Ultima Online



Ultima Online is a massively multiplayer online game set in the Ultima universe (to a greater or lesser extent). It was developed and published by Origin in 1997 for the IBM-PC, in a time when the Internet just started to become popular.

The game is basically a huge online Britannia, where all kinds of players live their digital lives and do whatever they want... as long as it is allowed. It is constantly developed and new versions come into the stores every year.

Ultima Online was a huge success for Origin (although by now it has calmed down somewhat), essentially giving birth to the online MMORPG.

Included with the game
With the first edition of the game came these things:


 * A cloth map of Britannia.
 * A UO Pin.

What the game is about
The basic idea is, that when the Stranger shattered Mondain's Gem of Immortality, each of the fragments of the gem hold a perfect copy of Sosaria in them. In these many Britannias, the people, the players, interact on a daily basis, live their lives and have lots of fun. It is a huge multiverse with countless Britannias, where people act in this world, fight, trade and live.

Expansions
Several expansions were released for Ultima Online, adding new features and areas to be explored.


 * Ultima Online: The Second Age
 * Ultima Online: Renaissance
 * Ultima Online: Third Dawn
 * Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge
 * Ultima Online: Age of Shadows
 * Ultima Online: Samurai Empire
 * Ultima Online: Mondain's Legacy
 * Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn (expected 2007)
 * Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss (expected 2007)

Trivia

 * There was an hilarious scene during the Beta-test. A character called "Rainz" used a stolen firewall-scroll while Lord British gave an audience. Richard Garriott, who had forgotten to activate his "Lord British-invincibility" must have looked quite shocked, when his alter ego dropped dead on the spot. (See picture)


 * Additional UO releases have included what could be considered many non-canon worlds and items into the Ultima universe, including a Samurai-based world.