Were they right, though. I frankly don't see the difference some days.

It was so simple, from launch til SoL (I think), account stuff was handled within the client. Account creation, payment and password changes were all in there. All you had to do was change your password (on your unpaid account) and there would be some window in which you could log in without paying. Once logged in to (or past) server select there were no checks for subscription, so it would never boot you off.

So classic =D

This. And then by late high school they were like “Look, it’s fine, go do some drugs with friends! Give this a break!”

Haha. I was in my twenties during the original EQ days so I had my own apartment. But man I remember that slow dialup modem making that terrrible sound every time I had to log into EQ. I also remember many a black screen with the words:

YOU HAVE BEEN DISCONNECTED

Then I got the bug so bad I bought a second computer with monitor, went to cable internet and paid for a second account so I could 2-box. All I actually wanted was to be able to have a Druid on one account and a cleric on the other. That way my Cleric always had a port and sow and my Druid always had a rez.

It was AWESOME!

Dial up sound was exciting. Like harddrive spin it meant your computer was doing something.. something was about to happen.

100% the same for me.

I'm sure it's missing the "but two years later" for you both.

I remember almost getting 30th trimester aborted by my parents because the something went wrong with the Dialup, and somehow I ended up connecting it via long distance and gave them a pretty hefty bill for a couple months.

Once I explained I had to get on Everquest, they still were enraged!

Did anyone else's dial-up modem make a "click" sound when it disconnected? I remember hearing that mid-kite like, "No, no, no, no , no! NOT NOW!"

I'm reasonable certain I've shared this before. Here's me playing back then. Compaq Presario, Billabong t-Shirt, dial-up internet, and that sweet wallpaper.

https://i.imgur.com/wuVADDq.jpg