EverQuest
EverQuest
Developer(s) Sony Online Entertainment
Publisher(s) Sony Online Entertainment
Platform(s) Windows, Mac OS X
Release
date(s)
16 March 1999
Genre(s)
Fantasy MMORPG
Mode(s)
Multiplayer Online
Rating(s)
ESRB: T (Teen)
Media
CD-ROM,DVD-ROM, Digital
Download
Input
methods
Keyboard, Mouse
EverQuest, often shortened to EQ, is a 3D
fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online
role-playing game (MMORPG) that was re-
leased on the 16th of March, 1999. The ori-
ginal design is credited to Brad McQuaid,
Steve Clover, and Bill Trost. It was developed
by Sony’s 989 Studios and its early-1999
spin-off Verant Interactive.[1] It was pub-
lished by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE).
Since its acquisition of Verant in late 1999,
SOE develops, runs and distributes Ever-
Quest.[2]
EverQuest has earned numerous awards,
including 1999 GameSpot Game of the Year
and a 2008 Technology & Engineering Emmy
Award.
EverQuest II was released in late 2004.[3]
Set in an alternate universe similar to that of
the original EverQuest, this "sequel" takes
place 500 years after the awakening of The
Sleeper. The game has also inspired a num-
ber of other spinoffs.
Business Model
The game’s business model includes:
• Sale of an account key which allows a new
account to be created, or a trial account to
be made permanent.
• Sale of keys which allow accounts to be
upgraded to access the content in
expansions. Some keys allow access to
only an individual expansion, others to all
expansions up to a certain point in time.
The newest expansion, Seeds of
Destruction, includes access to all current
content including the original game.
• Subscription (by the month, quarter,
single year, or 2-years) that allow a
specific account to be active.
A software package is installed (by download
or from CD/DVD) on the player’s computer
which allows any player with an active mem-
bership to connect to the game content and
other players on the game servers of SOE.
As of December 2007, SOE offers free
14-day trial accounts which do not require a
credit card.
Gameplay
Many of the elements from EverQuest have
been drawn from text-based MUD (multi-user
dungeon) games,[4] which in turn were in-
spired by traditional role-playing games such
as Dungeons & Dragons.
In EverQuest, players create a character
(also known as an avatar, or colloquially as
char or toon) by selecting one of 16 "races"
in the game, which range from elves,
dwarves and ogres of fantasy, to humans, to
cat-people
(Vah Shir) and
lizard-people
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EverQuest
1
(Iksar). Players also select each character’s
adventuring occupation (such as a wizard,
ranger, or cleric - called a class--see below
for particulars), and patron deity.
A Sand Giant engaging a group in the Oasis
of Marr, a desert zone
Players use their character to explore the
fantasy world of Norrath, fight monsters and
enemies for treasure and experience points,
and master trade skills. As they progress,
players advance in level, gaining power,
prestige, spells, and abilities through actions
such as looting the remains of defeated en-
emies and completing quests (tasks and ad-
ventures given by non-player characters
(NPCs).
EverQuest also allows players to interact
with other people through role-play, joining
player guilds, and dueling other players (in
restricted situations--EQ only allows Player
versus Player (PVP) combat on the PvP-spe-
cific server).
The geography of the game universe con-
sists of nearly four hundred zones.
Multiple instances of the world exist on
various servers. In the past, game server
populations were visible during log-in, and
showed peaks of more than 3000 players per
server.
Classes
The fourteen classes of the original 1999 ver-
sion of EverQuest were later expanded to in-
clude the Beastlord and Berserker classes
with the Shadows of Luclin (2001) and Gates
of Discord (2004) expansions, respectively.
The classes can be grouped into those that
share similar characteristics that allow them
to play certain types of roles within the game
when grouped with others. One way of
grouping classes is described below.
Tank classes
"Tank" classes are those that have a high
number of "health points" for their level and
can wear heavy armor. They also have the
ability to taunt enemies into focusing on
them, rather than other party members who
may be more susceptible to damage and
death.
• Warrior: the prototypical tank class, able
to avoid and mitigate more damage than
any other class. In a way, this is offset by
their inability to cast spells.
• Shadow Knight: a durable tank class; this
Warrior/Necromancer hybrid has vampiric
and damage-over-time spells. Shadow
Knights also have the unique ability to
Harm Touch (do direct damage) every 72
minutes, the power of which increases in
absolute terms but decreases relative to
enemies’ hit points as a player levels up.
At higher levels, Shadow Knights are able
to summon a weak pet, summon players’
corpses who are in the same zone as them,
and are able to feign death. The feign
death ability allows the Shadow Knight to
function as a "puller" for a group.
• Paladin: the ’virtuous’ counterpart to the
Shadow Knight, a Paladin is a hybrid
Warrior/Cleric. They were originally able
to Lay on Hands (heal themselves or
another player) once every 72 minutes
(real-time); Lay Hands must now be
earned through spending AA points, still
with the same time delay between each
use. At mid-levels, paladins also can
purchase some resurrection spells.
Paladins are tough in melee with some
healing, protective, and stun spells. At
mid-range levels, they also can purchase a
"pacify" line of spells that allows them to
function as a "puller" for a group.
Damage dealers
The following classes are able to deal high
corporal damage to the enemy. Within the
game, these classes are often referred to as
’DPS’, standing for Damage Per Second.
The melee damage dealers have a medium
number of hit points per level, but cannot
wear the heaviest armors and are less likely
than a "tank" class to be able to survive dir-
ect attacks for a sustained period of time.
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EverQuest
2
• Beastlord: The Beastlord is a unique class
which combines some powers from the
Monk and Shaman classes along with a
powerful pet. Beastlords can imbue their
pets with powers and combat enemies
with hand-to-hand skills or with weapons.
They can also "de-buff" enemies with
spells, and possess modest healing
abilities. This diverse array of skills allows
Beastlords to be effective solo adventurers
at many levels as well as being handy in a
group.
• Berserker: A specialist form of the melee
type, the Berserker is primarily a medium-
armored, high-damage dealer that uses
two-handed weapons and who can hurl
axes and other thrown objects in the form
of spells.
• Monk: As masters of martial arts, Monks
are the hand-to-hand fighting experts and
are a powerful melee damage-dealer.
Monks have the ability to feign death with
a high degree of reliability and other skills
that enable them to be a strong "pulling"
class.
• Ranger: A versatile hybrid class combining
some of a Warrior’s ability with a Druid’s
spells, Rangers are able to deal large
amounts of damage both from a ranged
distance and in melee. Their most unusual
ability is to track unseen NPCs, for which
they can be used as "pullers" in outdoor
zones. Rangers also have the ability to
"taunt" and can play the role of "tank" to a
limited degree.
• Rogue: With their backstab ability, which
multiplies damage done to an unguarded
enemy’s back, Rogues are able to inflict
the highest rate of damage of any of the
classes, if they are in a party that can
keep the opponent facing away from the
Rogue. Rogues also have the ability to
make poisons, pick pockets, and pick
locks. Their abilities early on to sneak and
hide allow them to walk past both living
and undead mobs without being seen.
The "caster" classes have the lowest hit
points per level and can only utilize the light-
est of armors.
• Wizard: The primary nuking class; these
casters are able to deal catastrophic
damage to enemies over a very short time
from a distance, particularly with their
Manaburn skill. Wizards also have
transportation spells that facilitate group
travel to particular locations.
• Magician: Usually referred to as Mages,
Magicians are similar to the Wizard class
but with somewhat less direct-damage
spell power. They are able to summon
strong elemental pets, viz. Earth, Water,
Air, and Fire, each with unique strengths
and weaknesses. They also have the
capability to conjure pet armor and
weapons, food, drink, and mod rods,
which allow players to convert their health
into mana. Magicians can also summon
party members to different parts of a zone
with the Call of the Hero spell, which can
be helpful in raid zones.
• Necromancer: These "masters of death"
are able to summon, buff, and heal
powerful undead pets and use poison,
magic, fire, corruption and disease
damage-over-time spells.[5] Necromancers
are able to feign death, snare enemies,
and summon players’ corpses in-zone.
They have a combination of skills and
abilities, most notably the ability to snare
(make a target run/walk slowly), fear
(make the target run directly away from
the caster) and lifetap (heal the caster and
damage the target) that allows them to
function as an effective solo class.
All caster classes have the ability to ’Re-
search’, an activity where all players can
make spells for use by other players. These
are made using assortments of different
pieces of quest material found in the game.
Crowd control / utility
These classes share the ability to restrain
multiple enemies from attacking the party
and also have the ability to increase party
members’ ability to regenerate mana at a
faster rate.
• Enchanter: A caster class that has few hit
points per level and can wear only the
lightest forms of armor, Enchanters are
crowd control experts and are the most
proficient class at Charming, Stunning,
and Mesmerizing enemies. They have the
ability to Memory Blur an opponent
(causing them to forget they were being
attacked) or Pacify an opponent (making
them oblivious to antagonists in the area),
both of which may be extremely useful in
avoiding unwanted skirmishes.
Enchanters also have a wide range of
utility spells, including the Clarity (AKA
"crack") line of spells, which when cast on
a player allows them to regenerate mana
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EverQuest
3
at an improved rate. In addition to being
able to both increase players’ rate of
attack (with the Haste line of spells), and
Slowing that of enemies, Enchanters may
also cast Illusions on themselves and
others, which may have no real benefit
(other than conferring a new look) or may
grant tangible benefits such as
underwater breathing, flight, or a
vampiric touch. Lastly, Enchanters
possess the unique Rune line of spells,
which creates a magical protective buffer
against all forms of damage until it is has
worn down. This class is also uniquely
suited for the jewelcraft trade, because it
is the only class able to enchant metals. It
is also one of the four classes able to make
spells using the spell research trade skill.
• Bard: a jack-of-all-trades class with fair
melee ability, good armor, and the ability
to play songs that benefit all nearby
comrades, such as "crowd control" effects
as well as mana and health regeneration.
Bards do possess the unique ability to
’fade’ from their enemies memories. This
makes the bard an excellent pulling class.
Bards possess lesser versions of many of
the special abilities of other classes. They
are known for their ability early on to
increase the movement speed of their
party faster than any mount or movement
buff. Bards can weave the effects of up to
four songs at once to confer the greatest
advantage to their group. Bards
themselves often do not receive the full
benefit of their songs, but they can still be
an effective solo class at many levels,
especially with their strong "kiting"
proficiency.
Healers
The "priest" classes have medium level of hit
points per level and have access to healing
and "buff" spells.
• Cleric: The most powerful healer in the
game, and for the first few years of
EverQuest, the only class capable of
resurrection with experience regained and
the powerful spell Complete Heal. Clerics
can wear the heaviest plate-mail type
armors.
• Druid: A priest class that can cast healing
spells, teleport, snare (to slow down
enemies), and moderately-powerful nuking
and damage-over-time spells. The range of
abilities allows druids to play multiple
roles in a group or to solo effectively.
Druids may only wear "leather class"
armors. Druids also have a number of
transportation spells that allow speedy
movement throughout much of the gaming
world. Their combined tracking and
foraging skills make them excellent trade-
skillers, in terms of finding various
components necessary for baking,
tailoring, brewing and the like.
• Shaman: As a priest class, they have
access to healing and many lines of "buff"
spells. Shaman possess strong damage-
over-time spells, and are able to slow an
enemy’s rate of attack. Shamans, or
"Shammies" may cannibalize their health
to restore mana and may wear "chain
mail" levels of armor. Because of the
range of Shaman’s spells, they are
sometimes considered a "utility" class.
Shamans are the only class able to make
potions with the Alchemy skill.
Deities
There are several deities in EverQuest who
each have a certain area of responsibility and
play a role in the "backstory" of the game set-
ting. A wide array of armor and weapons are
also deity-tied, making it possible for only
those who worship that deity to wear/equip
them. Additionally, deities determine,
to
some extent, where characters may and may
not go without being killed on sight.
Zones
The EverQuest universe is divided into "more
than 375" zones.[6] These zones represent a
wide variety of geographical features, includ-
ing plains, oceans, cities, deserts, and other
planes of existence. One of the most popular
zones in the game is the Plane of Knowledge,
one of the few zones in which all races and
classes can coexist harmoniously without in-
terference. The Plane of Knowledge is also
home to portals to many other zones, includ-
ing portals to other planes and to the out-
skirts of nearly every starting city.
Social dynamics
Generally speaking, gameplay in EverQuest
can be divided loosely into adventuring -
questing or gaining experience and loot, trad-
ing with other players, social interaction with
other players, and tradeskilling - crafting
game items using tradeskills.
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EverQuest
4
Powerful enemies such as this named genie,
Lord Doljonijiarnimorinar, require powerful
players working together in tight cohesion.
Adventuring can be done alone (soloing);
by forming or joining a group (grouping) with
one to five other characters; or by forming or
joining a raid (raiding) with as many charac-
ters as a zone can support.
At low levels, all classes have the ability to
solo. At higher levels only certain classes are
widely popular for gaining experience by so-
loing. While some parts of EverQuest can be
experienced without the help of other play-
ers, much of EQ has been designed to
strongly encourage or require grouping. In
these cases, a single character within the
"design intent" level range for the encounter
must often be twinked with equipment or
have spell enhancements (buffs) to succeed
easily, if at all.
A group (or "party") may form to adven-
ture, trade, or simply socialize. While any
combination of classes can form a group, an
adventuring group will often consist of a
"tank", a "healer", one or more "damage deal-
ers", someone to do "crowd control" and
someone to bring the mobs to the group. The
last role is called "pulling", and is a tactic
used quite often when it is more effective to
place the bulk of the group in a "safe", or at
least "controlled", location. While a character
of any class may "pull", this role is frequently
held by a Monk, Shadow Knight or Paladin. A
Ranger or Druid using the tracking ability is
sometimes especially effective, particularly
outdoors. Other groupings can also be effect-
ive. Especially popular is Duoing with healer/
tank (or at least healer/melee) tandems.
Most parts of the game can be completed
with a single group, but some of the most
challenging
and
rewarding
encounters
(especially in terms of loot) require players to
raid. Any number of characters may take part
in a raid. EQ’s "Raid Window" will only allow
72 participants to directly share in raid ex-
perience and automatic raid loot rules. The
upper limit for a given raid may be imposed
by: the maximum number allowed in the
"Raid Window", the maximum number of
characters allowed
in certain
instanced
zones, the maximum number the raid leaders
can manage, or the maximum number that
can be present without causing the zone or
the players’ computers to crash. The design
of encounters in expansions have changed
resulting in raid tactics that have become
more and more involved.
While "groups" and "raids" are temporary
gatherings of players, "guilds" are associ-
ations that last beyond a single play session.
guilds are initially formed via an application
process to SOE. Guilds may have widely vary-
ing goals. Each guild member can communic-
ate with all (and only) other members at once
using the GUILD chat channel. A character’s
guild affiliation appears with the character
name when viewed in game. In some in-
stances they are little more than a loose con-
figuration of players who wish to be able to
communicate easily. At the other end of the
spectrum are guilds that concentrate on tack-
ling challenging raid dungeons and boss
monsters. Such "raid guilds" may require
members to commit up to five to eight hours
per day to the game, up to seven days a
week. Players may be rewarded in these
guilds with dragon kill points, an unofficial
system of points awarded to players by guild
leaders meant to make loot distribution less
random. Dragon kill points (or DKP for short)
were first created by a raiding guild in Ever-
quest and names for Lady Vox and Lord
Nagafen, two boss dragons.[7][8][9]
Gameplay jargon
Jargon develops around
the need
for
shortened representations of in-game phe-
nomena. Without the formation of this jargon,
communicating various events
inside the
game world becomes tedious and even im-
possible in some scenarios. As shown above
(grouping, soloing, raiding, pulling, etc.),
EverQuest has its own jargon.
Abbreviations and acronyms also may aid,
or at least shorten, communication among
players. Examples include SoW ("Spirit of
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
EverQuest
5
Wolf" - a popular spell which accelerates run
or walk speed), KEI
(an acronym for
"Koadic’s Endless Intellect" - another popular
spell which accelerates mana regeneration),
PoK (Plane of Knowledge - a major "cross-
roads" zone for travelers), and "rez" (Resur-
rect - any of several spells or abilities cast on
a corpse to summon the player to it, often
restoring lost experience points). "Crack" or
"mind candy" refers to mana regeneration
spells such as Clarity or KEI. Another such
term, used as a verb or noun, is nerf.
DKP(Dragon Kill Points), a raid loot distri-
bution method, originated in Everquest, and
is now used within the game World of War-
craft. Proc and Farm are credited as coming
to WoW from EQ.[10] Other terms have made
their way into EQ from other games, such as
the term Zerging from the computer game
StarCraft--used when a raid’s main strategy
is to overwhelm an enemy by sheer force of
numbers. Monsters are sometimes called
MOBs or mobs; a practice that started in
MUDs.
Additionally, an example of this jargon can
be seen in the word "Con." Con is an abbrevi-
ated version of the word `consider,’ but it
represents more than just the word, it repres-
ents an in-game system for measuring a mon-
ster’s strength. What a monster "Cons" is an
indicator of that monster’s level of difficulty
relative to the player. For example, if a play-
er targets a monster and presses the `c’ key,
a textual message appeared on the screen in-
forming the player of the monster’s strength.
Upon "Conning" a monster which was too dif-
ficult for the player, red text stated, "What
would you like your tombstone to say?" This
message allows the player to make an in-
formed decision on whether or not he wishes
to fight that monster. Frequently while play-
ing Everquest, a player might be asked the
`Con’ of a monster by another player, and
usually the response would be classified as
one of seven colors: Grey, green, light blue,
dark blue, white, yellow, and red. The an-
swers are typified in this way because the
five classifications of relative strength are
represented by one of these colors. So if a
player answered that a monster Cons green,
that monster was relatively safe to engage,
whereas a red monster would be a dangerous
encounter.
While mostly consistent throughout the
entire EQ community, there are also some
differences in jargon among servers, and
among Asian, European and American gam-
ing communities. For example, KEI is also
known as C3 (it
is the third version of
Clarity). In-game chat may prove quite im-
penetrable to anyone who has not played EQ
extensively.
Development
From John Smedley’s initial concept in 1996,
throughout various corporate restructurings,
Sony has directly or indirectly been respons-
ible for, and John Smedley has guided, the
development of EverQuest.[1]
History
The design and concept of EverQuest is heav-
ily indebted to text-based MUDs, in particu-
lar DikuMUD, and as such EverQuest is con-
sidered a 3D evolution of the text MUD genre
like some of the MMOs that preceded it such
as Meridian 59 and The Realm Online. John
Smedley, Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover and
Bill Trost who jointly are credited with creat-
ing the world of EverQuest have repeatedly
pointed to their shared experiences playing
MUDs such as DIKU and TorilMUD as the in-
spiration for the game.[4] Keith Parkinson
created much of the artwork for the game, in
particular the box covers for earlier install-
ments of EverQuest.
Development of EverQuest began in 1996
when Sony Interactive Studios America
(SISA) executive John Smedley secured fund-
ing for a 3D game much like text-based
MUDs following the successful launch of
Meridian 59 the previous year. To implement
the design Smedley hired programmers Brad
McQuaid and Steve Clover who had come to
Smedley’s attention through their work on
the single player RPG Warwizard. McQuaid
soon rose through the ranks to become Exec-
utive Producer for the EverQuest franchise
and emerged during development of Ever-
Quest as a popular figure among the fan com-
munity through his in-game avatar, Aradune.
Other key members of the development team
included Bill Trost, who created the history,
lore and major characters of Norrath (includ-
ing Everquest protagonist Firiona Vie), Geof-
frey "GZ" Zatkin who implemented the spell
system, and artist Milo D. Cooper, who did
the original character modeling in the game.
EverQuest launched with modest expecta-
tions from Sony on 16 March 1999 under its
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EverQuest
6
Verant Interactive brand and quickly became
successful. By the end of the year, it had sur-
passed competitor Ultima Online in number
of subscriptions. Numbers continued rising
rapidly until mid-2001 when growth slowed.
Sony’s last reported subscription numbers
were given as "more than 430,000 players"
on 14 January 2004.[11] SOE released a Mac
OS X version of EverQuest in 2003, incorpor-
ating all expansions through Planes of Power.
Development of the OS X version has lan-
guished since then, but the server remains
up and running, supporting a small but en-
thusiastic user community.
In anticipation of PlayStation’s
launch
Sony Interactive Studios America had made
the decision to focus primarily on console
titles under the banner 989 Studios while
spinning off its sole computer title, Ever-
Quest, which was ready to launch, to a new
computer game division named Redeye (re-
named Verant Interactive). Executives ini-
tially had very low expectations for Ever-
Quest but in 2000, following the surprising
continued success and unparalleled profits of
EverQuest, Sony reorganized Verant Inter-
active into Sony Online Entertainment (SOE)
with Smedley
retaining control of
the
company.
Many of the original EverQuest team, in-
cluding Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover and
Geoffrey Zatkin had left SOE by 2002.
Subscription history
Verant from 1999 to 2001 and SOE from
2001 to 14 January 2004 issued formal state-
ments giving some indications of the number
of EQ subscriptions and peak numbers of
players online at any given moment.[11]
However, most of these announcements have
been archived and are available only by seek-
ing historical copies through online "internet
archives" or other sources.
Accepting both Sony’s press releases and
the internet archives available today as ac-
curate, these records show a rapid rise in
subscriptions to "...more than 225,000..." on
1 November 1999. Sony announced the
achievement of 300,000 subscriptions on 30
October 2000. By 2 October 2001, Sony
stated that there were "...over 410,000...". On
29 July 2002, Sony announced that there
were "...over 430,000..." and that for the 1st
time 100,000 had played simultaneously. In
preparation for the Fan Faire of 2003, Sony
announced on 25 September 2003, that there
were "... more than 450,000..." subscriptions.
With that single exception, from 13 March
2003 until the final reference on 14 January
2004,[11] Sony releases that contained num-
bers referred only to more than 430,000 sub-
scriptions, and/or more than 118,000 simul-
taneous logins. This leaves the peak and cur-
rent number of subscriptions for EQ to sec-
ondary sources.
Expansions
There have been fifteen expansions to the
original game since release. Expansions are
purchased separately and provide additional
content to the game (for example: raising the
maximum character level; adding new races,
classes, zones, continents, quests, equip-
ment, game features). Additionally, the game
is updated through downloaded patches. The
EQ expansions:
1. The Ruins of Kunark (March 2000)
2. The Scars of Velious (December 2000)
3. The Shadows of Luclin (December 2001)
4. The Planes of Power (October 2002)
5. The Legacy of Ykesha (February 2003)
6. Lost Dungeons of Norrath (September
2003)
7. Gates of Discord (February 2004)
8. Omens of War (September 2004)
9. Dragons of Norrath (February 2005)
10. Depths of Darkhollow (September 2005)
11. Prophecy of Ro (February 2006)
12. The Serpent’s Spine (September 2006)
13. The Buried Sea (February 2007)
14. Secrets of Faydwer (November 2007)
15. Seeds of Destruction (October 2008).[12]
Servers
The game runs on multiple "game servers",
each with a unique name for identification.
These names were originally the deities of
the world of Norrath. In technical terms,
each "game server" is actually a cluster of
server machines.
Once a character is created, it can only be
played on that server unless the character is
transferred to a new server by the customer
service staff, generally for a fee.
Each server often has a unique community
and people often include the server name
when identifying their character outside of
the game.
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EverQuest
7
Special Rules Servers
Some EverQuest special servers have or had
different rule sets than the "standard" EQ
servers:
• Al’Kabor - The EQMac Server. The EQMac
server is so different from standard EQPC
servers that it counts as a special rules
server. Generally speaking: EQMac is EQ
as it was in October 2002 and as close to
EQ ’classic’ as exists on an official SOE
server. Differences include:
• Original zones: Freeport, Plane of
Mischief, Plane of Hate, EC, Oasis.
• Original spells: generally EQMac spells
have longer cast/recast/fizzle times and
lower damage.
• Original mob graphics.
• The Sleeper still sleeps.
• No mini-map. Old Bazaar.
• Additionally EQMac’s version of the
Planes of Power uses the old non-
nerfed version of the major PoP mobs
and requires that every member of the
raid be ’flagged’ to move on to the next
plane (EQPC currently requires only
85% ’flagging’. Making planar
progression significantly harder than
the current version of EQ PoP.
• Zek - The PvP server. Players can attack
each other with fewer restrictions than
there are on the standard servers. All PvP
servers were merged to populate Zek in
2005, which follows the PvP ruleset of the
original PvP server.
• Firiona Vie (FV) - The "Roleplaying
Preferred" server. FV has a set of rules
more friendly to role-playing. Some rules
make it attractive to non-role-players.
Some argue this defeats the purpose of
having a "Roleplaying Preferred" server.
• Stormhammer - The Legends server. For a
higher fee this server provided a greater
level of in-game customer service. Many
players saw this as a way to charge
players more money for a level of service
which should have existed without the fee.
In December 2005 Sony announced it was
closing the Legends server.
• The Sleeper and The Combine - The
Progression Servers. Initially these only
offered access to the original continents of
Odus, Antonica, and Faydwer. The
continents were (and are) different than
the original, however. Odus includes the
Warrens and Antonica includes
Jaggedpine Forest, though these zones
were added long after the start of the
game. The expansion content available is
determined by the progress of the players
on those servers. The completion of
designated tasks triggers the addition of
later expansions. These tasks may include
defeating specific characters, completing
particular quests, or crafting of certain
items. The Sleeper was eventually merged
into The Combine, which is "opened up"
through the Secrets of Faydwer expansion
as of 26 August 2008[13] With the release
of Seeds of Destruction on 21 October
2008, The Combine server became a
standard rules server.[14] Soon after, Sony
announced that The Combine would be
merged into the Druzzil Ro server on 21
January 2009.[15]
• Discord - Created in December 2003 as a
temporary promotion for the Gates of
Discord expansion set, this server
featured permanent death.[16]
European Servers
Two SOE servers were set up to better sup-
port players in (or simply closer to) Europe:
Antonius Bayle and Kane Bayle. Kane Bayle
was merged into Antonius Bayle.
With the advent of the New Dawn promo-
tion, three additional servers were set up and
maintained by Ubisoft: Venril Sathir (British),
Sebilis (French) and Kael Drakkal (German).
The downside of the servers was that while it
was possible to transfer to them, it was im-
possible to transfer off.
Later on the servers were acquired by
SOE and all three were merged, as Kayne
Bayle had already been, into Antonius Bayle
server.
Controversies, social is-
sues, and game problems
Sale of in-game objects/real
world economics
EverQuest has been the subject of various
criticisms. One example involves the sale of
in-game objects for real currency (often
through eBay). The developers of EQ have al-
ways forbidden the practice and in January
2001 asked eBay to stop listing such auc-
tions. For a time, such auctions were
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
EverQuest
8
immediately removed, which changed market
conditions and allowed a number of special-
ized auction sites to specialize in this new
virtual economy.
Because items can be traded within the
game and also because of illegal online trad-
ing on websites, virtual currency to real cur-
rency exchange rates have been calculated.
The BBC reported that in 2002 work done by
Edward Castronova showed that Everquest
was the 77th richest country in the world,
sandwiched between Russia and Bulgaria and
its GDP per capita was higher than that of
the People’s Republic of China and India.[17]
In 2004, a follow-up analysis of the entire on-
line gaming industry indicated that the com-
bined GDP of the online "worlds" populated
by the two million players was approximately
the same as that of Namibia.[18]
The East Commonlands tunnel was a com-
monly used area for trading, circa 1999
Companies created characters,
leveled
them to make them powerful, and then resold
the characters or specialized in exchanging
money between games. A player could ex-
change a house in The Sims Online for Ever-
Quest platinum pieces, depending solely on
market laws of supply and demand.
Sony officially discourages the payment of
real-world money for online goods, except on
certain "Station Exchange" servers in EQ2,
launched in July 2005. The program facilit-
ates buying in-game items for real money
from fellow players for a nominal fee. At this
point this system only applies to select Ever-
Quest II servers; none of the pre-Station Ex-
change EverQuest II or EverQuest servers
are affected.[19]
Due to the difficulty in learning the role a
specific class plays within a group, and of
learning the best way to fulfill this role,
individuals who purchase high level charac-
ters without prior playing experience are
stereotypically sub-par to those who have de-
veloped characters normally through gaining
experience on-line. Referring to a character
in EverQuest as an eBay character or to an
individual as an "eBayer" are derogatory
comments used to suggest both that an indi-
vidual did not develop his own character and
that he does not know how to play it well.
The 14-day, no-credit-card-required trial
accounts have produced a new set of prob-
lems in this area. Since the sellers of in-game
items and platinum can create new accounts
at will, without cost, the quantity of in-game
spam from some sellers has become a widely
discussed source of annoyance.
Intellectual property and role-
playing
Another well-publicized incident from Octo-
ber 2000, usually referred to as the "Mystere
incident", involved Verant banning a player
for creating controversial fan fiction, causing
outrage among Everquest players and spark-
ing a major industry-wide debate about play-
ers’ rights and the line between roleplaying
and intellectual property infringement. The
case was used by several academics in dis-
cussing such rights in the digital age.[20]
Fans have created the open source server
emulator EQEmu, allowing users to run their
own servers with custom rules. Running such
an emulator is a violation of EQs end user li-
cense agreement and could result in a player
being banned from Sony’s EverQuest servers
if caught doing so. It has not gained the same
popularity as server emulators for Ultima
Online.
Addiction
The game is renowned and berated (by some
psychologists specializing in computer addic-
tion) for its addictive qualities. Many refer to
it half-jokingly as "NeverRest" and "Ever-
Crack" (a reference to crack cocaine).[21] EQ
is very time-consuming for many people, and
there have been some well-publicized sui-
cides of EverQuest users, such as that of
Shawn Woolley. Relationships broken be-
cause of obsessive playing resulted in the
creation of an online support group called
EverQuest Widows and sites like GamerWid-
ow.com. An infamous rant titled "EQ: What
You Really Get From An Online Game"
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
EverQuest
9
appeared on Slashdot
in 2002,[22] and
brought this issue of EverQuest addiction to
the forefront of many message boards across
the Internet.[23]
"EverQuest for Macintosh" For-
um Issues
For several years, a "Everquest for Macin-
tosh" subscription did not allow the sub-
scriber to create posts on the official Sony
"EverQuest for Macintosh" forums. Out-of-
game discussions thus took root at another
location that became an on-line source of in-
formation for technical issues as well as for
the various gameplay and sociological as-
pects that are unique to "EverQuest for
Macintosh" ( http://www.eqmac.com ).[24]
Sociological aspects of
MMORPGs
See
also:
Social
interaction
via
MMORPGs and emergent gameplay
MMORPGs are described by some players as
"chat rooms with a graphical interface". The
sociological aspects of EverQuest (and other
MMORPGs) are explored in a series of online
studies on a site known as "the HUB".[25] The
studies make use of data gathered from play-
er surveys and discuss topics like virtual rela-
tionships, player personalities, gender issues,
and more.
Organized protests
In May 2004, Woody Hearn of GU Comics
called for all EverQuest gamers to boycott
the Omens of War expansion in an effort to
force SOE to address existing issues with the
game rather than release another "quick-fire"
expansion.[26] The call to boycott was rescin-
ded after SOE held a summit to address play-
er concerns, improve (internal and external)
communication, and correct specific issues
within the game.
Prohibition in Brazil
On 17 January 2008, the Juizo da 17-a Vara
Federal da Sec,ao Judiciaria do Estado de Mi-
nas Gerais forbade the sales of the game in
the whole Brazilian territory. The reason was
that the game leads the players to a loss of
virtuousness and takes them into "heavy"
psychological conflicts, because of the game
quests, that can be bad or good.[27]
Characters in the Ever-
Quest storyline
Kerafyrm - The Sleeper
Sleeper at 14%
Kerafyrm, "The Sleeper", is a dragon boss in
the original "The Sleeper’s Tomb" zone.
While sleeping, Kerafyrm is guarded by
four ancient dragons (warders) in "The Sleep-
er’s Tomb". When all four dragons are de-
feated by players and are dead at the same
time, The Sleeper awakes, triggering a ram-
page of death. Kerafyrm travels through and
into multiple zones from The Sleeper’s Tomb
to Skyshrine, killing every player and NPC in
his path. This event is unique in EverQuest,
because it can only occur once on each game
server. Once The Sleeper awakes, neither he
nor the original guardians will ever appear
again on that server, unless the event is reset
by SOE.
As of 12 July 2008, Kerafyrm remains
asleep on both the Al’Kabor (Macintosh) serv-
er and the official Test Server.
Originally intended to be unkillable, SOE
prevented a raid of several guilds on Rallos
Zek server from potentially killing him be-
cause of a potential bug. SOE later apolo-
gized for interfering,[28] and allowed the
players to retry the encounter.
"Kerafyrm The Awakened" appears in the
expansion Secrets of Faydwer as part of a
raid event "Crystallos, Lair of the Awakened"
in the instanced zone of "Crystallos."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
EverQuest
10
EverQuest universe
Since Everquest’s release, Sony Online En-
tertainment has added several EverQuest-re-
lated games. These include:
• Champions of Norrath (PS2--February
2004)
• its sequel Champions: Return to Arms
(PS2, February 2005)
• EverQuest II (PC, MMORPG sequel to
EverQuest--November 2004)
• EverQuest Online Adventures (PS2,
February 2003)
• Lords of EverQuest (PC real-time strategy,
December 2003)
• EverQuest Role-Playing Game (a role-
playing game produced in collaboration
with White Wolf which uses the d20
system).
A line of novels have been published in the
world of Everquest, including:
• Rogue’s Hour, by Scott Ciencin (Oct.
2004)
• Ocean of Tears, by Stewart Wieck (Oct.
2005)
• Truth and Steel, by Thomas M. Reid (Sept.
2006)
• The Blood Red Harp, by Elaine
Cunningham (Oct. 2006)
Film
Sony Pictures and former Marvel Comics
chief creative officer Avi Arad plan to adapt
the game to the big screen with potential re-
lease in 2009 or 2010. Sony has verified that
they are uncertain of when the film will be
released and that 300 writer Michael Gordon
was hired to write the script.[29]
In other media
• In The Simpsons Game, there is an
episode called Neverquest where Homer
and Marge play in a world similar to
EverQuest.
• In The Simpsons episode Marge Gamer,
Marge plays "Earthland Realms", which
resembles various MMORPGs, including
EverQuest.
• In Kim Possible Ron and Bendita get
sucked into a game very similar to
EverQuest.
• In an episode of The Suite Life of Zack and
Cody, Zack and Mr. Moseby become
hopelessly addicted to a game similar to
EverQuest, making references to Paladins,
Wizards and Shadow Knights.
Notes
[1] ^ Marks, Robert (2003). Everquest
Companion: The Inside Lore of a
Gameworld. McGraw-Hill Osborne
Media. ISBN 978-0072229035.
[2] "Announcement of Verant Merger".
Verant. http://www.verant.com.
[3] Stratics Official Game
Lore,http://eq2.stratics.com/content/lore/
lore_toc.php
[4] ^ Bartle, Richard (2003). Designing
Virtual Worlds. New Riders Games. ISBN
0131018167.
[5] "Necromancer Spell Reference". Sony
Online Entertainment.
http://eqplayers.station.sony.com/
goToPage.action?goToPageNumber=1&result=spells
[6] "SOE Everquest page". Sony.
http://everquest.station.sony.com.
[7] Silverman, M. (2006). Beyond fun in
games: The serious leisure of the power
gamer. Concordia University. p. 91.
Quoted in Malone, 2007
[8] "DKP explanation". Guild Afterlife.
http://www.afterlifeguild.org/dkp-
explanation. Retrieved on 2008-12-21.
[9] Rezvani, Jeon (2008). Guild Leadership.
pp. 107, 108. ISBN 9781435739550.
[10]Origin of terms used in WoW Arena play,
http://www.teampandemic.net/features/
81
[11]^ Champions Of Norrath Announcement,
http://championsofnorrath.station.sony.com/
headset.jsp
[12] "Announcement Seeds of Destruction
expansion". Sony Online Entertainment.
http://soepress.com/release.asp?i=220.
[13]Official Everquest News Page,
http://eqplayers.station.sony.com/
[14] "EverQuest Players".
Eqplayers.station.sony.com.
http://eqplayers.station.sony.com/
news_article.vm?id=51155. Retrieved on
2009-03-13.
[15] "EverQuest Players".
Eqplayers.station.sony.com. 2009-01-21.
http://eqplayers.station.sony.com/
news_article.vm?id=51238. Retrieved on
2009-03-13.
[16] "Archived News for December 2003". EQ
Stratics. http://eq.stratics.com/content/
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
EverQuest
11
news/arc11-2003.php. Retrieved on
2009-03-13.
[17] "Virtual kingdom richer than Bulgaria".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/
nature/1899420.stm. Retrieved on
2007-07-05.
[18] "Virtual gaming worlds overtake
Namibia". http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
technology/3570224.stm. Retrieved on
2007-07-05.
[19] "Additional information about Station
Exchange". Everquest II News. Sony.
http://eq2players.station.sony.com/
news_archive.vm?id=466§ion=News&month=current.
Retrieved on 2006-09-13.
[20]cf. Garlick M., "Player, Pirate or
Conducer? A consideration of the rights
of online gamers", Yale Journal of Law &
Technology, 2004-2005.
[21] "EverQuest Lair - Reviews, Platinum, and
Cheats". Gameogre.com.
http://www.gameogre.com/
everquest.htm. Retrieved on
2009-03-13.
[22] "Slashdot | EverQuest: What You Really
Get From an Online Game".
Games.slashdot.org. 2002-12-27.
http://games.slashdot.org/
article.pl?sid=02/12/27/
1748252&mode=flat&tid=127.
Retrieved on 2009-03-13.
[23] "EverQuest: What You Really Get From
an Online Game". Slashdot. 2002-12-27.
http://games.slashdot.org/
article.pl?sid=02/12/27/1748252.
Retrieved on 2006-11-23.
[24] "Index". EQMac.com.
http://www.eqmac.com/forums/
index.php. Retrieved on 2009-03-13.
[25] "Men are from Ogguk. Women are from
Kelethin.". Nick Yee.
http://www.nickyee.com/eqt/
menwomen.html. Retrieved on
2006-09-13.
[26] "GU Comics by: Woody Hearn".
Gucomics.com. 2004-05-26.
http://www.gucomics.com/comic/
?cdate=20040526. Retrieved on
2009-03-13.
[27] "Counter-Strike e EverQuest estao
proibidos no Brasil". UOL. 2008-01-18.
http://jogos.uol.com.br/pc/ultnot/2008/
01/18/ult182u7954.jhtm.
[28] "Developer’s Corner post "The Sleeper
11-17-03"". http://web.archive.org/web/
20031121164036/
eqlive.station.sony.com/community/
dev_view.jsp?id=59485.
[29]Stax, "EverQuest Movie Scoop!", IGN, 5
October 2007.
References
• Malone, Krista-Lee. "Dragon Kill Points:
The Economics of Power Gamers". Games
and Culture (Forthcoming). ISSN
1555-4120. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/
papers.cfm?abstract_id=1008035.
Retrieved on 2008-12-21.
External links
• EverQuest Live (now called EQPlayers):
Official EverQuest News
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EverQuest"
Categories: 1999 video games, EverQuest games and expansions, Interactive Achievement
Award winners, Mac OS games, Mac OS X games, Massively multiplayer online role-playing
games, Windows games, Windows Mobile Professional games, Video game controversies,
Video games with expansion packs, Virtual communities, Computer Role-Playing Games of the
1990s
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