UDIC -- Mini FAQ

: Frequently Asked Questions (Short Version)

What is the UDIC?
How do I join the UDIC?
What if I was in the Ultima Dragons on Prodigy?
Where can I find more info about Ultima on the Internet?
Afterword

What is the UDIC?

UDIC stands for Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter. Its a social club on the Internet whose members share a common interest: the Ultima series of games by Origin Systems, Inc. The club has more than 9,000 members throughout the world. Members chat, share Ultima clues, and generally have fun.

The Ultima Dragons were originally created on February 27, 1992 on Prodigy. They were disbanded in early 1994, but were reestablished on the Internet later that year as the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter. Since the Prodigy Ultima Dragons club no longer exists, Ultima Dragons can be used to refer to the UDIC.

How to join the UDIC:

If you can, fill out the WWW form. Its at: <http://www.udic.org/join.html> It'll ask all the right questions and make sure its delivered to the proper place.

If you can't access the WWW directly but you can telnet, then telnet to info.funet.fi and log in as www. You can use that to access the above URL.

If you can't do any of this but you can send email then send email to join@udic.org. Include your chosen dragon name (__ Dragon) your email address, your real name, which ultimas you've played and anything else you feel like sending.

Where does this actually get delivered? A team of ten to twenty club members (the Greeting team) receives and analyzes your application, and stores it in the online membership roster.

The only entrance requirement is that you must have played at least one Ultima game. Thats one of the reasons why any dragon can let you in to the club. But, to make it on to the roster you need to do one of the two things above.

For members of the Ultima Dragons on Prodigy:

Also, for any of you out there who were members of the Prodigy club before it disbanded, a few quick notes:

1) Welcome back, we're glad to have you.

2) Please follow the above instructions for joining the club so that you will be on the roster.

3) To denote membership in the club, we put a -==(UDIC)==- in our .signature files (so that they're included at the end of our posts). There are no other ranks, offices or government in this club. Most dragons are against creating any sort of government and posting your old prodigy rank as anything other than a joke is the closest thing we have to a faux pas.

4) The newsgroup (rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons) is on the usenet. So, we more or less follow the usenet nettiquette conventions, NOT Prodigy's posting conventions. If you're new to the internet and the usenet then I strongly reccomend you read the nettiquette FAQ on the newsgroup news.announce.newusers before you post. If you're an old hand on the usenet then read the nettiquette FAQ anyway: It can't hurt to refresh your memory.

5) There are no official leaders in the club. If you want to know who fills the rolls (the 'defacto' leaders) then read the newsgroup for a couple weeks. If you want to be a leader, then be active in the club and find a niche to fill (or a filled niche that isn't being done well enough). Like the shoe commercial says, Just do it.

6) This club was created Fall '94 by Ethereal Dragon, one of the members from the Prodigy club. A number of the folks in the club were also in the old one. If you're looking for someone, check the roster and failing that, feel free to ask.

7) Once again, welcome back. :)

Ultima & Ultima Dragons resources on the Internet:

World Wide Web:

http://www.owo.com/archive/
The Ultima Web Archive, made by Fallible Dragon. Has walkthroughs, maps, music, etc. Also has links to most other ultima resources on the internet.

http://www.udic.org/
The Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter home page.

http://www.origin.ea.com/
Origin Systems' WWW home page

FTP:

ftp://ftp.udic.org/pub/ud/
An Ultima Dragons FTP site, maintained by Fallible Dragon. Has a lot of Ultima resources..

ftp://ftp.ea.com/
Origin Systems' FTP site with official patches and information.

Usenet:

rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons
The Ultima Dragons' newgroup. Discussion of Ultimas, solving them, what the future holds, general club stuff, etc. Participation from members and non-members is welcome.

E-Mail:

support@origin.ea.com
The internet email address of Origin Systems' customer support staff.

join@udic.org
Where to send email to to join the Ultima Dragons.

Internet Relay Chat

#udic
Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter IRC chat room, on the Undernet. (Use an undernet server such as us.undernet.org) Dragons used to show up to chat around 9 p.m. EST. Now they usually go to ChibaMOO.

Telnet

ChibaMOO
The Ultima Dragons' Weyrmount is on ChibaMOO. To access, telnet to weyr.udic.org 9020, and log in as a guest.

Afterword:

This FAQ can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.udic.org/minifaq.html.

For more detailed information about the Ultima Dragons read Monomolecular Dragon's FAQ. It can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.udic.org/faq.html.