Read my EQ Addiction blog!

[Suzakk]

Dear gaming friends:
I've finally started a project I've been planning in my head for a few years: an account of my own EverQuest addiction. I shamelessly beg you to read it, at:
Confessions of an American EverQuest Addict
I want to appeal to anyone who has been addicted (at all) to an MMORPG, or loved someone who has been. Comment and spread the word, please! Thanks.

 

[Hilarious Joke]

Well I enjoyed your first post! I've played World of Warcraft on and off for a while and know quite a few people that have seemed addicted to it (I myself went through a phase where I played a ridiculous amount, but it was only for a month or so). Keep going!

 

[Commonmind]

As an avid (and, thankfully, former) MMO player, I can definitely relate. I played Ultima, EQ, and tons of others before starting Lineage II, which became my poison of choice and did for me what EQ did for you. I led a clan there for several years, participating in server changing political struggles with other players, doing things within a digital realm which were so amazing, so mind blowing, that I totally gave myself over to it. I was well-known, well respected, even feared, and it was addictive.

I moved over to WoW shortly after leaving L2, and, again, decided to create a guild. We fast became one of the most popular (and at one time the largest and most active) raiding guilds on our server. Again, the esteem and nature of the game was an almost inescapable maelstrom.

Personal issues forced me to leave and I've since given up MMO's. I have no plans to return, and I'm glad you have reformed as well.

As for the post: although I did enjoy reading, I found the actual act of doing so fairly difficult. You may want to change your format so that it's easier for future viewers. I would suggest changing your font size to 1em (or 16px; the standard), font style to something a little more readable than Times New Roman (Ariel is a good choice, and you can use TNR for your headers/article titles, if you happen to enjoy the look -- changing fonts within the same page is good practice, and one of the first lessons you learn in Typography; it adds dynamics to the otherwise static monster that is text), and space your paragraphs correctly. Single or double spaces after each.

I would also consider changing the name of the Blog, to something a bit more original. The Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic books are gaining more and more momentum as the movie gains popularity, and there's already quite a few "Confessions of" ripoffs popping up left and right, including in unconventional places (like blogs), covering unconventional topics (like gaming). You don't ever want to be lumped into that category. If you don't believe me, ask Charlie Bone.

 

[Suzakk]

Great advice all around. Thank you!

 

[Commonmind]

Not a problem, and good luck!

 

[Rahl Windsong]

The only time I felt I absolutely had to log into an MMO was back when Ultima Online was pretty much the top one out there. UO was a very ruthless world to play in when it was in its hay day, PvP was the most realistic of any game I have ever played online. When you killed another player you got to loot their corpse and take everything they had including the key to their house if they were silly enough to pack it around with them. Then after you looted their corpse you could use their house key to teleport to their house and loot it too, by casting the recall spell on the house key.

The main reason I felt I had to log into UO each day was because of the level of RP that existed in that game, it was even supported by the developer with a program that recruited dungeon masters from the player base. Any player could apply to become a Seer in UO and if you passed the online interview/test the developer then provided you with a special account to player your Seer/dungeon master from. This account had many special abilities that players of MMO's today would think of as GM powers. A Seer could spawn monsters at the location of his or her choice, errect permanent or semi permanent gates of travel, make items and give them special names, travel the world by simply clicking on the game maps, and many other things all of these powers had to be used to support their storylines.

It was a Seer's job to create dynamic fiction that fit into the UO lore and then run that storyline as a DM on their server. I can remember many Seer storylines that took the server up to a year of real time to complete and during that time the players actions changed the story so many times that the story became part of the sever lore and history because it was actually being written by the players through their reactions to the Seer's story arc.

So my character was actually living this virtual life in the UO world, and it was not a case of if I would log in each day I simply had to otherwise I would miss what happened next in the story and there was no way I would have had any effect on any of it unless my character was there.

Anyway that all ended when the developer, Origin Systems decided to make a server for AoL customers. On the AoL server they forgot that they had volunteered to do the Seer's job amd they wanted to be paid as employee's so they took Origin Systems to court. Well Origin had no choice but to shut down the program and settle out of court but it also set a precedence in the industry and never again has an MMO developer had such a volunteer program and very likely we will never see it again.

So the end to my addiction was forced by the game itself and that caused me to realize just how much of my life had been devoted to gaming online and since then I have been able to keep a much better perspective on gaming and life....

 

[Suzakk]

I'll get a new post up soon. Sorry about the delays--insanity at work and all that. I appreciate the help you've offered so far.

 

[Suzakk]

Looks like I'm going to need to take this project into hiatus for a bit. Sorry for any inconvenience.

 

[Hilarious Joke]

That's alright - hope you haven't started playing World of Warcraft!