Why do so many people solo on P99?

[Valik1016]

So many people solo because there aren't groups to join. People have time limits for playing, and they don't want to spend that time in general chat seeking people to group with, only to have almost no time left to play if and when they finally find a group. I know that ends up by saying that people don't group because people don't group, but it's true. I'm not sure when and how this became EQ culture, but it has been many years, on P99 and on live. One huge problem is that players create new characters and twink them until they are powerful enough that they don't need groupmates. The push to make items no drop and therefore not transferable that way was supposed to end this practice. Then there is multi-boxing, basically soloing while having a group at your disposal. This is supposedly not happening in P99, but I think it is known to be happening. So take it with a grain of salt when people post that they solo certain things, when they are soloing with 5 characters, not one. You wonder how people solo in an MMO game..they chat while they solo and convince themselves they are playing with other people and are part of the community. It sounds silly but it is understandable when you see how people nowadays live their lives. They maintain connection even in real life via SMS/texting. They refer to people they never even see but send messages to as their friends. They are very comfortable without actual contact, and it is no longer a requirement in forming and maintaining a relationship. Why would it be different in EQ? Actual grouping would necessitate observing certain norms of social interaction that they don't even have to observe in real life...why bother with that? So that all just barely scratches the surface of an answer to your question, and a more complete answer could turn into a PhD thesis, but you should get the idea.