and always trying to do it in the sort of chumbucket persona I was developing: a free-wheeling, well-meaning, but absolutely ruthless thief. Not everyone laughed. The wise laughed later. The unwise never. The bystanders almost always. But what I enjoyed most was simply being a part of things: having crazy adventures, posting them on the forums, and talking back and forth. The forums became more important to me than the game itself.

Somewhere along the way, I concocted the idea of running a guild. It was originally named chumbucket and Associates. But recruitment was poor, and no grand adventures were had. I renamed it Bards of the Second Age, in accordance with the still running joke that I am a bard and not a thief. The name change didn't help. I had thought the cA name immodest and off-putting but I eventually opted return to it. It was around that time that I met one Joan Jett, an absolutely hell-raising player who shared my love of actually going on adventures and was clearly a more skilled player than myself. As I recall, our first adventure together consisted in throwing EVs into the middle of a player-ran tournament followed by suicide bombing the crowd. It was fabulous. She eventually changed her name to (or began playing as a character I was unaware of named) Matron de Winter. I managed to convince her to join my guild. We were, in effect, a two person guild for a short period, but with her know how our recruitments went through the roof. We turned down more players than we accepted. I wrote up rules for recruitment and rank that, more or less, stand to this day. (A lesson for those who want to start a guild: Do something that attracts people, know precisely what kind of people you want, and then be selective. You'll do better in the long run than growing huge, fast by taking a lot of people.)

I enjoyed being in C^M back in the Metropolis days, but cA is the best experience I have had--and continue to have--in gaming. I enjoy talking to all the members. I know a fair amount about a lot of them. I talk almost daily to someone in the guild in our private IRC channel--even when I am not actively playing UO. I think in this is contained an important lesson: A game like this is most rewarding in a group of likeminded and well-intentioned people. We all play with intent of simply having fun in typical cA-style. The sort of to my mind strange drama that erupts in guilds is almost entirely foreign to cA. I can only think of one case where we had interpersonal tensions that results in a cA member being removed. (And that still bothers me to this day that it went down that way.)

Over time, I became less and less the leader of cA and more and more the figurehead. For years, cA has just been a loose association in which everyone who has put in their time has become an equal. We still have ranks, but everyone but Franz is now a Senior Associate. (Franz is not from God's country, and so shall always remain Jr. Assistant to Pristiq.)

But slowly, ever so slowly, UOSA lost its luster to me. Indeed, it lost its luster several times. Never because of UOSA itself, mind you, but because a game can only keep my attention so long. Even one as startlingly open as Ultima Online gets old. cA extended its life no doubt by years. Our ability to plan and execute intricate plots became the stuff of nightmares among the playerbase. It wasn't uncommon for me to log into IRC simply to work out the details of whatever scheme we were, as a group, plotting that month. We have private messages boards. We wrestle ideas in IRC. We hop on test servers and make sure the mechanics allow us to do what we intend. This activity--the plotting, testing, replotting, and eventually executing and writing it up--became my loved activity. Operation Red Hemperor, the infiltration of $$$, and like plots were the highlight of my gaming experience.

But eventually, years and years later, UOSA lost its appeal. It continues to be the best Ultima Online shard. But I simply ran out of things to do. Derrick, Maahes, and all the rest deserve all the praise in the world for tirelessly and often thanklessly running the most stable, honest, and fun Ultima Online experience I have ever had. I simply did everything I could possibly think to do---and each a hundred times. Life also has a way of catching up to you, and your time for games gets less and less. So I left UOSA for the last time. I maintained contact with cA, but no longer felt the call to play.

Post-UOSA: UOR

Matron de Winter later approached me with what seemed to be the craziest idea I had ever heard: She was playing on Renaissance--a shard founded by one of our bitterest enemies from UOSA (a drama I never fully understood, having been away, and will not even attempt to recount here)--and was having a fairly good time of it. She had a keep in a week, as I understand it, and all from stealing. Admittedly, the shard looked polished and professionally ran, but I was still skeptical. This was the very same shard on which staff had created a cA stone to try to discourage us from playing there. But Matron assured me that staff and she has mended fences enough that we could safely (e.g., without fear of causeless bans weeks into playing) and that a new set of mechanics along with a new community might be just the thing to breath life back into my Ultima Online experience.

And for a while she was right. I had some fun on a few adventures, but it never quite stuck. It wasn't due to the shard itself, which is indeed run well and professionally, but the community never felt right. In the old days of Ultima Online and also of UOSA, I was energized by the spirit of adventure, by the shared sense that the game was a game to be played--no doubt at cross purposes in game--in a spirit of adventure and fun. I certainly didn't always live up to that sense myself. More than a few times, even before UOR, I fell into the trap of taking the game too serious, of getting too angry with this or that person, in engaging in absurd forum drama, of losing sight of what made Ultima Online so much fun for me for so long. And yet the community was always worse. There was, and probably still is, so much vitriol, so much seriousness, so much genuine dislike--maybe even hatred--of other human beings simply because of how they play on their computer that I never really relaxed and had a good time. I spent too much time caught up in that mess--occasionally in the spirit of stirring it up for fun (which was not wasted time for me)--but more often in a serious, decidedly non-fun way.

Life, as it does, gets busy. It did this to me yet again. I wandered away maybe a month and half ago and then life recently cleared up again. But I found I simply did not want to log in, that I have absolutely no desire to play UOR. It was just a chore to get caught up in the drama and stupidity of it all. More shocking to me, though, is the lack of desire to play Ultima Online entirely. I have played and played. I have done everything I set out to do, and I have done things I never imagined. I made great friends and I made exciting enemies. I hope some day, maybe even this year, I will get the itch and enjoy Ultima Online again. I want to want to play. Nothing can beat a good session of it. But few games are worse than Ultima Online when you don't want to play it, when those around you make it unpleasant, when you yourself make it unpleasant.

So kudos to you all, UOSA and UOR players. I hope you all--and both servers--prosper for years to come. And especially I hope staff at both shards continue to do outstanding jobs. For now, I am off to explore new games and new life experiences. I'll still be around, certainly chatting with cA in our IRC room, maybe even helping out here and there with cA shenanigans, and certainly making the occasional post, but I'm done for now. And probably for a long time. It's been a good ride.

You should find that guy whos castle deed you stole and mail him your adress.

I've always loved to hate you. May your break treat you well.

I believe she still plays. Maybe here even!

I enjoyed reading your early UO experences. They were a lot like mine, only I never turned dark. I remained a crafter and merchant. I do remember however having that false sense of security and pride as I stood around britain bank (on foot) holding a big ol' giant hally lol. Operation Red Hemperor was my favorite moment in UOSA history.

I regret not using the Making a Difference theme to greater effect. That line still cracks me up.

Good read, that. 'can't say I care much for your play-style, but I can appreciate what you found in the game and especially the people you played it with.

Best of luck, and take care out there.

Good golly and great wizard beards!

Can I copy this? This has been my exact experience.... wait, did you literally just steal my life story? J/k

But seriously, just substitute cA with Paws, and rp'ing as a general good wizard instead of a nefarious thief and we're practically the same!

I think the only difference is that I don't think my story is yet finished. I guess I only wished I could have encountered you more.

Your skill in Blaise Antagonization has decreased by 100.0%. It is now 0.0%.

Take care out there! Stop by the forums and rile up Blaise once in awhile.

What was the origin of the Making a Difference phrase? One of many jokes I have missed.

Best wishes. And I wish I knew how you guys remember all your experiences from UO. I started playing in 1999. All I remember is getting lost in the "city" of Yew, getting killed by a dog, looting an unlocked 7x7 of like 300 bandages, and being in a guild that wore blue sashes.

Dalavar Mindmage,

Chum is part of a secret society if story tellers who, at youth are forced to memorize the entirety of the Odyssey in Greek. Once you have done that remembering small details about one's UO life is small fries.

chum just happened to be the prodigy who not only memorized this, but also managed to lift the original manuscript, to which it was reported that the curator was last known trying to hunt down all of chum's real life associates and murder them in the face.
I think this is actually chum's attempt to go into hiding from this terrifying curator, in an attempt to spare those he cares about from being hunted down like dogs...

It's always sad to see a veteran player leave, but I have to say it's completely understandable.


UO is an entire world, it takes a huge investment of time and dedication to get the full experience, in the past few months I've been lucky to log a few hours each week - during that period the experience has been somewhat lacklustre as I have not had the opportunity to do the things I've always enjoyed (events, PvP, PvM etc) throughout the day. While it is still possible to have fun with a few hours of game time, when playing on short intervals it has a tendency to become compartmentalized, getting BoDs, catching up with players and my usual routine tends to drain the only time I have left to play; leaving almost nothing for exploration and finding new and interesting things in the world.


While I have never played a thief to the same extent as the members of cA, I recall the experience being a very time consuming task as there would be instances where you would spend hours hiding/stealthing only to end up stealing one item (albeit a very valuable item), it's not the kind of play style where you can log in for a few minutes, grab some loot from people standing around at a bank and feel like you've accomplished something. In my opinion the best rogue endeavours are intricately planned, and skilfully executed, it's not something that can be done in a few minutes of game time.


Lastly, let me say I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the exploits of chumbucket and Associates, I only hope that the spirit of these tales lives on through your guildmates.

it's a trap

I have a sneaking suspicion that you are or were an Associate.

Never was. I just like Star Wars.

Farewell chum. I have always been a fan of your tales and genuinely amused by your antics. it is sad to see it end.

Hi chumbucket,

I want to call out this bit of what you wrote because I think it demonstrates the edge cA walks, falling first on one side and then on the other. Operation Red Hemperor was genius, audacious and hilarious. The infiltration of $$$ was pure ass-hattery.

The brief version of both stories (I encourage googling them for the full versions):

A blue player named Hemperor was tricked into attacking a red Snap Dragon (Matron DeWinter) with an area-effect spell. Unbeknownst to Hemperor, another 20 blue characters were hidden on the same tile and died. They then dropped 20 murder counts on the formerly-blue Hemperor.

$$$ was a guild of player vendors who established a popular rune library and shop near Moonglow. cA destroyed it by joining the guild and then filling every tile near the shop entrance with scam vendors. Every single tile. Then encouraged PKs to hang out and attack when shoppers got stuck with low stamina trying to push through.

I never understood why you guys wouldn't just stay on the fun side of the line. Could you not see where it was? Clearly both sides made you happy, but staying to the one side would have allowed everybody else to stay happy too.

Regards,
Wil

Eh, close but this is not exactly what happened. The scam vendors were in the tent outside and were promptly moved by staff. The area in front of, behind, and in the doorway was then filled with empty vendors, roughly 16. At first they weren't selling anything but they had a lump sum dropped on each one so that they would be there for months. Shortly after the idea was hatched to hold a lottery. Each vendor had a book, or "lottery ticket" with a unique number in it placed on the vendor. The price was something around 10k or 20k. Many were bought thus adding more money to the vendors' purses ensuring their stay even longer. A few days later a patch came out that made it so if a person became unfriended from a house their vendors would disappear the next time the unfriended owner of the vendors came by. By this time the damage was done and the owner of the vendors had no need to visit the house. In the end, a ransom of unknown amount exchanged hands and the vendors were removed. As for PKs, none were specifically encouraged to hang out. Felix dropped by while the vendor bomb was being placed (back then him stopping by $$$ tower was a very regular occurrence) and cA interacted with him during this chance encounter.

While you did not enjoy this tale, a lot of people did and it led to what many consider one of the funniest things chum or anyone in cA ever did: the bunker scene video.

I'm gonna have to agree with Henderson on this one.

"And unicorns. I could ride a pink, blessed ethreal unicorn all day long!" -- still kills me every time.

Chum, you will be missed, sir. The antics of cA are a big part of what drew my guildmate and myself to UOSA, and seeing you and company join up here just made us excited to see what was to come. Best wishes in future endeavors.