Random fucking story time.
I've got actual news and hilarity, as well as impressions on the upcoming APB (which I've pre-bought, but still have worries regarding). But first, a completely unrelated story that really has no point other than it simply having randomly popped back into my head.
A long time ago, there was a MMO called Ultima Online. If you could make subtitles with hindsight, it probably would have been called Ultima Online: What MMOs Should Rip Off Instead of Everquest. But we can't do that. So instead it has to suffice when I say that its overall community was far beyond that of MMOs today, with fully functioning player towns, player-driven economies, supply and demand, risk and reward, true sense of loss, and psuedo-realistic access to weaponry and equipment. A sword was a sword, unless it was a magic sword (and was likely locked in your best lockbox and never saw the light of day). Dungeons were dangerous to the point that it was usually a bad idea to actually venture into them, making for 80% of the player base not knowing what most of the dungeons even looked like. It also had roleplaying.
Now, roleplaying today is pretty well known. However, back in 1999, it was not. Players often mistook roleplayers in UO for NPCs, especially since UO didn't bend over backwards to distinguish them from players. I was on the front lines of this bullshit, having taken part in one of the most successful player-run towns in UO history, Paxlair.
This glorious little town attracted GM and Seer support, resulting in GM-created structures and events specifically for the town. I can honestly say this town sold me on the entire idea of MMOs. Even today, when every MMO disappoints me, I still hold out hope that someday the glorious genius of Paxlair and other player towns like it can be done again. UO is nothing like it used to be, and no other MMO has successfully taken the UO formula and expanded on it. Every MMO now tries to be like WoW, which itself tried to be like EQ. But even back when UO was a big damn deal, there were still new beginnings.
There was a point in UO history when a second "facet" was made, where the "old world" of UO was sundered and turned decayed and destroyed looking, with a second dimension of sorts becoming accessible where you couldn't PK each other (at least, not outside of guild wars). This caused a huge split in the RP community, since Paxlair was stranded in Felucca, the old PK-enabled world. Most of Paxlair decided to stay, though many RPers decided to move on to Trammel. Admittedly, I was one of the ones who moved on, mostly for the purpose of trying to help new player towns get started. That's not to say that I never looked back. No, I actually did go back one day with my new Trammel-born friends and took the fight against some old enemies from Felucca, but that's another story.
No, this story is about another town that formed in the new safe world of Trammel. Its founders were a Norwegian couple who named it Nidaros, after a real life area. The majority of people within the town were at first unaware of what a player town really even was, deciding "Hell, why not? Sounds neat. Sure, I'll be in the town." One day, a traveler happened into town. You can likely see where this is going.
Mary Rane, the sister of Paxlair resident Hyrit Rane, happened across the town on the way to Skara Brae. This was exactly what she was looking for. Looking around the town, it was obvious that the people in the area had coordinated themselves, decorated, and formed a bustling new community. Looking around, there was only one group to be found. A guild by the name of "Keepers of the Crimson Rose." Among them was a stylishly dressed man named Lothar.
Mary approached and began talking to the group. They seemed friendly, though confused by her mannerisms. See, this group wasn't familiar with roleplay, despite the leader having tried to organize it to. The guild, as well as the town, was rather new. Everyone was trying to get their bearings and figure out exactly what they should do, as well as where they might fit with this new community. Mary began to share her vast knowledge of Britannia's history, which was pretty much Ultima 1-3's storylines (4 happened, but the Avatar never answered the call...making the rest of the games not happen). She was pretty much made a member of the guild within minutes.
The next year or so was downright incredible. Mary, once having been resigned to a life of tailoring and living in peace, had become a bit of a warrior in the safety of Trammel. Within minutes of joining the Keepers of the Crimson Rose, she had a duel with Lothar. The ensuing battle literally took place in the entirety of Nidaros, spanning the entire length of the town, a few excursions into the surrounding forest, and even into a few homes. All the while, the rest of the guild members cheered and struggled to keep up with the action. After a long battle...well...I honestly don't COMPLETELY remember who won. It was the first of many duels that drew crowds of a dozen or more. Either way, the legend of Mary had begun, and it'd take a while for it to die down. But Mary was far from the only spectacle of that town.
Another noteworthy resident was a reclusive monster tamer. I'm ashamed that I don't remember her name; I spent entirely too many nights with her and a few others during my time on a night shift job. She had far too many tamed monsters (specifically dragons) and resorted to letting them roam free in her house. I don't know why she insisted on having so many dragons, but some of them were apparently as precious to her as actual real life pets. This woman was hardcore. However, due to how the game worked, if you didn't feed animals in a certain time, they went wild. In your house they would stay tame far longer, but not forever. The tamer had this down to a science. She knew exactly when they'd turn wild and set her alarm clock to wake her up when it happened. You can probably see where this is going.
Inevitably, she would sleep in. Now, this generally resulted in a very pissed off dragon stuck in her house...the problem is, any asshole could walk up and open the door and the fucker would be loose. This was usually a genuine mistake, where a noob would happen across a house, see a gray (neutral attackable target) name in the house, and go "Gee, I wonder what that is?" They were generally silly names, rarely ever being left as "a dragon" or anything else that would tell most people to stay the fuck away. 9 times out of 10, the young noobling would be devoured whole and the dragon would promptly bust out of her house Kool Aid Man style. At this point, there is a very mad dragon rampaging through a normally very very peaceful player town.
This generally resulted in a mad dash to find the town's more powerful warriors or mages. It also resulted in a mad dash to find the tamer's friends, since they typically knew which pets were safe to kill and which ones were "important." You couldn't just get a new one; somehow she always could tell the difference.
More than once Mary found herself as the bait to try and lead a very angry dragon back into her house, quickly running back out and shutting the door. Other times it was a simple dragon hunt, which everyone actually enjoyed despite its difficulty compared to Nidaros' Finest's usual fights. It got to the point where the tamer would intentionally let dragons loose every now and then, just for the enjoyment of others. Obviously they were the ones she didn't really like.
Lots of things happened in that little town. Over time, the residents learned what roleplay was and even had their own plotlines and events. Sure, they were bush league compared to the "big" towns like Paxlair and Corwyn, but to these folks it was absolute magic. One day a powerful mage or something attacked the town, only to be defeated by positive emotion. This was, hilariously, achieved via a hug. Unfortunately I personally wasn't there for that, but I heard all about it.
There were some dark player-driven forces in UO's golden days. One of which was the Wraiths, a group of undead shade-like creatures that were once men. In the old days these things were generally pretty dangerous, but in Trammel's safety it was a bit hard to really enforce it...though efforts were made. One such effort was in Nidaros. Unfortunately, this was about a week after the hug-defeated mage. You can probably see where this is going.
Mary was minding her own business, overseeing some of her guildmates' sparring and offering advice. A hunt was planned later that night; a simple excursion into an orc camp, where they'd hold the main area for a while, fight their way out, and leave to split up the loot. Simple stuff. No real reason to--HOLY SHIT IS THAT A WRAITH!? What in the Jesus fuck is a Wraith doing in Trammel? In Nidaros of all places!? Wait, why's he running? Oh fuck, he's already chasing after someone, isn't he? Nidaros isn't ready for this shit, they're just not ready!
...wait, he's not chasing someone. He's being chased. What the fuck is THIS shit?
"Begone, you madman!"
"Come back!! Let me hug you!!! I'll cure you, monster! JUST LET ME LOVE YOU!!!"
The Wraith ran off into the forest, with the hug-happy merchant in hot pursuit. I still to this day don't know what happened.
That was the story I meant to tell, really. Kind of got sidetracked. Still, it was worth it I think.
During the research of all this (such as trying to find names, etc), I came across something a little tear-jerking. Apparently Nidaros got honored by GMs, which wasn't even HAPPENING during Nidaros' heyday. It would seem that, despite all this happening nearly ten years ago, there are still some who remember. This was a tiny little town in the middle of the road. Its residents were inexperienced, but charming. It wasn't the site of any world-saving battle, it wasn't the birthplace of a living god, it wasn't even all that dramatic. Still, someone remembered. Someday, when Mary is thrust into her role in a novel (which was sort of planned even before I played UO), someone out there will realize who she is. And that's when they'll see that I remember Nidaros, too.
While conducting a tour for EM Vladimere, it was stressed that it is not
what Nidaros is today, nor what it may become in the future.
It is the efforts of those of the past that should be recognized.
A long time ago, there was a MMO called Ultima Online. If you could make subtitles with hindsight, it probably would have been called Ultima Online: What MMOs Should Rip Off Instead of Everquest. But we can't do that. So instead it has to suffice when I say that its overall community was far beyond that of MMOs today, with fully functioning player towns, player-driven economies, supply and demand, risk and reward, true sense of loss, and psuedo-realistic access to weaponry and equipment. A sword was a sword, unless it was a magic sword (and was likely locked in your best lockbox and never saw the light of day). Dungeons were dangerous to the point that it was usually a bad idea to actually venture into them, making for 80% of the player base not knowing what most of the dungeons even looked like. It also had roleplaying.
Now, roleplaying today is pretty well known. However, back in 1999, it was not. Players often mistook roleplayers in UO for NPCs, especially since UO didn't bend over backwards to distinguish them from players. I was on the front lines of this bullshit, having taken part in one of the most successful player-run towns in UO history, Paxlair.
This glorious little town attracted GM and Seer support, resulting in GM-created structures and events specifically for the town. I can honestly say this town sold me on the entire idea of MMOs. Even today, when every MMO disappoints me, I still hold out hope that someday the glorious genius of Paxlair and other player towns like it can be done again. UO is nothing like it used to be, and no other MMO has successfully taken the UO formula and expanded on it. Every MMO now tries to be like WoW, which itself tried to be like EQ. But even back when UO was a big damn deal, there were still new beginnings.
There was a point in UO history when a second "facet" was made, where the "old world" of UO was sundered and turned decayed and destroyed looking, with a second dimension of sorts becoming accessible where you couldn't PK each other (at least, not outside of guild wars). This caused a huge split in the RP community, since Paxlair was stranded in Felucca, the old PK-enabled world. Most of Paxlair decided to stay, though many RPers decided to move on to Trammel. Admittedly, I was one of the ones who moved on, mostly for the purpose of trying to help new player towns get started. That's not to say that I never looked back. No, I actually did go back one day with my new Trammel-born friends and took the fight against some old enemies from Felucca, but that's another story.
No, this story is about another town that formed in the new safe world of Trammel. Its founders were a Norwegian couple who named it Nidaros, after a real life area. The majority of people within the town were at first unaware of what a player town really even was, deciding "Hell, why not? Sounds neat. Sure, I'll be in the town." One day, a traveler happened into town. You can likely see where this is going.
Mary Rane, the sister of Paxlair resident Hyrit Rane, happened across the town on the way to Skara Brae. This was exactly what she was looking for. Looking around the town, it was obvious that the people in the area had coordinated themselves, decorated, and formed a bustling new community. Looking around, there was only one group to be found. A guild by the name of "Keepers of the Crimson Rose." Among them was a stylishly dressed man named Lothar.
Mary approached and began talking to the group. They seemed friendly, though confused by her mannerisms. See, this group wasn't familiar with roleplay, despite the leader having tried to organize it to. The guild, as well as the town, was rather new. Everyone was trying to get their bearings and figure out exactly what they should do, as well as where they might fit with this new community. Mary began to share her vast knowledge of Britannia's history, which was pretty much Ultima 1-3's storylines (4 happened, but the Avatar never answered the call...making the rest of the games not happen). She was pretty much made a member of the guild within minutes.
The next year or so was downright incredible. Mary, once having been resigned to a life of tailoring and living in peace, had become a bit of a warrior in the safety of Trammel. Within minutes of joining the Keepers of the Crimson Rose, she had a duel with Lothar. The ensuing battle literally took place in the entirety of Nidaros, spanning the entire length of the town, a few excursions into the surrounding forest, and even into a few homes. All the while, the rest of the guild members cheered and struggled to keep up with the action. After a long battle...well...I honestly don't COMPLETELY remember who won. It was the first of many duels that drew crowds of a dozen or more. Either way, the legend of Mary had begun, and it'd take a while for it to die down. But Mary was far from the only spectacle of that town.
Another noteworthy resident was a reclusive monster tamer. I'm ashamed that I don't remember her name; I spent entirely too many nights with her and a few others during my time on a night shift job. She had far too many tamed monsters (specifically dragons) and resorted to letting them roam free in her house. I don't know why she insisted on having so many dragons, but some of them were apparently as precious to her as actual real life pets. This woman was hardcore. However, due to how the game worked, if you didn't feed animals in a certain time, they went wild. In your house they would stay tame far longer, but not forever. The tamer had this down to a science. She knew exactly when they'd turn wild and set her alarm clock to wake her up when it happened. You can probably see where this is going.
Inevitably, she would sleep in. Now, this generally resulted in a very pissed off dragon stuck in her house...the problem is, any asshole could walk up and open the door and the fucker would be loose. This was usually a genuine mistake, where a noob would happen across a house, see a gray (neutral attackable target) name in the house, and go "Gee, I wonder what that is?" They were generally silly names, rarely ever being left as "a dragon" or anything else that would tell most people to stay the fuck away. 9 times out of 10, the young noobling would be devoured whole and the dragon would promptly bust out of her house Kool Aid Man style. At this point, there is a very mad dragon rampaging through a normally very very peaceful player town.
This generally resulted in a mad dash to find the town's more powerful warriors or mages. It also resulted in a mad dash to find the tamer's friends, since they typically knew which pets were safe to kill and which ones were "important." You couldn't just get a new one; somehow she always could tell the difference.
More than once Mary found herself as the bait to try and lead a very angry dragon back into her house, quickly running back out and shutting the door. Other times it was a simple dragon hunt, which everyone actually enjoyed despite its difficulty compared to Nidaros' Finest's usual fights. It got to the point where the tamer would intentionally let dragons loose every now and then, just for the enjoyment of others. Obviously they were the ones she didn't really like.
Lots of things happened in that little town. Over time, the residents learned what roleplay was and even had their own plotlines and events. Sure, they were bush league compared to the "big" towns like Paxlair and Corwyn, but to these folks it was absolute magic. One day a powerful mage or something attacked the town, only to be defeated by positive emotion. This was, hilariously, achieved via a hug. Unfortunately I personally wasn't there for that, but I heard all about it.
There were some dark player-driven forces in UO's golden days. One of which was the Wraiths, a group of undead shade-like creatures that were once men. In the old days these things were generally pretty dangerous, but in Trammel's safety it was a bit hard to really enforce it...though efforts were made. One such effort was in Nidaros. Unfortunately, this was about a week after the hug-defeated mage. You can probably see where this is going.
Mary was minding her own business, overseeing some of her guildmates' sparring and offering advice. A hunt was planned later that night; a simple excursion into an orc camp, where they'd hold the main area for a while, fight their way out, and leave to split up the loot. Simple stuff. No real reason to--HOLY SHIT IS THAT A WRAITH!? What in the Jesus fuck is a Wraith doing in Trammel? In Nidaros of all places!? Wait, why's he running? Oh fuck, he's already chasing after someone, isn't he? Nidaros isn't ready for this shit, they're just not ready!
...wait, he's not chasing someone. He's being chased. What the fuck is THIS shit?
"Begone, you madman!"
"Come back!! Let me hug you!!! I'll cure you, monster! JUST LET ME LOVE YOU!!!"
The Wraith ran off into the forest, with the hug-happy merchant in hot pursuit. I still to this day don't know what happened.
That was the story I meant to tell, really. Kind of got sidetracked. Still, it was worth it I think.
During the research of all this (such as trying to find names, etc), I came across something a little tear-jerking. Apparently Nidaros got honored by GMs, which wasn't even HAPPENING during Nidaros' heyday. It would seem that, despite all this happening nearly ten years ago, there are still some who remember. This was a tiny little town in the middle of the road. Its residents were inexperienced, but charming. It wasn't the site of any world-saving battle, it wasn't the birthplace of a living god, it wasn't even all that dramatic. Still, someone remembered. Someday, when Mary is thrust into her role in a novel (which was sort of planned even before I played UO), someone out there will realize who she is. And that's when they'll see that I remember Nidaros, too.
While conducting a tour for EM Vladimere, it was stressed that it is not
what Nidaros is today, nor what it may become in the future.
It is the efforts of those of the past that should be recognized.