Krantz, M. (1999, June 21). Grab your breastplate: Everquest reinvents the web role-playing game. Time, p. 63.

OVERVIEW

Everyone has heard of D-n-D (Dungeons and Dragons), the fantasy or role-playing game of the 1980s. The term fantasy describes the fantastic or imaginary, and often Gothic or dark, setting of these games. Because each player chooses a character from the world of magic and fairy tales—each character having special traits, skills, and power—the games are increasingly called "role-playing games."

Video games have a constructed script, and people play alone or perhaps in competition to others playing the same game. Video games are interactive in that they pit a player against the characters of the program. Fantasy or role-playing games differ from typical video games in that they are played among many; a group follows and creates a storyline in terms of the general guidelines of the game and leadership accepted by the players.

Role-playing games have progressed from the days of Dungeons and Dragons (and similar games of that ilk), where a grandmaster would guide a few characters through a continuing saga until someone won or the group agreed to quit. Now, these games appear on CDs for computers and to the Internet, where thousands can take part in a given game:

...the Net has advanced the form considerably since the halcyon days of Dungeons and Dragons, the original game played by dateless dweebs in rec rooms across America on Saturday nights. Today’s fantasy world are designed by software gurus, are presented on the Web and swarm with tens of thousands of players.

The result is virtual societies like Ultima Online, which in two years amassed 125,000 players so fervent that pieces of exclusive real estate on the Ultima site—think of it as the Ultima in-game equivalent of a duplex on Manhattan’s Upper East Side—regularly sell on eBay for more than $1,000.

Noting the success of Ultima Online, Sony’s 989 Studios in San Diego decided to up the ante with a technological jump ahead. They spent there years developing an online, role-playing game in 3-D. Called Everquest, it requires a 3-D accelerated PC. Would people really go out and buy a costly upgrade, and then an $8 or $9 monthly subscription fee to play Everquest? It was launched in March (1999); two months later 100,000 subscribers had upgraded their PCs, purchased the CD-ROM, and subscribed. "Each night 30,000 people fill the cities, deserts and forests that constitute the 19 Everquest zones.

The 3-D world of Everquest puts players in "a lush environment reminiscent of immersive shoot-’em-ups like Quake and Doom. But as a post-Columbine product, slaughter has been reduced:

In sharp contrast to Ultima, in which veteran players often murder "newbies" just for the thrill of it, Everquest, says producer Brad McQuaid, lets users choose whether or not to be "player killers"; or only those who do kill—or can be killed—by others. Thus far, only 15% have opted for killer status.

Instead Everquest thrives on the relationships that develop among players, who talk via chat windows in one of the languages spoken by the games 12 races (elf, gnome, human, etc.). Players attend concerts, auctions, and weddings; bicker over everything from wolf meat to scimitars; and pool talents and resources to quest for distant treasures. "Stuff like that (says McQuaid) is more binding than shooting your friend with a rocket launcher."

The players aren’t all college students and precocious kids. Jim, a 32-year-old Ohio computer-network engineer with a wife and three kids, describes a family scene: "We all play together. For us, Everquest has pretty much replaced TV."

Kelly Flock, president of Sony 989 Studios, is enthusiastic about where this is all going:

...people are going to have faster connections and more processors, more memory and more storage. These worlds are going to become the dominant form of entertainment.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. Have you, or would you, ever play a role playing game? Why or why not?
2. What would you list as the possible benefits (creative, skill, etc.) from role playing games? Are there also relational benefits?
3. What do you see as the possible dangers of playing (too many) role-playing games?
4. How would you advise someone who seems to be headed for an addiction to role-playing games?
5. Is there anything you think society ought to do about role-playing games? Is there any extreme in such games to which you would object?

IMPLICATIONS

1. The statistics of use found here are very impressive. This is a significant social trend.
2. The popularity of such entertainment tells us something about our society and our young people.
3. Parents and those who work with young people ought to be aware of the amount of participation and money spent in such activities.