The past few months, I had been having more fun in UO than I would have believed possible. Gwenyth and I were talking yesterday about how many wonderful people we had met just since Mondain's Legacy was released. The one's that healed/rezzed in the dungeons, the one that helped my tamer get a Cu Shide when I kept dying to it repeatedly, the ones that show up each week for our group hunt and really have a good time, never complaining and griping about dying so much or when I have a blonde moment and get disorganized............

Today I'm trying very hard to hold onto that feeling and remember all the good people but I'm having a real hard time with it. It's funny how one devastating incident can change your perspective.

Let me say right off that yes, I realize UO is a game and it's all just pixels. But I have always believed that the person you in UO is the person you are in real life deep down where it counts. That being said, I've always tried my best to NEVER intentionally hurt anyone and to go out of my way to help any who need it. Our guild (O*S) is very small but every person in it believes the same. We always take time to help anyone who needs our help in any way we can. I'm not tooting my horn here or trying to sound conceited. I guess I'm trying to make sense out of "karma" or "fate" or whatever you call it.

As some of you may know, our guild runs a vendor mall out of a castle on Marble Island. Or I guess, I should now say we did. The guild member who owns the castle spent YEARS putting together small properties and accounts to get enough land to place this castle. That castle was his pride and joy.

What you may not know is that this was also our guild community holding area. We shared EVERYTHING we collected. From regs and boards to any new ingredients we obtained. All for the good of the guild members, as well as any new players that needed our help. Everyone contributed and shared equally. The money collected from the guild vendors was being put into a fund to assist with an upcoming event that I was going to announce in the next week. We still have the guild fund but it would seem the castle may be lost.

This morning we logged in to find that no one in the guild has access to anything in the castle except their vendors. We saw the "guild member" who owned the castle on line and thru guild chat, I contacted him. He stated he had bought this account from the person who owned it. We told him that we had many personal items stored there and asked if we could come get them. Sure, he replied. However, upon arriving, he would not let us into any of the secures even tho we explained what was in each one and he asked us to remove our vendors. He said that he received the account and castle empty but we saw him moving things out (you know how you see things floating thru the air?). We asked how he bought the account? Thru ebay? No he said, and then when a "buyer" for the castle showed up, he quickly spoke to him and logged out.

It now seems that everything that was worked so hard for for years may be gone. None of us can afford to buy that castle (and yes he's already trying to sell it). The friend who owned that account has had some serious real life health problems and we are trying desperately to contact him.

It's not that we can't recover. Most of what is lost could be replaced over time. At this point, I guess I'm just not sure I want to. If you can live your life being kind to others and being helpful and have it all destroyed in the blink of an eye by someone who doesn't care, then is there a point?

I apologize if it seems I'm babbling but I'm trying hard to make sense of this and I would caution every person reading this to RIGHT NOW change your account passwords. Take any precaution you can to safeguard yourself. Some of us put a large part of our hearts into this "game" and the friends we meet in it. Protect yourself.

I'm not going to name character names or throw any personal accusations. At this point, I don't have much recourse. I guess I just needed to get this out..........

Anne, that's horrible to hear. What a terrible loss for you and your guildmates.

*hugs*

Omg *HUGS* Im so sorry to hear this Anne...if anyone in your guild needs anything...I have tons of pwoerscrolls and some bulk resources to help out for those who lost some things.

I also have a vendor mall in the tokuno islands I will let you guys place if you need somewhere to sell your warees.

If the account was hacked EA needs to be notified right away.
I am sorry for your loss as well. You know I don't have much but holler at me if you need anything and I will try to set it up for you.

An update. After a hellish day and watching the castle be systematically stripped, the castle and account have been returned to the rightful owner. EA verified the account was hacked and this is now being pursued thru law enforcement. Not sure what, if anything, will come of that but the owner is pursuing it as far as he can go.

We spoke with the "new owner" last nite who, while stripping the castle, swore up and down he bought it. He said he bought it in game but then said he paid $400 cash for it. We told him it was hacked, that the owner was a personal real life friend and we knew for a fact that it had been hacked. He stated he didn't care. It was his. In fact, he sped up his efforts to strip the castle. He even stated that he told a friend about the awesome deal he got. The friend told him the account was probably stolen and his response was "w/e" which I assume means "whatever". Many of the items he stripped are now sitting on his vendor.

If, indeed he "bought" the account from the real hacker, then he will unfortunately probably be the one to take the rap for this.

I'd like to share some things with you that every person here should think about. Some things we learned. First, yes, run a complete virus scan. Run a scan for spyware and trojans. If you have a firewall, set the security to TIGHT. If you don't have a firewall, GET ONE. If you have a router and a firewall, even better. Check your UO account information monthly and change your passwords. NEVER log into your UO account from a computer that you are not SURE is completely safe. If you do, when you get to a secure computer, reset your password. And, the ONE thing that saved the castle on the account, have someone OTHER than YOU set up a vendor at your house. Nothing needs to be on the vendor but set the vendor to auto renew at no charge. As long as someone besides YOU has a vendor in your house, your house can NOT be transferred off the account.

EA will not return items and, had the castle been transferred off the account, that would have been gone for good. We will deal with the losses and I sincerely thank everyone who offered help and support. We will probably never be able to replace some of the rares and vet rewards that were stripped from this account. Over time, we will rebuild the resources.

The important thing is that the account was returned to the rightful owner and a castle that he put his heart and soul into is still there. The MOST important thing is that our friends are safe. The rest, while very hurtful, we will deal with.

Anne dear. Don't dispair eh?

In the time that I've played this here game, its happened to at least 3 people who were part of our guild. But ya know what? We recovered.

I know this is probably not the type of encouragement you (and the rest) want/need to hear right now.

Let me switch gears a bit. Sheet happens, ugly or not. Now think about this. Those that believe in a higher power.... They (the higher power) would not throw these things at us if they did not think we could handle it. Thus, they do so to remind us of our servitude, and to show us and the rest of the world, that "hey, we can recover". Those that don't believe in a higher power, well, its basically the same principle. We get delt our cards, we handle it, and continue to play.

From what I've seen of you and O*S, you all should be able to grab those boot-straps, and pull yourselves up. Recovering even better then before eh?

And because of this grave undertaking, I'm pretty darn sure, if you switched a Fri and/or Sat to a night of "gathering" and/or "donations" I bet you will see an outpouring of support for you.

While I know this is all fresh, and still hurtful, don't let it get you down. Really. There are a lot of asses out there, and while we want to shoot them all, its not possible. What you can be sure of, is the renewed support you will get because of this. Also, you will grow stronger in the bonds you share with this small guild of yours. If you give in to the Dispair and Ill feelings, you thus allow the looser moron who hacked, an added bonus of tearing things up.

While I don't have an resource gathers (too boring for me), I don't have millions of gold (hardly ever loot), I am willing to help. And you can rest assured there will be plenty others who will help as well.

Tragic happenings, but you and yours will recover. I see that in you. So don't give in, don't let "them" win even more.

Actually, F'Nor, what you are saying is what we have been telling ourselves and each other all nite. Our bonds remain strong and we will pull together to recover. That's what this guild was founded on. Looking out for each other and helping others. Yes, this is hurtful. Yes, it's still raw. But I can't be anyone other than who I am and I won't let some horrible person change that. If I was down to my last nickel, I'd still give it to someone in need.

I am truly blessed to know so many wonderful people and I have been reminding myself of that repeatedly over the past day. Last nite, each person in the guild was coming up with ways we could recover and ideas to help. That's just who we are and how we are. We are family.

We will still be out there helping each other and anyone else who needs our help. None of us are rich. LOL We are probably some of the poorest players in UO because we keep giving stuff away, but we are millionaires in the ways it counts. We have each other, we have our friends in the community and we know in our hearts we are good people.

The gentleman who this happened to is a dear man who gave over his castle to be run as a guild house. When I was talking to him on the phone last nite and crying, he said to me, "Anne, don't worry. You've done all you could and we will look at this as fall cleaning."

Again, I thank everyone for their love and support. I truly apologize if I sounded bitter. Yes, I'm hurt and yes, this is a blow. But we won't change who we are and we will still be there for anyone who needs us. And the O*S vendor mall and guild will be back better and stronger than ever.

*hugs*

As sad as I am that this happened and your guild lost out on some valuable items, I am happy to hear that this man recovered his account and his castle.

I would still like to donate some things to your castle/Guild not in replacement for your losses, but because your guild is a great guild and you are all wonderful people, and Id like to help in what little way that I can. Anne please see me tonight around 6pm est. or PM me when you will be on.

There anything you need that I might have to donate?

so sorry haveing been through this a few years ago i know your pain.
let me know what i can help you replace so you all can get back on feet . thank god still got castle . i had a large tower marbel island that was hacked and i lost the tower

To everyone here, thank you. Thank you for the outpouring of support. You honestly do NOT know how much this means to O*S, to each of us. THIS is why we will keep on keeping on.

Where we stand right now is this. I'm keeping in touch with the account owner via mail and cell phone from work. The account has been returned to his control sort of. The account name, password and billing information was returned but the account still shows a block for unauthorized activity. Apparently, there are two departments at EA that handle this? Not sure but he is trying to get that resolved thru phone calls and email. In the meantime, the entire friend and co-owner list has been cleared until he can log in to the account and reset it. EA did that late last nite. He has also started the ball rolling with the proper authorities.

Once we get in, we'll know more how we stand. And can take stock of what we need to do to get on our feet again.

I truly thank you all for your offers and I promise you, once we know where we stand, we will gladly accept the help so generously offered. I don't know that I can ever express what it has meant to us to know that we have your support and friendship. Yesterday, I couldn't find a reason to log back into the world of UO. Today, I've found that reason again.

I use to live around the corner on marble Isle to the east of Ucurty's castle and saw how much work went into peicing it back together after the original fall - damnit why did it have to go on christmas eve!!!- He was at every IDOC on cats for years to raise funds to buy all the plots back. Of course at the time I said damnit when he showed up to the idocs :grin: but either way, the castle was a labor of love and I hope all goes well with getting it back. Please tell curty Adidaroo says hello and if you need anything at all let me know.