Liberty Lives! #3 - Hill Valley

We would like to introduce you to a player who has only recently discovered Wurm Unlimited. You may have met him while he explores the Server of Liberty. Racing around, gathering ‘speeding tickets’ in his wagon. Playing less than six months he logs in daily and discovers even more areas to explore and ways to expand his game playing. Elfin managed to catch up with him and was able to share some pizza while Redbox chatted about his Wurm experience.







Elfin: “How long you have been playing wurm?”



Redbox: “I found it on Steam during a sale, so I downloaded it and played solo at first for a couple of weeks, watched videos on how to play, then came to Sklo.”



Elfin: “What appealed about Sklotopolis?”



Redbox: “TBH one of the guys who made the videos I watched said it was a good server.”



Elfin: “So you found Sklotopolis and logged in......... what was that experience like?”



Redbox: “It was a bit overwhelming at first. I hatched a horse and rode around from Genesis for about an hour trying to find a place to deed.

“Eventually I posted in recruit chat and Nekoexmachina invited me to his deed.

“I explored a bit, built a house, didn't really have any goal or direction, I was just here.

“Then Neko and all of his citizens stopped showing up, and it wasn’t my deed so I packed up and went in search of another place to start.

“I headed north from the east coast spot I was at and found Gorwst.

“Then I met Sarz, and they found us a spot I could deed, on a nice lake, real close to them.

“They provided help and support, and invited me into the spearhead alliance.”



Elfin: “So you were no longer alone.”



Redbox: “Exactly. Sarz was really the most interested in helping me, she helped cut trees and dig, imped some tools for me, gave me food, and resources.”



Elfin: “She became a wurm friend?”



Redbox: “Actually, found out she lives right down the road from me IRL. Small world.”



Elfin: “Were you still being overwhelmed by the game?”



Redbox: “Not really, I was starting to find my stride, but still with no direction until I decided to build a town, instead of just things.

“I really just enjoyed being on Sklo, there was not really any one thing I liked doing.

“Maybe designing my town was something I liked.

“I did like the community we had going. We had about six to ten unique users that would log on at one point?”



Elfin: “When you say unique users what do you mean?”



Redbox: “Meaning not alts. There were plenty of alts, but at any given moment we would have six to ten actual people in our alliance chat.

“Then people stopped showing up, so I decided to get set up on Novus, for when the servers unite.”



Elfin: “That involved in making a new character didn't it?”



Redbox: “Yes.”



Elfin: “What were your plans when you did that?”



Redbox: “Well, it stemmed from what I was doing here. Here I was making a village, but my location and the lack of people led me to think that no one would see it. So I went there to make my vision on a main road.

“I took my accumulated knowledge from Liberty and set up on Novus in a good location that gets some traffic where people will see what I am doing. Building an old European town.”



Elfin: “Old European?”



Redbox: “Because it's a style of building that I haven't seen anyone do on either server. And I have explored quite a bit.

“I wanted to do something unique, something that would make people who know the amount of work that went into it, say, ‘OOHHH, that's nice’."



Elfin: “Are old European towns special to you personally?”



Redbox: “Well, I’ve played Dungeons and Dragons, for about the last 30 years, so that era holds a special place for me.”



Elfin: “Now that makes sense, so you plan on bringing something you like into wurm?”



Redbox: “Yep.”



Elfin: “How long have you been playing wurm then.”



Redbox: “I think the initial download was August of last year. I have only 822 hours played.

“It is one of the best games I have ever played, but I think most of that is because of Sklo.

“I have tried a couple other servers, since joining this one, and this one is the best, has the best community, and the best support.

“I have done a few unique fights, and a couple of rifts. I really enjoy having everybody working towards a common goal.

“The Impalong on Novus was great fun.”



Redbox: “I have made a few "enemies" because I am very not politically correct, and also a big Trump supporter and I have no problem sharing my views.

“Hopefully this doesn't make you not want to finish, I know politics can be divisive.”



Elfin: “They can, and we like to keep them out of the game for that very reason.”



Redbox: “I understand that, and I try, but sometimes it's difficult not to.”



Elfin: “It gets easier as you practice.

“Why do you log into wurm?”



Redbox: “That's an interesting question.

“You are trying to make me do some real soul searching.

“Well, I guess, I've always played video games and when I find one I like I play it as much as I can. “Wurm is my current game I guess you can say.”



Elfin: “With your project to build an European town?”



Redbox: “Yes, but I am still a bit haphazard even with that. I tend to jump from project to project, with no real rhyme or reason.”



Elfin: “Easily distracted?”



Redbox: “More like easily bored. There's really no set schedule to a day in wurm for me. I just log in, and do whatever I feel like doing at the time.

“I do try and focus a bit each time on my buildings.”



Elfin: “Would you like to tell me about your deed?”



Redbox: “Hill Valley, on Liberty.

“I came up with the name just to be a bit oxymoronic. Hill and valley are two distinct features of a landscape.”



Elfin: “Is there one experience on Liberty that stays bright for you?”



Redbox: “Yes actually, and you are the biggest part of it.

“It was at the first rift on liberty. I lost my HH's because they were too close and you were kind enough to give me new ones and make me a new wagon.

“That was pretty early in my time on the server, it made me like the server that much more.”



Elfin: “I lost a horse at that rift too.”



Redbox: “The rift was anticlimactic.

“I got there, and was waiting, then had to do something IRL, when I got back, everything was dead, including my horses.

“As the horses were loaners from Sarz, I was more upset, because they weren't mine.”



Elfin: “I can totally understand that.”



Redbox: “But, it's people like you and Sarz and Gorwst, who have made Sklo so fun.

“That and finding abandoned deeds to loot, that's fun as well.

“Actually, I think exploring, seeing other people’s imaginations is probably my favourite thing to do.

“That's what inspired me to build my village.

“Just how different people see the different things you can do, with the same stuff, truly amazing. “I am happy to have found something unique to do with the same stuff everybody else uses.”



Again time had caught up with us and Redbox needed to go. So we parted ways after arranging for the tour.




Redbox: “Well, I will start with the original part of the deed. This was the first area I levelled and cleared. It was a very dense Fir forest here, so very difficult to see the lay of the land. Pretty much all I did for the first week or so was chop and dig.
Then I discovered donating, and bought silver to expand, the chopping and digging took forever, weeks at least of nothing but that and trips up to Haven to eat Julbard.
  Sarz had given me 2 pretty good HH's the ones that got killed at the rift, and the ride to haven wasn't that bad, that actually helped my start to explore the map
.




Redbox: "I will show you my first building here. I made this when I had no direction on what I was going to do with the deed yet, just a place to live."





Redbox: "Most of the furniture is purloined from abandoned deeds."

Elfin: “May I go upstairs?”



Redbox: “of course."



Redbox: "I love the view from this building, just to the SE was a neighbour called Black Unicorn, he was very active in the first few weeks then stopped logging. Really nice view of the lake.
"


Tomservo: “Yes, beautiful view.”





Redbox: “Just the view of the Hills with the lake on the foreground is very pretty and now with my boats, it looks more like a town, but no dock so I just pull up to the shore and disembark.”



Redbox: “The way this first house was built helped form my plans for the town i am building.”





We all boarded the cart again and Redbox drove us past the lower terraces, just above the lake. Past another house Xenon’s home. Redbox was obviously saddened and shared that he missed his friend.



Redbox: “These crops are what I used for cooking until I made my farm. This is my first animal pen."



Redbox: "The house here is from Xenon, one of my citizens, who no longer logs in . He helped me a lot. I don't know how old he was.”





Then suddenly Redbox drove us into a huge mine.





Redbox: “Most of this is xenons handiwork, he loved to mine."




Elfin: “Whoaaaaaaa. I have never seen anything like it. What a feeling looking down.”



Redbox: “I did this part, thought it looked cool. Originally, it was a mistake, then i thought of making the railings for that two tiered effect



Tomservo: “Wow! I love it.”





Redbox: I dug a mine from a different place, and ran into my other one from a different level, and said, let's make lemonade.”



The way Redbox had made lemonade from his mistake gives a new meaning to drop shafts. I got vertigo just from looking down. The effect was stunning and the fence a clever idea. Making a feature in the mine that I had never seen before.



I caught Tomservo spitting over the railing, watching it fall down the deep shaft. I apologized to Redbox then we got back on the cart, exited the mine, and the tour continued.



Redbox: “I never really had a plan for this building, maybe a crafting area. I got a salesman, and had to wall him in, because someone was selling to him
. I got my wagon stuck on the second level here, it was interesting trying to get it down
."




Redbox: “My boat is named hidden treasure, because while I was out exploring I found an unfinished corbita that needed maybe 100 pegs on an abandoned deed. Win!!!!





We left the beautiful shore and went to the next building.



Redbox: “This is my kitchen, and future dining room. Everything I need to be a master chef here. I ran out of snowballs though, forgot to log in over here during winter and I forgot to seal my buffalo milk so it's gone as well.”







Elfin: “I will need to let Gordon Ramsey know.



Redbox: “He will says it's all bollocks! Not fit for a dog's dinner!!!”



Tomservo: "I feel a Gordon Ramsey meme coming!"





Redbox: “My new animal pens, I bred my first five speed horse the other day."





Tomservo observed one of the Hell Horses sunbathing.




Redbox: "Here is the new farm, Xenon did most of the leveling here, took us about 2 days of digging.”







We rode just past the farm to a little road obscured by trees.


Redbox: “This was going to be my road to civilization but it's all over grown now.
"




Redbox: "Now, for the piece-de-resistance. My town. I started here, my town square.
  Only benches here right now. The oak tree has grown.”




Then one by one Redbox gave us a tour of his town.


Tomservo: “I’m jealous of how it looks like a real town.”











We followed Redbox inside one of the houses and up on a balcony.

Redbox: “I will eventually redo, all of the interiors, lots to love here IMO. A balcony looking at the Mayors house, the mayor has too much money.
Giant slate monstrosity. What I really need is furniture and lots of it."




Redbox: "Let’s look inside mayors house next?"




Redbox: "Whoever that mayor is eventually will live pretty well.
"


Tomservo: “I love the design, a very creative place
"




Onto a building tucked away between the others


Redbox: “Mayors maid and butler will live here.”





Tomservo: “Wow, this is all just an amazing job. Did you design all these in the deed planner?
"


Redbox: “Never could figure out how to make that thing work, it's all by the seat of my pants.
"


Redbox: "One more building, that is just a place. This construction site will illustrate how i build, start with the frame and then make different height roofs, to make them look like different buildings, pretty simple really.

It was an experiment that turned into two different towns
."




Elfin: “What of the canal?”



Redbox: “Esroh made that. It was here when i settled. I do plan to put a bridge over it, right here."



Redbox: "I only fell off once during construction."



The tour was at an end and as we were leaving, a scorpion was watching, Redbox introduced us.


Redbox: “That's my neighbour, I named him, Scorpion.he's nice.”




As with the first two villages we have showcased, the pictures here just don't do it justice. The time came for us to leave so we mounted up and Redbox left us with these parting words:


Redbox: "I really like Sklo, and the people are great, and thanks for showing people my vision!”


We rode away amazed at the creativity we had seen in the town of Hill Valley.