Traveling In the Old Days

By Martuk

Traveling in the modern age
of MMOs is a lot easier, and quicker than it use to be. Like my new player
counterpart Aunraye, I to miss the adventuring and exploration aspect that is
associated with good travel. In her editorial last week, "Are
Newbies Traveling in the Dark?", she explained the modern journey of new
players to the MMO of Everquest. Like her, I will draw my comparison with this
game as it, too, was my first. Unlike Aunraye, I started at an earlier time when
travel was less simple, and one could not simply click a stone to arrive
anywhere in the world.

Long before the Planes of
Power introduced the instant travel of the stones, and the spires of Luclin
zapped away adventurers to various parts of the world. Travel was a bit more
limited. One good example is the Freeport boat ride to Kelethin through The
Ocean of Tears. The boat ride lasted about 15 minutes from Freeport to Kelethin.
On the ride you would pass through the Ocean of Tears. There you would make
one stop before being on your way. Here one could see many things. An outpost of
elves friendly to those who are not evil, and an Island full of Cyclops.

The boat ride also had a
great social aspect to it. When you boarded more often than not you were not
alone. Casual conversation would happen between fellow adventurers each on their
own journey. This would sometimes be in the form of role-playing, teaching each
other new languages, or just casual conversation. I had many great friendships
forged on these rides. While they were not the most active of events they were
some of the most social. It is my opinion that this was its purpose and one that
made a great impact on the game. These days all that remains is an instant
translocation npc which sends you across instantly.

Early travel of EQ also
involved a great deal of running where you wanted to go. There were not always
quick methods of travel. You had no maps, or instant click stones. All you had
was a low skill in sense heading. Sense heading allowed you a chance when used
to sense what direction you were facing. That too, has been raised now and made
obsolete. If you wanted to go somewhere more often than not you ran it. This was
a fun thing when with a group of friends. It could be just as fun alone. You
could run into various areas sneaking past higher level enemies. Sometimes you
get spotted, and sometimes you make it through unscathed. I can recall on one
journey I had a chance meeting with a newbie who had wondered into Kithicor
Forest. He was murdered by the slew of high level undead that arises there at
night. I helped this guy get his corpse back once the sun had risen. He was
pretty thankful, and we became good friends from that point on. Traveling can be
a great thing from a social aspect in an MMO.

Modern games, such as World
of Warcraft, Everquest 2, and even Everquest now have made travel simplistic.
Too simplistic, in fact, EQ2 has a bell set up to send you anywhere you want to
go in a single click. With World of Warcraft one can ride a bird anywhere in the
world. EQ has the Planes of Knowledge where you can click a book and go
anywhere. This while increasing ones speed at getting to a destination, destroys
the journey.

I can agree that when a
world gets a certain size there may need to be a limited amount of
transportation that can increase ones speed. The Nexus spires and limited
teleportation spells I feel were a good idea for this. I do not however feel
instant travel to anywhere in the game world is the right approach. When you
completely sever the journey you rob the players of a great experience. You
could miss the chance to discover new lands, unseen areas, and even the off
chance of meeting a friend. There are great adventures to be had if traveling is
done right. Instant travel takes that adventure away. So the next time you are
thinking of traveling to a different area. Stop and think of what you may be
missing in terms of exploration, and adventure.