EverQuest Players Face Off

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EverQuest Players Face Off
by Andy Patrizio

11:50 a.m. Jul. 10, 2000 PDT

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Is there anything that can make EverQuest addicts log off their multi-player games and participate in real-life interaction?

Yes, if it involves other EQ addicts.

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More than 450 fans of Verant Interactive's highly addictive online role-playing game journeyed into the sweltering Las Vegas desert Sunday to meet, greet, and put names to faces in the third EQ Gathering event, the largest turnout so far. The gathering also provided players a chance to meet the designers and top brass from Verant, who got more than an earful of praise, suggestions, and complaints.

At the event Verant announced a second expansion pack for the game, called "The Scars of Velious," that adds a new continent including new creatures and a whole new territory to explore.

The company only set a tentative release date of December and said that the new territory would be for high-level players, but that was enough tease to keep the crowd happy.

Since its release in March 1999, EverQuest has attracted more than 250,000 online players. The bulk of the game is played on the Internet with players creating characters that are stored on Verant's servers. The characters go on quests, solve puzzles and riddles, bash lots and lots of monsters and occasionally each other as they make their way through a massive online world.

All three events have been made possible by the efforts of individual fans with minimal help from Verant.

The informal gathering at the Alexis Park Resort was primarily designed to give people who only knew each other from years of chatting online an opportunity to meet face-to-face.

"I thought it would be neat to meet the designers and ask them a few questions, as well as finally meeting people in person rather than through chatting," said Tim Rowe, who came from Houston, Texas. "I've got people all over the world whom I've chatted with but will never meet, so I wanted a chance to meet some people here."

"It's a really social game, which is why people love it," said Joel Muncaster, of Anaheim, California, who came in a costume inspired by the game. "You can play for hours without making a level, and people still love it because you can interact with so many other people without leaving your chair."

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