Richard Garriott’s Ultima OnLine was chosen because it is the first successful massively multiplayer online game. It is a story and game that takes place entirely on the internet (hence, ‘on-line’). It has dynamic and interactive stories that do not evolve without the socially constructive participation of its audience of players. Myst may have more lush and immersive graphics and atmosphere, but Ultima Online immerses the participants into a thriving environment in which they interact with others to shape the course of events. It is a “brilliant breakthrough” that shows how we will be “playing - and perhaps learning - in cyberspace” as we interact with others online (Kim, “Ultima Online”).
The story grand of Ultima was originally developed over nine versions of a CD-ROM role-playing adventure game. Ultima OnLine takes place in the fictional world of Britannia where multiple players can log on and interact with each other within the two-dimensional graphic realms. It is an epic fantasy story with good and evil, magicians and monsters. The twist is that it is a socially developed and persistent hypermedia environment; there is the foundational story developed by Garriott at Origin, but the activities of the myriad of players are what motivates and creates the stories that literally never end. What I mean by constructive and persistent is that the participants not only add through their actions, but their actions have lasting consequences. If you build a house, it will be there the next time you play. Origin maintains a community paper titled the ‘Town Cryer’ that allows participants to see the various stories that are developing in the world. The stories are related and experienced, and the world is constantly changed, through the participants’ performances within the Ultima Online story grand.