Post by Morreion on Oct 27, 2015 18:30:15 GMT -5
This story never gets old!
The Game Archaeologist: The assassination of Lord British (MOP)
A sneaky thief
Unbeknownst to all parties, when the server reset shortly before, the toggle that normally protected the devs was turned off — and Garriott didn’t enter the command to reactivate his invulnerability. Nobody, including Garriott, knew that Lord British was now open to attack in a game that was almost entirely PvP through-and-through.
Rainz wasn’t playing his magic character at the time, but some spur-of-the-moment pick-pocketing turned up the perfect weapon for assassination. This was aided by another fortuitous factor: The developers, anticipating lag at the castle, had turned off the guards who would otherwise have caught and killed Rainz for stealing.
“Luckily my character was a good thief who had high stealing skill,” he explained. “I desperately searched the backpacks of those around me and eventually came upon a fire field scroll. After that it was pretty simple: I just cast the scroll on the bridge and waited to see what would happen. Either [Lord British] or Blackthorne made the comment, ‘Hehe nice try!’ — I can’t recall exactly who. It was a humorous sight and I expected to be struck down by lightning or have some other evil fate befall me. Instead I heard a loud death grunt as British slumped to his death.”
The murder caught everyone off-guard, including British and his assassin. Someone took the above screenshot that became one of the most famous in MMO history, showing players’ disbelief as they shouted “HE DIED” and “LB is dead!!!”
Ultima Online: Interview with Rainz, The Man Who Killed Lord British (Noctalis)
OGR: Give us a recount of exactly what happened, from your point of view.
Rainz: The servers had just been taken down to prepare for the huge influx of players for the speech Lord British and Lord Blackthorne were giving throughout Britannia. When the servers came back up, I strolled through Britain with Helios, my fellow guild member. We headed to Blackthorne's castle where the first speech was being given. LB, Blackthorne, and their jesters were up on a bridge orating to the masses. Unfortunately I wasn't playing my mage character, so casting spells from a spellbook was out of the question. Luckily my character was a good thief who had high "stealing" skill. I desperately searched the backpacks of those around me and eventually came upon a fire field scroll. After that it was pretty simple, I just cast the scroll on the bridge and waited to see what would happen. Either LB or Blackthorne made the comment "hehe nice try", can't recall exactly who. It was a humorous sight and I expected to be struck down by lightning or have some other evil fate befall me. Instead I heard a loud death grunt as British slumped to his death. After that it was just pure mayhem, Blackthorne or another force summoned 4 daemons into the castle and people were dying left and right.
OGR: After the deed was done, what was your next action?
Rainz: I hauled b-lls out of the region like there was no tomorrow.
OGR: What has Origin, and Lord British, said to you regarding your actions? Has any action been taken against you?
Rainz: To make a long story short, Origin considered my style of gameplay to be detrimental to the nature of the beta test. I had previously played a character of evil alignment who slaughtered hundreds, this type of role playing was denounced by certain OSI members. After they had a discussion with me I erased my evil "Aquaman" character that same day and nailed his coffin. I thought that this had brought an end to the whole ordeal. Instead, after slaying LB, an OSI member informed me that I had come to the "last straw" and was now banned from "all further Origin World Online games."
The Game Archaeologist: The assassination of Lord British (MOP)
A sneaky thief
Unbeknownst to all parties, when the server reset shortly before, the toggle that normally protected the devs was turned off — and Garriott didn’t enter the command to reactivate his invulnerability. Nobody, including Garriott, knew that Lord British was now open to attack in a game that was almost entirely PvP through-and-through.
Rainz wasn’t playing his magic character at the time, but some spur-of-the-moment pick-pocketing turned up the perfect weapon for assassination. This was aided by another fortuitous factor: The developers, anticipating lag at the castle, had turned off the guards who would otherwise have caught and killed Rainz for stealing.
“Luckily my character was a good thief who had high stealing skill,” he explained. “I desperately searched the backpacks of those around me and eventually came upon a fire field scroll. After that it was pretty simple: I just cast the scroll on the bridge and waited to see what would happen. Either [Lord British] or Blackthorne made the comment, ‘Hehe nice try!’ — I can’t recall exactly who. It was a humorous sight and I expected to be struck down by lightning or have some other evil fate befall me. Instead I heard a loud death grunt as British slumped to his death.”
The murder caught everyone off-guard, including British and his assassin. Someone took the above screenshot that became one of the most famous in MMO history, showing players’ disbelief as they shouted “HE DIED” and “LB is dead!!!”
Ultima Online: Interview with Rainz, The Man Who Killed Lord British (Noctalis)
OGR: Give us a recount of exactly what happened, from your point of view.
Rainz: The servers had just been taken down to prepare for the huge influx of players for the speech Lord British and Lord Blackthorne were giving throughout Britannia. When the servers came back up, I strolled through Britain with Helios, my fellow guild member. We headed to Blackthorne's castle where the first speech was being given. LB, Blackthorne, and their jesters were up on a bridge orating to the masses. Unfortunately I wasn't playing my mage character, so casting spells from a spellbook was out of the question. Luckily my character was a good thief who had high "stealing" skill. I desperately searched the backpacks of those around me and eventually came upon a fire field scroll. After that it was pretty simple, I just cast the scroll on the bridge and waited to see what would happen. Either LB or Blackthorne made the comment "hehe nice try", can't recall exactly who. It was a humorous sight and I expected to be struck down by lightning or have some other evil fate befall me. Instead I heard a loud death grunt as British slumped to his death. After that it was just pure mayhem, Blackthorne or another force summoned 4 daemons into the castle and people were dying left and right.
OGR: After the deed was done, what was your next action?
Rainz: I hauled b-lls out of the region like there was no tomorrow.
OGR: What has Origin, and Lord British, said to you regarding your actions? Has any action been taken against you?
Rainz: To make a long story short, Origin considered my style of gameplay to be detrimental to the nature of the beta test. I had previously played a character of evil alignment who slaughtered hundreds, this type of role playing was denounced by certain OSI members. After they had a discussion with me I erased my evil "Aquaman" character that same day and nailed his coffin. I thought that this had brought an end to the whole ordeal. Instead, after slaying LB, an OSI member informed me that I had come to the "last straw" and was now banned from "all further Origin World Online games."
