Ooo, Tell Me About Your First Time!

Tales of Your First MMO

by Shayalyn

A couple nights ago, while
playing some MMO (which shall remain nameless just...because), someone
on the /ooc channel blurted, “OMG! EQOA popped my cherry, too!” Of
course, just a couple seconds later she said demurely, “Whoops! That
was a mistell.” But it was too late; everyone heard it. Obviously, she
mistakenly used the out of character chat channel during a private
discussion about the first MMO she’d ever played, and the one that took
her MMO virginity happened to be EverQuest Online Adventures. My former
minion (that’s “assistant,” in polite terms), who now runs the Ten Ton
Hammer Dungeons & Dragons
Online community, was also seduced by
EQOA. I’m sure he would’ve related to Miss Accidental /OOC and her
enthusiasm for the game.



If you’ve read any of my articles, or my blog, you know that EverQuest
was my first love. Whether your first is the best or not is almost
irrelevant--you never forget it. My head is fuller than a 10-slot
backpack with memories of Norrath and its denizens. While I no longer
play EQ, primarily because I reached all the goals I’d set out to reach
and felt it was time to move on, I can still vividly recall people,
events, and locations. I’m certain I can attribute some of that
nostalgia to the fact that EQ initiated me into the world of massively
multi-player online games...or did it corrupt me? Meh! Either way, I’m
here and I’m happy about it.



Sigil, the developers of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, is betting on a good
portion of their player base feeling the same nostalgia for EQ. In
fact, the founders of Sigil--Brad McQuaid (CEO), and Jeff Butler
(President)--were also the primary creative forces behind EverQuest.
Many Sigil team members are also EQ dev team alumnus. It’s certain that
many who feel nostalgic about EQ are looking for something to take the
place of the game some of them have played on and off for 6 plus years,
except that now they’re looking for something in a next generation
package, not a revamped EverQuest, but a new game, new world and new
platform that stands a chance of making them feel the way EverQuest
once did.



Of course, Sigil would be missing the boat if all they were counting on
for subscribers were a bunch of ex-EQers. Naturally, the team is
looking beyond--way beyond. Brad McQuaid has acknowledged this saying,
“We have two target audiences: the 'old school', who already mostly
know about the game, and the 'new school', for example the WoW player
looking for something deeper and a game with more freedom.” Many
current gamers didn’t come to play MMOs by way of EverQuest or similar
old school games like Ultima Online or Dark Age of Camelot; they came
by way of the new school--primarily href="http://wow.tentonhammer.com">World of Warcraft, which boasts
approximately 6 million subscribers worldwide.



The question is: who was your first? Which MMO brought you to the world
of massively multi-player online gaming? Was it an old school game like
EverQuest, or the latest generation, such as WoW or EQ2? And do you
feel
nostalgia about your first time; the game that took your MMO virginity?
Don’t be shy--we want you to tell all! Vote in our poll, then tell us
your deepest, darkest “first time” secrets in our forum.

VOTE IN
OUR POLL!