Everquest: EverQuest is a 3D massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) from Sony's 989 Studios and Verant Interactive. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment last 1999 and since it is considered to be the most popular MMORPG from 2000 to 2004, having won many awards such as Gamespot's Game of the Year Award for 1999. The game is set in the fantasy world of Norrath, which is filled with monsters, medieval-style towns, ordinary humans and supernatural creatures. Players immerse themselves in this world by creating an avatar or character from one of the 16 races available in the game. After choosing a race for his avatar, the player may further choose an occupation for his character, affecting the skills and attributes available to the avatar. Although a player may go through the game solo, EverQuest is primarily biased towards group combat, meaning characters may fight and gain experience more effectively if they work with other characters. An effective party has different character classes with different abilities that are used cooperatively. For example, a party should have either a tank character who absorbs most of the enemy damage, a healer who heals the tank, two or more damage dealers that kill enemies which are busy with the tank, while a crowd control character draws in enemy mobs. The different skills for each class allows assignment of roles, which allows for more effective combat. Many of EverQuest's elements have been based from text-based multi-user dungeon (MUD) games and inspired from Dungeons and Dragons. Players use their character to fight monsters and enemies for treasure and experience points. With more experience points the character level increases, allowing a player to access more skills and power available to that character class. A player may also engage in trade with other players and master some trade skills right along with it. As with any MMORPG, the player may join guilds to interact with other players and engage in player vs. player (PvP) matches, although the latter is restricted to PvP servers. |