The game is not the same
Summary Description Online games can have real consequences, says recovering addict Simon Vandore.
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Roullas Top10 Simon Vandore

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Editorial InformationArticle Location http://www.newswire.com.au/0006/ov16.htm
Article Topic Vandore
Story Order
Story Group 000618
Post Date 16/06/2000 09:11 AM Status Posted Entered by Simon Vandore on 15/06/2000 11:29 AM


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Content
Introduction
'It's only a game.'

Body
I've decided that statement is no longer true. This week I stopped playing EverQuest (EQ), the phenomenal online 'game' that has absorbed my spare time for the better part of a year.
About 250,000 people currently have EverQuest accounts. There are 58,386 online as I write this, exploring an immense, simulated world in first person 3D. The genre is known as 'massively multiplayer online role-playing game' (MMORPG) and in its simplest form is analogous to the Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) craze of the 1980s. But I'm not the D&D type. I don't play computer role-playing games like the Ultima series or even the lightweight Diablo. Real life is more important to me and these games take up too much time.
However, I put many things on hold, obsessively building my EQ persona, gaining power and equipment which enhanced gameplay. EverQuest cost me friends and fitness, and that's not good. I was determined to attain the mythical level 50. Along the way, I became a prominent figure in one of the largest 'guilds' (player organisations) and when I left, they threw an in-game farewell party. I'm still receiving sad goodbye messages from all over the world.
An individual in EverQuest is nothing. The abilities of each in-game persona differ dramatically, but complement each other. In one split second of an EverQuest battle, while a warrior clashes swords with a computer-generated foe and a cleric tries to heal her wounds, they rely on an enchanter who can hypnotise additional enemies which would otherwise kill them all. Different situations require different combinations -- multiply this by the 14 character classes and four vast continents of the in-game world and things get very complicated.
The highest difficulty setting in a Quake-style game is nothing compared to the combination of strategy and speed required to lead 30 people to kill an EverQuest dragon. I might see this as an achievement, but to others it's just pixels on a screen . . . until reality and the game begin to cross over.
At first, a few in-game items appeared for sale on eBay. We laughed it off, until it became an industry. People started making $US10,000 a week selling powerful equipment to newer players. One Australian couple ran eight EQ accounts and an online price list, conducting credit card transactions over the phone as they delivered the in-game items. Months later, they were finally banned by the game's owners. Worse still were the unknown buyers -- when your guildmate appeared with a rare sword and said 'someone just gave it to me', suspicions were aroused.
Meanwhile, people started going to the altered planes, homes of the gods of Air, Fear and Hate. Designed as near-impossible challenges with incredible rewards, these demanded alliances between whole guilds. Power politics entered fantasy land. On one EQ server, a clash between alliances led to real life threats of physical harm; on others it simply left people in tears as their friends betrayed them. Once upon a time these people simply went down to the shops and bought a computer game, but now it was changing their lives.
OK, maybe you think I'm mad. I just had to experience this phenomenon, because I could see it was an order of magnitude bigger than anything previously defined by the word 'game'. Snakes and ladders is to Quake what Quake is to EverQuest.
I'm glad to move on. Soon, as I rediscover my spare time and the best things in life, my former addiction will puzzle me. It's just a little scary to think that this is just the tip of the iceberg -- dozens of next-generation MMORPGs are under development which could make EverQuest look like a nice game of Pong.
SOUNDING BOARD: Can you ever fully recover from a games addiction? Have your say!
Vandore is published each Friday on Newswire. You can contact Simon Vandore at svandore@acptech.net.


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Bulletin SummaryVandore: The game is not the same
Online games can have real consequences, says recovering addict Simon Vandore.

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Vandore: The game is not the same

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