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UOAlive Meet the UOAlive Team

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tr1age

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Hello all, I am tr1age aka Tristan!

I have been an avid gamer since my father first got the Atari way back when. He always wanted me to play games so he had someone to play with and at first I was not interested at all, but then we went to arcades and Beast Master(LEVELLLL UPPPP) and TMNT(Donatello of course) were released... yeah I was hooked. When I got my first Nintendo I was pretty much glued to the screen when I visited my dad. Actually helped with the divorced parents, go visit dad jitters. Then Sega Channel was announced and I thought I was in heaven when my parents both said, Oh wow that is cool, of course you can have that. Mind you I spent 3 days figuring out how to sell it to them so they would say yes, and I didn't even have to argue for it haha. Then it was all downhill after I got my first PC which was an Apple. I played the Diablo and Warcraft games on 14k. It was amazing! Me and my neighbors would run all speed hacks just to play at normal speed. But all my friends had PC's and I was sad, because I kinda missed the Doom and Wolfenstein games. We tried "bootcamp" back then and yeah that never worked but it was fun times to spend with my dad trying to get it to work. It was OUR things to do. Mostly as I got older he was the guy who helped me clean the viruses off my PC because I was really bad at all of that.

So majority of the time gaming to me meant going to my friends house down the block, eating all their food, and sitting in the room kicking ass. Consoles were my life. Other than when the brother of my other best friend Chris would come in and say "Let's go spy on the neighbors", and of course I would go outside over games cause I enjoyed it better and secretly thought I was a spy.

Well my first PC machine was right at the time Ultima Online came out. And I will never forget having dual isdn and logging in saying "Hi are you real" to the first person and them sayin, YES! I was hooked to MMO's from that point on. Shit this is where I learned that school sucked and gaming worlds were better. I would day dream of the music, what I was gonna do when I got home, and I would rage quit hard when I died in that game. I was the only one in Social Studies that knew what a Scimitar was because of UO. I also was a pure newb for about 2 years. After that, I learned to fend for myself and I turned into a PvP addict. If it wasn't multiplayer I didn't want to play it. So much so that my Dad started to regret getting me into gaming so much because he no longer had the upper hand. Haha.

So why am I telling you this?

I want you to know ME as a person,(hyper, passionate, super excitable, talks a lot, invasive, sarcastic, and other dating site adjectives) not only as the "Admin". It is and always has been important that UOAlive be a place where everyone can come and get away from their everyday lives and be themselves. That applies to myself and all the other staff as well. We are here because we love gaming and don't mind the extra responsibility required to help things progress, expand, and get organized to play with one another.

I do freelance directing and photography as my career. I worked for Blizzard as a cinematic artist directing in game cinematics for 4 and a half years. Before that I directed theatre and acted. I love being in crowds, talking, being open, sharing, and helping to pull out the potential of those around me(although since 2020 not as much eeep). I am not here to dictate, nor am I here to have that "distanced" relationship that often comes with "being in charge". We put ourselves on the ground floor everyday. This is often contradictory to any leading strategy out there(and those I have had to use in all aspects of my jobs), but through transparency, honesty, and passion for the community and gaming, we have found it works great! We all treat each other as equals and therefore make decisions together.

Our personalities are all very different with the tying bond of passion for games and this community. There is a great equalization that comes with that, so our choices are often diverse and fitting to the whole, not just individual needs. We also understand individual needs and attend to those when brought to our attention.

That being said, I ask everyone and myself to write out something about themselves so when we are playing games, posting on the forums, or in Discord, or personally see me: High energy, talking like a 3 year old child who NEEDS you to see the cool thing "Mom Mom Mom Ma Ma Ma Mommy mommy!!", you don't get thrown.

We put in a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure it all works and feels right for those who reside here. As well we make sure WE are having fun too.

UOAlive is much more than just a server, it is a community, it is our home! It is where we, as we are getting older can still make lasting friendships! We innovate and evolve everyday. We "outlast" individual games because we are not afraid to say, "This actually sucks" and make changes. We always have each other, which I believe means a whole lot. We value relationships. So don't get too caught up on the "idea of a game" but the actual game in front of us, and the beautiful and exciting personalities all around.

So with that said, I hope you understand more about myself and the others, how we are part of the community as much as you, and we will never treat you all like subordinates, but friends and family.
 
Ahoy shipmates!

Jay here (A.K.A. Schuyler Bain, A.K.A The Captain). I have been playing Ultima Onilne in some form since it launched on September 24th 1997. I was in my mid-twenties, still single (but dating my future wife) and not yet a father. My kids were born a few years after UO launched, grew up watching me play and eventually joined when they were old enough. They still play with their “ol’ man” from time-to-time and both have accounts here on UOAlive.

I started out on Lake Superior and migrated to Catskills after about 8 years, but most of my playing time has been spent on “freeshards”. I was a member of the Order of the Silver Serpent [OSS] on Lake Superior and used to hang out at the YMCA on Sonoma back in the day. I am also a member of the United Pirates (UP) on Catskills, although I have not been active with them in years.

In real life I support my UO Addiction as head of a training and enablement department for a global I.T. support organization. I am a geek to the core and nerd out over most Sci-Fi and Fantasy i.e. Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, D&D, Doctor Who, etc.. I am also an AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego), I have built my own lightsabers and used to build my own PCs, but it has been a few years now. Also, Jarvey (First Mate of the Three Stone Tavern) is actually my real life ferret and is typically running around or sleeping next to me when I am playing.

I am sometimes asked about the name Schuyler and in voice chat it is often fun to hear people try to pronounce it, although it seems to be less of an issue these days with the popularity of the musical Hamilton and the "Schuyler Sisters". For those that are unsure Schuyler is pronounced like Skyler. I was in a history class while at university and Schuyler Colfax, the 17th vice president of the United States, came up in a lecture. He was rather unremarkable, but at the time I thought the spelling of the name was cool. I also used Gryphon Bain as a character name and on Stratics when I was a long-time user and part-time mod many years ago.

I have been a member of the UOAlive community since November 2020 and a volunteer New Player Companion since January 2022. Between all the content, the ability to play with all the aspects of UO I love (housing design, R.P., character design, template development, and general exploration) and most importantly the great community, I am privileged to call UOAlive my UO home.

*tips tricorne*

-The Captain
 
Well met! My name is Jeff (aka Blue)

A friend of mine suggested I try this new game. He told me his cousin had a small house and would let us use a couple chests to store our items.

What?

Naturally, this piqued my interest. What do you mean you can have a house in a game? What happens when you log out, etc? I had a million questions as this sounded like no other game I've played before, so I bought the game myself. I created a character, logged in, found my buddy and within a few short minutes, stepped on a glowing rune and was lost! I somehow made my way to Cove, found another player nice enough to gate me to Ocllo where I reconnected with my friend and spent the next week making and selling boots around town haha. We played on Atlantic at the time. What a unique game! I was hooked.

I've played other MMOs over the years but like all of you, Ultima Online always held a special place in my memory. Yellow and I had a conversation about possibly making a return to try all the new (to us) things about the game. A few days later, he had found the UOAlive website. The focus on PvM and community is what made us initially choose this over the other options. We decided to try it out. What a great decision! The community is awesome. It's actually surprising how much I thought I remembered only to noob out and say "wait, I guess I remembered wrong, how does this work again?"

Outside the game, I spend much of the time raising 2 teens (let's be honest, my wife is my better half lol). I'm a huge hockey fan and have played since I was 3 although now I play in an 'old man' league mostly. My other hobbies include fishing, learning Italian and playing guitar. Since my treasure hunting skills haven't transferred to real life, I work as a data engineer and have always enjoyed it.

I'm glad to be able to give back to the community as a volunteer and look forward to seeing you in game!
 
Hey, you can find me in game running around on my main named Yellow. The name Yellow was born out of randomness which is something I find intriguing and seek out. To me, my name became a fun way to approach items in game too.

UO was introduced to me (1999-2001) by my friend Grayfox and through him, I met my other friend Blue. It was my first MMO experience, and I quickly fell in love with it.

I loved how you could seemingly do and be anything. There was no set path for a player. I still love that about this game, and it keeps me drawn to it. Unlike other games, I feel UO really nails getting the "journey of your character” right.

I discovered UOAlive with Blue when we were seeking out a PvM shard to relive our glory days from playing 20 years ago. We also wanted to try the High Seas content as it was new (to us). UOA appeared to be a long running and very active community. We started in June of 2022 and the rest is history! The choice to join UOA was a great one and we’ve made many friends over the last year playing.

IRL, I go by Andy unless you’re my kiddos which still call me Yellow from time-to-time. (It’s my go-to name for everything really.) I build websites for small businesses which usually turns into managing their lite IT needs when they find out I'm a geek.

While I started playing on Atari, the first game I truly remember playing was Super Mario Brothers with my mother. I’ve been a gamer my whole life. Other games I play are Minecraft (I run a family server for the boys and grandparents to play on), Nintendo Switch games with the kids, and UO for “my time”.

If you see me in game, feel free to stop and say hi. :)
 
Hello, my name is Michael. I'm a software engineer from Oregon, USA. Like shroeder, I grew up battling my brother for a turn on UO over dial-up. He was a crafter and I was a swordsman adventurer. We worked really hard to get our first small house outside Trinsic, only for the area to become overrun with PKers shortly thereafter :(

I first got involved with UO emulation using Sphere, then later, RunUO. I ran a server until the end of 2007, learning all about networks, data center management, game design, and so much more. I still credit my time with UO for being able to land my first professional programming gig!

A few months ago, a friend of mine convinced me to try a popular freeshard, but I found it entirely inhospitable and started looking for more casual play alternatives. That's when I came across UOAlive, and found it's quite a wonderful place to hang out! A few weeks after I joined, I saw tr1age debugging on a stream and dropped in for the kick of nostalgia, but I couldn't help sharing a few tips and, well, here we are!
 
Allow me to introduce myself—I am Kenny, also known as "The Town Fool," and I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of the incredible UOAlive team. Let me share with you my journey and why this opportunity fills my heart with joy.

In my past life, I had the honor of serving as a Community Manager at Blizzard Entertainment, where I had the pleasure of connecting with passionate gamers from all walks of life. It was a role that taught me the true power of community and the importance of fostering positive and inclusive environments. I was fortunate to witness firsthand the impact that a dedicated team can have on creating unforgettable gaming experiences.

As tr1age was someone I knew during my tenure at Blizzard, my journey led me to UOAlive and oh, what a magical discovery it has been! From the moment I set foot in this community, I knew I had found something truly extraordinary. The dedication and passion of the UOAlive admins and the entire team are on a whole other level. Their commitment to delivering the best possible Ultima Online experience is unmatched, and their tireless efforts to put the server and its community first have left me in awe.

Being a part of the UOAlive team allows me to channel my love for gaming, my expertise in community management, and my passion for creating inclusive spaces into something truly special. It's an opportunity to be a part of a project that not only embraces the essence of Ultima Online, my childhood game, but also prioritizes the well-being and enjoyment of its players.

UOAlive is more than just a server—it's a testament to what a true community-driven experience should be. The level of care and attention given to fostering a safe space and a positive atmosphere is extraordinary. It's a place where players can escape the challenges of the real world, come together as a community, and embark on incredible adventures.

What sets UOAlive apart is the incredible sense of belonging and camaraderie it cultivates. Every member of the team works tirelessly to ensure that every player feels welcome and valued. It's about creating an environment where diverse voices are heard, different perspectives are respected, and where we can all learn and grow together.

Having experienced the magic of UOAlive firsthand, I am truly honored to be a part of this team. The opportunity to contribute my skills and knowledge, to support and uplift the community, and to witness the positive impact we can make together is a dream come true.

So, let's embark on this extraordinary journey together, where passion, dedication, and a safe space are at the forefront. UOAlive is not just a server—it's a place where dreams are realized, friendships are forged, and memories are made. I am proud to be part of something truly special—UOAlive!
 
Hello there! I'm Firebottle, or many of you may know me as Nilos Copperhoof on UOAlive. It is my pleasure to join the UOAlive team as an Event Manager.

Some of you may be asking what an Event Manager does exactly. Well, I plan on crafting some great stories, putting together some wonderful events, and adding a bit of surprise to your adventures. This could be anything from server wide major storyline events to small little personal surprise encounters in dungeons. It is my job to help create stories and adventures where YOU are making the choices that move the server lore forward. So, be on the lookout the next time you enter a dungeon... it might not be "another average dungeon crawl". I hope that together we can create some great moments that all of you will remember for a very long time.

A bit about me, I started Ultima around 1999 when I was still on my dial up AOL connection. As my first RPG and MMO, I had no idea how to do anything. But, I soon found myself working as a librarian and barkeep in a player run town near Vesper called The Lost City of Paws and I was hooked. From then on, I did little else but RP and run events. I've played almost every MMO since, trying to find that spark again. I also play an absolute ton of indie titles, anything that is creative and outside the box.

Outside of the UOAlive, I'm a web developer, a content creator, and part of the LGBTQ+ community. I am a huge tabletop RPG fan. As many can probably guess, I've been a dungeon master more times than I can count.

I look forward crafting some amazing stories with all of you!
 
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