Hello all!
I've decided to come back to UO after many years.
Over 10 years ago, I was sitting alone at home with my old computer and a dial-up modem. I stumbled upon Ultima Online and found the idea of living another life through an avatar online very intriguing! However, I was just a child and the thought of paying every month to play a single game was crazy. Then I found out about free shards...
The shard I joined back in the day was "Crystal Gate". Game was daunting at first, but I slowly got used to working my way around the UI. Honestly, that was probably the hardest part for me as a kid. I remember being confused, thinking "How the hell do I get through this door?". I double-clicked the door and when the door opened my young self just thought about how realistic that was! From the opening of my first wooden door, I was hooked.
My fondest memories were nothing too exciting to be honest. I never PvP'ed, rarely PvM'ed. I spent most of my time wondering what I could do in this alternate reality. But taming was one thing that really got me interested. I wasn't taming drakes and dragons, sadly. I never got that high enough of a level. I tamed dogs. I would tame them, drop items, and command them to "fetch". To me, that was exciting. But I could never make money asking my pets to fetch items I dropped. I had to fetch other people's things!
On this shard, AFK fishing was a lucrative gold maker. People would AFK fish on their boats until fish started dropping at their feet. But I could never cross the water to get onto their boat, and neither could my dog. Oh, but if I tamed this walrus, then maybe... yes! I commanded my new walrus pet to fetch fish on people's boat, he would swim over, then he would return with a pile of fish in his mouth! I guess they removed the "fetch" feature from these newer shards, which is just too bad.
I still don't PvP much, though I've finally gained the courage to venture into dungeons and explore the PvM world. Until my pet walrus can fetch fish again, I guess I'll just have to kill dragons to earn my gold.