2002-02-22: Comments from GM Carbon
Comments from GM Carbon
Feb 22 2002 10:57AM
This was originally posted to Player Relations at uo.com.[1]
It was a dark and stormy night. I had just dropped all my money on a new computer system that would finally play all the latest games. I was just getting it set up on its first day at home when my best friend came through the door with news that would change our gaming lives.
"Dude, there's this game that just came out, and you make a character, and you can just stand there if you want. Or you can goof off, or do something, or whatever!"
It was the misguided slacker game we had never conceived of. How could anyone sell a game with no linear storyline and no bad guy to beat, or city to build? In minutes, we were the proud owners of a shared copy of Ultima Online, and the next 4 years of our spare time was a write off. There was no way I could have fathomed where it would take me, in game and out.
My in-game life sure has undergone some huge changes in those 4 years. Back in the day, we used to have to gather at the edge of town until there were enough of us to storm the road. That way, a few of us could get out of Britain past the PK lines. The friendships and people I met in those blind rushes for freedom were great. It wasn't long after I found myself outside the PK zone (which was Britain on my shard), that I was anti-PK'ing professionally. Friends would ICQ from inside Britain and we would go in there and get them out, or we'd just scuffle with Dreads all day. This was back in the tent days, back when 60 skill was enough, and everyone had a Bob or a Fred character. Time went by and I hunted, explored, fought, and collected all that was available in game. I ended up joining a really cool guild and found a whole new level of fun. I've done almost every skill, short of taste ID and poisoning (Yes, I've had a shepherd and a beggar). Just when I had thought I had done it all, Calandryll and the Ongoing Content team started adding more stuff. There went the rest of my future spare time!
My real life was never supposed to have anything to do with Texas. Before moving here from Canada, I had spent years working and traveling. I had just finally settled back into college when I got the chance to help two friends move to Texas. This made for a great road trip, but I was soon back at home. However, a short time later, when I felt it was time for a change of scenery, they suggested Texas. I just had to apply for the Game Master job if I was going to live here. You probably would have done the same. The rest is pretty straight forward. I'm now GM Carbon. Go figure, eh?
I was hoping to let slip some scandalous Game Master secrets here, but alas, I can't think of any. We're just normal folks trying to make the game run smoothly for you. Well, most of us are normal. Nothing more exciting than that, I'm afraid. Instead, I think I'll use this space to further emphasize a point GM Silvani made in her Team Comments. If you decide to page for help, and it's about some other player who has committed some heinous crime against you, include their name and what they did in your page. A lot of players complain about the amount of space given for a page, yet they never include any useful information. Instead of paging with: "ok, like some guy with a robe was just totally bad. Like way bad,” please include the player’s name and what he did. So, it would look more like this: "GM Carbon is dumb and he turned my castle sigil purple!" Now we can get the lowdown on this GM Carbon fellow and what he did immediately when you page, instead of much later when the other player has long since logged off.
Okay, I've done enough damage here, so I'll wrap this up. If you’ve read this far, thank you for hearing me out; now go do something nice in game for another player. Remember, it's your game to make into whatever you want. If you have suggestions or ideas, get on the forums at boards.uo.com and share them with us. Thanks!
GM Carbon
Player Relations
Ultima Online
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