Could this be the end?
Posted February 24, 2004 - 4:01 PM PST by Adam Ant
First of all I'd like to say that I feel very sorry for all the folks in the Austin area that will be loosing their jobs when Origin Systems finally shuts it’s doors. The job market is really bad in the high tech industry and I wish all of these folks the best of luck in finding new employment.
On the gaming front, here are my first thoughts:EA can take UO in one of three directions:
Heh, my gut tells me that EA could be simply setting things up for the “end of life” of UO. You see, Origin couldn’t shut it down, it’s their lives and besides the community would beat the holy crap out of them if they did. EA on the other hand could easily come in, fires all the folks at Origin, then “end of life” UO without any problem. Origin is off the hook, and EA is the bad guy. EA is so damn huge; I doubt they would have any compunction at all about shutting down UO.
Yeah, I believe the rumor is true. I also wonder if the recent meeting in Sunnyvale CA had anything to do with it? I mean EA probably had their mind made up already, but I wonder if the gripes and grousing that went on in Sunnyvale was the ‘nail in the coffin’ for Origin.
What do I want? I don’t know exactly. I used to love to play Ultima Online. I used to feel like life in Sosaria was interesting, fascinating, and a bit scary. Now it’s dumb. Collect this crap,… collect that crap,… show off your rare clothes,… keep all your stuff,... no fear,… no life,… no death,… no fun.
Who’s to blame? Well let me think…
I believe it was the folks that put short-term monetary gains over long-term game play You know, the stupid Shroud of Shadows type gimmicks. Power Up, and Magic Moments. This is the crap (and it WAS “crap”) that killed UO. Also, lets not forget the lack of vision and horrid gaming choices. UO:Renaissance was bad, but UO could have survived had they 1) left Felucca the hell alone, and 2) engineered a commerce system that would require the Trammel population to come to Felucca to conduct business, and well, yes… die.
But no! Origin had to give into all the snivelly, whiny, bank sitters; turning our game into a joke.
Why is Origin in trouble now? Because they ruined a once great game.What is in store for the UO customers now? Probably a cheap upgrade to UOX.What do I think would salvage UO? A revert to pre publish 16 and add the commerce system mentioned above.
The one thing that Origin lost sight of was the very thing that could have saved UO.It’s what I like to call the gaming writers Prime Directive:
Life is only as sweet as death is painful.
Through virtually all of Origins actions over the last couple years, “pain” was removed from the game; leaving Ultima Online a simple-minded candyland without any depth or redeeming qualities.