Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

It was around ten. I remember this because I had just ran out to the store to buy EverQuest, after having been convinced by a friend that it was an incredible game. It was something I just had to try. I loved role playing, but paying to play? I wasn't so sure about that. Yet, I had spent days looking over the different classes and races and who was better at doing what. My natural preference ran towards some sort of magic user more than a fighting class. So I explored sights and talked to my friend, making the decision for me that's always the hardest-what would my character be in this game. As the screen loaded, I was faced with the choices I'd planned on and even more.

I sat there perfecting my character and her name. She had to be perfect before I could risk entering the world. So once I'd gotten Aunraye perfected, in my mind at least, I took the risk and stepped into the tutorial world. Not much of a risk I admit, but at the time I was on the edge of my seat with nervous anticipation. I knew that my friends were waiting for me once I was released to the "real" world of EverQuest. I stored away the information I needed to learn before I could maneuver at all in the world. Then I found myself in this huge stone city. I was amazed and was quick to send a message to my friends telling them I was out of the tutorial.

It didn't take my much more experienced friends long to find me and guide me through my first interaction with the guildmaster and to help me figure out what spells were most important. Thanks to their loving attention I didn't start out completely helpless. I was given some very valuable items that while not necessarily the absolute top of the line were much better than what I had. Then, guiding me through setting up my character, they took me on my first adventure.

And it was an adventure! To keep from losing me, I didn't yet know that my far clip plane was at zero, they taught me how to auto follow. Unfortunately, for me even that took some getting used to, but eventually we made it to the newbie log. Listening to all the things I needed to know, I felt overwhelmed and yet all I wanted to do was get down and look around. Watching the person talking to me was one of the most difficult thing I had ever done, but I didn't want to be rude and spend my time spinning around as he talked so I sat listening and adjusted my view so I could see more.

After a bit I got to try my hand at combat for the first time! I was so excited and so terrified. Those skeletons, snakes, and bugs were hard to kill. I'd seen my friend, with her "baby" character as she called him, hacking at them. What could I, with no experience, do? But I tried, and to my great shock it worked! I was able to help kill them. It didn't make me less nervous, though it did make things that much more fun.

I was still learning how to adjust and rearrange my spells when I made a mistake that I have never forgotten. While standing in the guildhall I tried to remove a spell gem and ended up accidentally attacking one of the NPCs. Before I knew what I'd done, light was everywhere and then I was dead. As I came back I looked to my friends and said quietly, "What happened?" When I realized exactly what had happened, I was suddenly sure that this was a new world I had to conquer. There was so much that I needed to learn and to practice. It was amazing.

Before long, I was dying to go back in the world again, ignoring homework and other responsibilities for as long as I could so that I could see Norrath again. It had completely captivated me and stolen my heart. I adored my character and couldn't wait for a chance to go out there and really get into the game with my friends. I was even willing to risk that dark forest all by myself, slowly working to gather more and more experience. Pretty soon, I had figured out that different creatures were more fun to go after. I liked chasing down the skeletons to see what I could get from them and how hard they'd be to kill. I never knew why I preferred them, but I always did. And even now when they aren't a challenge, I still prefer to avoid the snakes, thanks to early difficulties that are ingrained in my memory of my character.

These differences may be silly and even illogical, but they are part of who my character is. Everything I have done with her has grown to make her what she is. That is the part of MMOs that truly makes them addicting, for me at least. I get to build my character up slowly and carefully, turning her into what I want. My bard doesn't hesitate to go after snakes or rats. She is more likely to hesitate on wolves, while my magician will go after anything before the snake. These are events that happened in their lives and that make them different. It wouldn't be fascinating if every character was the same, or every place. It wouldn't even be that great if every person had the same first experience. The fact that we can all enter a world in relatively the same way and find such disparate ways to make ourselves different is what makes it great and addictive.

What's your take? Tell us in our