-==(The Official UDIC FAQ, version 6.3)==- *UPDATED*
Barry Ramirez
The Ultima Dragons -==(UDIC)==- Internet Chapter
Frequently and Less Frequently Answered Questions File
Version 6.3 by Barry Ramirez (Monomolecular Dragon)
February 26, 1997
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Introduction
This file contains information on the Ultima Dragons - Internet
Chapter. Version 6.0 of the FAQ represents a complete rewrite of the
UDIC FAQ, and focuses more on the club itself, its history, and its
purpose than it does on Ultima and the games. For that purpose,
Erratic Dragon's rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons FAQ and the
numerous other game-specific FAQs and walkthroughs that exist should
more than suffice.
The maintainer of this FAQ is Monomolecular Dragon, aka Barry
Ramirez. Copies of this FAQ may be obtained by sending him email at
mo...@udic.org, with the subject of the email <UDIC FAQ> and the words
<get udic faq> in the body (minus the brackets). This is case
sensitive (e.g., type the words exactly as indicated, capitalization
and all) as it is designed to trip a filter in his mail reader (a nice
low-tech solution to a distribution problem). The FAQ may also be
found on the World Wide Web at
<http://www.hardlink.com/~nubila/ultima/ultima.html>, which is the
official site for Monomolecular's Ultima resource page.
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Table of Contents
1) What are the Ultima Dragons?
2) What are the Dragons -NOT-?
3) How do I become a Member?
4) I used to be a Member. How do I rejoin?
5) Membership Resources
6) The Newsgroup (*NEW*)
7) The Greeters
8) Other FAQ's and Ultima Resources
9) Acknowledgments
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1) WHAT ARE THE ULTIMA DRAGONS?
The Ultima Dragons - Internet Chapter are an online 'organization'
of individuals around the world who share a love of Ultima as a common
interest. Ultima is the name of a cultishly successful computer role
playing game series by Origin Systems, Inc., mostly following the
endeavors of the Avatar in his quests to save the land of Britannia
from various nefarious evils both physical and spiritual. The Dragons
were founded in 1992 as a haven for those who "Play Ultima For Fun,"
and has been bringing together fans of the games for almost half a
decade.
The club was founded on February 27, 1992 on the Prodigy Service
network, at the time intended as a middle ground for those who were
tired of the endless rough bantering between the two then-dominant
Ultima fan clubs, the "Evil Avatars" and the "Protectors of Virtue and
Lord British." Doug Ricket, known thereafter as PUFF1 or Gold Dragon,
formed a new club for those who "play Ultima for fun," PUFF. The
ridicule and taunting from the two larger Ultima clubs was immediate,
and one Evil Avatar is recorded as having made a comment regarding
"Puff, the Magic Dragon." Doug summarily changed the name of his only
days-old club to the Ultima Dragons.
The current incarnation of the Ultima Dragons began on the Internet
in early September 1994, as a way to bring together some of the older
members from the Prodigy incarnation of the Dragons, by Gold Dragon
and Ethereal Dragon, Stephen Brindle. Roughly 25 of the Prodigy-era
members were there from the beginning as well (including the
maintainer of this FAQ). The name Ultima Dragons - Internet Chapter
was settled on (at the time, there were still a few Prodigy Dragons)
as well as the -==(UDIC)==- emblem, in homage to the Circle rank
emblems in the former club.
The UDIC has recently celebrated its second anniversary on the
Internet, and the Grand Roster of the Ultima Dragons (listing every
person who is or has ever been a Dragon) now bears over 7000 names
from around the world.
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2) WHAT ARE THE DRAGONS -NOT-?
The Ultima Dragons are -not- Origin's "Official Ultima Fan Club."
We certainly may be the closest thing to such an entity, and Origin
may know us quite well and communicate with us and even have some of
their number amongst us, but we do not have any official anything
status whatsoever. Yet. <grin>
The Ultima Dragons do -not- have any significant material perks.
We do not get free software from Origin, items, whatsoever.
The Ultima Dragons are -not- an Ultima Online (the graphical world
in development by Origin) guild, nor does becoming a UDIC member give
you access to UOL.
Likewise, the Ultima Dragons are -not- a "site" on the Internet.
True, we have a presence on several machines, but one does not "log
in" to the Dragons, per se, and all of our Internet resources are
donated to us out of the goodness of the donators' hearts for specific
purposes.
Along the same lines, applying to join the Ultima Dragons is -not-
the same thing as requesting a character on the Weyrmount MOO, the
UDIC text-based virtual home. The character generation system on
Weyrmount does look at the Grand Roster to verify if you are a Dragon,
but they are two totally different things operation-wise.
--------------------
3) HOW DO I BECOME A MEMBER?
Before joining, it is highly recommended that you have read this
FAQ from beginning to end and understand it, as well as have spent
some time reading in our newsgroup
<news:rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons> or exploring our homepage
<http://www.udic.org/>. You must have also played and preferably
completed at least one Ultima game. This is a mandatory requirement.
There are two ways to join. The easiest and fastest method is to
use the Join form located at <http://www.udic.org/join/>. The form
will ask you for your full real name, the Dragon name you wish to be
known as, your email address, the Ultimas you have played and/or
completed, and a password of your own choosing. Within a few days
after submitting the application, one of the UDIC Greeters will reply
to you with some membership basics. Depending on the Greeter, you may
be asked to reply to the email message to verify everything was
correct. And congratulations, you're a member of the UDIC.
The other method is to send an email to jo...@udic.org. This is the
preferred method for those with limited WWW access, or those who might
be accessing our resources via a gateway from a network such as
Fidonet. In the email, you must include your full real name, the
Dragon name you wish to be known as, your email address, the Ultimas
you have played and/or completed, and a password of your own choosing.
As with the html-based Join form, a Greeter will reply to your
application shortly.
The password you submit will be used to validate you when the
Greeters send out roll calls, as well as allow you access to changing
your own information via the UDIC Members page at
<http://www.udic.org/members/>.
--------------------
4) I USED TO BE A MEMBER. HOW DO I REJOIN?
(This section will probably make the most sense to Dragons who were
from the Prodigy era of the Club, but most of it is applicable from
those early in the UDIC's history as well.)
Hail, and welcome back! Returning members are always welcome.
There -are- a few major things you do need to be aware of prior to
returning, though.
First of all, the Dragons do -not- have a GVT anymore. It was one
of the things decided fairly on by the original 25 UDIC members, and
in fact has become quite a taboo subject. There are still discussions
on GVT from time to time, but such seems to be as much a part of
Dragon heritage as Ultima. Likewise, there is no longer a rank
system, and all such -==[]==-, -==()==-, -==O==-, and -==/\==- symbols
have been dropped in favor of the more encompassing -==(UDIC)==-.
Second, if you originally joined prior to January 1, 1996, and had
not been active between September 1995 and then (as in, you had not
been an active member since Prodigy), your original name may already
have been assigned to a newer member. The Greeters held all pre-UDIC
member names as reserved until New Year's 1996 just in case we had any
returning members, but after that, any name was declared free game.
It would behoove you to check the current Roster to see who is listed
as having your name and contacting that individual on your own to see
if some sort of compromise may be made.
Beyond that, all you need to do is resubmit an application the same
way as detailed in the previous section. If you are doing it by the
Join form, however, make sure you put your original Dragon name in the
"Names previously used" blank so you don't get entered into the Roster
several times and your original information is updated. Likewise with
an email rejoining; make sure you mention you used to be a member,
what your original name was, and any other information that might have
been changed.
Welcome back!
--------------------
5) MEMBERSHIP RESOURCES
The main homepage of the Ultima Dragons - Internet chapter is at
<http://www.udic.org/>, and most of the following resources can be
accessed from it. Of immediate pertinence are the Join Form and the
Members page.
The Join Form is at <http://www.udic.org/join/> and is most likely
the first stop of your membership.
The Members page, <http://www.udic.org/members/> is where you can
go to change your roster records. To access your roster entry, go to
the above URL, enter your dragon name and the password you chose on
joining into the blanks, and click on Log In. You'll be taken to a
menu of functions that you can do. Greeters have a bit more options,
as this same page is where they handle incoming applications.
One of the major missions of the Ultima Dragons has always been
helping other Ultima players along in their quests. To this end, a
large number of Dragons have a presence on the newsgroup
<news:comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg>.
--------------------
6) THE NEWSGROUP
The main newsgroup of the UDIC is
rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons. It is, obviously, an officially
sanctioned newsgroup in the rec.* hierarchy, and officially went
online on March 14, 1996. The Usenet CFV (Call For Votes) official
tally was 421 in favor to 130 against.
The newsgroup is intended primarily as a discussion group. The
core topic is, of course, Ultima; however, as is stated in the
newsgroup's Usenet charter, conversation need not be restricted to it.
As was the intent on Prodigy with the original Dragons, the intent on
the newsgroup is to bring together people who happen to share Ultima
as a common interest, who may wish to talk about Ultima, but who have
lives outside of Britannia and may wish to converse about anything
else. Off-topic discussion of such nature is encouraged.
Is posting of binaries allowed to this group? Inasmuch as it is
possible to say so, no. This is not
rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons.binaries (or any other variation on
the theme). Being an unmoderated newsgroup, there is no controlling
authority on posting save for your own good manners and sense. Expect
that the other inhabitants of the group will make their opinions known
should someone post something offensive or deemed inappropriate by
consensus. This specifically includes binaries and money-making
schemes of any sort.
Erratic Dragon maintains a somewhat more detailed FAQ covering the
newsgroup and etiquette thereof at
<http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~charlton/andrew/rgcudfaq.html>.
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7) THE GREETERS
The UDIC Greeting Team are a group of Dragons who have agreed to
devote a proportionally large amount of time to the tasks of greeting
new members and trying to keep the Roster accurate and up-to-date.
These tasks specifically include processing email join requests,
processing role call inquiries, editing information that the Members
page does not (such as changing email addresses), and resolving
conflicting names.
The Greeters have an internal mailing list for periodic information
on the status of the Roster database, as well as nightly updates on
which Greeter has been assigned which application and which
applications are overdue for processing. The Roster maintenance tools
are accessed by each Greeter's individual control page, at
<http://www.udic.org/members/>.
To become a Greeter, send an email to Unicorn Dragon at
Uni...@udic.org. Additional volunteers are -always- welcome, as it
is often a staggering task.
--------------------
8) OTHER FAQ'S AND ULTIMA RESOURCES
The Ultima Dragons main home page is at <http://www.udic.org/>. It
is one of the host of UDIC services maintained by Fallible Dragon,
Fall...@udic.org. On the Links page <http://www.udic.org/stuff.html>
he has set up the main repository of pages immediately pertinent to
the Dragons. Most of those links are repeated below. Note that a lot
of them are udic.org redirectors; this was done to ensure that, should
the actual hosting site of the pages in question change, there would
be a mostly constant address.
- UDIC Join Form: <http://www.udic.org/join.html>
- UDIC Members Page: <http://www.udic.org/members.html>
This is where one may go and 'log in' using one's Dragon name and
password to edit their personal information. Note that the Greeters
-DO NOT- have access to your passwords. If you lose or forget your
password, please email one of the Greeters at rma...@udic.org and ask
them to supply you with a new temporary password.
- UDIC MiniFaq: <http://www.udic.org/minifaq.html>
The MiniFaq is a rather condensed version of one of the earlier
drafts of the UDIC FAQ (3.0). In content and length it is now closer
to version 6.0.
- The RGCUD FAQ:
<http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~charlton/andrew/rgcudfaq.html>
Erratic Dragon's Official Rec.Games.Computer.Ultima-Dragons FAQ.
- UDIC FTP Server: <http://ftp.udic.org/ftpud/> or
<ftp://ftp.udic.org/pub/ud/>
- Newsgroups: <news:rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons> and
<news:comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg>
- Ring of Dragons:
<http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=dragon&home>
The Ring of Dragons uses the Webring system
<http://www.webring.org/>
to link together other contributors Ultima and/or UDIC Resource pages
in a mostly non-hierarchical format.
- Monomolecular's Ultima Resource Page:
<http://www.hardlink.com/~nubila/ultima/ultima.html>
(currently unavailable)
This is where the most recent edition of the UDIC FAQ may be found,
as well as the forthcoming Encyclopedia Dragonica, and information on
various Weyrmount MOO happenings (also forthcoming).
- The UDIC Photo Gallery: <http://expert.cc.purdue.edu/~kidderej/>
Contributed snapshots put on the Web for others to see.
- Weyrmount MOO: <telnet://weyrmount.sensemedia.net:9020/>
The virtual online community of the Ultima Dragons, part of the
SenseMedia Network.
- Undernet IRC channel: <#udic>
More information on all of these sites may be found, naturally,
-on- those sites.
--------------------
9) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This FAQ was made possible by all the people who contributed to the
previous drafts of this FAQ.
Version 1.0 owes its impetus to Ethereal and Gold Dragons (Stephen
Brindle and Doug Ricket), who wrote large chunks of it.
Versions 2.0-5.0 have Fallible Dragon (William Herrin) to thank for
periodic updates and site hosting, as well as the following for
information contributions (in no particular order):
Rak Dragon/Ian Westcott, Seinentai Dragon/Teri Takamoto, Fire
Dragon/Tim Read, Traveller Dragon/Matthew Beerman, Exanter Dragon/Mark
Maurer, F-15 Dragon/Henryk Bochmann, and Underworld Dragon/Robert
Gregg.
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Previous versions of this FAQ may still be available. Contact
Monomolecular Dragon at Monomo...@udic.org for more information.
This document is copyrighted by the author under any applicable law
or statute as may pertain to online information. It may be freely
distributed, provided the version number and this message remain
intact.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monomolecular Dragon
-==(UDIC)==-
/| /|
_ .-======='/-'/ Barry Ramirez "I should be paid by Cinnabon."
/V------//@_/ //\~~~ -==(Ultima Dragons = Internet Chapter)==-
/_--------\ \_|.-/ \__ monomo...@udic.org ket...@interserv.com
\--/\-------\/ /\|_/| http://www.hardlink.com/~nubila/
\ / / \ * Practice safe music. Use a rubber band. *