Choose Your Multi-Player Methods: Solo or Team Style, Ultima or Subspace

Various game companies have promised “massively multi-player” games built expressly for the Net with thousands of players competing from around the globe. Now two very different games have fulfilled that promise by creating contests that force you to cooperate with strangers. Ultima Online gives role-playing gamers an organic fantasy world, while Subspace gives blast-’n’-shooters the chance to band together in teams.

Ultima (Origin Systems/EA) is an outgrowth of a popular line of fantasy games developed for solo play. Yet role-playing games have always been a group experience, from the earliest Dungeons & Dragons dice-and-board games. So making Ultima a multi-player online world was a natural. You choose a male or female avatar (graphic representation of yourself), and choose hair style, skin hue and a general profession varying from shepherd to warrior.

The classic D&D; elements are here, with attributes like strength and intelligence determining your ability to fight or learn magical spells. Though the game’s interface looks simple--with just some mouse clicks to move around the huge 2D world and typing for chat--things get complicated when you try to pick up items, sell something or use one of your skills. Most fantasy role-players have the patience to figure this stuff out, but I was soon aggravated and dead in my first clumsy fight.

The game became much more interesting when I found a group of players gathered in a town square. I was playing as a female animal handler named Vivianna, with a couple dogs as pets. After dying, you lose your possessions and gold (and wander around as a ghost), so I was reduced to begging for subsistence. One knight gave me meat to feed the animals, a helmet and a dagger for fighting. Soon we were in a posse of three out adventuring in the wilderness hunting for bears.

Ultima’s strength is in its complex and persistent world, which remains alive when you leave. It’s not just about killing but learning a craft and selling wares, joining a guild (and getting a 10% discount!) and making friends. A true virtual community. And in my days online I never encountered the usual ill-mannered ruffians, outside of getting pick-pocketed once. But bad deeds don’t go unnoticed. You have persistent notoriety, and if you steal enough, you get “The Dishonorable” prefix to your name.

For those with shorter attention spans, there’s Subspace (Virgin Interactive), an arcade shooter that lets you get to the action quickly. Just buy the retail version (coming soon) or download the beta online, and you’re ready to be a space cowboy, zipping through outer space blasting opponents with a variety of ammo and bombs. Subspace looks like an updated version of the old Asteroids classic arcade, where you spin around shooting at passing ships.

The bonus is that you play on teams, and each “power-up” you find helps the entire team. You can send messages to team members or to the whole arena, and when I logged on recently, there were almost a thousand players engaged in combat. Massive, indeed.

* Ultima Online: Windows 95, 133MHz Pentium, 16MB RAM, 261MB of disk space; Internet connection; $64.95 with one month free, $9.95/month afterward; URL: www.ultimaonline.com.

* Subspace: Windows 95, 50MHz 486, 13MB disk space, 8MB RAM, Internet connection; $29 (free for a limited time), no monthly surcharge; URL: www.subspace.vie.com.

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Mark Glaser is a San Francisco-based freelance writer and critic. You can reach him at [email protected].