Ultima Forever: Double Virtue Weekend
Mythic’s community manager for Ultima Forever, Gene Makely, left a short note in the game’s official forums, announcing a special in-game event taking place right now:
Good evening, everyone!
We’re having a “Double Virtue from Quests” event this weekend that we’re actually implementing a little early (this evening!)
From now until Monday (Oct 21) at 3pm EDT, all Virtue gained from completing quests will be doubled!
Enjoy!
So, if you’ve been struggling and grinding your way through one of those experience levels where progression hits a bit of a plateau, be sure to log in to Ultima Forever this weekend!
This sort of thing was common in the middle ages. You could literally pay money to have your sins washed away, in one way or another.
Granted, I’m not Lutheran, so maybe the key principle is lost on me…but I’m not seeing the line between what is essentially a “double XP weekend” (a common enough MMO trope; SWTOR holds them periodically, for example) and the selling of indulgences.
Which, by the way, concerned (strictly speaking) a reduction of one’s passage through Purgatory, rather than a cleansing from sin in realms temporal.
While I often make what many consider to be terrible analogies, what I’m basically getting at is the seeming commoditization of the virtues with respect to Ultima Forever (which I haven’t played, as I use GNU/Linux and Android). It offends me, though I realize they do need to sell the game as much as possible and aren’t an independent studio.
Maybe I’m just worrying about Ultima changing in a “bad” way once it goes “mainstream” again. I often relate (internally) religion to the virtues, thus my equal disdain for the idea of paying money to reduce your penance. XP is one thing, but Virtue Point Bonanza!’s are too much for me.
“Commoditization” might be the wrong term for it; I think “abstraction” might be more accurate. Fundamentally, Virtue and Experience are one and the same in U4E at present; how much you’ve gained in each Virtue isn’t a factor in gameplay (yet).
I was thinking that might be the case based on your previous comment about other games having a “double XP weekend”. As far as the virtues being abstracted, perhaps in the traditional sense but in programming terms they’re doing the opposite by directly exposing the raw numbers. One’s virtuous standing should be reflected by how the environment reacts to you rather than a stat list. Seeing the numbers is one step away from being able to game the system.
And no one gamed the blind reagent seller in ultima 4 ;D.
@Micro Magic Haha, yes. If I remember right I cheated him blind and repented later.
While that was a failure of design in that it presented an obvious and exploitable pattern, it doesn’t refute my point. It’s more an example of someone trying to do things the right way and failing.
How suspiciously Catholic-sounding… 😉
LOL. Yes, I’m a closet Catholic. Someday I’ll step out and everyone’s minds will be blown. 🙂
I’d say “welcome home,” personally. But I suppose it would seem a strange thing.