Everquest Companion: The Inside Lore of a Game World

by Robert B Marks

Overview

This work uncovers the history of multiplayer games and online gaming through detailed explorations of the evolution of the EverQuest game.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780072229035
Publisher:	McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media
Publication date:	08/27/2003
Series:	Computer Games Ser.
Pages:	204
Product dimensions:	8.36(w) x 10.92(h) x 0.52(d)

Table of Contents

	Foreword	x
	Acknowledgments	xii
	Introduction	xiii
Chapter 1	What is EverQuest	1
	An Introduction to the Basics
	Playing the Game
	A Sample Adventure
Chapter 2	The Founding of a Game Genre	17
	Tomes of Lore
	Baby Steps and Giant Leaps
	The Internet Revolution
Chapter 3	The Road to EverQuest	37
	Building the Team
	Fleshing Out the Idea
	Growing Pains
	Meeting the Public
	Building the Legacy
Chapter 4	Dissecting the Mmorpg: EverQuest's Design Roots	59
	Back to the Basics: What Makes a Good Game
	Plots and Players
	The Character as Commodity
Chapter 5	Gold, Zones, Quests, and Monsters: Touring the Design of the Game World	79
	Questing Around
	The Multi-Player Universe
	The Norrathian Economy
	Choosing Sides
	Building a World
	Expanding a World
Chapter 6	Reaching out to Your Fellow Elf: Guilds, Forums, and Conventions	101
	The Nature of the Community
	The Nitty-Gritty of the Community
	EverQuest Conventions
Chapter 7	The Great EverQuest Controversy	121
	Controversies Past and Present
	"EverCrack"
	Spotting the Beast
	The EverQuest Widow(er)s
	Two Suicides and a Murder
Chapter 8	Zoning outside the PC	135
	Language, Language
	EverQuest at the Dinner Table
	To the Game Console and Beyond
	Getting into Pictures
Chapter 9	Staring into the Crystal Ball	155
	Predictions of the Future
	Current Trends
	The Computer Game in a Decade
	Afterword: The Big Picture	175
Appendix	EverQuest Community Sites	177
	Bibliography	181
	List of Vignettes	185
	Credits	199