Everquest (the game) Economy Under Attack

BBC On-Line

[yankeedame]

Sorry I didn't get rememeber to get the site address for this, gang. (hanging my head in shame)

[apillar]

I've played Everquest on and off over the last few years and it can be strange experience.

There are some people that Everquest is their life. They are "in-game" 8-10 hours a day. I often wonder what those people must be like in real life.

As for the economy, people sell characters and equipment on ebay for as high as $1000+ REAL dollars.

[glm]

www.everquest.com and my son plays it (even when not there)

[Destructor]

"In most respects EverQuest is utterly unlike real life as it features warriors, spell-slinging sorcerors and magical beasts of every hue, temperament and size."

In other words, it is mindless entertainment at best, and a gigantic waste of time at the worst!

[KarlInOhio]

Here's the link.

[KarlInOhio]

In most respects EverQuest is utterly unlike real life as it features warriors, spell-slinging sorcerors and magical beasts of every hue, temperament and size.

But like the real world many of the characters that inhabit the world pursue a profession at the same time as they venture out on heroic quests looking for riches, artefacts or monsters.

Maybe they can get Alan Greenspan to play the game. He can lecture players on irrational exuberance, and then chop them to pieces with a sword if they don't do what he tells them to.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

This game was the catalyst that ended my marriage. My ex-wife played it incessantly, especially after losing her job and not bothering to find a new one. Then I found out she was flirting with a guy she partnered with in the game, and that she was planning to use me financially until she could save enough money to move out to California to live with him.

Fast forward to today. We're divorced now, she's married and pregnant (due any day now), by a different guy, who now ALSO plays Everquest avidly. The original guy she was in love with (a sixteen-year-old boy, I might add), committed suicide a few months ago.

So, I cringe when I hear the word Everquest. I realize that games like this are symptoms of larger problems. I suppose I should thank the makers of Everquest for ending my marriage -- it might have dragged on a lot longer otherwise.

Oh, by the way, I was the one who bought her the damned game in the first place.

[apillar]

I actually think It would take a full blown obsessive-compulsive to succeed at Everquest.

It took me about a week to realize it is in essence a graphic chat-room with roleplaying elements.

Most of the time I played I got stuck grouping with junior high age boys or worse middle age men who acted like junior high age boys (think of comic book guy on the Simpsons).

[TomSmedley]

bump

[Baseballguy]

As an avid player myself I know your issue all to well. Though my story is happier, I know of those people also. They have guilds and swap email. Sony has conventions for EQ.

This game though is not the problem its only an outlet so cause you bought this game it could of been something else.

I have been playing for about a year and have reach a high level Wizard. It is a game to that will be surpassed in Technical and Developement in the future. There will be more outlets so that one does not need to goto the bar to exploit those inner thoughts. Its always start with fantasy games and progresses to other types of genre. Understanding this we can only hope that there is a low percentage that gets hooked like this and allows those that understand its a game to be able to enjoy it.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

Your description of the typical player sounds about right to me.

There's actually an online forum for 'widows' of Everquest players. Most of the widows are women, but there were a few men like me. It's a Yahoo! Group. I was not the only guy whose marriage was ruined in this way. Just another form of infidelity, I guess.

[BrooklynGOP]

This game was the catalyst that ended my marriage. My ex-wife played it incessantly, especially after losing her job and not bothering to find a new one. Then I found out she was flirting with a guy she partnered with in the game, and that she was planning to use me financially until she could save enough money to move out to California to live with him. Fast forward to today. We're divorced now, she's married and pregnant (due any day now), by a different guy, who now ALSO plays Everquest avidly. The original guy she was in love with (a sixteen-year-old boy, I might add), committed suicide a few months ago. So, I cringe when I hear the word Everquest. I realize that games like this are symptoms of larger problems. I suppose I should thank the makers of Everquest for ending my marriage -- it might have dragged on a lot longer otherwise. Oh, by the way, I was the one who bought her the damned game in the first place.

[Not Fooled]

Back when I played it, I came across an interesting article. Seems that Curt Schilling (D-Backs pitcher) is an avid player. Everquest doesn't necesarily mean the player doesn't/won't amount to anything. Usually, but not always. :)

[CheezyD]

EverQuest is a lot of fun. I played off and on for a couple of years. (Dark Age of Camelot is better) If playing this game causes you problems then you had problems beforehand. Blaming a PC game is like blaming lyrics in a song.

[danelectro]

Back when I played it, I came across an interesting article. Seems that Curt Schilling (D-Backs pitcher) is an avid player. Everquest doesn't necesarily mean the player doesn't/won't amount to anything. Usually, but not always. :)

i believe this is the article you refering to.

[Mamzelle]

My two-bits worth of theory---these games are addictive for those prone to "feedback" addiction. That is, gamblers, whether they are actually gambling, or not. Also for compulsive FR political junkies...!? Any FR widows out there?

There'll be some good online games on their way soon--Star Wars and an online Sims. The Sims series has been a great means for me to keep my kids away from television...I'm hoping their online game is as good.

[Centurion2000]

There's a reason that I've avoided gaming with this one. There's a reason it's sometimes called EVERCRACK.

Just give me an old Marauder mech from Mechwarrior2 and I'm happy just blasting stuff.

[No.6]

Eek.

Catalyst is the right word; if it wasn't Everquest, you would have ended up coming home to, hmm, physical evidence of the affair one day.

Or she could have gotten pregnant by the other guy, then left you and stuck you with child support for a kid that wasn't yours.

What 16-year-old? I did a quick search; the only person that showed up with respect to suicide was one Shawn Wooley, who was 21, not 16, and was fairly well bonkers already:

"Shawn was playing 12 hours a day, and he wasn't supposed to because he was epileptic, and the game would cause seizures," Woolley said. "Probably the last eight times he had seizures were because of stints on the computer."

What a nice mom; every video game since Pong has had a big warning saying Do Not Play If You Have Epilepsy and she doesn't do a thing after seizure after seizure.

[Liberty Tree Surgeon]

In other words, it is mindless entertainment at best, and a gigantic waste of time at the worst!

Sort of like professional sports and most Hollywood entertainment.

LTS

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

What 16-year-old?

His name was Matthew Meadows, and he lived in the Oakland, CA area. That's all I really know, other than one digitial photo of him that I discovered in her computer. I think he was probably troubled to begin with, thought he found an escape through the game (and my wife), and when she 'left' him, too, he probably spiralled downward even further.

Suicide is kind of a running theme in my life. A high-school friend on the math team with me killed himself, and an uncle of mine did as well (before I was born). My fiance' has been suicidal in the past. And I, personally, have been at that precipice on more than one occasion.

But I do know that online addiction is no panacea, nor is drug use. I consider FR to be a pretty healthy 'addiction', and it is by far where I spend the most online time.

As much anger as I had toward the kid for sneaking around with my then-wife, I wish he could have found a way to straighten himself out, since he ultimately got dumped by her too. I take no solace in that fact, however. I do try to caution others about getting too deep into these role-playing games. It's really no different than other addictions in one sense: there are those who really can handle it, and those who really can NOT. Those who can not are often those who most vehemently insist that they can. But you can't tell them that. There's a quotation I like (not sure who said it): "There's some people that, if they don't know, you can't teach 'em". Very true.