The Daily Grind: How did you discover MMOs?

Well I started with MUDs, the only problem was that the country I was in did not have good internet connection for me to play anything other than MUDs. Hence, when I came to the US to study I got myself WoW, EQ 2, SWG, and CoX. I quit them all and am now just playing LoTRO. I found out about MMOs because I always wanted to play multiplayer over the internet but could not.

I discovered mmos pretty much by reading this site every day. It all started when I wanted to get back into WoW for my birthday but instead I found myself having more fun in WAR.

I got hooked thanks to radio hosts Opie and Anthony. I was listening to them describing their time in EQ and how much fun it was. Their enthusiasm and love for it came through clearly on the radio. Well, I was driving just down the road from Wal Mart. I decided to go check it out. As I stood there looking at the box, I said to myself; " I will probably not like this game". I figured I would have to go through and pick stats and stuff. Well, I got hooked. On more than one occasion, I drove home in the middle of my night shift job to log on and check things out.

I played MUDs for years, as well as single player RPGs. When the MMOs started rolling out, I totally objected to the idea of paying for software, then paying a monthly fee to use it. I also preferred the diversity of MUD content, the ease of coding MUDs, and the culture of the MUD community. So I refused to play MMOs until Guild Wars came out, and because it didn't charge a monthly fee, I decided to give it a chance. That was my gateway drug, and I started playing WoW not long after. :)

As a teenager, I devoured all things Tolkien -- from Silmarillion to Christopher Tolkien's multi-volume "History of Middle Earth." But perhaps the best addition to my addiction was "The Atlas of Middle-Earth" by Karen Wynn Fonstad. Every location, every building, every environment was meticulously drawn. (While playing LOTRO I still refer to Fonstad's "Atlas" to make sure Turbine got it right.) I thought it was going to be as good as it got with total Middle-Earth immersion.

So, while I dabbled in pen-and-paper games as a kid, it was hearing about LOTRO that brought me to MMOs. Admittedly, I was skeptical. I had followed the release of SWG with excitement, but a poor PC kept me from taking the plunge. (Thankfully, after reading the reviews.) But most of my skepticism dealt with the disappointment. I figured that no PC game could match what I wanted it to be, and then all I'd done was waste money.

After first buying LOTRO, I admit it was slow going. I was amazed at the attention to detail, but as for the game-play itself, I was lost for many days. But I stuck with it -- mostly out of a desire to see more of Middle-Earth -- and I'm so glad that I did. While the "setting" is still utmost in my reasons for playing, and here Turbine really shines, I am equally addicted to the actual game itself. (Though I have yet to try another game -- mostly in deference to my wife, who thinks I play enough PC games, thank you very much!)

Everquest Online Adventures for PS2....

A co-worker with whom I played lots of Quake over the LAN told me he was playing the beta for a tank game called Tanarus, so I gave it a shot and was hooked. We actually got in trouble with the IT department because we played the game a couple hours a day and our bandwidth consumption went through the roof. I didn't know the term massively-multiplayer at that point, and outside of Asia most people probably wouldn't assign the term MMO to a game like that (centralized chat room with lots of little games going on).

During the Tanarus beta, Smed came on the forums and said they were accepting beta testers for another game called Everquest, and so I signed up. It wasn't until about a year later, I think, that I actually got into the game, but that was my start with MMOs. Everyone at work was playing EQ and so initially it was just about going in each night to play with RL co-workers and friends. They'd all made elves, dwarves, gnomes, or humans, so they could play together, and initially I did the same, but at some point I wanted to play a troll. It was too difficult to get to where they were and travel through the same areas, so that was when I first started to talk to and group with people I didn't know in RL.

I spent most of my evenings in 1999 hanging out in a cybercafe that particularly catered to roleplaying gamers and collectible card gamers, and when Everquest came out, I remember seeing a lot of my friends playing it there. I wasn't impressed, and stuck with single-player games. But when I saw Anarchy Online in a gaming shop, I was excited as all heck that there was finally a science fiction roleplaying game that I could log into at any time, and jumped right on board, I guess it was about 2 months after the game went live. I ended up imperfectly happy with AO, mostly because of Funcom's lousy customer service, but playing AO spoiled me for single-player games in a way that even Diablo II Battle.Net hadn't, because there was always a group of people to "talk" with while I was playing. Now, I can't do without that.

I discovered them by first playing Legend of the Red Dragon on a BBS, then playing MUDs, so I wouldn't exactly call the games or the genre new.

Anarchy Online. Launch.

Earlier than most, but not exactly ancient MMO history either.

Somewhat over a year ago, was off work trying to claw my life back from anxiety and depression. Stumbled across EVE. Never touched an MMO before. But desperate for something to do, and reading interesting thigns about its economy, I took a plunge, with virtually no other knowledge of the game (or MMOs in general).

I've had a blast. Good game to get to play MMOs. After you've survived the EVE learning cliff, everything else seems not so difficult.

I've always loved RPGs. From pen-and-paper D&D and Battletech to console RPGs, I loved the storytelling and involved gaming aspect.

I jumped into MMO's a few years ago, willingly but reluctantly. I knew I'd get addicted and I was right.

Today MMO's take up all my gaming time, and I've directed my writing to the genre.

I started with the F2P market which I think gives me an interesting perspective on player perceptions that I use in much of my writings today.

My favorite game that I currently call home is Runes of Magic. I also purchased Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, and am getting Everquest 2, and still play WoW on and off.

Saw an Everquest Disk on a toys r' Us stand for $10. Was around 2001.

I got my start in MMOs in this little free game called Tibia in the 5th grade. I used to always watch this show on G4 called Portal which was all about MMOs and little stories done inside of them. I've been avidly playing any MMO I can get my hands on since then. I've never had very much money so I've gone through almost every good free MMO there's been since then. I've spent some to in P2P games too sometimes and always love them to death.

The original EverQuest blew me away some 10 or so years ago, and really since then it's been pretty hard for the wife, friends, work, sleep, hangovers, bills, etc... to keep me out of any of them. Though I find myself now without a recurring sub and a large amount of free time. Hurry up Global Agenda or SW:TOR release your crap or gimmie a beta key... I'm starting to twitch. =]

Seeing someone mention Island of Kesmai brought a smile to my face. I didn't start quite that early, but my first MMO experience was Legends of Kesmai (the graphical successor to Island of Kesmai), first on AOL (which charged by the hour) and then later on GameStorm, along with other awesome and sorely missed games like Rolemaster: Magestorm and Silent Death Online (both made by a little unknown company called Mythic Entertainment). This was in elementary school for me, probably eleven years ago. After that a friend showed me screenshots of EverQuest on the school computers and bragged to me about being in the beta test. ("Yeah, I can even summon bread and water so I don't get hungry or thirsty ever!") I bought it when it was released and was hooked on MMOs ever since.