Bungling Burglars Break into Lord British's Building...
The early Ultima games allowed you to play a thief. They were also pretty free with giving you access to anachronistic devices like air-cars, space ships, and so forth. Ultima II even had you hopping between eras on planet Earth.

Ostensibly, the thief class was removed from Ultima IV because game designer Richard Garriott (AKA Lord British) felt that game was supposed to be about attaining a high level of virtue --- something a dishonest thief couldn't do.

But now the REAL reason for the dissapearance of thieves has come to light. Thieves discovered anachronistic cameras between Ultima III and Ultima IV, and then they all got caught because they were STUPID and left pictures of themselves at the crime scene. Just like these geniuses in real life...

"Digital Camera Left at Scene of Crime"

Apparently a group of teens decided to break into one of Richard Garriott's properties (which he uses for "special events"... um, company events, or LARPing...?), and consume about $5,000 worth of alcohol they found there in a party at the crime scene. In their inebriated state, they apparently didn't realize the stupidity of taking a bunch of digital pictures of themselves in the act. And then one of them left their camera AT THE CRIME SCENE. For all the world to see.

Saith Lord British, according to the news article: “We we're joking to ourselves about tomorrow morning, when they wake up with a hangover, they're going to wonder where that camera is... This is one of those Darwin-style kind of awards, where people leave the self-incriminating evidence behind at the scene.”

Oops.

Thou hast lost an eighth! And thou hast been docked an extra quarter for being an idiot!

Many thanks to Kotaku for the heads-up.

Labels: Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 3:09 PM (Permalink)