Undoubtedly nostalgia plays a huge part in the initial hook for most, but, from my albeit brief experience so far, there is undoubtedly something beyond the rose tinted spectacles which grabs people and gets them invested once again.
My intrepid Druid so far has experienced three extended corpse runs, a number of hugely charitable benefactors, and an impressive number of varied pick up groups. And it has been a blast.
If I was to explain to a friend that gaining level five took two evenings of serious grind, or that in the completion of an unmarked quest involving Bone chips, an abandoned building with a hidden wall, grimy cellar and random angry NPC which murdered me in one hit (and all this in one of the major hubs) I’m not sure they would jump at the chance of joining my adventure.
I last played EQ when I was about 11, 17 years ago. Returning is a little bit like going back your childhood home and the nostalgia is strong. However, beyond some sight seeing and knowing nods, I don’t think this explains the recent evenings I’ve spent on orc hill, or the grim determination of retrieving my corpse from Nekutlus because I set out in the evening and forgot that the original designers were maniacs.
Having recently delved head first into WOW Classic, there is something to be said for the design which envelopes EQ (or this P1999 variant). The obtuse nature of the game and it’s unrelenting challenge forces you to work with others and socialise. In the past decade I can count on one hand how many conversations I’ve had in other MMOs - and even then they were probably about the good old days in Norrath. This week I’ve met people who have been helpful, talkative and, in the case of newbies like myself, surprised that they have been missing this human experience for the past few years.
Stick a new engine on top of EQ, and smooth some of the rougher edges and this would be celebrated under the same terms as Dark Souls and similar games of its ilk. Nostalgia is probably the barrier to entry to persevere with a game that’s two decade old, as well as an installation process which, while made simple by the community, will put off some. However, there’s so much here that later games just failed to replicate or even appreciate. EQ feels like a world, WOW managed to retain some of this sense in the early days, but modern MMOs and updated older titles completely fail. That’s why I don’t think it’s just nostalgia that’s keep folks invested.
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