Depends,

In Ultima Online you build your character (I going to keep it simple) based on skills
you can have up to 7 skills on your character for a total of 700 skill points. Currently there are around 55 skills, if I recall correctly.

So if you wanted too you could work a character up with these skills:

fishing
camping
begging
herding
hiding
cooking
tracking

Now if you were to build this character, they would totally suck at both player vs player and player vs monster. But that is the hook of UO, you can build your character anyway you wish. So if you wanted this character you could do it. You also can build up your hit points, mana, stamina on your character. Up to a maximum of 225 total stat points (again over simplifing). A maximum of 125 points can be earned in any one stat. You are free to have any combination of stat points you want as long as you do not go over the max totals.

UO does not hold your hand like other games. Yes there is a starting area, and I would recommend you stay there until you get the hang of the game. But you do not have to stay there. As soon as your character appears within the game, you can leave that starting area and go to any place else in the game. (again keeping it simple as there are some areas you need a quest/expansion to enter) You could go down into the deepest dungeon with a few minutes old character, you are not going to survive for any length of time, but you could do it.

This amount of freedom scares off many people. UO does not tell you what to do, or even where to go. It is totally up to you. If you can get by with the outdated graphics then I say welcome to UO. It is the deepest game I have played. And it is why, I have been a paying player for 10+ years. I can go anywhere, anytime, with anyone. I can solo, I can group, I can pvp, I can pvm, I can stand on the corner and sell my crafted goods, I can own a house. Whatever I want to do.

Now as far as the players go? There are idiots on every game. It does depend on which shard (server) you wish to play on. There are helpful people on nearly each one. You just have to find them. Give the trial a try. If you like it then try to find a 9th anniversary copy, since this box set will give you access to all the current content. Personally I would try the 2D download, instead of the Kingdom Reborn download, but you can use either one. To me there are still too many problems with the Kingdom Reborn client to recommend it to people but there are those that like it. Bugs and all.

Let me welcome you to UO, safe travels to you. Ask all the questions you want. I do not mind answering. It is the greed in me, for every person I can get into UO, it helps to keep the servers running longer, and I would like to keep them running for sometime to come.

Im not really sure how big the population is seeing how old it is and all. What would be a good server to start out on once I get everything up and running? Any suggestions? Also, where is a good gettin started site so I can see what Im gettin into

server choice is alot dependent on your physical location for ping and all. different servers have pops going from very low to pretty decent even being 10 years old

That depends too,

If you pick a Asian server, and you happen to be on the East Coast of the United States. You are not going to see as many players out and about, because of the time difference.

The most populated US shard is Atlantic

Most populated European shard is Europa

Have no idea about population on Asian ones.

Might i suggest the Catskills shard. This is the shard I play. We have the Magik Academy there and our soul purpose is to help new players. It gets confusing where to go and how to get started. We try and make ourselves available in the town of New Haven (all characters starting spot).
If you decide to check out Catskills, please find anyone with the following guild tags. [GRI], [TORM], [DRI]....They can help answer questions and get u started.

Welcome to UO

I'm having alot of problems updating and installin the game. I get it installed and when the UO Auto Patch starts, i waste alot of time applyin the patches then

"Error during session
Your client may not be the most recent version.
You may be able to play the game with your current client.
Check http://www.uo.com/ for help on resolving patching issues.
Click OK to play the game or Cancel to abort."

I did what the uo site suggest about completely uninstallin the game, disk clean..etc and still same error..

which version are you trying to install? 2D or KR?

you have to patch to be able to play, bug fixes, etc, current events all get patched in.

I downloaded RK, and i understand about having to patch, i thought thats what the UO Auto Patcher was suppose to do. I go through that and then get that message.

there are many problems with KR, most people say that you need a download manager of some type, not the one with xp/vista.

Which is why I recommend people try the game in 2D. Wish I could be more helpful but KR will not patch for me either.

my account works for both 2d an kr i hope?