It has been a while since I’ve read a book from Boss Fight Books. I picked up EverQuest by Matthew Smith because I was interested in learning more about the game. This wasn’t a game that I played as a kid; I first played it in the early 2010s.
I was aware of the game when it was released in 1999, but I hadn’t tried it. My family didn’t have a good internet connection, and I wasn’t interested in playing a Massive Multiplayer Online game(MMO). I had tried Ultima Online, but only for a few months, after I grew tired of it.
What I was hoping to learn from this book was more about the game, its history, and some fun stories about the people who created it. One other thing I was interested in was the private servers. This is how I first experienced the game, and I thought it would be a fun story to follow.
It Came From a Sports Developer
Whenever I read a book like this, I tend to fixate on something I find remarkable. This time, it was learning that the game originated at Sony Interactive Studios America, which was best known for its ESPN licensed games.
We start in 1993 with John Smedley, who was working as a producer at Sony. This is when the fun begins as we learn about a bunch of early MMO games and Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs). I always love hearing about this part of video game history!
There are a lot of MMOs and MUDs from the early 1990s that aren’t as widely known or covered. These aren’t just RPGs, as they span several genres or are part of a larger game. Many of the RPGs are based on Dungeons and Dragons, which shouldn’t surprise anyone.
The development team that was assembled loved RPGs. They also spent a lot of time on various MUDs in the 1990s. It seems that they drew inspiration from a particular MUD.
Matthew gives a very good breakdown of all of this, and it eventually turned into a little internet drama. I found this fascinating. These kinds of reactions are common on the internet, and they crop up several times over the years.
Of Course, Jack Thompson is in the Book
EverQuest has had a number of controversies over the years and was one of the first games that I recall raising the issue of “video game addiction.” Since much of its story takes place in the 2000s, that means Jack Thompson, a disbarred lawyer from Florida, latched on to the story.
In his personal crusade against video games, Mr. Thompson tried to exploit several tragedies. In this case, he decided to exploit a suicide. Every time I read about his exploits, I feel disgusted at the way he chose to go about things.
He initially took the case, and then dropped it when his client did something he didn’t like. I appreciate how Matthew explains this situation and what was actually intended for the case.
Elizabeth Wooley only wanted access to her son’s account. No one knew what happened to cause her son’s death, and the chat logs might’ve given insight into what was going on. Varnet, the company that owned EverQuest at the time, refused due to privacy concerns.
This part of the book ends quite nicely. I like how Matthew explains things and gets into some of the underlying issues. “Video Game Addiction” is something that needs more study, as well as the effects that violent media has on a person.
A Story about WoW
While EverQuest was on top of the MMO world for a while, it was eventually dethroned by World of Warcraft. WoW took down many of the MMOs released around this time, and pulled players away from the existing EverQuest.
This was a classic Blizzard move. Take an existing genre, analyze it to find what works, and improve on it in a way that makes it more accessible to casual players. That is one of the reasons why WoW was so successful early on.
EverQuest did something similar to the MMOs that existed around the time of its release. After six years, it was starting to show its age. I’m not surprised that Blizzard looked at it and decided to improve on it.
Many of the developers who worked on WoW had been avid EverQuest players. Matthew did a wonderful job of explaining all this. This was something that I thought I had read before.
I loved this part of the book. It was rather fun to read something like this. While my opinions of MMOs have drastically shifted over the years, I still enjoy reading about them.
Nostalgia
I noticed some parallels between EverQuest and WoW while reading this. Both games had a fan base that wanted to go back to how things used to be in the game. The companies had similar reactions to this fan-led effort.
Matthew wrote about this, and I think he did an excellent job. Daybreak and some of the previous companies that owned EverQuest have had differing approaches to private servers. What was very interesting was that there were some approved servers run by third parties. This was very different from Blizzard’s approach to the same situation.
My only experience with EverQuest was on one of these servers. It was in the early 2010s, and I don’t think it lasted a month. The server wasn’t shut down; I just lost interest because my friend who introduced me to the game stopped playing.
This would happen a few times with this friend. He would install a game on my computer, download a bunch of mods, and then stop playing the game after a few weeks. I never thought anything of it. I just assumed he had moved on or life got in the way.
More Books to Read and Topics to Cover
With every book I read, I find things I want to look into. In this case, I came across two books and a series of games that were mentioned. The books were used as references for Matthew’s research, and the games were noted at the beginning of the book.
I’ve reviewed a number of sports games over the last few years. Those games aren’t covered as often, and sometimes they overlap with other topics. With this book, I read a bit about the ESPN games, and I think I should look into that series at a later date.
The two books mentioned are Friendly Orange Glow by Brian Dear and Playing MUDs on the Internet by Rawn Shah and James Romine. It seems like every time I read a book like this, I stumble across something I haven’t read before. While this is great to learn something new, it doesn’t help with my ever expanding backlog of books.
These two books provide insight into the early days of computers and video games. Video games from the 1970s are often overlooked or confined to small online communities. At some point, I’ll read and review these books.
Wrap Up
At the time of writing this, Boss Fight Books has announced a new season of books. Here is a link to their Season 8 Kickstarter. Two books have been announced, and both of them sound like they’ll be great!
I’ve covered most of the books they’ve published. The ones that I’ve read have been great to spectacular. EverQuest is one of the better books they’ve published.
I’m not a fan of playing MMORPGs anymore. I had some bad experiences while playing WoW, DC Universe Online, and City of Heroes. While I don’t enjoy the games, I do find the history of them quite a bit.
If you enjoyed this post, please check out my other reviews of video game books, such as Golden Eye 007 by Alyse Knorr and my Beginner’s Guide to Video Game Books.