Over the past two decades, millions of players have inhabited the virtual world of Britannia inside the Massively Multiplayer Online fantasy PC game, Ultima Online. Released in 1997 by developer Origin Systems and publisher Electronic Arts, Ultima Online is known as the grandfather of MMOs. Braving Britannia: Tales of Life, Love, and Adventure in Ultima Online collects interviews with 35 of the game's players, volunteers, and developers, revealing what they did, where they adventured, and how their lives were shaped, changed, and altered through experiences in Ultima Online's shared virtual world. In a fantasy world of limitless potential, the only thing players seem to enjoy more than playing the game is talking about it, and yet, the true stories behind the avatars have largely gone unpublished for the past twenty years. Until now.
Author
Wes Locher has written video games for developers such as FableLabs (Serious Weirdness, 2018), Based on the Play (Re*Sequenced, 2018), Nanobit Software (Lost in Fame, 2017), Pulsetense Games (Post-War Dreams, 2017), and Pocket Gems Games (Future: Uncertain, 2015). His comic books have been published in the USA, UK, and Canada by Alterna Comics (Unit 44, 2017), Titan Comics (Adrift, 2015), Markosia Enterprises (The Undoubtables, 2014), Arcana Studios (Chambers, 2013), and many others. He's the author of the nonfiction book Braving Britannia: Tales of the Life, Love, and Adventure in Ultima Online, and a collection of humorous essays called Musings on Minutiae, published in 2010. Wes’s father was a journalist. His mother was an English teacher. Wes is genetically doomed to write for all eternity. Visit him online at www.weslocher.com.
