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October 21st marked in the pages of video game history the 15th expansion pack released for the original EverQuest. I think my first response to hearing about a new expansion unleashed a year after the last one was an appropriate groan, followed by, “They’re still adding content for this game?” I guess that like a lot of people, my interest in EQ news (or DAoC news, or Asheron’s Call news, or Anarchy Online news, or Ultima Online news, etc.) was abandoned in the wake of World of Warcraft’s release, especially now with Warhammer Online stealing much of WoW’s thunder. The next generation of MMORPGs have their place cemented in stone, and got there by recognizing and playing off of the flaws of first-generation MMO’s. WoW recently hit the 10 millionth subscriber mark worldwide, completely shattering any other MMO record’s wildest dreams. Just a month after its release, Warhammer Online is reaching 750,000 subscribers (leading to some reports of overpopulation issues) and is going remarkably strong, ousting Blizzard from their (thus far) indisputable and unchallenged throne. While WAR may not entirely steal the title of King from WoW, Mythic did a wonderful job with at least pulling the relentlessly loyal Blizzard fanbase from their home turf to at least give the game a fair shot and decide for themselves. Obviously, the “Warcraft Ex-Pat” population is growing rampantly, but the wealth is being shared amongst a subgenre of MMO’s that games like Ever Quest are completely alienated from, partially because many of these players were once Ever Quest Patriots themselves.
The absolute height of EQ’s popularity lies in an age of gaming past, specifically 2001 – 2004, hosting a generous 400 – 500 thousand gamers. Mass converts and the unquestionable muscle of Blizzard fans have whittled the number down drastically, leaving the halved server list in shambles (for those of you who remember the fabled PvP severs of EQ, there’s a single one left, along with a single role-playing preferred server). Sony Online removed the population list of each server, a feature that was for too long taken for granted by those watching the MMO markets. MMOChart.com, however, is clearly marking a decline in virtually every MMO except for WoW. For example, both Lineage and Lineage 2 were hot sellers and by far the most popular game of its type, boasting an impressive 4 – 7 times the active subscribers as EQ until 2005, where they dropped off the charts almost entirely. Ever Quest 1 and Ever Quest 2 have been battling it out over the charts, with little evidence to prove that SoE’s flagship is doing any better than the original it was intended to replace and update. This controversy, many believe, is the sole reason Sony removed the server populations from the EQ list; it’s embarrassing them beyond words. This is terrible news for the former MMO giant, with active subscribers for the original Ever Quest reaching record lows, clocking in at somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000. Why are these gamers holding onto the game that introduced the massive multiplayer format to the mainstream? Why are so many more players flocking to a school of thought proposed by Blizzard and Mythic? Why are they making John Smedley’s life so hard?
The answer is simple, really: The social aspect of MMORPGs has been absolutely stripped from the focal point, in favor of solo-quick-play, linear game play, and PvP taking the center-stage. The philosophy of the original giants was to spend countless hours on the computer and be helpless or unable to do close to anything without a full 6-person group. This provided a lush gaming experience and sense of community completely lacking in both World of Warcraft and, especially, Warhammer Online. You got to know almost everybody around your level as you kept grouping with a handful of the same people leveling at the same pace as yourself. You didn’t need a leveling guild to exclusively group with, especially given the low number of patchwork groups in the previously mentioned titles. Honestly, though, you didn’t need a guild at all until higher levels when you were exposed to the endless upon endless zones and instances that were piled on top of the game for end-game raid content. The mindset of players was a sense of commitment and dedication to their character and their comrades, which paints the current MMO situation as almost self-serving. I think back to the days of East Commonlands that served as an auction house/bazaar. It was entirely player to player interaction with nothing automated whatsoever. You can level from 1-70 in WoW without speaking to a single person if you don’t want to, and I’d wager that a good number of people do.
I played EverQuest in middle school and a little bit of high school, and have very fond memories of the game. Would I ever play it again? No, no, no. I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of subscribing to EQ again. I just don’t have that kind of time to dedicate to a game, especially with the staggeringly low and dwindling population on which it relies to function. To be honest, nothing else makes me or my friends feel nostalgic about it other than reminiscing about players we met, friends we made, and the experience of a game like that in its heyday as a whole. It simulated another world better than, I believe, any other game has or will, simply because of where its focus was: immersion. Not PvP Arenas, Realm to Realm combat, or Battlegrounds, which aim to almost mimic the approach and feel of a FPS. The PvP aspect of a game is fun, I will never deny that. It’s an online game and the most traditional, tried-and-true form of online play is to fight each other and gaining bragging rights beyond winning a roll on some boots. However, the focus was a world where a player’s character was not just an avatar to dump raid gear and realizing your PvP potential, but legitimate social interaction and, to a certain extent, role playing.
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