Back when eq came out nobody really cared about gamma correction really. It just meant "brighter", but games nowadays try to match the gamma curve of monitors and tvs. They are mostly the same, though older macs are different.
It seems like as a human when I first log in I sometimes get the original EQ darkness, then when the next hour tics over it goes sort of half ultravision.
I agree for sure about the richness of the colors as a human.
More info on games and gamma if you are curious:
http://www.technofumbles.com/weblog/...ect-rendering/