Official Site:Â Ultima Online
Studio:Â Broadsword Entertainment/EA (formerly Mythic)
Launch Date:Â September 24, 1997
Genre:Â Isometric Fantasy Sandbox
Business Model:Â Subscription (Cash Shop)
Platform: PC
ultima online
Vague Patch Notes: MMORPGs and the PC gaming market
I find myself thinking a lot about the MMORPG industry lately and the ways in which the gaming industry as a whole has changed...
Working As Intended: A guide to City of Heroes Homecoming’s best player-crafted portal bases
A few years ago, I was wandering around in City of Heroes when someone advertised a cool base in chat. All I had to...
The Daily Grind: Have you ever lost a house in an MMO?
Last week, fellow MMO blogger Belghast wrote a blog post that sent a shot of panic through my own heart: He tells the tale...
Think gamemaster-delivered content is dead? Multiplayer Helldivers 2 is trying it anyway
Approximately a thousand years ago in the lost age of 1997, I remember inching my way across an isometric Ultima Online screen, fighting insane...
The Daily Grind: Which MMO offers the best book and paper features?
A while back, I casually mentioned that I make paper journals for fun. I am an extremely online person, mind you. I work online....
The Daily Grind: What’s some weird or forgotten terminology or concept from an MMO of yore?
Way, way back in the day - and for only a relatively brief run - Ultima Online had a system that came to be...
Massively Overthinking: The slowest and fastest combat in MMORPGs
During a recent podcast discussion about City of Heroes' official revival, the MOP writers were talking about its combat, which - let's be honest...
End-of-Year Eleven: All the upcoming MMOs to watch in 2024 and beyond
We've said it before, but this time we really mean it: The future of MMORPGs looks amazing. Contrary to years when we've seen only...
The Soapbox: The ‘problem’ with MMO hoarding
I remember a number of years ago, in an article for a game I can't recall, an MMO developer discussed how an early build...
Ultima Online preps Christmas and nerfs your old too-long character names
How angry would you be if you logged into your favorite old MMORPG account and found that your name, which you'd used for over...
Project Gorgon dev says it’s catering to older players who remember the golden age of MMOs
Last night's Project Gorgon patch brought cheers to the game's Discord as what was represented as a bug-fixing patch also heavily revamped a skill...
Vague Patch Notes: The myth of the ‘first’ MMORPG
One of the things I like to joke about every so often is various myths about the history of MMOs, and a lot of...
Massively Overthinking: Pervasive old MMO ideas that aren’t really true
A while back, Eliot and I were discussing one of his columns, in which he noted that in the eldest of the elder MMOs,...
Perfect Ten: Classic video games that would make terrible MMORPGs
There was a time when MMORPGs were all based on existing storied single-player RPG franchises, and that time was when Ultima Online launched and...
The MOP Up: Fallout 76 turns five years old
Fallout 76 is celebrating its fifth anniversary loud and proud this week with a birthday party on Tuesday, a special challenge event, and a...
Raph Koster has been warning about the death of games innovation longer than most MMOs have been alive
Veteran MMO developer Raph Koster is no stranger to talking about money in gaming. Our own readers will recall that all the way back...
Perfect Ten: The single best expansion from 10 MMOs
Holy crud, do I not know that I'm setting myself up for some major pushback today. Oh, I feel that to my core, friends!...
Design Mockument: Can an open PvP full-loot system for MMOs be designed fairly?
I have an interesting relationship to open PvP design in MMORPGs, or at least I find it interesting. I don't think this kind of...
Vague Patch Notes: Default MMORPG genre features change over time, and that’s OK
I want you to picture a nonexistent MMO in your head right now. Not one that hasn't released yet; one that hasn't even been...
Massively Overthinking: Are there any MMOs for which a spin-off mode would be welcome?
Pantheon's announcement that its developers are working on spinning out a monetized "247" extraction mode hasn't engendered a whole lot of hope for the...
