Editing Ultima Online (section)

===Origin era (1995–2004)===
In September 1997, ''Ultima Online'' launched and opened the first game servers to the public.<ref name="folly">{{cite news |url=https://money.cnn.com/2003/03/04/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/ |title=Electronic Arts' online folly |first=Chris |last=Morris |date=March 4, 2003 |publisher=CNN |access-date=April 13, 2019}}</ref> Upon release, ''Ultima Online'' proved popular, reaching 100,000 paying subscribers within six months, causing severe [[lag (video games)|lag]] problems. In 1999, servers opened around the world to support the rising popularity of the game, in [[Japan]], [[Europe]] and [[South Korea]]. In 2000, Garriot resigned from Origin, taking Lord British with him. Game players created their own [[fanfiction]] speculations as to why the Lord had vanished. In February 2000, a large in-world event had a massive army of undead lay siege to the Britannia city of Trinsic. The event ran concurrently on all servers over several months. Another server opened in [[Australia]] during this time. In May 2000, ''Ultima Online''{{'}}s second expansion ''[[Ultima Online: Renaissance]]'' dramatically altered the game. It split the game world into two mirrored worlds called Trammel and [[Felucca]]. In Trammel all PVP was required to be consensual, while in Felucca players could be attacked by others players without consent. In November 2000, ''Ultima Online's'' first official fanfest was held, called the UO World Faire in [[Austin, TX]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_199.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_199.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |page=32 |title=UO Fans Get Medieval – Wine, women, and song at the Ultima Online World Faire |first=Mark |last=Asher |publisher=Computer Gaming World |date=February 1, 2001 |access-date=April 13, 2019}}</ref> In March 2001, ''Ultima Online''{{'}}s third expansion ''[[Ultima Online: Third Dawn]]'' was released and introduced graphics which attempted to reproduce a three-dimensional effect. It added a new area to the server called Ilshenar which could only be accessed with a new game client that launched with the expansion. The original game client could be used in the previous server areas. In January 2002, ''Ultima Online''{{'}}s second official fanfest was called Online Worlds FanFest, also held in Austin. Players were able to meet the developers, as well as guest speaker [[Todd McFarlane]]. February saw the release of ''Ultima Online''{{'}}s fourth expansion ''[[Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge]]''. Notably, it enabled access to the areas previously only available to the newer ''Third Dawn'' game client. In February 2003, ''Ultima Online''{{'}}s fifth expansion ''[[Ultima Online: Age of Shadows]]'' was released. It was the most game changing update yet including: offering players the ability to custom design their game homes, a server area that doubled the amount of player housing available, and overhauled the item system. 

''Ultima Online'' was the first MMORPG to reach the 100,000 subscriber base, far exceeding that of any game that went before it.<ref>{{cite web |date=August 24, 2006 |title=EA Announces Ultima Online(TM): Kingdom Reborn (Working Title); The Game That Firmly Established the MMORPG Genre Receives a Massive Visual Overhaul and New Content in 2007 |url=http://investor.ea.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=314331 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405222406/http://investor.ea.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=314331 |archive-date=April 5, 2016 |access-date=April 13, 2019 |publisher=[[Electronic Arts]]}}</ref> Subscriber numbers peaked at around 250,000 in July 2003, but then began a steady decline.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=Subscriptions (SS) and Active Accounts (AA) with a peak between 150k and 1m |url=http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-2.png |access-date=April 13, 2019 |publisher=mmodata.blogspot.com}}</ref> In February 2004, [[Origin Systems]] shut down. ''Ultima Online'' no longer had a named studio managing it. Development headquarters moved from Austin to [[Fairfax, Virginia]].