Untitled Document
by Aunraye
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.
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