Information about Runes Used on UO.com:
Omniglot - Gargish Alphabet (Includes Runic chart)
Runic Alphabet at UO.com

Ultima Online Memories
UO’s Third Anniversary - UO.com
UO’s Fifth Anniversary - UO.com

Roleplaying, Evil, etc.
An Outside Look at Ultima Online - RPG Vault, April 10, 1998

Getting back to UO, it seems pretty clear to me that PK is a problem. It also seems clear that Origin recognizes it as a problem since they have made attempts to curb it. How effective have these attempts been? Since I don’t play, I really don’t know enough even to start forming an opinion. However, judging from the fact that I still hear a lot about PK in UO, it would seem that the issue certainly has not been resolved to sufficiently widespread satisfaction.

Could Origin actually please everyone or at least almost everyone? Maybe not, but how hard are they willing to try? There has been a great deal of discussion about the honor and notoriety systems they have implemented, about exploitable holes and how to fix them, and about different approaches they could possibly take. To date, Origin has steadfastly insisted on retaining PK within the game. They’ll make it harder for players to be PKs, but they won’t go further than that.

I haven’t seen anything on this from Origin, but I find it hard to imagine why not. While they haven’t been statistically valid, every poll I have ever seen has shown that a solid majority of gamers would prefer either no possibility of PK or the choice to opt out. I also have to believe that the folks behind Everquest did their market research before deciding to put in a player-selectable PK/non-PK switch. Ditto for Asheron’s Call where players will have to complete a special quest in order to PK or even duel, and where players can opt out by choosing not to complete that quest.

Meanwhile, UO is still apparently unwilling to give players that same choice. This causes me to wonder about their reasons. What did their market research tell them? Did they in fact do research on gamers’ attitudes towards PK before designing the game? Are they doing research on it now? And if not, why not - especially when their multi-shard structure of isolated servers would seem to give them a great opportunity to learn what OU players want?

Roleplaying Evil - Reader Response - RPG Vault April 17, 1998 (Response to “An Outside Look at Ultima Online listed above).

UO and e-Bay
They got game - Salon.com - July 13, 1999 - Article about UO and e-bay (including a GM firing).