A Journey into EverQuest

I am not putting out summaries for favorite zones and mobs for two reasons. One was that they were incredibly hard to quantify because people spelled things in so many ways (sometimes incorrectly). And because these kinds of polls go on frequently on many EQ websites, and do not give particular insight into the game itself.

First Impression of You: (Back to Top)

People who meet you in real life for the first would probably find you:

Of 324 male:

56 (17%) described themselves as "shy/quiet/reserved/introverted."

44 (14%) described themselves as "friendly/nice/warm."

37 (11% ) described themselves as "funny/humorous"

23 (7%) described themselves as "crazy/weird/strange/geeky/nuts."

17 (5%) describe themselves as "smart/wise/clever/intelligent."

Of 31 female:

5 (16%) described themselves as "shy/quiet/reserved/introverted."

4 (13%) described themselves as "friendly/nice/warm."

5 (16%) described themselves as "funny/humorous"

1 (3%) described themselves as "crazy/weird/dorky/geeky/nuts."

0 (0%) describe themselves as "smart/wise/clever/intelligent."

Close Friends’ thought of you: (Back to Top)

Your close friends would probably describe you as:

Of 324 male:

16 (5%) described themselves as "shy/quiet/reserved/introverted."

39 (12%) described themselves as "friendly/nice/warm."

60 (19%) described themselves as "funny/humorous"

35 (11%) described themselves as "crazy/weird/strange/geeky/nuts."

26 (8%) describe themselves as "smart/wise/clever/intelligent."

Of 31 female:

2 (6%) described themselves as "shy/quiet/reserved/introverted."

3 (10%) described themselves as "friendly/nice/warm."

6 (19%) described themselves as "funny/humorous"

1 (3%) described themselves as "crazy/weird/dorky/geeky/nuts."

1 (3%) describe themselves as "smart/wise/clever/intelligent."

Top Ten EQ Memories (Back to Top)

Chosen for their impact, ability to convey what EQ is all about, their wit, or humor.

10) LOADING PLEASE WAIT... [m, 15]

9) My first time in the Graveyard in Mistmoore I fell through the trap door in the crypt. I was scared and shaking. I didn't know alot about the zone at that point to I figured my best bet was to make a run for it. So I did. My heart was pumping a mile a minute as I somehow managed to find the false wall and head up the stairs. I ran by a deathly usher at full speed, somehow made it to the top and ran out and jumped off of the tower and zoned out. It was a total rush. [m, 23]

8) Last night. Killing Innoruuk. I will never forget it. [m, 21]

7) Hunting Mammoths in everfrost once (to cook with mammoth meat-- i wasn't going to hold my breath for tusks), saw a mammoth from far away, chased it to make sure it was alone, shot it with an arrow for zero points of damage and began melee. The thing conned white or yellow to me, dont remember which, but it was a hard fight and i was getting licked pretty good. I had bout half a cell of HP or less, and the mammoth still had well over a third left. I noticed someone standing near and asked if they'd go ahead and take it, the guy said he would as soon as it killed me, so that he could get loot and xp. And i killed that big bastidge anyway and laughed in his face. He claimed i had stolen his pull (a lie since the mammoth was in no hurry when i caught her, not to mention that i hit her with a whopping zero points of damage to pull her myself). I just laughed in his face, then pulled out my spit, and grilled up some mammoth. [m, 26]

6) Well, just rescently, i showed a woodelf bard friend of mine to the dungeon of Cazic-Thule, but i told her to get bound in Oggok since she could invis herself and just walk past the guards should we die through a mishap. She did but then told me that if she died, she wouldn't be able to invis because the flute she would need would be on the body. I told her not to worry, that I would be sure not to let us die. That being said, we found ourselfs deep in CT, in an area i believed to be relatively safe, i start to attack one of the inhabitants. It dies, but not before its friends get there and soon we have a mishap on our hands. I told her to run while i held them off as long as i could, but she said that she had no idea of how to get out (and neither did i for that matter, we needed to navigate a tricky maze to get out) so we just died. I awoke to find myself in Greater Faydark, on a different continent on the other side of Norath, and she was stuck in Oggok, looking at a wall for hours while i tried to get a TP back to the area, and get help in locating our corpses again. I didn't talk to her much, and i later found that she thought i was mad at her for something, but i explained that i was angry at myself for causing this mess and didn't know how to talk to her know that i screwed up big time. But we are still friends, and hunt together often, and i alays remember this when deciding to start fighting. [m, 23]

5) 1-when I was engaged 2-when the wedding was called off [m, 14]

4) I remember this one time, i was sittin around in the tower in Crushbone, waitin for my turn to slaughter D'vinn and obtain his dirk, when all of a sudden a lvl 50 druid shouted across the zone that the first person to give her a tell with her name spelled backwards would receive a gift, well, i thought i'd give it a shot. Her name was very difficult to spell though, even forward. I believe it was something like zaogarodr, but anyway I was the first and received a chipped bone bracelet. Being only lvl 20, I was ecstatic, but i didn’t know it was worth 1000pp, so i just put it on for a while. When i discovered its value, I about wet my pants and I believe I had to actually pound my chest to restart my heart. [m, 14]

3) Sadly, the first thing that comes to mind is hunting at the Orc Highway with a great group...save this one Dark Elf Necro who NEVER helped the group and would only sit around sucking up experience. And when he did actually do something, he'd just run blindly into the highway and pull any orcs he saw, whether the group was ready or not. I will find you Provar... *snarl* [m, 16]

2) While EQ was still new, the spoilers not so wide spread, the sheer terror with which I ran my barbarian Shaman from Halas over to Kaladim was incredible! It took hours to search out the safe passages, find guides willing to aid me and to sneak around the vast number of strange and wondrous mobs that might kill you in seconds should they notice you. Now, I know the zones inside and out, I wander with dead reckoning and seldom miss by much. The same route I was in terror of at 9th level, just bores me at 40th... [m, 42]

1) The most memorable moment was probably when I made the biggest laugh in oasis. They were talking about lag so i said. Charge of game $40 Charge per month $10. Watching your 35th level char die and lose his level due to lag.....priceless. Approximately 20 people laughed bigtime! [m]

Tell Me About … Discussion (Back to Top)

One early question I had was whether some people thought that EQ was, in some sense, more real than real life. What EQ does spectacularly is putting your character through emotional scenarios that we seldom come across in real life. What does it mean to hold your ground when most of your group is faltering and another elite gnoll spawns in the BlackBurrow green room? What does it mean to fall unconscious and be healed in the nick of time? What is altruism? What is trust? And EQ is able to pit you against these situations without fail. Perhaps EQ is, in some sense, more real than real life.

But I want to put a different spin on this claim. I would rather make the claim that EQ has the possibility of making real life more real. Relationships in EQ are at once more simple and profound. They appear simple because the interaction is done through superficial constructs, but the interactions are very real. EQ creates situations where these interactions shed light on trust, deceit, partnership, friendship, generosity, and even life and death. I want to suggest that players carry what they learn from this artificial world into the real world when they log off the game. Most of us do not come across these situations often In our lives, and we can, if we choose to, take away lessons we learned from EQ.

EQ offers a place to experiment and to learn about real life not because its rendered polygons are more real than real life, but because between the lines of source code, the game allows interactions that mimic the essence of real life.

And to a large extent, this forms the central paradox to EQ – that it is entirely social and anti-social at the same time.