There was a very cool video game doco on here in Australia last nite called' Just a game'

had coverage of Lan events, tournaments and of course discussion on video game violence

They also covered the social aspect of videogaming

The game Everquest was mentioned and that some people playing the game had got so deeply involved in the game, that the game was more important than anything else. They also mentioned characters changing hands for thousands of dollars in real money!

is this game EVerquest really all that ?

Only if it is cited as a partial reason for divorce.

I used to play it a couple of years back. It has changed so much since the beginning, but it is still addicting once you get into it. Yes, people have sold their characters for alot of money. They even have their own web site for selling characters and equipment. I stopped playing because I hated paying $13 a month for a game.

I've played but I can't see how people get so into it. I've gotten addicted to all kinds of dumb stuff but I didn't enjoy this game for too long.

I really want to get into a a game like this because I think it would be fun to meet folks and play with them but this game didn't do it for me.

I found it was mainly the social aspect that kept me coming back. However, alot of the times my good friends would never be on, and they eventually quit the game, so I decided to just quit also. I got tired of fighting mobs solo all the time.

The nature of the game does make it quite addictive.

When you first log on and play, there is a huge rush. The world seems so big and full of possibilities. There's an endless amount of things to do. That rush goes away after a while, but you keep playing to try and recreate that feeling.

Also, you can't just log in, play for a few minutes, and log out. To sit and play takes an enormous time committment. And a lot of that time won't even be spent playing...it'll be travelling around, getting a group together, that sort of thing.

Yes

I played for 3 years, yes it can be very addicting. I haven't played in a year so dunno how it has changed. EQ ruled my life for a long time, gave up a lot of stuff to play it. In the end it wasn't worth it. Because of EQ I'll never touch another mmorpg again heh.

Groucho is right, that's exactly what happened to me when I first played. It's a fun game (well it was before, it may be less fun now, I dunno) and if you never played it, I'd give it a try. Just make sure you have $$$ to spare, and patience.

Does anyone play Ultima Online anymore? That was the first big MMORPG, wasn't it? In people's opinion, what was better - EverQuest or UO - and why?

Now all I hear is Ragnarok, a MMORPG from Korea. How does this one stack up?

I'm all for a good MMORPG, although the only one I've played is Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast. I'm just waiting for the one "must-play" game. I was going to try FFXI but I got turned away when everyone said the combat wasn't great and it was too hard to get two friends on the same server.

Looks like True Fantasy Live Online might be good.

Jeremy

The only one I've ever played was Ragnarok, and only for a few hours. A friend of mine plays it all the time.

I don't get it. MMORPGs are all about constantly levelling up. It's fun for a little while until you realize how much time you'll be wasting to be able to do some really basic thing. MMORPGs move at a crawl.

I used to play Ragnarok too. It was fun for awhile because it was free, and I mainly played because my friends were playing it. But you do realize after awhile that the entire point of the game is to gain levels. Supposedly they were supposed to add some sort of tournament and quests but never did probably won't. It gets old. But once you see some of the cool stuff some of the high level players have and can do youl'l have an urge to get that stuff, its really strange. Anyway, since Ragnarok became a pay service, it's not worth playing anymore. They hardly ever update the game compared to its native versions and the game has tons of bugs and flaws. When they do update, its just another area to get levels, joy! I find it hard to believe that people actually pay a monthly fee for that.

Stay away from Everquest too, if you value you grades, job, wife, car, heck even your life! I've never played it and I probably will never because I'm afraid of getting addicted.

mmorpgs rock! well at least the star wars one. everybody knocks it, but i've made alot of great friends on there and unlike everquest, once you attain a master level at a profession you're as equal as the other masters in that profession. you can just pick up another profession if you get bored. there are 32 jobs you could try (i think 32). but anyways, yes, they are addicting because you're part of an economy and the things you create, kill, heal, mine, buy, sell, etc., affect everyone in the game. and just knowing that principle/premise makes me come back for more.

I couldnt stand the damn game. I picked up an account once back when the basic game was made a free download for the first month. One weekend I played for about 15-20 hours, so I think I have a fair idea what the game is like.

A: The interface sucks ass. The manual sucks ass. The game just kind of throws you out there and expects you to know what the hell you're suppose to do. I spent the first couple of hours wandering around trying to just figure out the stupid game - if I wasnt as dedicated as I was, I would have pulled the plug on the whole damn thing.

B: You dont actually DO anything! Whoo hoo! I get to poke a rat with a stick again and again and again until I get to the next level - then I get to poke a slightly bigger rat with a slightly bigger stick again and again and again.

BoooRRRRRing!

Oh and lets not forget the fact that these rats would kick my ass on a regular basis about 50 percent of the time. Now, I am no trained warrior - I've never touched a sword in my life. But even *I* - in real life - could kill a rat 99.9999981 percent of the time without any sort of injury to myself. Hell, I'm pretty sure I could whup the ass of a small to medium sized dog without fear of death. And this trained warrior cant do the same?

Oh - and then there was the time I got lost just outside of town and ran out of food and water. No, this time I didnt get killed by a rat - this time I slowly starved to death.

Yeah, that was real fun.

C: And the multiplayer aspect? People were consistantly rude to even the simplest questions. Telling someone to "Get lost Newb" is a REAL good way to keep people around playing this lame ass game. Thanks for all the help guys. If I want childish behavior, I'll go play Q3 where I can at least pay you back for your 'kindness' with a rail gun to the head.

In short - the game sucks major ass. Stay as far away from it as you can.

It's pretty fun after u play long enough to get to the point where you start organizing raids of 50+ people to take down dragons or gods. The other addicting factor is just getting stronger and getting better equipment. I guess you can call it the Sims factor. I quit Everquest long time ago mainly because the 'guild' I was with which I had many real life friends died off.

But now I play Final Fantasy XI and I enjoy it alot more. The other one I played was Dark Age of Camelot. Instead of getting stronger to take down the dragons and stuff, this game has its main focus of taking down other players. A great PvP aspect, taking control of areas, is also very addicting to some.

Well the game has changed so much. They made it easier for newbies, and your items remain with you until level 10 now instead of always going on your corpse.

Well you can use magic, and there is a certain strategy to know when to cast spells, or when to kick, bash, etc. It's not as boring as you say it is.

You can't die from running out of food, so I really am curious to how you pulled it off.

Well, people are rude, but people hate n00bs because they beg for money and items. If you go up to a person and ask for help or a few general questions, 90% of the time, you will get it.

And as for paying people back for kindness, EQ has duels. If someone pissed you off, level up, and challenge them.

I use to play this game when it first came out,I dont play any more and moved on with my life,but let me tell you this game had me hooked like crack does crackheads(the game is called EverCrack to those who have played it).

I quit my job,broke it off with my girlfreind,lost my social life all in a 8 month period just because of this game,nothing else,it was a miserable experience after I quit and realized that this game was made on purpose to suck you in for that 10 bucks a month,this game is not worth the trouble it causes.

Oh I dont know - 15 hours of sleep inducing gameplay proved that it was as boring as I said it was.

I didnt die - but since the game was telling me that I was going to - I kept getting the "You are tired and thirsty" message every 15 seconds - I thought I was. At that point, I said F' it. That was the straw that broke my back - I bailed out of the game, uninstalled and never looked back.

So I wouldn't have died? The game was sure as hell giving me that impression.

No - I wasnt begging, just asking simple basic stuff - like trying to figure out the game. I got shat on more in that weekend (or just outright ingored) that I've seen in my whole Halflife career.

As for the payback - where's the fun in going away, getting a high enough level and then coming back to put the smackdown on them?

[homer]"A 7 day waiting period? But I'm angry NOW!"[/homer]

In my opinion, Everquest is one of the most boring games I've ever played. It is, nonetheless, horribly addictive. I don't really know why--most of the time you do the same thing over and over in hopes of leveling up. When you do get to the raid stage, there are elements of fun, but that is when it really gets time consuming.

My favorite part about raids was waiting for 5 hours for the other 50+ people that you are raiding with only to get killed and have to wait hours for a rez,and this is all before we fight a boss,12 hours later we beat him to get 2 items no one needs.

It all really depends on the social aspect. No matter how fun the game is, if you don't have some friends that play, it's boring.

And no, you cannot die from starvation (except maybe in real life when you don't eat because you're camping a rare spawn lol) the "you are out of food and drink" messages are a way to tell you that your stamina and other attributes are decreasing. You'll get very weak eventually, but you'll never die. Food in the game is so easy to come by, I am surprised you ran out.

Food is free in this game,run up to anyone and they will give you some,Mages can cast food and water for free,you can also have Rangers dig it out of the ground for you also.

I have played similar games to everquest, mmorpgs that is. I played Dark Age of Camelot for awhile, and *shutters* Star Wars Galaxies. I can attest to DAOC's addictiveness. If you get into the game you get obsessed with getting the next level/ability and improving your character with items. For me I did this all for the pvp, for others its the social aspects. You don't even realize how tedious some of the tasks you are performing are. I agree those who say the time factor isn't worth it, the game basically became my life for 3 months. I think I was subconsciously trying to lose my ex-girlfriend by getting into this game though.

That's awesome.

I had a friend in college who was highly involved with our fraternity during his first semester he was in the house.

He got Evercrack during the summer and that's all he would do, save going to class and sleeping.

It was terrible to watch someone who was so involved with wanting to be a leader and working hard for his friends suddenly become addicted to a stupid game.