It's 10 pm. Do you know where you and your loved ones are? Here is a collection of experiences from those who live / have lived with an obsessive MMOG gamer and from those who have lived the experience of obsessive MMOG gaming.

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

"I actually have 2 friends that are ferociously addicted to everquest. One of them has been addicted to it since High school...this is about 5 years ago. When we all graduated high school and went to college and got jobs, he stayed home and played Everquest all day and night. Now 5 years later, nothing has changed. He never got his driver's license...he doesn't even have a learner's permit. He has NEVER held a job, ever. He rarely ever leaves his house, and on the rare event that we actually go to his house, he's always unkempt, rather smelly, dirty, and uncaring of his appearence. He lives at home with his parents, and I can only imagine what his parents must think of their ... son sitting in front of his computer from his every waking moment until he goes to bed...I'd estimate that the total amount of hours he puts into everquest yearly would constitute 320 out of 365 days in a year.

He can be called the 'Gateway' into Everquest for us...he was the one who got me playing back in High School. As for me, I hated everquest with a passion. I started playing in May of my senior year in High School, maybe 2-3 hours a day, and stopped the following December in my first semester of college...I didn't have the time, the desire, or addiction level to commit to the game. But unfortunately...and I blame myself for this everyday...EQ had done its damage on my part. I got my friend into it, and he was immediately addicted.

So this is where the story picks up. [his friend] got addicted to the game in 2000. He played for 2 straight years. In his second year of playing, he completely flunked out of college...we went to the same college together and his precious Everquest was so important to him that he just stopped going....he flunked out with straight F's to play his precious EQ. So after sitting on his ass playing EQ for another 8 months, he registered with a 2 year community college, and finally got out of it ... 2004...yes, it took a mere 3 years for him to get out of a 2 year college. During that time, he quit everquest. This was the second half of 2001. When one of the many expansions came out, he immediately went back. He failed 3 of 5 classes in the community college to play his Everquest and played straight through until the beginning of 2003. He actually managed to balance school and everquest, usually in favor of the latter, but he did it. However, I did forget to mention that, in the span of the almost 5 years since we graduated high school, he got fired from EIGHT different jobs for not showing up. Why? He was playing Everquest.

So he continuted to play Everquest on and off during 2003. He was much more agreeable this time...instead of forsaking me and our other friends, like he did during his other EQ stints, he actually hung out and did things with us. I thought maybe he was finally able to balance out. was wrong. He stopped playing in late 2003. In 2004 a game called City of Heroes came along...a game that I too played. It was alot of fun and a decent gameplay experience, but as usual with massive online games, I got dreadfully bored of it in less than a month, and I terminated my account. One of the most remarkable things about it, is that in the time it took me to get my character to level 20, ... had 7 characters across a few servers that were at their maximum levels within 3 weeks (I think level 40). But he too stopped playing, claiming he was bored. I was shocked that he had so many maxed characters but he stopped, so I was happy. He continued hanging out like he always did and things were fine.

Fast forward to September 2004....stops hanging out. He's always making excuses. He switched his ...instant messenger to never show when he goes idle, according to him he wanted to piss off one of our friends (the one who got us into Everquest in the first place). Turns out he was hiding the fact that he was back on EQ. He had been staying up til 5 in the morning every night, getting up at about 8 am every morning (less than 3 hours of sleep a night), and one day my friend went to his house, and saw an everquest instant message box up....rushed over, pushed him out of the chair onto the floor, and closed it. He said he used it to 'spy' on our other friend ... however, you can't use the EQ instant message without being an EQ Player.

So it was once again revealed that he has been playing Everquest for about a month. And the shocking thing is that he's playing so much that I was dumbfounded when I found out what he 'accomplished'. In one month's time, he has 17 characters across 6 servers, ALL of which are at maximum levels (65 I think?). 17 max level characters in one month...I can only assume he dropped out of college again. So now here he is, complaining he has no money and needs a job, and he's just sitting on his ass in front of the computer screen shooting twinkly spells at big bad dragons and running around with his EQ girlfriend.

...I've seent he way he talks to her...it's amazing how different he becomes when he's talking to her. But he claims that one day they're going to meet and get married in live somewhere else.

So last night... I was directly connected to him through ... instant messenger. We usually ALWAYS spam each other with sound files, but when I did it last night, he didn't respond. So I did it again. Knowing now that he was ignoring me for Everquest, I got rather mad, so I strung together the loudest, most annoying sound I could find to loop continuously, and THAT set him off...he started yelling at me ... and blocked me. His sister called me up in a panic this morning to tell me what he did...when I sent him the sound he was apparently having an 'intimate conversation' with his eq girlfriend on voice chat, while their characters just sat on the ground in front of each other. His sister told me that ... got so angry when I sent the sound, that after he screamed at me, he got up, smashed his keyboard so hard with his fist that it almost broke in half, breaking the keyboard drawer loose from the computer desk. He kicked his garbage can, picked it up and threw it, screaming at the top of his lungs, then he slammed his door multiple times, and started punching it furiously until he broke right through it with his fist. Then he marched right into his sister's room while she was standing terrified out in the hallway, pulled her computer desk out, ripped her keyboard out the back of her computer,and brought it back to his computer to use it. Then he started talking all lovey dovey to his eq girlfriend.

It's happened again, for the 5th time. I've lost my best friend to Everquest, and from what his sister told me about last night, and judging from the fact he has 17 max level characters in just one month's time, I can tell he is long, long gone. Chalk up another one to EQ.

Just thought i'd share my story. I'm a two time eq player, the first time I was off in about 6 or 7 months, the second time I was off in a month and a half ... its addiction power never was able to grab me, but it sucked ... right in, and I blame myself for introducing him to it."

7 Comments:

Blogger Job said...

Wow that is a truly sad story. EQ, like many things today, are destroying human life without us even knowing it. I'm amazed at the different medians addiction can take form in America, and it truly scary. I will pray for your friend and I hope one day he will wake up.
God bless,
Steve

Oct 27, 2004, 11:25:00 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pay attention kiddies... this is what is referred to as "excessive hyperbole." From the guesswork involved in what level is max, to the glaring (and well-worn) stereotypes concerning EQ players, this piece of garbage blog is laughable.

Yes, there is a small minority of EQ players who lost their grip on reality. Welcome to the real world. I have more stories about friends I've lost to drugs than all the people I've met in EQ with no life outside the game combined. This blog says five people fell victim to EQ's menacing clutches. How many do you, the reader, know who are addicted to some other type of behavior, substance, or activity?

Calling out EQ as an evil is ludicrous. If five of this blogger's friends were lost to MMORPGs, then perhaps he should look really hard at himself and the people he chooses to hang out with.

Peace.

Feb 7, 2006, 9:09:00 AM

 
Blogger J said...

I think you fail to realize what this blog is about: people's personal opinions and stories. If someone wants to call EQ wonderful or evil, so be it. We all have an opinion. So you lost more friends to drugs than EQ. That's you, and I'm sorry to hear that. I know more computer hobbyists and D&D people and less people who like to drink, smoke or shoot themselves up, so I definitely know more obsessive online gamers than the average person. Doesn't mean that these two categories exclude each other though. The only time I met substance abusers are through Everquest, actually. Kinda funny.

P.S.: Excessive Hyperbole? Isn't it a too much of a superlative?

Feb 7, 2006, 2:29:00 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a 5 year eq *vet* though i stopped playing years ago, I can tell you this is 100% made up fantasy crap. It is ONE HUNDRED PRECENT immpossible, no matter HOW much you play, to even get 2 characters to max level in a month. It is ONE THOUSAND percent impossible to get ANY toon to level 50/60/65/70(the various max levels that have existed) in TWO days. IMPOSSSIBLE. Nice try lying sack of shit.

May 6, 2006, 10:36:00 PM

 
Blogger J said...

Where does he ever talk about maxing a characters within 2 days?? The only mention I can see to that is "17 max level characters in just one month's time" and "had 7 characters across a few servers that were at their maximum levels within 3 weeks (I think level 40" (on COH).

Don't forget that the author's not commented on how that guy got so many max level characters... as an EQ vet, you should know better than to claim that it's impossible when we know that there are means to get max characters other than simply grinding up the levels.

I wish you had read this post a bit more carefully before you started spouting insults

May 12, 2006, 12:17:00 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

could have E-Bayed a char for all we know

Jun 21, 2006, 6:37:00 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would like to say that everyone so far has had some excellent points. Being a long time EQ vet myself (and still being active in the EQ "community") i have had alot of experience with both sides of this story. Let me say this.. everything can be addictive.. it just depends on your personality type. "Most" people, in my experience, are addicted to something (even if its just something simple like food, or down time). So its safe to say there are some people "addicted" to EQ as well. Addiction sucks! Its an unwanted response to something you enjoy. You like it.. want more of it.. so.. you get more of it. Next thing you know your single, overweight, and socially inept because you spent WAY too much time doing whatever it was that felt good but was very unproductive. I currently hold down a job working 40 hours a week (tech support) and am an avid gamer. My "EQ phases" come and go, but i always have an active account. My addictions jump around, but they all render me anti-social. From games to drugs.. no one thing has me spent.. but across them all it probably equals the symptoms a corrosive addiction to "someone" out there. SO.. if your their friend do what you can. If thats not enough then walk away from it. If you can't walk away then help as much as you can. BUT RECOGNIZE! theres probably something YOU do as well that qualifies as addiction.. so don't judge! If your desire to help is sincere.. then you will end up helping.
Now, in regards to the person who said its impossible to level characters in EQ THAT fast.. pbbbffft! yeah right! i was roomates with a dude that used his guild affiliations (and called out a few favors) to level his character to max (65 at that time) in 3 days! I know guildies who have maxed characters right now that took just a few days (not including AAs.. just levels wise.. for all those EQrs out there.)They more than likely did this by literally dedicating 48-72 hours to their "cause". I eve know people today who spend more time socializing in MMORPG games than they do in public. are they sick? thats up to you as an individual to decide.. but recognize there is really only one true priority. And if your life is based on any other concept you are already wrong, and probably a bad person anyway.. Your priority should be love. And being loving right now means helping other people.. because.. we are all a mess! we are all messed up! and we all need each other to fix it. So.. as i have said.. if your love them.. and want to help them.. do it in the most selfless and loving way possible. Take action, don't complain, and aim to help. You probably will.

May 14, 2007, 3:41:00 PM

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home