“Ultima Online is definitely pushing the bounds of the technology.” “It has been awaited by the industry as something that might be a watershed,” says Seema Choudhury, an analyst with Forrester Research. The game is currently being beta-tested, but will go live at the end of the month. The Ultima universe is not only far more populous than most chat rooms and other virtual spaces, it is bigger than many small towns. Ultima, based on earlier games created by Richard Garriott, a/k/a Lord British, is expected to have a minimum of 50,000 users–of whom 5000 to 9000 can play at one time. It is a huge advance over well-known RPG titles like Doom, in which single users play against the computer. Rather, it’s Ultima Online, an Internet role playing game, or RPG, that allows real people to travel around in an enormous virtual world and behave even more emotionally than they do in their usual reality. This is not Dungeons & Dragons or a fantasy fiction novel. “Ah ha ha, you can’t kill me!” yelled Lord British.

In moments a wall of fire appeared before the Lord and his entourage. Rainz had seized a knight’s book of magic, found a spell, and begun reading it aloud. He had no idea that, despite being absolute ruler, he was no longer invincible. Oblivious to the impending evil, Lord British began his speech. He was looking for something to steal, something he could kill with. Meanwhile, a lowly thief named Rainz was frantically moving through the crowd. When the throng grew large enough, British walked toward the masses. Knights, warriors, mages, farmers, bakers, and fishers stood side by side with thieves, killers, and henchmen. He arrived at a gathering of Britannia’s citizens. Yes, British decided, he would go out and address his subjects. The satin robe that had arrived last week was all shimmery and soft, and he had yet to display its splendor. The people certainly would want to see their Lord and, gee, wouldn’t he love to show off. Lord British, ruler of Britannia, sat quietly at his throne, wondering if he should go on another tour of his kingdom.

Knights and dragons beta tester