Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

ChuckChuckRazul t1_j99m5v0 wrote

So we rebranding old Games as the metaverse now to give this empty marketing term meaning and making it appear that something like the metaverse can be a success?

82

Daaru_ t1_j99r47l wrote

Anything can be a metaverse with a large enough marketing department

11

chromeshiel t1_j9alnv4 wrote

I think it's rather because they offer a glimpse of what the "metaverse" could be. Even if it is still kissing the point of what the metaverse (or any better name for it) is.

10

daerath t1_j99t39t wrote

Pretty much. Same thing happened with Cloud providers. Term was coined, and then they started saying they've been in the cloud "for years".

9

Moe_Capp t1_j9brk35 wrote

I would make the claim that Active Worlds is actually the oldest online metaverse platform, launched 28 years ago. It is like a very early version of Second Life, which came out several years later.

1

JLP_101 t1_j98xcdl wrote

Game was way ahead of its time. Too bad Ultima 8 & 9 was mediocre games at best.

39

Butterbuddha t1_j9an9dx wrote

You’ve been a thorn in my side for far too long, Avatar

5

Ghostfyr t1_j9910hq wrote

This game will forever be at the top of my list of PC games. From the first time planting my 7x7 field stone, to running with Adam Ant, to engaging with the Faction wars. Ultima did it best and first and will never be beat.

27

shaokim t1_j99tlyq wrote

I was fascinated by it as a kid, but monthly subscription fees were way outside of my realm of possibilities then.

7

seaefjaye t1_j9a4bt2 wrote

Definitely, I think they kinda pioneered the idea of game time cards. IIRC it had something to do with Europe and not being able to charge to CC at the time of launch. Apparently the codes were created through random mouse movement and it was all done manually for launch.

3

B0BsLawBlog t1_j991bqy wrote

Great game, even if I did mostly cough up plate armor to player killers 2 minutes outside of town.

13

fatnoah t1_j9ac950 wrote

Based on my early days UO experience, I learned that in the Metaverse I'm going to spend hours of my day crafting wooden furniture to decorate the homes of other players with far more gold than me, only to get ganked in the woods by PKers.

I thought the Metaverse was supposed to be an escape from reality.

12

PloughClearsky t1_j9a1c8f wrote

Same here, learnt smelting and blacksmithing and made a shiny set of black armour, lost it to a PK about 4 minutes later in a cave about fifty steps out of town!

5

marketrent OP t1_j98hzb8 wrote

Excerpt from the linked content^1 by John-Clark Levin:

>Today’s headlines treat the metaverse as a hazy dream yet to be built, but if it’s defined as a network of virtual worlds we can inhabit, its oldest extant corner has been already running for 25 years.

>It’s a medieval fantasy kingdom created for the online role-playing game Ultima Online—and it has already endured a quarter-century of market competition, economic turmoil, and political strife.

>Ultima Online—UO to its fans—was not the first online fantasy game. As early as 1980, “multi-user dungeons,” known as MUDs, offered text-based role-playing adventures hosted on university computers connected via Arpanet.

>With the birth of the World Wide Web in 1991, a handful of graphical successors like Kingdom of Drakkar and Neverwinter Nights followed—allowing dozens or hundreds of players at a time to slay monsters together in a shared digital space.

>In 1996 the “massively multiplayer” genre was born, and titles such as Baram and Meridian 59 attracted tens of thousands of paying subscribers.

> 

>But in 1997, Ultima transformed the industry with a revolutionary ambition: simulating an entire world.

>Instead of small, static environments that were mainly backdrops for combat, UO offered a vast, dynamic realm where players could interact with almost anything—fruit could be picked off trees, books could be taken off shelves and actually read.

>Unlike previous games where everyone was a heroic knight or wizard, Ultima realized a whole alternative society—with players taking on the roles of bakers, beggars, blacksmiths, pirates, and politicians.

>Perhaps most important, Ultima let people really live there.

>In most previous games, players occupied areas while logged in but had no persistent presence while offline.

>In short, [Ultima] promised to be a place.

^1 John-Clark Levin is an author and journalist at the intersection of technology, security, and policy. MIT Technology Review, 17 Feb. 2023, https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/02/17/1068027/ultima-online-oldest-metaverse/

9

Askduds t1_j99nm9l wrote

If we define the meta verse as an outdoor toilet then examples have existed for centuries.

In your face “John-Clark Levin”!

6

takethispie t1_j99l4ni wrote

ultima is not part of the metaverse, because the metaverse doesnt exists yet, yet another clickbait title

9

NighIsATroll t1_j99ovzi wrote

UO Outlands is free to play and has an average of 2000 users online.

3

KickyMcAssington t1_j99btvy wrote

My first guild was The Syndicate in UO, dragons thanks for taking this dumb kid under your wing where ever you are now.

2

poralexc t1_j9b1e8r wrote

A lot of things have eclipsed zucc‘s vision for the metaverse decades ago. Garry‘s mod tower for example.

2

fallen_one_fs t1_j9c8nht wrote

Comparing any actual game to metaverse is the ultimate form of disrespect.

It's like if someone saves your life and instead of thanking them, you spit on their face.

2

oldcreaker t1_j9c0qi1 wrote

I remember playing Ultima IV on a Commodore 64.

1

undefined_one t1_j9ctt0k wrote

Hell yes, I remember running a band of PKers that were hated on Chesapeake. Now that was a hell of a game. Once you were branded a murderer, you could no longer go into cities, so you had to hunt people to get reagents for casting spells and such. And if you were a hero who had just slayed a mighty foe and got an awesome new weapon, you better get your ass to a city before an evil person found you and took it and everything else you owned.

1

TibiaKing t1_j99hd2r wrote

Not the oldest by far lol. Many MMORPGs came before Ultima. But I get the sentiment.

−3

drekmonger t1_j99rgm8 wrote

It was the first commercial graphical MMORPG.

6

Bobaximus t1_j9a5e54 wrote

Meridian 59 was first.

4

drekmonger t1_j9a8q5k wrote

Yeah, you're right. In my head, I thought to include "graphical" and "commercial" because I was aware of MUDs and paid MUDs. I even thought of Meridian, but for some reason my brain decided it was textual.

3