Lord British Forgives Person Who ‘Stole’ A Copy of Ultima 6 Circa 25 years ago

Lord British Forgives Pirate

Around 25 years ago, Ultima 6 was released for the PC. The latest from the prolific English game designer Richard Garriott it is by many considered to be one of the finest examples of RPG gaming.

Now, to put things into context, Lord British is the fictional ruler of Britania, this being the ‘world’ in the Ultima series. Richard Garriott, however, is so synonymous with the game has by many of his fans been dubbed the real ‘Lord British’.

Going back around 25 years, a 13-year-old Joshua Dudley rented Ultima 6 from his local store. Yes, back then you could rent PC games. After installing it, playing it and returning his copy, he found that he could still play the game. In a Twitter post, he has confessed that rather than uninstalling, he decided to keep playing the game. 25 years on, however, he decided to contact Richard Garriott by Twitter and ask for his forgiveness.

Lord British Forgives!

It’s a little difficult to describe now, but PC piracy in the late eighties and early-mid-nineties wasn’t anywhere near as easy as it became. The earlier games contained rather cryptic code wheels or thick manuals for copyright protection to which you would have to enter a corresponding code prompted by the game. When CD-Roms came out they largely stopped bothering because at the time no one expected that CD duplication technology would become a home standard.

Some of the more trusting games, however, simply installed. That was it. You were able to play without floppy disk or piracy protection. This system is certainly more common today, however, most games have some form of anti-piracy built-in to prevent duplication.

Responding to the Tweet, Lord British has forgiven this transgressor. Suggesting that he may like to make a charitable donation in lieu of his much overdue payment.

What a nice guy!

What do you think? Are there any developers you need to beg forgiveness from? – Let us know in the comments!