[Tork]

I wanted to ask what were players EARLIEST memory of encountering an MMO?

You may not have even know what it was at the time. I'll go first.

My first encounter with an MMO was my friends roommate who was playing Asheron's Call. This must have been in 2000? I can't really remember. All I remember is my friend saying something along the lines of "That's all he does all day is play Asheron's Call." I thought it was a bit strange that someone could play that much but as an avid gamer who had spent more than enough time playing games for long periods of time (like when I first loaded Starsiege Tribes on our work computer and played it all night) I gave him a pass.

What was it for you? Dust out those cobwebs and think back. "Think back. Think back. Think baaaaack." /flashbackTransition

[bairanax]

my very first MMO was EverQuest, played it for a couple months. I remember playing my Warrior first, up to about level 15, and becoming bored. The game felt a bit too slow, and I disliked begging certain players to bind me to a city. Then beg other players for buffs, especially the legendary Spirit of the Wolf.

As soon as Asheron's Call was released, I left EQ for good.

[Radium]

My kids got me to play Diablo way back whenever it first came out. We joined a strong anti cheat guild then, which then moved on to Ultima Online when it was released. Been playing MMO's ever since then. I do like a variety though and often will be playing many of them at the same time.

[Voodoo]

Realms of Despair online...It is a MUD(Multi user dungeon) all text based :)

[Reyna]

Losing my husband to Earth and Beyond!

I remember laying in bed alone until 3 and 4 am and barely ever seeing him. I'm not sure when that was maybe 2002ish?

So in the end I decided if you can't beat em, join em. ;D Now I'm a worse addict than he is.

This post has been edited by Reyna: 19 January 2010 - 02:04 AM

[Eldaran]

Voodoo, on 19 January 2010 - 01:14 AM, said:

Realms of Despair online...It is a MUD(Multi user dungeon) all text based :)

Oh my God I played that too!

My first real MMO was Everquest although my first online game was Diablo like Radium had mentioned. I remember my first character in Everquest, a High Elf Cleric. The first steps out into the small city of Felwithe, tucked away into a mountainside, and then out into the Greater Faydark to the Wood Elf city of Kelethin. I can still remember the wooden bridges strung between giant platforms in the trees and the small cluster of stones where the skeletons would spawn. I spent so many hours there. I can still hear the music in my head. *Sigh*

Those first experiences for me are why I'm still playing these games. It changed my whole outlook on gaming. Alganon feels a lot like that time in my life for some reason. I hope we can continue to grow and share what Alganon is all about with the rest of the world.

See you in game,

~Eldaran

[Valiant]

My very first MMO was on dial up BBS, all text, Usurper. Then on to Ultima Online. Hell, I think I have played just about every MMO since UO.

Reyna said:

Losing my husband to Earth and Beyond!

I remember laying in bed alone until 3 and 4 am and barely ever seeing him.

Um, my wife would say the exact same thing! LOL

Ugh, I guess I am showing my age here now :( LOL

Val

[Soupdragon]

EVE Online 2004

Wondering what would happen if I fired my "peashooter" of a weapon at the star gate.

It went pear-shaped very quickly after that....hehehe.............

[Mystilla]

Closed Beta for Everquest Online Adventures for the PS2. Good times.

[Mhantra]

My brother was the one that first got me into MMOs. He was playing Everquest, and thought it was kind of cool. So I joined him. We honestly had no idea what this type of game was, just that you could play online (through dialup) with other people.

This was just after the Kunark expansion released, and we started as Iksar. We liked the lizard look and were intrigued by the culture. Little did we know that playing Iksar was a whole different expereience. Everybody else hated you! KOS to all. Not only that, you started in a completely different island that didn't have any other races near it. The game was very "small" then, as we had no idea what lay beyond this beginner island.

So we started up a duo of Warrior and Shaman, good ole Kinarasan and Shakalak. Soon, we realized that we needed to group up to actually get anywhere. So there we were, in the Field of Bone, pulling mob after mob, meeting people, mostly other MMO Noobs who had no idea what was going on either, and leveling up enough to finally, maybe at level 24, sneak into that ogre outpost and wait 20 minutes for the boat.

It wasn't until we started roaming around the Oasis area that we realized that almost everything attacked us. That wandeing guard in the commonlands, any elven wagon-gypsie group, everything. HARSH!

Ultimately, we got into a guild and did the whole 16 hour a day raiding thing. Good times, but glad I am not doing that anymore!

[Chyra]

It was Everquest for me, where I stayed for four years.

I remember after our first year, we were only about level 17 and still hanging around our starting area as we were a bit scared to leave. The world was a scary place! Boy we leveled slowly back then.

When we did finally leave to explore new places, I saw races other than elves for the first time and ogled the fancy armor of the higher levels in the EC tunnel. Everything was just so awe-inspiring at that time.

[Eldaran]

Chyra, on 19 January 2010 - 01:28 PM, said:

It was Everquest for me, where I stayed for four years.

I remember after our first year, we were only about level 17 and still hanging around our starting area as we were a bit scared to leave. The world was a scary place! Boy we leveled slowly back then.

When we did finally leave to explore new places, I saw races other than elves for the first time and ogled the fancy armor of the higher levels in the EC tunnel. Everything was just so awe-inspiring at that time.

I miss that feeling of uncertainty. No games have risk in them anymore. There was no map or mini map or quest helper back in Everquest. You had to know where landmarks were or have someone around who knew the area. Each area you moved into had more unknown aspects. I'm pretty sure that's why that game sucked me in so deeply. Great memories.

[Hakiem]

First MUD was Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy sponsored by UC Santa Cruz Deep Thought server back in 1990.

First Online Game was "The Realm" by Sierra Online. We were beta testers back in 1994. Game information for those who like that sort of thing can be found here - Wikipedia - The Realm .

The Realm is still out there but haven't visited there in a number of years.

Just Me (and Trisha too),
Tim

[Radium]

I had forgot about those text based games. I played some bulletin board space game where you killed each other and traded goods. We were pretty good at teaming up on people and taking them out.

Also played Dragon Realms. My kids just looked at me like DAD?? They never had the imagination I did I guess.

[Alysandir]

First actual MMORPG memory was March 2005, when I logged into WoW for the first time and marveled at how beautiful, seamless, and immersive the area around Northshire Abbey was. I had resisted MMORPGs up until that point because I didn't understand what the point to them was, as I tend to be a bit of a loner.

First technical MMORPG memory came from playing the PS2 games in the dot.Hack series. The game was a single-player action/adventure game, but it's game universe was as if you were playing inside a real MMORPG, with virtual cities and and companions and such. So while it wasn't a true MMO, it acted like one, hence I'm counting it. :)

-Alys

[Scottie]

Asherons Call beta back in 99/00 in the dungeon outside the town called Holt. I played it in my 7th hour HIghschool computer class. I'll never forget the sound those drudges made.

[Tork]

Eldaran, on 19 January 2010 - 11:33 AM, said:

I miss that feeling of uncertainty. No games have risk in them anymore. There was no map or mini map or quest helper back in Everquest. You had to know where landmarks were or have someone around who knew the area. Each area you moved into had more unknown aspects. I'm pretty sure that's why that game sucked me in so deeply. Great memories.

I wonder if the cost of making an MMO will ever drop to the point where someone can try to make an MMO like this again. As the cost of doing things drops(like making movies which used to cost a lot but now costs next to nothing) the likelihood of experimentation goes up.

MMOs are just such massive things and need so many components. Maybe there will be "MMO-in-a-box" where it comes pre-loaded with assets and all the creator has to to is tweak the settings they want to.

[Mhantra]

Tork, on 20 January 2010 - 05:28 PM, said:

I wonder if the cost of making an MMO will ever drop to the point where someone can try to make an MMO like this again. As the cost of doing things drops(like making movies which used to cost a lot but now costs next to nothing) the likelihood of experimentation goes up.

I was in the Vanguard beta (and still play it), and they had a lot of problems, but they were also trying to make an old-school, EQ style game with that bit of mystery and such. It didn't go well. People split into two groups, the "make it just like EQ...but MORE hardcore!" group, and the, "Hey, ease up a little, no one wants to lose experience and not have a map anymore, put in a casual option!" group.

The subscriber numbers spoke. Even though the game is solid, and the last remaining hardcorish game left (they eased up considerably with teleporters, no KOS between races, the racial starting areas barren because of the Isle of Dawn etc), people still don't go to it. Even those who specify that they want more hardcore/uncertainty feeling in their MMOs forsake it. Sad really, I believe there will never be another.

[Syndic]

I remember my work friend coming in to work having only got 2 hours sleep, after this went on for about 2 weeks I went over to his place to see this new exciting game called Everquest. The wonder of watching him run around Kelethin with all those other players had me hooked. It was only a couple of months after release, and there was alot of excitement around and wonder at the rumours of actual level 50's running around. It was a great time, but I know one that is trapped in nostagia and can never be repeated again.

[Eldaran]

Syndic, on 20 January 2010 - 10:01 PM, said:

I remember my work friend coming in to work having only got 2 hours sleep, after this went on for about 2 weeks I went over to his place to see this new exciting game called Everquest. The wonder of watching him run around Kelethin with all those other players had me hooked. It was only a couple of months after release, and there was alot of excitement around and wonder at the rumours of actual level 50's running around. It was a great time, but I know one that is trapped in nostagia and can never be repeated again.

I have those same exact memories except I'm the friend who was coming into work/school with no sleep :). I used to wake up hours early for school when EQ launched in 1998. I remember dying right before my bus came and I had to ask a random person to find my corpse and collect the items for me. Believe it or not that person messaged me later that evening and gave me most of my stuff back (apparently they didn't have the inventory for everything). That kind of stuff just won't happen anymore. LOL