I played EQ for over 5 years . Btw EQ wasnt really a theme park game.

horizons was my first mmo so(2003), no.

I played Asheron's Call and also UO from beta, although I prefered AC and stuck with it for a while.  I yearn for the days of AC, although I think it's just due to how people get nostalgic about things they liked in the past.

oops, didn't notice the "6 months" part and voted yes.

The gap in fun factor between Early MMORPGs and Every Other Genre (except sports) was so great that I just never stuck with them, despite being an avid multiplayer gamer at the time (Dark Reign 1, Quake 2, Subspace, and others.)  I tried a ton of em too.  Nearly everything released except EQ1/UO.

So even though I really wanted to like it (and even though the advancement system was awesome) I didn't stick with AC1 much longer than 2-3 months.  It just wasn't comparable in fun to the smaller scale games I was playing.

Shattered Galaxy might've been the first MMO I invested significant time into (a MMORTS).  I think Planetside (MMOFPS) was after that.  And then WOW was the first MMORPG to shave off the genre's cruddy exterior to expose the juicy center.

I had played EQ for a month or 3, but I wasn't really into it because well there weren't any people online or they were waaay ahead of me. Too bad, I actually thought the graphics were really cool. :(

I started playing MMO's with Redmoon, really funny, was a cool community for a youngster like me.

Back to playing EQ and I have to say, if SOE had introduced Merc's (Tanks and Healers for hire) 6 years ago, I'd NEVER have left!

This game, what with it's LOAD of content cannot keep me away from my computer!  I crave it like I did years ago, and yet I now no longer have to spend my precious time (job, wife, two kids, army reserves, gym) that I have to play screaming LFG!  I actually get to have my cake and eat it too!

They also have hot zones as well, which encourages people to try out some of the old zones due to a really nice exp bonus.  Couple this with the almost limitless Alternate Advancement system, you are hard pressed to become bored with this game.

Will I look at new games?  Yes.  But unless I get to try them out in beta, I could not be bothered taking a chance spending my money when I have ol' tried and true EQ here to keep me company! 

BEST $14 per month spent, EVER!

Originally posted by MGoran

I had played EQ for a month or 3, but I wasn't really into it because well there weren't any people online or they were waaay ahead of me. Too bad, I actually thought the graphics were really cool. :(

 

I started playing MMO's with Redmoon, really funny, was a cool community for a youngster like me.

They have mercs now that you can run around with to help level. Or, if you have higher level friends, they can use Spirit Shrouds to become a lower level monster to group with you and help you level.

Unfortunately i must admit i missed those games despite my age, didn't really discover MMOs until a few years ago. However, without in any way dismissing their present value as important references, it bears pointing out most people do tend to look more kindly on their first games. I remeber this from the pen and paper era, i got started playing AD&D 2nd edition and absolutely loved that game, and still remember arguments with some older players... for many it was an abomination. I did give the original a try and i loathed playing it. It felt too much like an amateurish indie version of the game. Eventually i got to see the game over extend releasing too many low quality additions (psychics really killed it for me, it was too much of a minmaxer's dream) and ofc got to see Hasbro's print as the very embodiment of everything gone wrong with that game.

My favorite game was White Wolf's tho, which i take it to mean you can actually look past that first game you loved. It's a bit of a shame that game did follow AD&D footsteps into an early oblivion, really those games could've had a much longer run had they not been so grossly mismanaged. Many people say it was technology that killed them but i see printed TCGs surviving just fine.

The sad thing for games like EQ or UO is that they'll very likely only remain important while the living memory of the generation that played them endures. Unlike console or arcade games they require both large comunities and ample time to apreciate, and for people who got into MMOs later on they would very likely feel dated, and it would be difficult for us to appreciate their nuisances and subtleties. MMO memory will some day have to rely on the written record to truly give place and proportion to those milestones that made the genre what it is today. It very likely always will.

I played UO and EQ for a few years each and AC for only a month.

i played UO for some years but neither EQ nor AC.

The results of the poll are surprising to me. The majority of respondents have played at least one of these "old school" games.

Perhaps people that played one of these games were more likely to enter this thread, than those that did not, no way to tell.

Played all three extensively.

I played EQ for 3 years but only dabbled in the other two.

UO over four years.

EQ over three years.

AC over one year.

Also Played AO and DAoC for two years or more each.

I kinda have all the oldies covered.

UO from around when Abyss Test existed, till they added in trammel. Quit shortly after it was implemented.

I played the original EQ for about six months during the 2003-2004.  I quit around the time the Dragons of Norrath expansion was released to spend more time playing EQ2, which I was then spending most of my time on.

I played UO on a few free shards three years ago or so, expecting the game to play similarly to Baldur's Gate or any other point and click computer RPG.  Once I started playing it, the game felt like a clunky mess.  I guess I had been spoiled on MMORPGs with better graphics.

AC for 10 years (on and off)

EQ 1 for about 1 month. (I hate class based games)

UO for about a month.

I have 4 active accounts in AC to this very day.

Played UO on release as my first MMO, then after that NeverQuest, when I got bored of EQ camp I tried out AC and was the most bored with that, so I went back to EQ.

None, when those games came out I was against paying to play what was nothing more then a graphical MUD. All games mentioned were all fantasy based which also didn't grab my attention. Not until Anarchy Online came out did I play MMO, and it was perfect (not in a literal sense, game was made by Funcom). I've still not found a MMO with a character development system that was as indepth as AO Classic's (and while I wouldn't exactly call it indepth but moresomuch then what we get in today's MMOs). Nice mix of gameplay styles rolled into one. Open world grinding, instance grind, public instances for loot, raids for loot, solo for loot, pvp small skirmishes or massive blob on blob combat. It was a horribly made game with great concepts that could still be used today.

The vast majority of the people who have or who will respond to this poll will be the ones for whom those games hold some significant meaning, therefore it is skewed toward response fro the ones who probably will be checking yes.  I would suggest that the results are going to be very biased at best, and I predict the posted replies will be the same tired litany of "played XYZ at launch for five hundred years, was in closed alpha for ZYX months before they even knew they were developing it!" from the same folks who post their pedigree more than play game.

I did choose yes.  I recognize however that my gaming history is boring and irrelevant.  The takeaway here is you may as well have left the poll off and just made the question a thread topic.  The same people would have responded (including me).

Originally posted by UsedManatee

The vast majority of the people who have or who will respond to this poll will be the ones for whom those games hold some significant meaning, therefore it is skewed toward response fro the ones who probably will be checking yes.  I would suggest that the results are going to be very biased at best, and I predict the posted replies will be the same tired litany of "played XYZ at launch for five hundred years, was in closed alpha for ZYX months before they even knew they were developing it!" from the same folks who post their pedigree more than play game.

I did choose yes.  I recognize however that my gaming history is boring and irrelevant.  The takeaway here is you may as well have left the poll off and just made the question a thread topic.  The same people would have responded (including me).

I realize this may be the case, and that is unfortunate.

I was curious if the attitude of the majority of posters here is based on experience with these three classics, or lack of experience with these classic MMORPGs.

I would think that someone that has only ever played the newer free to play MMORPGs would have a different attitude towards game features than someone that played one of the three mentioned MMORPGs for at least 6 months.

Originally posted by dstar.

I played all three of those.  UO at release, EQ at release, AC for a brief time.  I hated every second of EQ that I played but I had friends that played.  Luckily after Kunark launched I was able to talk them into switching over to UO which I played for about 5 years off and on.  AC was brief, probably the only one I didn't really give much time on, maybe a month or two but I was really burnt out on MMOs and went to play FPS's for a while.

That was pretty much the only reason I ever played WoW.  I had no interest in it, I had really good friends who wanted to play so I got on and stayed for about 6 months, hating every minute of it but it was worthwhile to be able to hang out with and talk to friends.

That said, I don't know if I'd do that again, that was 6 months of my gaming life I can't get back.

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

MMORPGs for at least 6 months.

1 month is long enough to sincerely rate an MMORPG. But it's your post so suit yourself.

Originally posted by Plasmicredx

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

MMORPGs for at least 6 months.

1 month is long enough to sincerely rate an MMORPG. But it's your post so suit yourself.

Perhaps, but I wanted to distinguish between the people that actually played the game and put some time into it, versus people that may have tried a free trial for a month, or played a friends account for a couple of days.

It is my opinion that people that played one of these games for at least 6 months will have a different attitude towards gaming features than someone that's only played newer F2P games, or that played one of the three games for a month or less.

All 3 - AC being my first MMO, then EQ, then UO when some friends started playing.

Always liked AC the best.