There have been a few posts recently that have turned slightly heated between the retired crowd and the still playing crowd. In light of this, I have decided it is time to discuss in depth the pros and cons of gaming in the way that most of us used to. Given the current population of the boards, with both current and past players still frequenting, this should make for some interesting and hopefully stimulating discussion.

Pros
1. Friendships - This is without a doubt, number one for me. The friendships I made while playing EQ by and large still exist today. I still talk with most of my close friends I made and I still see quite a few. EQ may have been a grind, but the encouraged grouping gave it a social aspect that many gamers lack in their real lives.

2. Cheap entertainment - Overall, internet gaming is a cheap form of entertainment. I know personally when I was young and single, it saved me a lot of money. Yeah, you have to buy an expansion every once in a while and most of us spent plenty of money on computer upgrades while playing, but on the whole, it still was cheaper than spending time at a bar.

3. Personal development - As much as EQ may have taken away from professional development, it also demanded leadership and organization skills that can prove to be invaluable in todays workplace. I know personally my leadership skills benefited from all of the time I spent as guild leader or officer.

Cons
1. Lack of a true social life - Many gamers are introverts as it is. To give them an outlet to completely absorb themselves in thereby avoiding real life contact was detrimental. People need human contact.

2. Poor performance at work - I never got fired, but I know for a fact that my performance during the first few years of EQ wasn't by any means spectacular. I know a lot of people can say the same. Some even took it so far as to actually get fired.

3. Damage to personal lives - I was going to include this in the social aspect, but it really deserves it's own area. I don't have any kind of photographic memory of all of the real life drama that was drug onto the Lanys forums, but I know it was a lot. From people leaving their real life spouses to marry someone they met gaming, fake deaths, naked pictures, etc. There are people that will have left seriously fucked up. Some may have or still may recover, but for others, there will be long lasting permanent damage.

4. Seeing the worst in people - A lot of people took the anonymity that came with EQ as an excuse to be an asshole. Many took it way beyond what I would have believed most people capable of.

5. Health - Sitting in a chair playing EQ isn't exactly the greatest for your health. Neither is lack of sleep. Neither is drinking coffee or soda or smoking cigarettes so you can stay awake for that late night raid. Neither is the general food of choice for most gamers. No time to make something healthy, I might miss a raid! I'll just eat this bag of donuts! I know I personally was guilty of almost all of these things. (Smoking being the one exception, but I made up for it with Pepsi) I gained probably 20 pounds during the time I played EQ heavily. I don't think most people can say that EQ wasn't in some way detrimental to their overall health.

Overall, I wouldn't say that I regret my time spent playing. I know that had I not spent so much time playing, I would have done better at the job I was working at the time, but everything worked out well for me in the end. Share your thoughts and lets discuss!

Well, I know that I took Everquest a bit too seriously, but I don't regret the friendships I made or the people I met via the game (you included, ass! )

Now when I play games, I make sure that I play only during planned times, or on days where I have nothing else going on (granted, my work schedule of 3d*12h leaves copious time off), and I only really play with RL friends.

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

Yep, EQ was really a new phenomenon in gaming. Never before had gamers been tantalized with something that kept them logged on for so many hours, sacrificing time/relationships etc as you mentioned. And since then, a lot of games have tried to give incentives to not play the game that way (as much as they can).

It's hard to say whether it was good or bad, because it was both. I met some of the nicest folks from around this world of ours, but I also met some people who I really could have gone without. I do wish I focused on my career during those years more than playing the game.

I guess it did keep a lot of people out of trouble, people who would be out at the bars getting drunk but instead chose to spend their Saturday nights raiding.

And yeah, the time spent at the keyboard instead of doing anything productive was a poor choice.

Heck, I never eBayed either (didn't believe it was right). Now I kinda wish I would have, so I could have at least gotten SOMETHING productive!

But in a social game like this, you can never discount the friendships made.

Pretty good post, Xan.

I tend to agree with the pros so I won't really say anything about them.

As far as the cons...

1. I don't now and never have given a flying fuck about a "true social life." I'm a friendly guy, I'll strike up random conversations with strangers in public for no real reason other then to make small talk and be friendly, I'm far from a hermit. But I do not ascribe to what seemingly the majority of people seem to think having a social life requires.

2. It only hurt me at work as much as I let it, I made those choices to stay up late and go in late or go in with no sleep at all.

3. I allowed myself to neglect some specific things in a personal relationship aspect, but again, I made those choices.

4. I'm a pretty firm believer that you see the real quality of a person by the actions they take when they can get away with it. Those who sunk to a lower level made that choice, I think that speaks volumes about the person behind the character.

5. I've always had a physical job, and I stay in decent shape. I've never smoked and I don't like coffee, I never was much for trying to use caffinee as a stay awake aid, I just did it. My current diet really isn't any different then it used to be, but again that goes back to being physically active at work so much. My habits really haven't changed except I'm probably getting more sleep.

I don't regret my time playing, I know who my real friends are and I've stuck with them. There are still a bunch of people I'd like to meet face to face because of playing EQ with them. I've maintained a closeness with a lot of EQ friends that I haven't with friends from other places.

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Marauder Harabakc Goat

and this is why you guys should play guild wars

Why?

Because it will bore you into getting off your computer?

None of the pros or cons I mentioned are directly caused by playing games. They are, however, things that I personally experienced or that I observed others experience that I believe would not have existed to the extent they did without EQ. (Or WoW, etc)

Yes, all of the above are related directly to decisions we make. For me, it was a lot easier to make those decisions when I was playing EQ.

Not all of the pros and cons will apply to everyone. A lot of people even have their owns pros and cons which I expected to come out here, but people have instead chosen to judge themselves not on their own criteria after thinking about it, but solely on my own. If you personally haven't been affected by these things, I am willing to bet money that you know of at least one person who was or still is. Those of you from Oryx that have posted I know damn well have seen more than one of the cons if you were even vaguely aware of what was going on around you. 7D and Conquest also had their share of good and bad things, but I haven't seen any of those people post with the exception of Givin and his post didn't address the original topic anyway.

Personally, I regret playing EQ. I never wanted the game really... I thought the concept was neat and mentioned it in passing to my wife who bought it for me. I was hooked almost instantly. I can't really begin to count the ways that my irresponsible gaming negatively impacted my life during the years I played.

Some personalities (like mine) just can't handle that sorta thing. Others deal with it better, and unfortunately, others still, deal with it worse.

The best thing about online gaming is the cheap entertainment and interaction with people, especially if being around "real" people isn't an option or isn't appealing to you. I think it's great for somebody sick, or grossly deformed, or just really anti-social and happy that way.

As for the price - well you can't beat the money per hour entertainment ratio. I think we have all rationalized that one to death.

I also think it did provide a great insight for me into things like economics, leadership, human nature, philosophy, and a few other things I can't think of right now.

The worst part of gaming for me was just my disconnection from the real world. Sure, I went though the real world motions; go to work, have sex, eat food, take a shower... Nobody would know I wasn't really home. My mind, even when not playing the game, was still thinking about the game. I woke up one morning and I was 27 and had lost the last 4 years... I was like, "WTF, wasn't I just 23"?

I dunno, shit could have been worse I suppose. I don't blame the game, just like I don't blame the cigarettes I used to smoke (often while playing the game=). My personality is just easily addicted to addictive things. That's one reason I never buy sweets at the store. If I do buy something, like a pie, I will eat nothing but pie until it is gone; then I will move on to the stupid normal food. Shit, I don't even go into the bakery if I can help it. I am a weak, weak man. People like me should never be allowed to play MMORPGs=) - - or try heroine.

I think a lot more people are like you than would admit Draguun. It takes a big man to admit that something was or is a problem, but a lot of people still playing will never do it.

eq was good for me to find where i needed to go. got me out of a couple of bad relationships and a futureless career path and into a steady drinking habit so all in all i think it was the right thing at the right time

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My previous husband got me hooked in early 2000 and we played together for about a year, he grew bored of the game and I was hooked badly. I didnt level super fast or raided a lot early on i just loved the social interaction there was during the hay day when velious came out.

Years past so fast and now I was raiding and in Planes of Power I would spend 14 hours almost every day playing the game and I almost lost everything I had, and at that point I stop playing all together and life came back to me. Stangley I never got rehooked to Everquest it wasnt there as it was, the people i knew were gone and the guilds that made the server were gone... The final nail in the casket was when the servers were merged.

It came to a head for me I had to cut back and quit all together for over a year.. Played the random RTS or First Person Shooter here and there but nothing overly serious. When World of Warcraft came out and Oryx moved to that game I decided to give a RPG another try, but WoW was different I didnt have to be logged in for hours to accomplish something, hours to grind a dungeon I could just log off when I wanted and thats one of a few reasons I still play it today...

My Life is back in order I have a husband now who supports me in every way, my play time has been cut down to 4 to 6 hours a week and its nice keeps the game fresh for me. If i need to hiatus because I am busy with Real Life it isnt a issue anymore and I am not bothered by it.

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"Creating Havoc and Pie Since 2001!"
My Website: http://www.anthonyhays.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cakvala

Sadly im back into EQ2 (after a year and a half away). Im hitting it nearly as hard as I hit EQ1 back in the day. The big cons I notice are eye strain and carpal tunnel. I write bad code/look at bad maps all day and then come home to read scrolling lines of text for a few hours, sigh.

Here comes my story. I feel bad re-reading it. It's kind of shameful.

One of my guilty pleasures nowadays is that I like to drink a bunch of beer and zone out while playing WoW. I usually like to do it on a Friday or Saturday night after drinkin' at the bar while watchin' the game or going out to eat with family or friends. This happens very rarely though, maybe once a month, if that.

EQ was a different ballgame though. I started playing in 1999 when I was just an obnoxious 16 year old asshole who thrived on the anonymity of the Internet and the game, also impunity that went along with it. I played for about 4 years, so until I was about 20. Zerath and Icecap and Furryfists brought me into it. I remember rolling Malorian up and being stuck in Qeynos for a few days. I deleted him and started in Freeport instead.

Over the years I know that I sacrificed a lot but I also worked from home as a web developer starting around 17, so I kind of was able to do my own thing and that helped rationalize how much time I spent playing. If it wasn't playing EQ it would have been something else that was equally as addictive. It could have been drugs like weed (which I've never smoked, despite people thinking I'm wacked out of my skull) or heavy(ier) drinking, or whatever else...

I did it all though, I smoked, drank 2 liters of soda at my desk constantly, ate really shitty foods like pizza and french fries non-stop, packed on a good 30lbs, zoned out and ignored my wife, often times getting in arguments with her about not wanting to stop playing or come to bed, etc, I stayed up all hours of the night...

Staying up wasn't a huge issue because I made my own schedule anyways, but often times I was so tired during the day that I couldn't play with my daughter or spend time with my wife. I was a real loser, I must admit.

I feel like I missed out on some things because of EQ, but I also enjoyed the social aspects of the game and I still appreciate the community we have here today. I know that being able to work from home and having a pre-school aged daughter was a blessing. Most people would kill for an opportunity like that, and I took advantage of it some times but not as often as I wish I could have now that I'm much busier in comparison. =( I still like a lot of the people I met in Oryx, Conquest, Visions, FL, Auxilium, the list goes on and on, but I mean if I had it to do all over again I probably would have never played and stuck to my PS1 games. There are a lot of great people around here but I'm not sure the sacrifices I made are worth it.

I mean there's not much I can do about it now so I am fine with it, and I am able to enjoy the people around here, because I can't possibly hold a grudge against a video game let alone the people that made it so fun to play. They were all my actions and choices, they were just influenced by something.

I think this may partially be a reason why I'm a pretty confident person now, and often seen as a braggard. I just know that I used to be a huge loser that was the completely stereotypical EQ degenerate nerd. I hate that part of my past, and I'm truly glad that I've moved on to better things and don't have the same vices following me around.

I am a big fan of the saying "The only growth that matters is upward. Like a Redwood tree, not a kudzu vine."

In addition to that, my in game actions earned me a reputation, and I'm still fighting the rep I earned in EQ too on these boards -- while it's not the same one I'm also confronted with another of being a stuck up asshole because when I feel insecure about being a lamer or lame in comparison to someone else, I have to prove that I'm not the same as I used to be, and that only aggrivates things.

Anyhow, current day...

I have members of my family, namely my sister, who play WoW compulsively, and I'm always so negative about MMO's because of how I used to be with them. I mean, I LOVE World of Warcraft. But I hate what it has done to my family. I tell them that it's just an escalator, there's no real winning, it's the same shit just a different day or name. They see me as jaded, I guess. And maybe I am.

My brother-in-law and sister just play a fucking ton. My brother-in-law works from home (telecommuting doing software devel. for a bank or something) and makes good money. So, I have almost zero issues there. I mean he's about 33 and they have no kids, and aren't planning on any, so I mean what else is he gonna do? They also like to cook, watch movies, so that have a fairly normal social life.

The real bone I have to pick is with my sister. She's 27, doesn't have a job, though she should because while he makes good money, it's not GREAT. They could use it. She lost her job in May, and was "searching" for a couple weeks, but then it just kind of stopped being talked about. She also went to college for a couple years outta high school at one of the state universities here in AZ and then one in Utah cuz we moved there, but she stopped going about 2 years into it.

When I see that it just pisses me off because that's a slump that can really demotivate someone from doing anything. I used to talk to her about it but now she just starts saying stuff like "Well yeah I'm just a loser who plays WoW all day..." to offset the thought that she really IS a loser. I mean it's like if she says it first then no one can use it against her. I wouldn't ever pit that against her but I want her to realize that it's a bad spot and I know from experience -- that it can get worse.

Now I'm 24. I play WoW literally like, 2 hours max a week. I have other hobbies, and things that are more important right now. I have nothing against MMOs, really -- I just know their influence they can have on the decisions and choices people make.

Fin.

Skycrasher...

So you got married and had a kid right out of HS?

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Yep, I graduated in May of 2001 and my daughter was born in August the same year. I was 18.

MMO's have never caused me a bit of problem.

Call BS on me I dare you!

Ok you win.

I started like a lot of old schoolers somewhere during 1999. I had just come over from Ultima Online and had only played it a couple weeks (kept getting ganked so like a whiny ass I left)

The game was MUCH more fun than I thought it would be, and I became hooked on it quickly.

Since then I've gained weight, let my health go down the tubes (I'm diabetic now), had a 6 year relationship go to hell (she was even more hooked into gaming than I was, and therefor we had no real home life to speak of)

I can't begin to tell how many times I was going to work with only 3 hours of sleep or less, and yes my work performance suffered heavily.

It finally came to an end one day when I was literally so sick, I had to drive myself to the hospital from work, and the Doctor on duty threatened to put me on lockdown. My blood sugar was through the roof, I'd been sick for at least a year solid, and I woke up every morning wanting to die, but too chickenshit to do anything about it.

When I came home that night, I decided it was time to take my life back, and that is exactly what I did.

The first thing was I took every can of soda pop I had, diet or regular and I chucked them. I left the drinks that she and the kids liked because if I wasn't strong enough to do this on my own then I deserved whatever happened to me. I went to the store and bought about 5 24 packs of water and brought them home.

6 months later and 72 lbs lighter I was off every single med I was taking. Glucovance, Effexor, Prilosec, Lipitor, Lisinopril, Claritan, plus a few others. My blood sugar was being completely regulated by diet, I had more energy than ever before...and I decided that as fun as EQ was, there is a HELL of a lot more to life than just that.

Unfortunately my fiancee did not see it the same way. She was still content to play the game all day, and night, and it was still completely taking over her life. I tried and tried to work through things with her, no matter what, whether it be me or her kids that game came first. Finally after truly feeling like in my heart I did everything I could to make it work, I had to walk away..and I did. That was the toughest thing I've done in my life and nearly 3 years later there are still times it hurts like hell. Ultimately though it was the best thing I could have done for both of us, as it's the one thing that pushed her to take an active role in her childrens lives, and be the mother I knew she could and should be.

I've learned a lot in the past 8 to 9 years..and I've learned a lot the hard way. I blame no one but myself for what I did, and I'm proud to say that I did turn my life around and am doing better health wise and job wise (this will be my 8th year at this company) than ever before.

I still play games..I still enjoy them very much. I've even been playing EQ a little. The difference is, I now play a game for what it is meant to be, a relaxing sidestep of reality. I tend to get bored easily, and when that happens I walk away, if I'm not having fun I quit playing and come back another day when I feel like it. My life belongs to me, and I still do what I want, when I want...the only difference is I use a little common sense in deciding what I want.

Since those days I'm still down in my weight, still doing much better health wise, have a pretty good job, and I'm engaged to the most wonderful woman I could ever ask for. My life is far from perfect, but I have to say I think it turned out quite alright..and I'll never forget the friendships I made in this game and the great times I had while playing (a good number of those in 7D and FL).

Elemynt Fyrestorm

Good things I took away from EQ:
- I met a couple people who I'm still friends with
- These boards

Bad things I took away from EQ:
- Dropping out of college
- Alienating most of my friends and a fair share of my family
- Fucked up wrists
- Loss of social skills
- Debt

I started playing EQ my first semester in college, and it was fucking awesome. I'd been pretty into MUDs in the past, so when I saw EQ I freaked - here was a huge, graphic MUD with thousands of players on ALL THE TIME. My roommate (who introduced me to EQ) had his desk right next to mine, so we'd spend whole weekend afternoons logged in together, wrecking shop from Crushbone to Highkeep and beyond.

For a while it was cool, but of course I started spending more and more time jacked in and less and less time in class. One thing led to another, and after my 3rd semester I got a nice friendly letter from the administration inviting me to take some time off to sort my shit out... and then came the dark times. For about a year, I was unemployed, lived alone, and spent basically every waking hour playing EQ. I didn't gain much weight because I was broke, and the little cash I made went to paying the rent and my EQ subscription. But I became pretty much nocturnal and only left my apartment for the occasional trip to the grocery store to buy some rice and pasta. Of course, eventually the bank realized I was no longer in school and came looking for the student loan cash I'd borrowed, so I had to come up for air. I wish I could say I voluntarily kicked EQ, but really my computer was wrenched out of my clammy pre-arthritic hands by sheer financial necessity.

I'm an introvert to begin with, but after spending a year+ in isolation, my social skills were proper fucked. I think that was the hardest thing to reassemble when I started getting my shit back together. I honestly felt like a kid again, like I had to be re-socialized, to figure out what was normal and what was not. Three years after quitting EQ, I can say that I'm just about back to the level of social skills I had when I was 17.

So now I'm wrapping up college in a mediocre state school (I started out at one of the top maybe 5 schools in my field in the world), I've made some new friends and made some inroads into reestablishing the friendships I pissed away during the EQ years. I still owe my parents the student loan $$, but otherwise I'm just about back on my feet financially.

Do I blame EQ? Nah. It's like Draagun said - some people handle MMORPGs better than others. I wish I could be a casual gamer, but that's just not me. When I get into games like this, I want to be the best, period. And I was on top for a while in EQ... it was cool, but certainly not worth the staggering time commitment it required. So I guess I could add one more thing to the "Good things I took away from EQ" list: the sure knowledge that MMOs are my krpytonite.

I'm glad some of you opened up about it... It is probably one of the more personal things we talk about because it's like pointing a huge spotlight at our weakness and is not a very proud moment in our lives. I've always been ashamed of myself in those years. It is especially hard now when I see people doing what I did. Some of you have the same experience with your friends and relatives. I feel like a hypocrite saying anything, but I want to protect them from the same mistakes I made.

Heh, yeah, it did feel kind of good to take a big cathartic enema all over the board.

Welcome to R&R, a.k.a. Gameaholics Anonymous.

I'm not trying to preach though - I'm sure most people can balance gaming and life. Just not me

A lot of people cant balance gaming life and real life its scary... Look at Japan and China they use it as a form of income.

But at least most of us have learned a lesson from our gaming addiction!

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"Creating Havoc and Pie Since 2001!"
My Website: http://www.anthonyhays.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cakvala

To understand my story you'll need to understand my life situation at that point.

It was 1999. I was wrenched from my hometown, losing all my friends, torn from the city life and settled in a small village in rural Quebec. During this, my father became a quadriplegic as a result of a car accident. I wasn't able to be away from home for more than 4hrs at a time, due to his home care needs. He died a year or two later. And further, I did not identify with anyone at the rural high school I went to during those years, so I had problems finding common ground for friendships.

It was in the midst of all that that I fell into Everquest. It was an escape from hell. I became detached from reality for awhile, relying almost entirely on the game for social interaction. Losing a guild, for instance, became like losing your only friends. Someone who has not gone through this would ridicule a person for such feelings, and a big -fuck you- to them. But we all eventually learn from our mistakes, thankfully.

Wrenching myself away from the beast permanently required a change in life circumstances. Getting out of a rut, moving away to a city again, and continuing my education.

Pros? I avoided suicide during those years. Some of you cynical bastards will shed a tear at that lost possibility, I have no doubt. The cons are endless.

Regardless, it became a crutch to lean upon. That isn't healthy in the long term.

I wrote a large rant about why I hated EQ. About 20,000 people read it on Slashdot, and over a thousand commented. When anyone asks about EQ I point to that. That's all I'll say about it anymore.

i had forgotten that dolalin.. you still have that laying around somewhere?

to understand what happened to killer you gotta understand who killer the dog WAS

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good read thanks =)

emo on the internet: 20,000 people know what a tortured soul i am

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I have all these soul crushing stories about how video game ruined my life but it is with Pokémon not everyquest. Yeah, the world of norrath was just my escape from kanto and johto the only place where I coudl play a game and not be obsessed with cathing them all and then breeding them for perfect dvs and getting the current movesets for metagame. Well, for that reason everquest me is just a fond memory of a game and I don't regret none of it, maybe be cause I didn't have the social investment that some of you nerds had. I just played it as a game, amd then moved into my life and other things.

Pretty much I'm a EQ success story where I might be interviewed in a magazine? I domn't know.

i had the same problem but my addiction was horsez.

horsez destoryed my life

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I wouldn't ridicule that. I remember when I was pushed out of Magicks Gambit years ago, and I don't think "devastated" would be an overstatement.

Hehe while in Japan I was introduced to and was instantly addicted to UO. Played the HELL out of it. PCS'd to North Carolina and a friend introduced me to EQ. I wanna say march of 2000 Larreth Wolfsong the druid was born. I'd come home every night and play till the sun was rising, sleep a few hours and go to work. I lived in the same dorm as Distyld and Bannefin and Samwen. We'd skip out on barbecues, nights out with the guys etc to grind our asses off leveling. I still remember going into Dist's room and he'd been up since friday afternoon (this was sunday night) with him madly clicking away still. Even then after hours of kiting dinos or whatever, my hands would be tingling like crazy..a lovely precurser to future pain lol.

Kind of wandered around EQ from Heralds of Destiny, to RoTA, to Dark Trinity and finally to Fallen Legacy. From an EQ perspective FL was a dream come true. Finally I'd see end game content and the kind of gear previously only seen on Soul Assassins and similar guilds. Also, so began the amazing amount of hours I'd put into EQ. I had recently gotten out of the Airforce and had a chunk of $ to live on while I looked for a job and setup school. Since I wasn't working at the time it wasn't uncommon to log in at 2:30 in the afternoon and log off around 6am. Such were the demands of the top raid guild on the server. I don't think Givin ever logged off in those days either lol. He'd be on talking smack at 7am, noon, midnight..etc. Accomplishments in EQ meant so much when nothing was really going on IRL, mostly due to the fact that I was logged into a virtual world almost more than I was logged out. If I wasn't logged into EQ I was planning in my head what I was going to do WHEN I logged in, be it farming, raiding, AA's..etc. Started getting to the point where I'd have an icepack sitting on my free hand because it had started to feel like I had broken glass embedded in my knuckles. It didn't really change when I started working again either. I'd get out at 11pm and play till I could hear morning birds outside my window..

It's funny to have real nostalgia for a world that never existed lol. I still remember my UO house and the stuff in it. I remember the raids where we'd spent 20 minutes screaming for Leo to wake up, the back and forth banter between FL and visions. Xianle, Poe, Shutter. The board drama, Trak is FFA, Anathae etc. It all came to a crashing and abrupt halt the day Tali decided to bone everyone not on his elite super buddy list and split the guild down the middle for his visions merger. I recall going to the list of the folks getting booted from the guild they helped bring to it's current status and scrolling down till I saw my name among a bunch of others. Was probably the worst day in the 4 or so years I played eq; I just stared at my name on the list with a wtf kind of expression for a good long while. I think what sucked the most about it was that the very guildies who'd supported one another through all the crazy shit FL did suddenly were dead silent, afraid to say anything lest they be added to the list. That was pretty much the end of eq for me then and there because FL had been so far ahead of the curve it was like rewinding a year of content and starting over. Screwed around on a few alts and called it quits.

Before leaving the game completely I had done /played on my 2 main characters and was shocked to the core that I had played long enough to have literally sat at the computer without moving or logging out for something like 2 full years. 2 full years in a world that doesn't exist with people at their best and worst. Even with the all the crap that went on in eq, I've STILL never found a game with the community, personalities and whatnot the lanys folks brought to it. I'd like to think we are all friends on some level simply because of this tie, even if most of us have never, will never meet lol. Watching these boards inevitably dwindle in traffic has been hard lol...it's still a daily view for me.

Would I do it again knowing what I know? Yeah...probably. I've been playing games since the Atari 2600 but I think that I'd go about it in a much much more casual way if I could do it again.

I miss the Lanys community and all that entails I think more than anything else in gaming. Wow's community is just horrible beyond description. When Wow first came out I'd sincerely hoped I'd see a WoW lanys server where we'd migrate to, but that initial rush of signups killed any hope for that lol.

I wish WoW had AA's like were introduced in SoL. In WoW I feel like I'm playing for no other reason that gear. It'd be nice to see some form of alternate advancement besides leveling when an expansion hits. =(

I for one, am really glad they don't have the equivalent of AAs. In EQ, I thought they got way out of hand.

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Kuwen Furyblades
Hunter of Memento Reejeryn
Champion of Faydark

Sure, maybe in the 2003+ years. AA's 2001-2002 were fine.

One way I found to kick my EQ habit back when was....I stopped referring to it as grinding or killing mobs and started calling "deleting files off a server in san diego". It sounds way less fun that way. "What you do the other night?" "Oh I paid good money to delete files off a server in san diego for a few hours"

us dollars is not good money don't you watch the news

also you aren't deleting files

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remember when eq was $9.89?

that was very clever

i still think it'd be worth it at $10 a month, but not 15

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I beg to differ sir. I was most definitely not silent.

Binkee, what in the hell is wrong with you?

You mean Visions plus 10, not Fallen Legacy.



I chose not to address it on purpose.

I was never in the "in" clique. I never had a desire to be. I showed up, I raided. I grinded just like everyone else, and participated in the day to day goings on of any social order. My experience is not unique and honestly not worth mentioning.

It was a hobby, nothing more. And just like any other hobby, I'm sure it got in the way of things here or there. But in the end, if I have to give justification like everyone seems to think, the knowledge and interests I developed about how the things are run are much more important to me than the casual interaction I had with virtual people.

I took away from those games experiences that I am today using to get an education and develop for future generations who want to game in mmorpgs. Why? Because any hardware field is about as dead as you can get it and this is still an arm of the software engineering sector that is expanding rapidly.

Trying to justify or rationalize the time we have spent playing these games is dumb. What is done is done. I'll just remember personally the good and bad times I shared with some internet acquaintances back then, not friends, and discuss it amongst those I feel closer with today.

Well I think I kinda got off easy with this comparatively speaking.

For the most part I never really got sucked in too bad, and I left way back in the day shortly after Luclin was launched. There was a time when all I wanted to do was play, it lasted somewhere around 6 months or so. That's when I did most of my leveling to 60. I dropped out of university during this time (and am kicking myself to this day for doing so and finishing up my degree part time). EQ was a big factor in that (but not the only factor). So during that time I did what a lot of people had did. Sat around all day everyday unemployed and played EQ pretty much all day every day, living off credit.

I never really had to "break the habit" so to speak, the game just kinda lost interest to me. After the relationship I was in dissolved (there was definitely some in-game drama there too as she played as well) I kinda booted around between a few other guilds, was in MW for awhile, and then TCC came back and played with them for awhile. When TCC slowed dwindled down it just got boring.

I don't regret playing EQ at all, and I'm definitely still playing games. I played EQ2 for a good year and a half in a hardcore raiding guild and managed to balance school full time (at that point), a relationship and a somewhat active social life (which is all I really need, going out with friends once a week or so is fine with me, I don't need to be around others all day long every day) with no problems. Now I'm playing WoW with Oryx since they re-rolled and having a good time with that while working and going to school part time and still maintaining a fairly active social life (in fact at times I would say it's more active then I'd like lol). WoW is a whole different breed of game as I don't think anyone would argue. I would never play a game that required the time commitment of EQ again - but at the same time I don't regret my time there either.

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-Rileigh (aka Golliwog)

Good post Xan, that pretty much sums up gaming.

The worst about the late night raids for me was all the beer I had to drink to keep awake, killer if you had to work the next day.

I still game, but can't commit the time I used to for raiding, and raiding was one of the most fun things to do.

The social aspect of the online games is the best though, just started playing eve-online and meeting new people.

Damn though I missed all those nights we spent in the basement of ssra farming those shards, those were the days eh'.

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Jake Rivers - Senex Legio
Get off my Lawn alliance

LOL all this nostalgia makes me want to play again but just like when I tried to go back to UO....its just not remotely the same as it wasn't the game..it was the people that made it what it was.

Still have this tho...found it on (you'll love this) a damn 250 Meg Zip drive I had collecting mothballs. Pacific server back in like umm...1998. Goddamn has it really been almost 10 years? Life goes too fast.

i suffer from a series of made up personality disorders (i really dont)

it's just that rapidly fakeposting is considerably more interesting to me these days than having real life internets relationships because i have enough crap going on during my 19-hour day (work full time, school full time, studying for the series 7) that it's a lot easier to chillax in the fortress of lolitude than actually be sincere (ps i've been almost totally sincere itt)

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I play on a free UO shard. You can download the Ultima Online Mondain's Legacy client for free off download.com.

The website for the shard is http://www.uoex.net if any of you are interested in playing and have questions let me know.

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Marauder Harabakc Goat

Interesting post...

I played EQ back in beta... With my IRL friend (the real Dashkast), he let me use his account when he wasnt playing and i was hooked instantly... Luckily i had something like 7hours a week for high school work, so i had plenty of time to play. I was that perma-n00b... I think i had a few chars, none of which were over level ~20... Was pretty awesome the first few months to be the first to level 17, and the first to purchase a chain BP with cash...

Time went by and Lanys opened up. I still stayed perma newb status for quite some time until things picked up. I aquired the Dashkast account(at the ripe level of 52) and there started my EQ Career... By this time i had joined the Marines and was mostly single. He had made quite a few friends in his time so through that I ended up being welcome in many places.

Joined Dark Trinity and for some reason my short stint there ended with Hess saying in guild chat, "Some members arent pulling their weight, Larreth(blah blah blah)". I was surprised at reading this and it was interesting as he was farming something at that moment for the guild. I took off from DT...

Was like instantly approached i think by Kaylain(?) and invited to Fallen Legacy.

This was the highlight of the EQ time i spent... I did all the 'high end' raiding, and met a TON of great people. I will never forget most of the people I met in FL or a lot of the times we had. There were just so many that were awesome. It was amazing to me how hard it was for DT (with more people) to do content, but with FL we just breezed through stuff.

I will always remember Nimloth as a god among necros for his time. He organized all the necro-things and I think i learned more about the game and class from him during this time than I have since.

After I started dating heavily and my life started becoming slightly more complicated... I left FL, I felt horrible for leaving but at the same time i was starting to feel guilty for not putting in the hours everyone else had. I also was quite a bit of the low-man on the totem pole, and i did some things which in the end proved somewhat useless to the raid(like logging all damage to a mob while FD under him). I think some people noticed this stuff, and it kinda hurt to hear the shit going on behind my back. But no big deal, i owned up and left.

Then just after I heard FL was disbanded and that visions debacle... That was some real shit right there, even though i was no longer in the guild, i couldnt believe the merger and loss of so many of the major players. I have to stick with Larreth on this one, that FL got the short end of the stick and we were far ahead of them in many aspects only to move backwards.

Fast forward to current times... I still play, regularly. I enjoy the game thoroughly. But my time is limited to 6-10 hours a week, and thats the high average. I spend most of my time playing before/after work, and when my kids are n't around, but i dont raid or spend copious amounts playing and whatnot.

All in all, i dont regret playing as much as i did. It never really had an effect on what I did or had IRL, i am, was and probably always will be mostly introverted, but it never kept me from getting a girlfriend, keeping a job, or making sure my kids were taken care of. It mostly saved me money. I met a shit-ton of great people whom i still keep in touch with. I have a lot of great memories. And now i feel like an old man on the server, helping out the poor newbs with all their bajillion questions. Believe it or not theres still quite a few around.

I had a EQ server running for some time and also had a UO server up. While fun, they seem to get old without the hundreds/thousands of other people there to keep you company...

I'm sure I'll ramble through this like I do all my other posts so be warned..

I truly enjoyed Everquest. The environment, the gameplay, the social networking, the tactics and the competition were all enjoyable. The problem was (and is) I'm too competitive and yet I was also aware of the time I was spending in game hampering my work and my relationship with my gf. Those things cannot all coexist. I tried to play with more responsibility (less time) but I just fell behind all my guildmates, all my friends, my gear, which was crap already, was getting worse.. It was too frustrating and I couldn't be who I wanted to be in game. So, I decided to be the person I wanted to be outside of it instead.

I'm glad I played the game but I'm even more glad I quit. I wish I could play it a few hours a day but I'm mature enough now to realize I cannot do ithalfway; I either have to be good or I cannot enjoy it. I have made several friends that I still maintain contact which is well worth the years I spent playing.

A 'con' I have yet to see: I think playing these games really keeps you on the forefront of technology because you are in an environment where new technologies are always spoken about.

Agreed.

I never got into Everquest hardcore like many of the regulars which is why I knew none of you in game. I did enjoy reading all your drama on the boards though long before I became a regular poster. I even wrote an English paper about argument on Xan's Trakanon is ffa thread and got an A+.

I was turned off by all the bullshit timesink activities required(Surcam the druid only reached 48 pre-luclin), which is why Warcraft suits my casual gaming needs far better.

I'm still curious who Xan was trying to call out.

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Marauder Harabakc Goat

When?

He was totally calling me out.

No he wasnt.

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"Creating Havoc and Pie Since 2001!"
My Website: http://www.anthonyhays.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cakvala

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Marauder Harabakc Goat

I was simply pointing out that a few people from Oryx had posted and a couple of them seemed to disagree with the cons.

Good post Xantheus, and interesting responses.

For the most part EQ and WoW was a waste of time for myself, but that was the point. I still think it beats the hell out of watching TV to pass the time. I've stayed up later than I should have playing either game on numerous occasions, but I've done the same with TV or shooting pool, for example, back in my younger days. I wouldn't make it out to be more than the pastime it was.

If you had a lack of a 'real' social life, performed like shit at work, damaged personal relationships with friends and family, and suffered from health issues...those are hardly the fault of the game (or gaming) itself. You choose to play the game to the extent that caused the aforementioned issues so you've got nothing (or no one) else to blame but yourself. No one sat with a gun to your head telling you to play the game. Since any game is just that, a game, you have the ability to put it down at any time you wish. Throw out the 'addiction' excuses if you like, but that doesn't change the fact that (like everything) moderation and keeping your priorities straight can prevent all 4 of those issues.

The only point I will 100% agree with is seeing the worst in others. Sadly, mask of anonymity is open to anyone who uses the internet and reaches far beyond the realm of MMO players. Think of every message board, every chat room, every online game...chances are a good majority of people act differently online then they do in real life. Just like Role Playing Games allow you to assume the role of a 'character', the internet is very similar to a lot of people.

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That's why this is all bullshit. Personal accountability is curiously missing.

Post-hoc ergo propter hoc. 'N stuff.