A genre-defining fantasy RPG game. Direct antecedent to UO and first-gen MMORPGs. One thing that people critiqued about the game was the demonic imagery and gameplay that involved killing and looting lol.
"When anybody writes to you about your game, it's usually one paragraph of 'Hey, I really liked your game, really enjoyed it... but...' And then the rest of the letter, which could be anywhere from one paragraph to ten pages, is their personal diatribe of what was wrong in the game and what they would do to fix it. " - Richard Garriott
A Morality System in Ultima 4
“It was the fan mail that set Garriott on a path toward reimagining what a computer role-playing game (C.R.P.G.) could do.” - New Yorker.
The letter writers explained, according to Garriott, that “the easiest way to gain power was not to play as a good guy.”
He was despondent. “I inadvertently made games that drove the players to act dishonorably, as this was the path of least resistance.” What if, he wondered, there were a game in which your moral choices had consequences?
He wanted the next installment of Ultima to reward honor and courage, and to penalize players for casual depravity… “This was the art I was compelled to make,” he said.
In response to the fanmail, Garriott created the first-ever morality system in a game. To become virtuous is the ultimate purpose of Ultima 4.
Do you kill the bull that is scaring the child but that you later find out is actually owned by the village? An example of a moral dilemma in Ultima 4.
The Next Generation
Doom defined and popularized the FPS, introduced 3D graphics, and made enormous advances in engineering
Some magic by John Carmack
Doom was distributed as Shareware on BBS/Usenet. Shareware is free but limited in access. Windrar is a good example. If you wanted to play the rest of the game you had to buy the CD.
Once you bought the game, patches would be sent via mail.
What’s Usenet?
Usenet was a p2p networkdiscussion system that predated the internet. Most users were college students and office workers. Some of the most popular forums were those discussing games - strategies, cheats, and distributing shareware. (Reddit post here). Note Romero is one of the founders of id creators of Doom.
Doom
"Microsoft's employees worshipped the game, not only for its addictive qualities but for its enviable technical feats." Alex St. John has equated the game with a "religious phenomenon" at the Microsoft campus. (Masters of Doom, page 197)
A FAQ on Usenet by community member Hank Leukart. Also Jay Wilbur of Epic. Id software was using Usenet as a forum to distribute and communicate with its players. Early examples of community management.
David Taylor of Id asks the community to test and email him feedback on the new audio update. It was likely one of the first times when anyone, anywhere could try out early access versions of the game and be a play-tester.
.plan files by Carmack where he updated the community on what he worked on every day - accessible via finger protocol.
I decided to go with pictures because there wasn’t anything particularly meaningful to share. Just wanted to show cool stuff I found. Hopefully, you enjoyed it.
