>I don't think EQ has enough infrastructure to survive on a
>purely social aspect. There are no player-owned structures,
>there are no player-owned merchants, there are no item sinks,
>and there are very few money sinks (trade skills, steel armor)
>most of which (trade skills) were an afterthought coded in
>just before the game went Final. In short, there really isn't
>much you can *do* in EQ which doesn't revolve around killing
>monsters to gain items and experience. You can't really make
>your mark on the world.
>The PvP and Racewar servers definitely have more
>possibilities, but on the normal servers, socializing is not
>much different from an IRC chat room.
>In that respect, UO is ahead of EQ. I think EQ only strived
>to make massively multiplayer online hack and slash FRPG. UO
>strived to make an online virtual world. In the discussions
>Brad McQuaid and Raph Koster have had, it's pretty obvious EQ
>didn't have as high a goal as UO. Brad still refuses to admit
>that long-term money and item sinks are necessary in a
>persistent online game, to keep player ability inflation (and
>thus monster difficulty deflation) in check.
This is, in fact, the very reason I sort of kind of in a round about way
miss UO. Our position in EQ as bards is nothing like that of the bards of
UO. I remember playing as a bard in UO, I would travel town to town, tavern
to tavern and play the same annoying tunes and spam songs across the screen.
For a lot of people, I was just another annoying town cryer that was little
more than a distraction from pking. For others I was true entertainment.
People would stand around watching me, some would even follow, and almost
all would have a small donation in hand for the wandering entertainer. I
honestly dont know how I could even attempt at such a thing in everquest.
And even if i were able to manage a small production, how would I hope to
catch the attention of the warriors on their way to camp Drelzna for her
boots, or those hard set on reaching that next spell rank? It's the
constant competition that kills it all for me. Too much emphasis on
levelling and item gaining. Once the level curve gets higher I hope we'll
start to see more people willing to stop and smell the roses. Perhaps then
we'll begin to see some sort of sense of community that EQ sorely lacks
right now.
PS - personal messaging kills social interaction too in my opinion -=)