Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
changes meant that people could begin to spend more time on the Internet
without worrying about exorbitant charges.
Internet speeds were still extremely slow by today
s standards, but did improve
from 28Kbps and 33Kbps to 56Kbps. At 56Kbps, there were two competing
modem formats called K56flex and X2; fortunately a simple firmware update
allowed support for either.
'
Questing for Ever
Even though the Internet speeds people were obtaining were still only 56Kbps,
computer technology and graphics cards had been advancing rapidly. The next
major MMO to be released was called EverQuest, again following the fantasy
swords and sorcery type game.
It didn
t take long for the 3D aspect of the game to ensure its success and within
a short space of time it had already surpassed the subscriptions that Ultima
Online had achieved.
'
Players could select from a large set of character classes within the game. These
classes provided the players with the basic building blocks and attributes that
determined how the characters reacted within the world. These character classes
have been reused by many other games since EverQuest was released, in games
such as World of Warcraft. By selecting certain classes, the players might be
good at healing themselves or other players, good at close combat, have strong
defensive skills or be able to inflict heavy damage.
The interest in EverQuest and MMOs in general did increase with news stories,
some positive and others negative. These news stories were about in-game
marriages between players and people who met within the game starting
relationships and in some cases getting married in real life. There were also
cases of couples getting divorced due to spouses playing the game too much.
You could say EverQuest was one of the first MMOs to get TV coverage for
MMO addiction. The same issues are still talked about today; in fact the only
difference is the name of the actual game.
Note
You can find out more information about EverQuest at http://eqplayers.station.sony.com/.
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