He has never been truly settled, moving between continents and tribes with all the fickleness of a teenager caught up in cliquey drama. But the longest-running characteristic of this career has been that of an itinerant. Once he served as another player’s ‘Information Minister’. He has been a brigand, a priest, and a champion in the game’s shifting political landscape. That was the end of his time in Leadmart. I was breeding horses but then some enemy players came and broke in and killed all my horses. He starts trotting over to the building and reads out the name. He points out a square fortress built near the walls of Strongbox. He walks around the harbour wondering out loud about the castle. Wossoo has not been here in years and he’s surprised by how much the place has changed. A polygonal green giant stands watch over the town – an avatar of one of the game’s many gods - as well as a statue of the same deity. A huge player-built castle looms over the water, ringed by bridges and ramparts. I’ve just come through, dressed in leather rags. This is where new players appear, through a portal from the tutorial island. Walls surround the starter area, garrisoned by ghostly guards. I’ve been waiting for Wossoo on the harbour in Strongbox, the town at the heart of one of the game’s large continents. It was also as ugly as a blobfish and just as difficult to understand. It built on the freedoms of Ultima Online and EVE Online before Rust or DayZ had even been conceived. But someone else could just wait for you to come out, kill you and take everything you own. You could set up a house in Wurm and hide inside. One part obtuse interface and one part total anarchy, it was ahead of its time in terms of handing you an open world in which resources dwindled and everything had to be made by players. Ten years later, he has agreed to return to show me around. Wurm Online launched in 2006, when Wossoo was just 13 years old. Some might say Wossoo is a sorry sight, for a man who used to be King. He has “borrowed” it from the village next to his farm, along with another fat foal and an old bull, which follow along behind him on a lead. The horse he is riding is described by the game’s text as “fat” and “old”. This shining knight lives on a tiny farm in the countryside. But his rare title and treasured armour is misleading. When I hover my mouse over the man, his username is accompanied by the title “Dragonslayer”. The man arrives, riding a white horse and clad in splendid armour. This time, the 13-year-old urchin of Wurm Online who swore to become King and lived up to the oath. Ridealong is our monthly feature where Brendan travels deep into game worlds to meet, question and journey with the inhabitants that dwell within.
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