EverQuest
EverQuest (EQ) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 1999. It was developed by Verant Interactive and published by Sony Online Entertainment. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost. To play, one must initially pay for the game software and then pay a recurring monthly fee. A free trial is also available for those who wish to experience the game before paying.In the game, players move about a Tolkienesque fantasy world of sword and sorcery, fighting monsters and enemies for treasure and experience points and interacting with other players. As they progress, players advance in rank, gaining power and abilities. Players also can procure powerful items for their characters in a variety of ways: Through slaying monsters (and then taking, or "looting", whatever items they were carrying), doing "quests" (tasks and adventures given to you by other characters in which a reward is given if you succeed), or by gathering raw materials and then fashioning them, using a variety of trade skills such as tailoring or blacksmithing, into useful (or not-so-useful, but nevertheless fun) items. In structure and rules, the game is a direct descendant of the famed Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Many of the elements from EverQuest have also been drawn from text-based MUD (multi-user dungeon) games, especially DikuMUD.
The game features a rich 3D environment set in the fictional world Norrath and associated environs. The geography of the EverQuest universe is vast, and few players have visited every zone. Multiple instances of the world exist on various servers, each one having around 1000 to 3000 simultaneous players online at peak times. After selecting a server, a player can create multiple characters and choose from a variety of classes and races (including humans, gnomes, trolls, halflings, elves, etc.). The main aspect of game play involves grouping with fellow players to kill monsters for experience points. Beyond that, a player can explore the large world, socialize, role-play, join player guilds, master trade skills, and duel other players (in restricted situations -- EQ does not allow player-versus-player (PvP) combat, except on special PvP-specific servers).
While some parts of EverQuest can be experienced alone and without the help of other players, EQ is generally a very group-centric game. A single character will be unable to complete many of the encounters in EverQuest. Most parts of the game can be completed with small groups of up to 6 or so people, but the most challenging (and rewarding) encounters require the cooperation of many players, sometimes even several guilds, totalling more than a hundred players.
EverQuest launched with some technical difficulties on March 16, 1999 but quickly became much more successful. By the end of the year, it had surpassed the leading competitor, Ultima Online in number of subscriptions. Numbers continued rising at a steady rate until mid-2001 when growth slowed. As of 2004, Sony reports subscription numbers close to 450,000. It is now the most popular MMORPG in North America and Europe, but is far behind the global leader Lineage, which counts millions of subscribers, most of them in South Korea.
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2 EverQuest products 3 Game Play Jargon 4 External links |
EverQuest has lived through its share of controversy, much of it shared by the entire MMORPG genre. One example involves the sale of in-game objects for real currency (often through eBay). The developers of EQ have always forbidden the practice and in January 2001 asked eBay to stop listing such auctions, although such auctions still persist. The game has always had problems with exploiting, cheating, and hacking. Patches have stopped the most serious cheats, but controversy also lies in Verant's policies sometimes seen by players as heavy-handed or subjective. Critics of the gameplay call it "simplistic" and a satirical hoax 'game' called Progress Quest has appeared on the Internet.
The game is renowned and berated (by some psychologists specializing in computer addiction) for its addictive qualities. Many refer to it half-jokingly as "NeverRest" and "EverCrack" (a reference to crack cocaine, an addictive recreational drug). Another name is "LevelQuest", implying that the purpose of the game is to only acquire levels. EQ is very time-consuming for many people, and there have been several well-publicized suicides of EverQuest users. Relationships broken because of obsessive playing resulted in the creation of an online support group called EverQuest Widows. The capacity of the game to absorb time and money, and to distract players from a possibly-dull life on the other side of the screen, are appealing features to its users. However, the same could be said for any other addictive and obsessive activity. Sony has tried to combat cash trading and cheating, but continues to advertise the game's addictive nature.
The sociological aspects of EverQuest (and other MMORPGs) are further explored in a series of online studies on a site known as "the HUB". The studies make use of data gathered from player surveys and discuss topics like virtual relationships, player personalities, gender issues, and more.
There have been several expansions to the original game since release. Expansions are purchased separately and add significant content to the game (for example, new races, classes, and continents). Additionally, the game is updated regularly through downloadable patches. The EQ expansions to date:
There are many spin-off products from EverQuest. Several servers have been introduced with alternate rule sets, including ones which allow player killing, another that has stricter role-playing guidelines, and a premium Legends server (for a premium price). EverQuest Online Adventures, released in February 2003, is an MMORPG for the PlayStation 2 console. EverQuest II is also in development for 2004. Other video games, a pen-and-paper role-playing game, several books, and player gatherings (Fan Faires) have also been spawned from EverQuest.
Fans have created an open source server emulator [1], allowing users to run their own servers with custom rules. Running such an emulator is a violation of EQ's end user license and could result in a player being banned from Sony's EverQuest servers if caught doing so. It has not yet gained the same popularity of server emulators for Ultima Online.
The game has an internal language and culture of its own, with a plethora of arcane abbreviations aiding communication between players, for example SoW (which stands for Spirit of Wolf, a popular spell which accelerates players' movement), and vernacular usages such as 'crack' which within the context of EQ refer to mana regeneration spells such as Clarity or KEI (an abbreviation for Koadic's Endless Intellect).
A number of terms used in-game have been coined by other role players from a wide variety of other MMORPGs, or players of EverQuest specifically. One is the habit of calling monsters MOBs which is a contraction of Mobile Objects and stems from games called MUDs during the predominant era of text-based role-playing games.
Some players also use leet, which is infrequently referred to as "dewd" speak; and Internet slang is very common among users of the game.
Controversies and Social Issues
EverQuest products
The soon to be released Omens of War expansion will be its eighth expansion pack available. (due late August 2004)Game Play Jargon
Within the world of EverQuest there exists a vernacular that would practically be a foreign language to persons not familiar with the game and who have not played it extensively. Players speak to each other in abbreviated form and use acronyms for an exhaustive list of common phrases and for various functions.External links