Companion
Companions were player volunteers in Ultima Online. Unlike counselors, companions were solely aimed at young players and robed in red. The official patch description for the "Companion System" was as follows:
- Player volunteers called "Companions" are available for new players. When a player from a new account logs on for the first time, a Companion will be paged to welcome them. [1]
Companions filled a role that is currently occupied by automated new player help systems and quests. Where most customer support encounters last for minutes at best, companions would interact with a single player for far longer. In one interview, a former companion speaks of assisting a young player for more than an hour, while explaining, "everything he needed to know about his profession." [2]
Training
Prospective companions were required to participate in special training classes. Such classess were conducted both in-game as well as via Internet Relay Chat, or IRC. Special commands accompanied the position and needed to be explained and tested.
Non-Robed Companions
According to an interview, some non-robed companions were recruited into the program, also. The program shutdown did not include the non-robed companions. While they were not official representatives anymore, they still maintained their special commands. [3]
Many of the non-robed companions were in fact volunteers in positions within the counselor or seer programs. Veteran volunteers tended not to wear the red robe due to having already experienced the excitement of being granted special robes in their other positions and also because they preferred to not look like "wanna-be" GMs as the red robe was traditionally that which was assigned to the GMs alone.
Demise of the Companion System
The volunteer programs were closed as a result of a lawsuit initiated by former volunteers who sought compensation. On September 19, 2000, a group of Counselors filed a class action lawsuit in federal district court in Colorado. In their claim, they demanded "damages equal to three times Plaintiffs' unpaid minimum wage, and/or Plaintiffs' unpaid overtime compensation, as the case may be, attorneys' fees and costs, and injunctive relief," claiming that Origin and Electronic Arts were in violation of the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the State of Colorado's Wage Act. [4]
Volunteer Reaction
Player volunteers were informed of the volunteer program's closing the day before it was implemented. While some were informed via email by their responsible Origin/EA-staff, most found out about it by reading the news as posted on uo.com. In short, volunteers were shocked and dismayed.
Former participants lamented the impact on in-game service. Desribed as a "whole system crash," one companion stated that, "OSI hasn't really found a way to bring it back to where it was before... There are simply too many calls for the handful GMs." [5]
Notes
- The Companion System volunteer program no longer exists.
See Also
References
- ↑ UO Live Access Patch. August 26, 1999. http://update.uo.com/design_25.html.
- ↑ Talazor. "Exclusive Interview with Sundancer: Arch Companion for Europa and Drachenfels." Online Game Trader. Undated. Accessed 4/6/2008. http://www.onlinegametrader.net/index.php?action=disp_news&news_id=173.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Imagine Games Network Staff. "Revolt in Britannia: UO Counselors Sue Origin and EA" IGN News Web Site. September 20, 2000. http://pc.ign.com/articles/085/085264p1.html.
- ↑ Talazor at 2.