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Norrathian Notebook: The EverQuest franchise through the ages
Our notebook is tattered no longer! We've filled so many pages over the years that it is time to set the dog-eared, fraying sheets aside and take up a fresh new notebook with plenty of room for all the upcoming adventures. And on this fresh new slate, you will see a slightly different focus from that of its predecessor. As you may have noticed, over the past few months, The Tattered Notebook dipped into coverage of more than just EverQuest II. As of this moment, it is official: Our notebook now chronicles Norrath, in all its shapes and forms. These pages will fill with all things EverQuest, from the original game to the next incarnations. On top of the franchise focus that includes four major titles, the notebook is moving back to a weekly time slot every Saturday, so you'll get your Norrathian news more frequently. To kick things off, let's a look at the history of Norrath, from start to sequel to sandboxes, and everything in between.
Celebrate EQ's 12 years with a look back and an interview with John Smedley
Time grows many layers, and this is especially true in MMORPGs. After all, not only are new quests, stories and chunks of content added to a game as it goes along, but the players themselves add their own memories and experiences to the mix. MMOs truly are virtual worlds, and they change over time and become richer. EverQuest is no exception. After 12 years of adventure, danger, and story-telling, the game shows no signs of stopping. What is planned for the game? How will the last 12 years affect the decisions for the next 12 years? EverQuest has been one of the flagships of the genre, but how does a game of its age maintain any type of market visibility? Massively sat down with SOE President John Smedley, EQ Assistant Lead Designer Alan VanCouvering, and Associate Producer Harvey Burgess to find out. We'll also be taking a look back at the long history of Norrath and will even throw in some nuggets about EverQuest Next. Click past the cut and let's take a look!
The Daily Grind: Would you play a single-player version?
Whether we mean to or not, we get pretty invested in the online worlds we inhabit. It's a natural step to go from a single-player setting that's already gotten our emotional investment to a larger one (as proven by, oh, some game or another), but oddly the reverse happens far less often. We only occasionally see a game that takes the setting of an MMO and uses it as the basis for one person's adventure. This despite the fact that we're usually more attached to our characters than we are in a single-player game, since our avatars in an MMO are defined entirely by us. Of course, part of this is the narrowing of scope, and part of it is the difficulty of marketing to people that they can take a break from their characters online to play the exact same character offline. But for the times when you don't want to log in and deal with assembling a group or competition for farming or any of the slings and arrows of playing online, it could be a nice diversion. What do you think? Would you like to have a single-player game based off of your MMO of choice, or would you rather that the online games you enjoy not creep into your single-player time?
