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Автор Игорь Бойко
By Igor Boyko aka Sotnik
Ultima Online Chronicles, or My Adventures on Pacific in 2000 Year
Ultima Online Chronicles
Author & translator – Igor Boyko
This edition was created and published by Aegitas
From author
It all started with a short article in a gaming magazine, in which the author came to the delight of the fact that in the game, he just stood on the shore of the pond and watched frolicking dolphins. It took place in the world of Ultima Online. I also found this moment extremely interesting. In the vast fantasy world of the game the player found something beautiful, which, perhaps, was not intentionally arranged. There was something Japanese about it – the ability to admire simple things. And I decided I had to see it with my own eyes. And not only that.
In the end, I settled on Pacific, which was the server I had the least lag. And the connection speed with the 14,400 modem wasn't great. In the game any character could outrun me (if he had time, of course), I was just a little bit slower. But these were the little things in life, the very virtual life in a fairy-tale world, where the struggle between good and evil was in the first place. I realized this a bit later, but on the first day I was happy about the most trivial things. For example, that a bird shot with a bow could be gutted, and you can obtain the meat and feathers that can be used to make arrows.
And then I understood that one short article in the magazine where I was (and still am) the Editor-in-Chief would not be enough for this world. I realized that I had a unique chance to tell the story of a traveler who finds himself in an unknown country. Who every day discovers something new, meets and makes friends with different good people and opposes Evil to the best of his ability. For that was my choice, my philosophy.
As a result, I hovered in the game for 12 months, giving away an article in each successive issue. That's how the Ultima Online Chronicles came to be.
A lot of water has flowed since then. Veterans of the game may say that the author is a noob and remains one. And in some ways I agree with them. But let them remember their first steps in UO. That excitement of exploring and learning a new world. This is what I have tried to convey to readers.At E3 2003, I met the creator of Ultima Online – Richard Garriott. I gave him a dagger as a present, and thanked him for the great pleasure I had.
Later we met a few more times, both in America and in Russia, where he came to fly into space. He is a very active and busy man. That's probably why he didn't respond in any way to my friendly request to write a few lines about his vision for Ultima Online that I could quote in this book.
Hey, Richard, if you're reading these lines, know that the offer still stands.
Part I
What was going to happen happened. I'd had a taste of online role-playing before, and yet I was virtually unprepared for what awaited me in online Ultima. Just as you'll be unprepared when you first get there. It's one thing to read about it in a magazine, while looking at screenshots of graphics squeezed out of a not-so-fresh engine. And it's quite another to feel yourself a part of a beautifully designed fantasy world.
