You should name something that they took from player run shards because I can't think of any. Most of it was copied from other MMOs.

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Why do you think EA hasn't taken down free shards/emulators?

Have to ask ... with all the games EA has, do any of their other games have free-grey shards/emulators? If so, have they gone after those or is it just UO's that gets ignored?

Invisibility pots, bonding of pets to allow them to be rezed, Runic's in general but more specifically those for Bowyers, and Carpenters, the various woods, need I name a few more?

WoW, Dudes & Dudettes... This is a cool topic, lets speculate somemore...

-networked software consists of two programs....

-a Server program, running on a computer located somewhere else...
-a Client program, which is intalled on the computer in front of you... This is the software you bought and installed...
-the Internet is just a way to "hard wire" the two computers running each program, together so they can talk back and forth, like computers do, digitaly...

The thing you guys have to understand, is when you buy the game software, you are buying a Licence to use the client software on 1 computer... This licence has alot of rules attached to it, if anyone has ever bothered to read it, you would be suprised at what you can't do... Legaly speaking...

In order for your client to be "re-directed" to another Internet address, other than UOs servers Internet address... You yourself, would have to go into the software and change something, that is pre-programed into the client software...

This is strictly forbiden for you to do, on your part, legaly speaking... Technicly its not your property to change, even though it is installed on YOUR computer... and you may pocess the knowladge to change it... The fact is, you don't own it...

The guys whom wrote the server emulators, did nothing wrong... They used their brains and abilities, to write something that belongs to them... their own piece of work, no one elses... and I'm sure if you want to contact them, to play on their emulator for UO, they will tell you what file to modify in your client to re-direct it to their emulator (but they won't commit the crime themselves, you have to do that all on your own)... and if your smart, you can change it back at will... to again play on UOs servers...

IMO, the person who is committing the crime, is you the player... Who modifies their client without permission of the softwares owner(EA)...

Rest assured, it would probly cost far too much cash money to prosecute all of you, so its not cost effective to do so... considering its a World wide community and EA would have to deal with each country independantly... and if that country doesn't uphold US Copy Rights Laws, it be hard to do...

Besides its all free advertisment for them, if you like the game and have no account, there is always the possibility you will sign up and be legit... But, how could you even play, unless you bought the Game at some point...

So you're all breaking the Law, how could you, I'm disappointed.... hehe...

There are working clients that will interface with Emulation Servers not written by EA that would circumvent what you just described. In addition there is software out that doesn't modify any files for the Client EA wrote just redirects and filters out the encryption on that data. No Files over written and none changed. Simply put it modifies the data after the client sends it before it leaves your PC, EA doesn't own the data channels through which that information is being sent.

In addition to that your describing what is known as loosely as a Shrink Wrapped contract, they are questionable at best, and border on entrapment.

1) Invisibility Potions - That is like saying you invented the wheel. There used to be invisibility items but they were removed with the Age of Shadows. Now if it were a Darkglow or that other potion, you would have a case.
2) Bonding - Perhaps. I'd like to hear more about where it was taken from.
3) Runics - Crafting magical items is not an original idea. It has been implemented in countless games.

I'd certainly like to hear about other stuff.

I can tell you for a fact Ridable Polar Bears were out about 6 months as a free shard add on vs being a Vet Reward.

With Bonding it wasn't called as such, but the concept of rezable pets has been around since around UO:R for the emulation communities. Simply put though in Emulation since most of the software developed to do such is open source almost anything one wants one can create. One thing I wouldn't frown on is for people to actually investigate these things, read over the forums on some of these sites, and see exactly what they can and can't do......

There are more people playing Free Shards than EA's servers. Several 100k more...At least one of the Emulation Packages is more stable than The servers EA Runs, it's been stress tested to over 4000 people logged in at the same time on one server. EA could learn a lot from this if they would openly embrace these communities instead of either
A) Pretending they don't exist
B) Admitting they exist but doing nothing
or
C) Condemning them as something evil in one circumstance and embracing them as something good in another.

If i remember correctly back in 97 UO released a new Box. on the CD one had the option of installing a (?ummm) version that one could test out the game before committing to creating an account. This "shard" was the begining of the hackers and free shards. This "shard" have the hackers access to the source code for the server side Client. Over the years the Developers have rewriten alot of the code and lost some valuable tools in the process.(i.e character faces and such..)

I know of at least one free shard that is hosted on a server outside the US, in which case it's very hard (if not impossible) to apply US copyright laws. EA would probably have grounds in any country where they offer subscriptions, but it is very easy to get offshore server hosting.

As for the countries they reside in... continue debate. Your guess is as good as mine (probably better).

I'm guessing the shutting down of free servers and the emulators which they run on, is both extremely expensive and difficult, as I notice there's hundreds of free WOW servers out there now and given Blizzard's wealth, you'd think they wouldn't exist at all
If Blizzard can't/won't shut them down, I doubt EA will ever do so (Especially considering how freeshards for UO, have been around for almost 9? years)

As far as I understood it and people mentioned it - they do nothing illegal.

All the server code is freshly written and not from ea.

With your purchase of UO you buy your client and access to artwork and then just connect with your bought version of UO to their server.

The emulator server does not hold any artwork or any other licensed by ea and just provides information to the client.

As they are not making money with it and ea did not fight them from start (unlike wow does) I doubt they would have an easy time closing them down.

And for the fun I would like to see EA close down brazilian or russian servers.