Some potentially exciting news was posted to UO.com today. In it, Bonnie “Messana” Armstrong, Ultima Online’s producer, announced that Broadsword Online Games would be bringing back the Counselors program:

We are going to reinstate the Counselor Program back into UO! At this time I would like to know if we have any players that would be interested in volunteering for these positions. Below are the requirements:

• Must be 18 years old
• Must have an active account
• Must have an account in good standing
• Have great game knowledge
• Desire to help and work with others

We are making a few alterations to make the program work with all the changes that have been made currently so it will not be active for a bit but if you are interested in being considered for a volunteer Position please email Mesanna@broadsword.com with the following information:

• account name (no passwords)
• shard you play on
• time zone you live in

I understand most of you have your accounts full of characters so you will be given a work account for this task.

You can find out some inside details about the Counselor program in this guide, which was released to the Origin Gallery some time ago. Our friends at UOGuide also have a good explanation of the Counselor program, which has not been a fixture of Ultima Online since the turn of the century. Although it was a volunteer position, participants in the old program received a stipend of $500/month from Origin Systems for their contributions to the Ultima Online community.

I’m sure Deckard will have more to say about the return of Counselors in the near future, since it seems even to an outsider like me to signal that Broadsword has more in store for Ultima Online than simply limping it along on its existing, and perhaps dwindling, subscriber base.

For now:

Oh, and on a totally unrelated note, the login issues on the Europa shard have been resolved.