EverQuest was the rise new MMO's. EverQuest was the start of the modern MMO as we know it today. It was one of the first successful 3D MMO's that introduced the aspects such as the currency system and the leveling system that are now in all MMO's. EverQuest (EQ) was released in Spring of 1999, and has had 19 expansions since. EverQuest is owned by Sony and has had a successful following since release. When EverQuest was released it surpassed the MMO Ultima Online, partly because of the graphics system, but really because of all the difficulties that players had when leveling, this increased interaction with others and group play to another level.
EverQuest was the created by people who used to played MUD's and they specifically tried to create that game around things that weren't possible in text based worlds. In addition they made it as addictive as possible, giving it the nicknames, EverCrack and NeverRest. EverQuest was one of the first games that introduced interactive raiding, which is a boss that is faced and completed with cooperation between multiple people. Really though, it was because of the increase in strength of the Non-Computer Players (NPC's), they increasing got harder as the game progressed. From this graph on the right (compiled by wolfs head online) it shows that as a player reached the half point in levels the game was just starting. It opened the gates so that it would be a better option to work with groups, this is what introduced guilds. Guilds are a place for players to interact with others who have a common goal. Some guilds being casual, and some guilds being hardcore and having requirements and applications, these guilds helped people progress through the game and made it easer to interact with others and to find groups. It added a social aspect to an anti-social world.
If you would like more information on EverQuest's past read an article by http://www.wolfsheadonline.com/
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