by Dark Sun
I have been playing video games all my life, as long as I can remember. From the Atari 2600, straight up to my PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Hanging around my local arcade and popping quarter after quarter into Street Fighter II. One thing's safe to say, those systems have never been able to offer something that is as exciting as multi-player gaming. I think the first multi-player game I have ever played was Diablo for Blizzard. I tell you, there was nothing cooler than talking to the people in the game with whom you were sharing your adventure. Ultima Online promised to make multi-player gaming an even more exciting trip, with the inclusion of thousand off people online simultaneously in a never-ending crusade.
Well I tell you, my crusade through Britannia has definitely been an interesting crusade. Packed full of anger, aggression, and in most cases a little satisfaction. But my adventure didn’t happen in this magical, mystical fantasyland. It happened through Emails, and telephone calls with many of the people are Electronic Arts, and Origin Systems. I voiced my displeasure about many aspect of this game. Many people would probably think I was wasting my time, and to be honest, I know I was. I think I mainly did it for fun. Confrontation can be a pleasurable experience and often gets the old blood pumping.
I guess, as in any story it is best to begin at the beginning. The beginning for me is about 8 months ago. I bought Ultima Online for the hideous price of about $79 Canada bucks, plus taxes. Now it should be know that the minimum system requirement of this game are 133MHZ, 16MB RAM, 1MB VIDEO. My computer has 150MHZ, 32MB RAM and 2MB VIDEO. More than enough power, no sweat, cha-ching, ring it up, I’m sold. Now it also should be known that Ultima Online is not free to play after the initial purchase. The game came with 30 days free play, after which time you pay $9.95 U.S. per month to continue the game.
So after downloading the games patches for, no kidding, at least 15 minutes I was in the game. I played through my 30 days, and aside from some degree of lag I thought the game was pretty good, and only gonna get better the more experienced my character became. After my time was up I decided not to continue playing. Maybe this was due to my fear of the Internet, or maybe I was broke at the time, I don’t remember which. Point is I wasn’t willing at that time to stick my credit card number into the computer to continue my quest. I was prepared to pay when I bought the game, but in the end I didn’t want to do it. Maybe because I didn’t like the idea of paying for something I had already bought. Diablo was free to play, why not UO? That’s a whole other story.
Time passes by, and now we find ourselves in the present. 3 days ago in fact. With the recent buzz about games like Everquest and Baldurs Gate I find myself in a wanting need to play a huge multi-player game again. Knowing full well that my computer is too weak and slow to play these games I figure I will dust off my Ultima Online game. I had recently entered my credit card number into the computer for other reasons, so there was no fear there. I was ready, willing and able to play Ultima online, and give it my full and undivided attention.
With renewed excitement, and decide to go to www.owo.com Ultima's official web site. By visiting I will be able to see what’s new in the world of Britannia, as well as provide my credit card information and get back into the game. Well I was in for a little bit of a disappointment when I got there. Seems the system requirement had changed. They had gone up to a requirement of 200MHZ, 32MB of Ram and 2MB of VIDEO RAM. I was aware that Britannia had grown larger with the release of Ultima Online the 2nd Age. But even with this release the requirements on the game box had only gone up to 166MHZ. Since I don’t own the 2nd Age this part of the game just simply would not be available for me to visit. So here I am 8 month later, and about $90 poorer being told by this site that my computer was now substandard, and to slow to play the game.
I was instantly pissed off, and disappointment. How could they change game requirement in mid-stroke like that? Deeming my computer obsolete to the game. You would think the game is never gonna have increasing requirements, and if it was, at least bring this to peoples attention on the games packaging somewhere. What about all the copies of UO on the store selves that people were buying. Totally oblivious to that fact that the computer they had at home may also be to slow to play the game effectively. Unfortunately I’m unable to return my copy on the game because I no longer have the original sales receipt. But 8 months ago when the game only asked for a P133 I didn’t have the problem and had no reason to return it.
Needless to say with all this new information brought to my attention I was a little bother by that fact that I had paid for a game that Origin systems believed I no longer had the ability to play. Well I decided not to be the silent consumer and brought all the things I have written above to their attention. Believe me, I was totally shocked that they even bother to respond to my letter. Here is the reply I received via E-mail.
”Unfortunately, the refund period ends after 30 days of the purchase of the game. The reason the requirements have changed is that over time, the Ultima Online world continues to grow. This means that the amount of information that passes back and forth between out systems also continues to grow, forcing the need for more efficient hardware to process this information. Thanks for you patience and understanding in this matter!”
The only thing I understood after reading this is that I still had a game I couldn’t play anymore, and no-one ever told me it’s requirements were gonna grow beyond my computers reach. I wrote back right away, basically telling them they hadn’t heard the last from me. Five minutes after that I was on the phone.
Step 2: I called EA since they are the publishers of this game. After telling the tech guy on the other end I had a complaint, and after listening to him trip over his own tongue I managed to get the phone numbers for Origin systems. I’d like to give a personal apology to the guy on the other end of the line, whoever he is. Obviously he was taken aback and rather shocked at having to deal with someone like me on the phone. I realize that he is just doing his job, and essentially just an employee unprepared for some situation. He was like a waiter, taking the blame for the chef who had put a fly in my soup. Be it known that I also apologized to this individual after getting the information I needed from him. Tech support people have a totally thankless job sometimes.
Well next time I was on the phone with “Ben” from origin systems. A call that probably lasted 20-30 minutes. I explained my situation to him, and naturally he took the stance of his employer, trying to defend them best he could. Naturally he believed me to just be some asshole after some free games or some sort of merchandise. He suggested that my computer might be able to run it, and that I give it a try. I told him that after wasting $90 on the game as it was, I was not willing to pay an additional $9.95 U.S. for 30 days play just to find out in 30 seconds that I couldn’t run it. I explained to him that I was just simply wanting to voice my unhappiness, and to make it clear that I felt I had been ripped off. I told him that I was probably one of many people who were unhappy about this, and that I just happened to be one guy who wanted to do something about it. He told me that the conversation was recorded and that it was possible to have it sent to people in positions if higher power. I suggest that he do just that. I told him that I though Ultima Online was an excellent game and that I liked it. I just though Origin was engaging in bad business practices and not being completely honest with the consumer. After a long talk with Ben and knowing that I was basically beating a dead horse I decided I had said enough my point had been made. Ben assured me that he would do everything he could to bring this mater to the attention of the powers that be. Well in the end what is left to be said? Not a hell of alot. I’m not sure what it was exactly I hoped to accomplish with this whole torrid affair. Maybe I wanted to be heard, maybe I wanted to be reimbursed for my purchase price, and maybe I did just want some free stuff. No seriously, I can answer the question. I’m a gamer, I love to play games and that’s all I wanted to do.
On a final note I’d like to say I heard back from Ben. He informed me that the system requirements posted on the Official Ultima Online home page are being changed to reflect the requirement of the games packaging. A small victory I guess. In the end, what chance do we really have against the big boys? Not much of a chance, but whenever you think things are wrong you got to be heard, go yell at someone. You might be surprised what you gain, and if you’re anything like me you will probably find it’s kinda fun too.
Please send all questions and comments to BlackSun
Special thanks to shiva for posting this on his site. And thanks to the unknown Ben the tech support guy for putting up with me. I recognize Blizzard, Diablo, Atari 2600, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 Street Fighter II, and even Electronic Arts, Origin Systems and Ultima Online are the property of all their respective corporations.