Traditional MMO Ultima On-line’s scribe-and-abacus-driven official servers had been pushed to their limits on July 7 to host a celebratory Summer time Solstice cookout boasting video games, prizes, and “a pleasant chilly root beer drink”.
The awkwardly penned discover on the official website lists among the video games accessible in additional element. The one which jumps out at me as most emblematic of Ultima On-line’s age is the dunk tank, providing an opportunity to dunk an occasion moderator of your alternative, again when individuals knew mods as individuals moderately than faceless Twitter accounts (however had a bone to choose with them both manner).
Archived streams of the occasion contained some surprises for me, chief amongst them being the demand. The occasion was damaged up into two time slots, morning and night, making certain everybody bought an opportunity to strive a hand at among the festivities. Rewards for collaborating included consumable barbecue and drinks, in addition to commemorative tokens and random loot drops.
Ultima On-line nonetheless boasts an energetic official and unofficial occasions group—simply the opposite day, the Siege Perilous server featured a choreographed rock live performance the place group favourite Lord Galois busted out some sick MIDI lute riffs, and Reddit customers on the InsaneUO server have reported sightings of notorious monarch Lord British attacking random gamers after which letting individuals rifle by his stock.
Whereas I am too younger to have ever bought into Ultima On-line, it is actually nice to see one in every of PC gaming’s earliest MMO communities proceed to thrive like this, each with and with out official help. Cheers to a different profitable barbecue, and this is to many extra.