Why didn't EverQuest remain as popular as other old MMO's?

[Danth]

Originally Posted by Evia [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Another thing worth thinking about is that when EQ first launched, just seeing other real players simultaniously online in a persistant game world was absolutely revolutionary!

Only true for those folks for whom EQ was their first online game, hence plenty of people can say the same for, say, Warcraft. Online gaming was new, but not brand-new, when EQ came out. The first graphical/realtime multiplayer online game I know of came out in the late 1980's. If you want to stick to role-playing games, Meridian59 came out in 1996 I think? Ultima in 1997, plus a few other lesser-known entries during the 90's. Asheron's Call also came out in '99 and it's deader than EQ is today, isn't it?

Runescape has a large population today because it's competently managed. Its operating company (Jagex) has backtracked from and tried to fix mistakes it made in the past, up to opening and supporting Oldschool RS**. In addition Runescape is defacto up to Runescape 3 or 4, depending on which variant the player logs in to, in spite of using the same name. 2001-style Runescape Classic is as dead as a doorknob as far as I know.

What's Ultima's population these days? I didn't much like that game, dabbled a bit circa 1998 but thought it was junk. Haven for psychopaths.

**Edit: Note that OSRS is based on 2007-era Runescape2, not on early 2000's-era RSclassic.