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EverQuest
EverQuest is a 3D fantasy-theme | GamePro = 5 / 5 | GameRev = A- | GSpot = 8.4 / 10 | IGN = 8.4 / 10 | PCGUS = 86% }}
Reviews of Everquest were mostly positive upon release in 1999, earning an 85 out of 100 score from aggregate review website Metacritic.
Awards
Everquest was named GameSpot's 1999 Game of the Year in its Best & Worst of 1999 awards, remarking that "Following EverQuest's release in March, the whole gaming industry effectively ground to a halt [...] At least one prominent game developer blamed EverQuest for product delays, and for several weeks GameSpot's editors were spending more time exploring Norrath than they were doing their jobs." GameSpot UK would also rank the title 14th on its list of the 100 Best Computer Games of the Millennium the following year, calling it "a technological tour de force" and "the first online RPG to bring the production values of single-player games to the online masses." The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences named EverQuest their Online Game of the Year for 1999, and was included in Time Magazines Best of 1999 in the "Tech" category. Entertainment Weekly would include the game in their Top Ten Hall of Fame Video Games of the '90s, calling its virtual world "the nearest you could get to being on a Star Trek holodeck." In 2007, Sony Online Entertainment received a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for EverQuest under the category of "Development of Massively Multiplayer Online Graphical Role Playing Games".
Controversies
Sale of in-game objects/real world economics
The sale of in-game objects for real currency is a controversial and lucrative industry with topics concerning issues practices of hacking/stealing accounts for profit. Critics often cite how it affects the virtual economy inside the game. In 2001, the sales of in-game items for real life currency was banned on eBay.
A practice in the real-world trade economy is of companies creating characters, powerleveling them to make them powerful, and then reselling the characters for large sums of money or in-game items of other games.
Sony discourages the payment of real-world money for online goods, except on certain "Station Exchange" servers in EverQuest II, launched in July 2005. The program facilitates buying in-game items for real money from fellow players for a nominal fee. At this point this system only applies to select EverQuest II servers; none of the pre-Station Exchange EverQuest II or EverQuest servers are affected.
In 2012, Sony added an in-game item called a "Krono", which adds 30 days of game membership throughout EverQuest and EverQuest II. The item can be initially bought starting at $17.99 USD. Up to 25 "Kronos" can be bought for $424.99 USD. Krono can be resold via player trading, which has allowed Krono to be frequently used in the real-world trade economy.
Intellectual property and role-playing
Mystere incident
On October 2000, Verant banned a player by the name of Mystere, allegedly for creating controversial fan fiction, causing outrage among some EverQuest players and sparking a debate about players' rights and the line between roleplaying and intellectual property infringement. The case was used by several academics in discussing such rights in the digital age.
Addiction
Some argue the game has addictive qualities. Many players refer to it as "EverCrack" (a comparison to crack cocaine). There was one well-publicized suicide of an EverQuest user named Shawn Woolley, that inspired his mother, Liz, to found Online Gamers Anonymous.
Sociological aspects of MMORPGs
Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are described by some players The studies make use of data gathered from player surveys and discuss topics like virtual relationships, 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. The call to boycott was rescinded after SOE held a summit to address player concerns, improve (internal and external) communication, and correct specific issues within the game.
Prohibition in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil
On 17 January 2008, the Judge of the 17th Federal Court of Minas Gerais State forbade the sales of the game in that Brazilian territory. The reason was that "the game leads the players to a loss of moral virtue and takes them into "heavy" psychological conflicts because of the game quests".
EverQuest franchise
Since EverQuests release, Sony Online Entertainment has added several EverQuest-related games. These include:
- EverQuest Hero's Call (Pocket PC, January 2003)
- EverQuest Online Adventures (PlayStation 2, February 2003)
- EverQuest Online Adventures Frontiers (PlayStation 2, November 2003)
- Lords of EverQuest (PC, December 2003)
- Champions of Norrath (PlayStation 2, February 2004)
- EverQuest Hero's Call 2 (Pocket PC, April 2004)
- EverQuest War On Faydwer (Pocket PC, April 2004)
- EverQuest II (PC, November 2004)
- Champions: Return to Arms, sequel to Champions of Norrath (PlayStation 2, February 2005)
- EverQuest Role-Playing Game (a role-playing game produced in collaboration with White Wolf which uses the d20 system).
- Legends of Norrath (a virtual card game which launched sometime in 2007 or early 2008 which also awards EverQuest and EverQuest II players with in-game items).
- EverQuest Next (newest story-based EverQuest game.) Canceled
- EverQuest Next Landmark (only world-building Everquest game.) Canceled
A line of novels have been published in the world of EverQuest, including:
- Rogue's Hour, by Scott Ciencin (October 2004)
- Ocean of Tears, by Stewart Wieck (October 2005)
- Truth and Steel, by Thomas M. Reid (September 2006)
- The Blood Red Harp, by Elaine Cunningham (October 2006)
