She Dreams in Digital Most nights, I get off work at 7 pm, and it takes me roughly 25 minutes to drive home,

and if I have the money for drive thru, make it 30 to 35 minutes, I tumble in my door With a warm bag of Burger King, at 7:30pm. I fall into my desk chair and start up my desktop PC, taking off my shoes while watching the machine come to life working through its rituals. The screen blackens for a minute, while I walk into the bathroom. I dont want to waste good logged in time by having to use the restroom. Back at my desk, I select the EQ (Everquest) Icon and start up the patch(machine checking eq files against potentially updated files on the login server) peel out of my work clothes and jump into my sweats. Its only 7:40pm, but I know Im not going out tonight, least not in a traditional sense. By now, the machine has said its silicon prayers and made the appropriate jesters the screen brightens with the server list page, a list of exotic names of gods, each server named after a deity in the mythology of Norrath. After playing for several years, these become the familiar names of the gods of the games theology, Innoruuk, Cazic Thule, Tunare, to name a few. I finish my calculation: I have to be back at work at 11 am, subtract 30 minutes to get to work, in case I need gas, thats 10:30, and a shower, thats now 10 am. I need a minimum of 5 hours a sleep. So thats now 5 am. So to be conservative, I will say I will be in bed by 4:30am.. That means, I have 7 hours and 45 minutes to play before I have to go to work again. Thats 7 hours and 45 minutes of Everquest. You can

shave off all kinds of wasted time, eat in front of the machine, dont take phone calls, or go out at all. (journal 2002) This was my mindset during my peak Everquest Addiction, and though this seems extreme it is definitely not abnormal for many of the players in the game. People have lost jobs over Everquest, as well as spouses- quit school, and even traveled across country to meet reality Strangers( people who have not met in RL)Through my personal experiences in the game, and observing the people I played with, I hope to show how the interactions between players affects their real life and hopefully shed some light on the stigmatized players of online games. Its just a computer game? More people play Massive online role- playing games than many people realize. On Everquest alone, 420,000 people are currently playing the game, making the games population larger than 42 of Americas state capitals. (SOE). 200,000 of these players log in everyday for an average of 4 hours. Electronic gaming has moved ahead at improbable speed. Now, between sales of consoles and those of software, it is a business larger than Hollywood.(Kolbert 1988) There are Everquest addiction support groups for not only addicted players but, Everquest Widows support group- an equivalent to a 12 step support group for loved ones of the addicted. As I played for several years and experienced a majority of the game, the question of addiction, relationship intimacy in the virtual landscape, and the identity of players comes up often.

Virtual culture? Many people have been studying this game from the perspective of an outsider, which causes the riff between what happens on the game, and what people think players are doing. Participant Observation is completely necessary, like in any ethnography to offset the failures in the quantifiable data. Through the events of my guild in the game, and their relationships -I question if Everquest a valid form of socializing. Regardless of your opinion on this, this is what the game is being used for. Because of the social nature of EQ, questions of gender, Identity, and truth, and intimacy of virtual relationships become the focus of my concerns in my research. How sincere are the interactions in this virtual world? Is Everquest an addiction? Are people portraying themselves in this fantasy world, how do they manipulate language to emphasize themselves? How Deceptive is interaction between players? I feel before I further my research into the rest of this Mmorgps culture I need to find out how real this society is. A bulk of this field study revolves around October of 2002, several months after Shadowhand and Vezkulia got married, (virtually) and fell in love on Everquest. When Shadowhand Dies unexpectedly, the players involved attempt to define or redefine their relationships with each other in their guild, Guardians of The Keep. When it is revealed that Vezkulia is man, while people try to come to terms with their grief about the demise of their friend, it is discovered that Shadowhand was most likely a man as well, and is probably not dead, But actually just ashamed of having had an intimate relationship with someone Shadowhand thought was a girl.

Going Native I an in the unique position to be able to talk to many people in the game, in RL, as well as on EQ about their experiences online because of my once high status and deep involvement in the game. As a level 65 cleric in one of the best guilds on the server, I knew many people, most of which played with seriously commitment to their goals in EQ. The game is based on group cooperation and strategy so its important to network and make friends, a huge contrast to single shooter games. I originally started playing EQ for the same reason, ironically, as the designer of Everquest had made it. When he was asked in an Interview:
Do you still play?

I do. But I am a perennial lowbie. I play very casually with friends who do not typically play video games, but who I used to paper-game with. So for me, it has never been a race or competition, but a vehicle to spend some time with old friends. - Bill Trost -EQ
Character, Dumpy Irontoe, Co-Creator / Lead Designer / Artist.

( http://eqlive.station.sony.com/anniversary_interviews.jsp?subject=Bill%20Trost may 22, 2004)

My life On Norrath ( the EQ world) started the same way: Several of my old friends and myself were having increasingly more responsibilities and more geographical space between us, and EQ seems like an entertaining answer as slowly we all joined the game to hang out with one another. We found that after a month or so, we would log in for longer periods of time and not just to hang out with one another, but to socialize with new friends and Level up our Characters. That same year was also when I split up with my now ex-husband, and moved back home to rebuild my life; My Everquest social Support was vital at this point to me. I was pretty depressed after my failing marriage, and I was fairly broke as well - between

not working for a year (to attempt to fix my marriage) and not having much training or education. When My ex Husband gutted my PC before I moved out, various Everquest friends parted out pieces of their computers to Frankenstein one together for me, that would be capable of running Everquest minimally, for the sake of keeping in touch. While I was computer- less, I received supportive phone calls from Froanz , a Troll Warrior who was also a 21 year old guy in Baton Rouged, to make sure I was doing OK. Froanz and I had spent many late nights in Lower Guk(a difficult dungeon full of Undead frog people) talking about our own problems, his being that he was on probation for Drug charges, and was attempting to straighten out his life, which was why he had taken up playing EQ: To not be drawn into the life that had got him into trouble. While my marriage ended, I spent more time in Norrath, because it felt better than facing the pain of a loveless marriage. Even now, I keep contact with Froanz who has just become a Father for the first time, and is getting prepared to go to college.The last thing he said to me the other day was Afk- doing baby stuff(away from keyboard checking on his baby) While I rehabilitated myself, financially EQ offered me entertainment and social nurturing for 12 dollars a month, which is much less expensive than going out. Many players in this economy (post 9-11 Nastiness) have rejoiced about saving money because they spent all their free time online. Before I had moved out on my own again, Shadowhand died which is referred to many times because this event redefined the relationships in the game as well as our perception of the people behind the toons, for better or for worse. When I moved in with my roommate and childhood friend Emiem, she was interested in what I was playing all the time and I ended up buying her a copy of the game, which she, going

through her own Divorce and Rehabilitation began playing even more heavily than myself. Her enthusiasm for the game grew. With the death of Shadowhand, Garathson and I began to spend time in real life together. This evolved into barbeques and parties were players from out of town as well as local players would get together and share stories, mostly about game. Here is an excerpt from my journal in 2002, shortly after going to new Orleans to meet Hoanz and Froanz (some players I was friends with online); I found a perfect place imaginary and real, where everyone is who they want to be- and for this is being beautiful and wanted and above all listened to And as I knew myself, this was an excellent way to not cheat on my then- husband, my marriage was ending: at this point I could hear its death rattle. I had held onto that sad relationship, as anyone would hold the hand of the terminally ill: its inevitable that they are passing on, you can see the blood pulsing out of the unrecognizable organs exposed in the torso, your bruised and beaten too, and part of you just wants them to go so you can address yourself. I held its dying hand; I played Everquest with the other. I was on this game and I would log on to my special world and be adored and spoken to kindly. And late in the night have quiet desperate chats with other hurting alienated people I had made friends with. (journal 2003) My life as Dafne Wafne was far more romantic and rewarding than that of my poor and divorced RL self at the time. Dafne had admirers, nice clothes and prestigious standing with some, especially playing a cleric, who have the ability to resurrect people from the dead, letting them regain any experience lost. I could travel all over the world and defeat

dragons and monsters. I remember looking forward to logging in after a long day at work or a long Dinner with my Husband who hardly spoke to me. I would think to myself When I log in, Froanz will say Hi, and Fineghal will make some crude joke and people will be happy to see me on, and want to go play.

As I began to feel better about my life, I still loved logging in, it was a great way to decompress and get out frustrations of the day, and at this point talk to all my friends and see how life is treating them. I struggle with the idea that people feel Everquest is addicting, People observe their loved ones playing the game and passing up other opportunities in their life. I think at one point my personal obsession with the game was unhealthy, though not any unhealthier than the many people who watch hours of television everyday and keep up with the stories there. At the very least Everquest does involve a kind of social interactions as well as strategic thinking, personal networking, and communication skills. Typing skills, and cooperation in teams to accomplish things. I am concerned for young people, who are growing up there- who play and not get much interaction outside of their Everquest life; if children will go from being raised by television to being raised by computer games.

As of today I have played The Venerable Dafne WafneFerrix level 65 Dark Elf Cleric of Innoruuk a total of 110days 18 hours and 4 minutes, her birth date is September 22, 2001. I have not played much in the last year, between several writing/theatre projects, a new love relationship, a job and school, I just dont have the

time I used to- to play like I did in the previous narrative. Over the last couple of years I have met a lot of the people in my guild by either visiting them in their state or having travel here to California to meet me. I spent 3 weeks with Hoanz and Froanz in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, meeting them only when I got off the plane. After talking to many players and listening to their stories, this is not unique; many people are traveling around to see meet and sometimes fall in love with people they know through the world of Norrath. Through conventions and independent means, people are connecting with one another and building a Real Life Community. I have interviewed some of these players in a variety of mediums, Online in Everquest -Toon to Toon, and in person- face to face. Typing online interviews has been an interesting challenge to share long stories and feelings, which limited some interviews due to the slower typing and hand cramping. Innovations like chat logs in the game will literally log everything that is on your screen for how ever long you are on, has been incredible useful and completely unobtrusive. Most players did not care if there names were used either RL names or EQ names. I have chosen to use their EQ names in reference because it is both anonymous and yet decidedly a part of who they are. Methods, Leet Speak and Chat logs All of the players I have interviewed were or are members of Guardians of The Keep, a high profile guild on the Server Drinal, unless otherwise specified. Some of these players have retired, and are no longer players. Interestingly, some of the retired players are people I met in the game, as in the case of Garathson: which I ended up building a friendship with that has been maintained out side of Norrath.

Quantitative data: limited and ethnocentric Most Statistics, charts, and excerpts from articles and interviews with Everquest Develops is taken from Online Sources, Sony Everquest Official Website. And some data from the Daedalus Project: an anthropological perspective on Mmorgps. Though I think the research is flawed in some regards, it is the only quantitative research I have found of its kind. Their Method of collecting data on the game was through online polls covering a variety of games, and only was surveying the select group of players using the online bulletin boards(bbs) for the games they are interested in. There is limited books published on Online Culture, and not one specifically about Mmorgps, Most books on the subjects of Cyber/online identity only refer to MUDs the precursor to MMORGPS. My Qualitative data, interviews, and experiences I played Everquest from 2000 to 2003 heavily, and in 2004 mostly as a retired playersomeone who logs in specifically to talk to friends, and in this case rehash several past experiences in the game that I felt created a catalyst to explore players identity and intimate relationships that have developed in the social setting of the game. Most of my informants I have met in person, and interviewed in person, but I have also included interviews with players I have only spoken with on the phone and played with.So far of the 7 interviews, I am using only three because of the lack of time to transcribe and or quality of the interviews. I am also using some journal entries from 2002 to 2003, to show my feelings at the time of my submersion into the world of Norrath(Everquest world) Of my informants, several of them have been friends of mine for years, or I have an ongoing relationship with. My P/o Perspective comes from my years of play previous to writing this paper, I am still apart of this community alb albeit in a peripheral way,

because I am in school, and I no longer have the time to devote to this game which is time consuming. I feel this gives me enough distance on the subject to look at Norrath in a even light, while having empathy for the people who play the game. Originally I felt that I could leave myself out of the research but as a participant in most the events discussed extricating myself would be awkward and look hypocritical to the people who trusted me to write about this aspect of their life. My interviews were informal, mostly with a few specific questions and letting the informant lead our conversations. After transcribing the interviews I have offered each Informant an opportunity to look at the completed interviews, and so far even the slightly unflattering interviews have been warmly reviewed by the subject. Garathson, one of my informants enthusiastically exclaimed, Its good that you are using your wasted time (time spent playing Everquest ) now for something! I am experimenting with the viability of online interviews, which stands to reason as I am studying the viability of online relationships. In the game setting, I am using an online auto logging program provided in the game mechanics to collect statements: all text that appears on my monitor is saved to an online file which I sift through to filter our the Spam of the game going on around me while I talk to people. Here is an example of what my screen looks like while interviewing players:

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Here is what a piece of Dialog looks like from the chat log before filtering out game narratives and other conversations not related to the conversation I am focusing on:

Example of a Eqlog.exe (online game log) Here is an example of the automatic log I used for online interviews. This the text of the game as its played that is loaded into a file on my computer which I then print out and edit for research.Were is says You told Kilzum- its referring to me, in the game. Wed May 19 20:46:51 2004] You told Kilzum, 'where you working these days?' [Wed May 19 20:46:56 2004] You told Kilzum, 'make a baby yet?' [Wed May 19 20:47:09 2004] You say to your guild, 'so NOT the same guy :(' [Wed May 19 20:47:14 2004] Kilzum tells you, 'same place no had to go invitro :( ' [Wed May 19 20:47:29 2004] You told Kilzum, 'invitro work??' [Wed May 19 20:47:31 2004] Skinnytick tells the guild, 'must not be' [Wed May 19 20:47:51 2004] Kilzum tells you, 'starting the treatments 2 weeks so wouldn't know for abit yet' [Wed May 19 20:47:55 2004] You say to your guild, 'I swear, he used to be super cool and funny as hell' [Wed May 19 20:47:55 2004] Higar tells you, 'the only difference between talking and typing is how long it takes to get the words out' [Wed May 19 20:47:58 2004] You are thirsty. [Wed May 19 20:47:58 2004] You are out of drink. [Wed May 19 20:48:08 2004] You told Kilzum, 'wow good luck so excited for you ' [Wed May 19 20:48:20 2004] Kilzum tells you, 'thanks yea we pretty xcited too' [Wed May 19 20:48:27 2004] You told Higar, 'totally'

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[Wed May 19 20:48:29 2004] Higar tells you, 'you become friends with people in RL by talking to them and doing things with them' [Wed May 19 20:48:38 2004] Higar tells you, 'only difference in EQ is the venue' [Wed May 19 20:48:57 2004] You told Higar, 'you don't think people are being fake with you here?' [Wed May 19 20:49:03 2004] Castironn tells the guild, 'GRATS flur on bert FLAG !!!!!!!!' [Wed May 19 20:49:04 2004] Kammolin tells the guild, 'and then he hit purburty' [Wed May 19 20:49:10 2004] Salamane tells the guild, 'grats flur!' [Wed May 19 20:49:11 2004] Kammolin tells the guild, '!' [Wed May 19 20:49:11 2004] You told Higar, 'or do you think they are pretty much the same ?' [Wed May 19 20:49:12 2004] Unbridled tells the guild, 'yay Flur!' [Wed May 19 20:49:13 2004] Flopnroun tells the guild, 'Grats!' [Wed May 19 20:49:13 2004] Valanya tells the guild, 'Grats!' [Wed May 19 20:49:15 2004] You say to your guild, 'grats :)' [Wed May 19 20:49:19 2004] Flurrying tells the guild, 'grats others too :)' [Wed May 19 20:49:23 2004] Lizboy tells the guild, 'woot gratz flurry, and grendell too' [Wed May 19 20:49:26 2004] Flurrying tells the guild, 'personally i just need VZ now' [Wed May 19 20:49:26 2004] Castironn tells the guild, 'and other!!!!!!!' [Wed May 19 20:49:31 2004] Unbridled tells the guild, 'oh grats Grend :)' [Wed May 19 20:49:31 2004] Flopnroun tells the guild, 'Grats 2x =D' [Wed May 19 20:49:32 2004] Skinnytick tells the guild, 'although daf...i do remember him in lower guk when i was camping the smr for epic and he was cool=\' [Wed May 19 20:49:34 2004] Castironn tells the guild, 'HURRAHY' [Wed May 19 20:49:36 2004] You are thirsty. [Wed May 19 20:49:36 2004] You are out of drink. [Wed May 19 20:49:46 2004] Grendell tells the guild, 'thanks all first cch and the ma goes down what a leader lol' [Wed May 19 20:49:56 2004] Grendell tells the guild, 'well first one I organized' [Wed May 19 20:49:59 2004] Boomboomboom tells the guild, 'gratz guys !' [Wed May 19 20:50:00 2004] Higar tells you, 'I dont think it mattersthey could be just as fake in RL, asl ong as they are consistant it seems moot in my decision to be thier friends or not' [Wed May 19 20:50:04 2004] Emiem tells the guild, 'grats!!!' 12

[Wed May 19 20:50:05 2004] You say to your guild, 'omg im so noob I just walked up and said "nice glowing axe" to someone and they said yah its the berserker epic im like um .. yah havent been on much lately :X' [Wed May 19 20:50:06 2004] Skinnytick tells the guild, 'grats' [Wed May 19 20:50:15 2004] Castironn tells the guild, 'lol' [Wed May 19 20:50:18 2004] Unbridled tells the guild, 'lol' [Wed May 19 20:50:24 2004] Castironn tells the guild, '<3 daf' [Wed May 19 20:50:24 2004] You told Higar, 'yah I know what you mean' [Wed May 19 20:50:25 2004] Grendell tells the guild, 'omg Dafne *hugs*' [Wed May 19 20:50:26 2004] Higar tells you, 'I cansay I know more people who appear fake in real life than I have in EQ' [Wed May 19 20:50:30 2004] You say to your guild, '/blush' Edited version of a Chat log.exe This is about 5 minutes of chat. As you can see, several levels of intimacy in the game communication is happening at once, which is common while actually playing the game. Expressing this so it is not an eye sore- or confusing to a non-player has proven difficult. After editing, the chat log looks more like this :
You told Higar,

do you think it interferes with the rest of your life, or is this an enhancement? Higar tells you, 'this is what I do instead of clubbing or watching TVthere are times I know I overdo it, but it bothers me less now that it really only affects me' You told Higar, 'just like any social life' Higar tells you, 'exactly' Online Chat Language or 7337 (Leet) Speak The term Leet comes from the word elite Leet speak is a truncated or abbreviated slang used by various online communities, Everquests slang is rife with a variety of abbreviations and terms that only Everquest players understand over time through playing the game. I have attempted to create a glossary and footnote where needed to explain some of the content of the interviews, as well as understand the world these

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people live in, while trying not to remove its qualities by translating all the language into correct English grammar of college academia. Eventually I will also be looking into the Leet speak and how it is used globally by non-English speakers on the game. As I am still working toward my degree I prefer to look deeply into the games language after I have a better knowledge base of linguistics.

Guardians of The Keep, The moral structure of the guild. Vezkulia-level 65 Dark Elf Cleric, Higar level 65 Dwarf Cleric, and Garathson level 65 Human warrior, all held high status in our guild Guardians Of The Keep. Higar was a class representative, and expert on tradeskills, and Vezkulia an officer in the guild hierarchy. Garathson was the guild leader for several years, and also happens to be the youngest person in real life that I interviewed. Guilds are a game construct- a platform for players to unite under, as they begin to share similar goals or ideals in the game, a guild supports a player in getting the things they need, their epics, their gear and experience. A guild provides players with a group of people to socialize with, united under the common goals of the players. Guardians of The Keep is in the top 5 guilds on the server Drinal, and is the first Drinal born guild in Plane of Time (the end game- the hardest zone in the game) I have included the guild Charter in order to illustrate the moral code the guild has developed over the years, by consensus.

Guild Rules and Policies

We ask that members occasionally reacquaint themselves with the guild rules and policies as they are frequently updated. I. Guild Charter

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Guardians of the Keep is a level 65 raiding guild for all races located on the Drinal server. We promote fun, laughter, and good times by all. With brothers and sisters to depend on and grow with, and sometimes even die with (yes dying can be fun too), we can all enjoy what Everquest is really about. II. Guild Direction The guild officers are responsible for setting guild goals and priorities. We are reasonable in our choices, and the guild is expected to attempt to follow them, not oppose them. Doing so results in lack of progress and frustration for everyone. Our current guild officers are: - Shaade (Guild Leader) Chungkuo Daeth (Recruiting officer) Oblivious Slokt Sparklipicus Teleia Vezkulia

III. Requirements for Joining Please see the Application for Membership forum for the requirements and procedures for joining the guild. IV. Conduct and Attitude We hope Guardians of the Keep members will treat each other in a courteous and respectful manner at all times. People join this guild to help one another and form lasting friendships; therefore, it can only be assumed that a friendly attitude is desired. Any problems that you have with a fellow guild member should be brought to the officers in order to be solved in a reasonable fashion. Any attacks against a fellow guild member, either in game or on the message board, will be cause for removal from the guild. Online communication is fraught with misunderstandings. Dont overreact and let your temper ruin the atmosphere for everyone. Guild Morale Guild morale is very important, and the attitude of each and every member directly affects the rest of the guild. Excessive negativity is not permitted in guild chat. For example, Why are we even doing this raid? and We dont stand a chance, lets log. ruin the experience for everyone else and is not acceptable. Blatant Disobedience Listen to and obey the guild officers and/or raid leaders at all times. Ignoring raid commands or any other blatant disobedience will not be tolerated. Members who Choose to /guildremove

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If you guildremove for any reason, you will need to reapply the same as an applicant. All the rules that apply to a Recruit will apply to you. Once you have completed the 30-day probation you will again be a full member with all your rights and privileges returned to you. Wearing a GoK guild tag is an honor, and we dont care to see it being abused. Procedures for Removal from the Guild Reasons for guild removal include, but are not limited to, the items mentioned above. Anything deemed by an officer to be a violation of conduct or the rules listed above can lead to a verbal warning by an officer. There will be no second warning. Think before you act and/or type. An online list of offenders is kept. Repeat offenders will need to find another guild. The officers are given the right to suspend or remove someone from the guild at any time if they feel it is necessary. This may be temporary until all the pertinent details can be obtained. A majority vote from the officers is required to suspend or remove someone permanently. V. Guild Website (pub82.ezboard.com/bguardiansofthekeep) The guild website is the main form of communication between members outside of EQ. It is asked that everyone be signed up on the guilds website so that they may be informed of upcoming events, be able to vote on issues related to the guild, see requests made by other guild members for help obtaining certain items or items for quests, or to help answer particular questions posed by fellow guild members concerning anything related to EQ. If used properly and on a regular basis, the guild website can become a valuable source of information for everyone within the guild. Anyone who has an idea to share with the guild is more than welcome to do so. We try to use the forums as a place to brainstorm to help us improve Guardians of the Keep. Our forums are visible only to recruits and full members. If you have been recently tagged and need access to the board, please post under the appropriate thread in the Open to the Public forum. VI. Guild Raids Guild raids will be held throughout the week. In general, the spawn times of zones/mobs of interest set our raid schedule. Notification of unexpected raids is usually posted on the website. Even though raid attendance is not mandatory, we expect all members to support the guild whenever possible. Raids are the main activity of the guild, so we'd hope our members would want to participate. Although it's not the only factor, participation can affect loot distribution. Loot Policy This policy applies to GoK guild-sponsored raids. The loot rules for pickup raids are not subject to this policy and will be determined by the raid leader. The loot rules for experience groups, either mixed or guild-only, are set by the group and should be agreed

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upon ahead of time. The officers of GoK encourage "need before greed" in experience groups, but each group needs to determine what works best for them. As we move to higher level encounters, most loot will be defaulted. There are four basic criteria the officers look at when deciding how to distribute loot. Keep in mind that these criteria will not always be equally weighted. In general order of importance, they are: 1. Participation Coming to important raids, coming to non-important raids, helping that guild member with his small epic quest mob, and being there when the guild needs you most. All important factors to the guilds success. 2. Attitude Be a team player, one that is pleasant to be around. Negativity, nastiness, whining, and general jackass behavior is not going to leave a good impression on the guild, and results in a much less enjoyable environment for everybody. 3. Need There are obvious situations when one character would benefit much more from an item than another character, and this is taken into consideration. 4. Ability Do your best!! Showing skill and experience helps the guild, while slacking off can lead to a long corpse recovery. Any droppable item won on a guild raid may not be sold for any reason. If you are caught selling any item obtained on a guild raid, you will face guild removal. If you do not need an item, don't roll on it in the first place. Please defer to other guild members that can use the item. If you replace an item, consider passing the old item down to a fellow guildie that can make use of it. Recruits are invited into the guild on a trial basis to see if they fit into our guild. Since Recruits are not full members of the guild, they are not entitled to any loot (except rots); however, the officers can allow Recruits to roll on an item if no guild members on the raid need/want it. Once a Recruit has completed the probation period and is invited into the guild, he becomes a Member and will be eligible for all rolls and defaults. Spells Rare spells will be rolled on by any member of the appropriate class that is high enough to scribe the spell. If no one on the raid fits this description, the spell is placed into the guild bank. Common spells will be handed out to any member of the appropriate class that needs the spell, regardless of level. Otherwise, the spell is placed into the guild bank. Raid Expenses Raid expenses (spell reagents, port stones, etc.) will be covered by the guild bank. Cash loot (a.k.a. vendor trash) from the raid will be used to replace the money spent on these items. Clerics, enchanters, magicians, and wizards should let an officer know at the end of each raid how many peridots, pearls, or TL fragments they used so they can be compensated. Necromancers and shadowknights will be reimbursed for coffin costs as well. If you happen to forget to ask someone, just keep track of what you used and you will get comped at a later date. Alts Main characters have priority on any drop. Anyone playing an alt character on a raid must defer to a main that needs an item. In the event a person was specifically asked to

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play an alt character to balance the raid party, they will be allowed to roll as either the main or alt character, but they must clearly state which one before the start of the raid. If a person wishes to switch main characters, the alt must be at least level 60 before they can be recognized as the new main. There is a 15-day waiting period from the time a member declares a new main until they can start receiving loot. If a main character leaves the guild for any reason, all his/her alts will be guildremoved as well. VII. Guild Mules We have several guild mules that hold various kinds of items for guild use. Guild members are encouraged to donate items they no longer need for the benefit of another member. Anyone who wishes to withdraw an item from a guild mule should visit the Guild Bank forum to request items. Guild Banker Guild funds will be held by the guild banker to help purchase items for guild members (i.e. resist gear, peridots, etc.). At least 3 guild officers are required to approve the allocation of guild funds for purchasing an item or supporting a tradeskill. Guild funds come from donations by members, loot from guild raids, and the sale of items from the guild bank. Recruits are not allowed to withdraw items from any of the guild banks (armor, gems, spells, etc.). However, they are allowed to make donations if they so desire. Guild Spell Mule Guild members have access to the spell bank. For any level 60+ spells, you must be able to slap it in your coloring book the day you receive it. Requests can be made in the Guild Bank forum under the appropriate thread. If more than one person requests the same spell, it will be rolled between those requesting to make it as fair as possible. Guild Quest Gem Mule The gem banker will be kept in the Bazaar. If you need to make a withdrawl/deposit, contact an officer. VIII. Class Reps Duties of your class reps include: 1. Class reps will act as managers for the members of their class. They will be in charge of tracking gear (current and future), exp/aa progress, key status, etc. It's their responsibility to be familiar with each class member. 2. Class reps can present problems, suggestions, and concerns to the officers. Some people feel uncomfortable talking directly to an officer, so class reps can act as the "middle man". Of course, people can still speak directly with the officers about problems and concerns if they so desire. Please make sure when you speak to your class rep re: any problems you may have that you do so in a concise and clear manner to avoid any confusion or errors when relaying your information to an officer.

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3. Class reps must frequent the boards often so they are familiar with GoK's current events. Finally, any complaints or concerns you have with your class rep we suggest first and foremost that you try to talk to them to work it out. If you are unable to come to a satisfactory resolution with them then please seek out an officer and explain your situation. IX. Changes in Guild Policy Any member or recruit who wishes to express concern over any of the policies of the guild may do so privately by emailing an officer, or publicly by posting in "general" forum. If the request seems valid, it will be considered and discussed amongst the guild officers. Edited by: chungkuo sifu at: 5/20/04 11:18 pm

Based on this charter, there is a high the level of seriousness in which people commit to the game. Vezkulia,as officer in Guardians of the Keep, and I wondered what the details of that job included, so we discussed that as well. Two years ago (2002) Vez was made the requiting officer of Gotk, which meant she was responsible for inviting or banning players from joining the guild. This included getting backgrounds on players, to find out if they were reputable players, if they had what it took to be a guardian I picked people based on who I got along with in hopes they would get on with the rest of the gotk, and so long as no one told me anything really bad about them, kill stealing ninja looting training and being general assholes, I would let them in. My goal is to see that Guardians is the first Drinal born guild to make it to the Plane of Time. (Which happened only a month after this interview) My proudest moment was the first time we did VTS and the clerics did a complete heal chain (very complicated healing strategy in the game involving a lot of teamwork and synchronization) and taking down VTS. It was the first time we used defensive tanks too(a difficult technique of switching from one tank to another during a fight to utilize all the abilities of the warrior/ melee classes)

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Interestingly My interviews with Higar, Vezkulia, Della, and Garathson all site the same event in the game. I remember Killing VTS the first time as well, as it was my first first in GOTK, I remember a conversation specifically with Garathson that to this day is a small moment of pride for me. Garathson brushed past Dafne, and stopped and inspected me quickly: Garathson Tells Dafne, Wow that was fast. Dafne says to Garathson what was fast? Garathson says I mistook you for Vezkulia /noob off ( who was much more powerful than I was at the time) I remember being proud that I was a Guardian and that I had received praise from the guild leader.

(Vezkulia and Dafne in Old graphics around the time of the VTs kill- these are images in old graphics because my computer could not hand the new graphics.Dafne is the one holding the dolly instead of the epic.)

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This conversation with Garathson means that in the month I had been in gotk I had equipped myself with gear the guild had got me through killing large mobs and giving me things to upgrade my armor and equipment, in exchange I would be able to heal them better, and survive some of the more dangerous raids, benefiting all involved. Later on that raid, after we had succeeded in Killing Vts for the first time, Garathson announced to the guild welcome to Velious Higar also Reminises about Velkator the Sorcerer , as well.

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Some of the Guardians of the Keep hanging out of Velkators Throne after we killed him,people gathered aournd to get a group picture from the screen shot capability of the game

I find it interesting that 3 players who are totally different, find a common defining moment as part of the guild, when completing a goal. Out of all the boss mobs this guild has destroyed since then, this is the one that is considered a defining moment, without discussion. Is this any different from than watching your favorite football team win the Super bowl: many people will experience this as a highlight or defining moment in their interest in the football game. It is still a currency of conversation for people they talk football with.

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Typing your Identity I have been asked many times in the past few years, How do you know whom you are talking to? It could be anyone masquerading as someone else. True, there is no way to visually tell whom you are playing with. A variety of observations made by my informants inform us about the question of identity through speech patterns. Garathson explained that the way people talk, as they get better at typing and communicating online makes it easy to pick up verbal queues, their accents. I can log in any Guardians account and people can tell its me in minutes, because of the way I talk Vezkulia mentioned that the way people talk also describes their gender; You can usually tell a girl or a guy by the way they talk (in chat), and how they play, most girls need directions to get around, or to be guided through certain areas I dont think he meant this in a sexist way, and it has a ring of truth to it. I think a lot of females play to spend time with their absorbed boyfriends, and until they start playing for themselves, they assume a passive role in the game. When a girl is playing for her own enjoyment she will tend to learn how to play better. Maybe it has something to do with growing up in the bay area, maybe we are more gender sensitive, or that I hung out with a lot of girls growing up. I still wonder how Shadowhand slipped under the radar, was she just another guy like Vez that knew the language of girls? When talking online with Higar I asked about his Conversations online, and how they compare to life:
You tell Higar Did

it surprise you when you had emotional investments in people you never saw or met in RL?' Higar tells you, 'not at all'

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Higar tells you,

'the only difference between talking and typing is how long it takes to get the words out' Many times online I have talked to people playing one of my friends or guildees accounts, and something in the conversation will tip me off to the fact that I dont actually know the person Botting the toon either through not knowing the appropriate greeting ritual for our relationship, or not knowing my life situation- or simply using language the player I know doesnt commonly use. Other points of interest in the typing conversations, is that the game itself is played by many people who do not speak English- the common language on the game. Through translation programs not unlike a Babel fish in Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, people can communication in their native tongue and have it translated by the machine to free up communication. These programs are not full proof, as sometimes the grammar or translation of slang is marred- conversation is opened up between people who would not be able to speak under RL circumstances. Gender bent? So how do two guys end up playing Women on a role-playing game and fall in love without knowing the truth about their identities? If we are going to talk about Gender we have to talk a little about Vezkulia, as the person who plays Vezkulia the Dark Elf Cleric of Innoruuk, who is female, is played by a guy. To clarify why some guys choose a girl toon as opposed to a male toon is remarkably simple. Many people argue that Female toons receive more generosity because young heterosexual males dominate the game, or that they just are more pleasurable to look at. Vez points out, I seriously picked Vezkulia because she looked good, I liked the way she ran and looked. I wasnt thinking about social repercussions. He chuckles. He

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also enjoyed playing the role of offended female if the guys got out of hand.Some of the Males who knew early on the Vez was indeed a guy, would poke fun at him by calling him a slut or hitting on Vez in Perverted ways they felt if was all in good fun, and a way for them to poke fun of their friend in the guise of a female.Cezkulia also feels that there was liberties he could take to speak his mind- especially on sensitive subjects as he put it I dont like Howard Stern, I dont want to listen to 15 fart jokes in a rowwhich is sometimes how things get.(in guild chat when guys are dominating the conversation with dirty humor) For him, She represents a part of him, he is himself but role-playing her character a lot of the time. Its for fun though he admits people who dont know hes not female he keeps at a distance theres a boundary there- some people even realize there is something different or that they arent getting the whole story. I was Super into being a girl And Up until Shadowhand- he would tell he was male only when asked. Even after Shadowhands death and the coming out of Vezkulias real gender, the rest of the people he was a friend with in the game female and male alike, forgave the deception. He did notice that flirting and girl treatment ended with most guys who were in the know. Garathson reflected on learning about Vezkulias RL gender I was super pissed, because Mantik told me- he just started blathering on about how he knew something I didnt, and then said Vezkulia was a man. I was bothered, not because I thought Vez(kulia) was hot, it was just because you think you are friends with someone, and you think you know them, and then you find out you dont. When he confronted Vez about being a guy, He Just apologized. - and it was totally okay after that, I knew he had not meant any harm

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Talking to Vezkulia on the Phone about getting interviewed, and he asked if he should pick up Slokt, I asked him if he wanted Slokt there, well, he knew her too, and I figure you could interview us together I expressed that having Slokt there might make him uncomfortable if I got to questions he wasnt interested in answering in front of him, but I would leave it up to him. He showed up early without Slokt, telling me that he had decided not to pick up.

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( get quote from Doug on his page) This issue is in rememberance of Shadowhand as well as spotlighting a variety of Dark Elf Players. Valthira began rendering Playwiz covers as a joke for the guild but it was so well received that many people paid RL money or Eq money to get their cover shot

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In reality, Vezkulia is a 6 foot tall bushy red haired guy in his mid twenties, with a beard, stereotypically Irish, and beer bellied, but not fat. I asked him if he thought Eq was important and he said yah I spent 3 years of my life doing it Meanwhile in real life he is working on his Physics masters at UCSC and is pulling straight As mostly as he put it. Wearing dark colors and converse high tops. He paces around and smokes in my front yard.I got into Eq when Mordulan started playing he bought it for me as an apology for running up my phone bill, 300$ the first month at school, so we could keep touch and it would be cheaper. When he first started playing I didnt actually talk that much as I was learning the game, and then he( mordulan) moved to Scotland and Faulinza and Slokt started playing too, and then you. I realized I was addicted when I opted to stay home and play instead of go out and party twice in a row. I asked him if he felt like an outsider or awkward at parties and he replied I am good at macking on girls and drinking beer.In his peak play times over the last few years, he was playing about 8 hours a day on average. Vezkulia never bought a new computer for his game needs, but he did buy Dsl to be able to play better. As many other players have mentioned, its cheaper to stay home and socialize on a game than to go out and socialize. When asked if players are being themselves in the game. He says that a minority of the players are being themselves. I asked him why he thought people in the game were generous about giving away gear and helping people find things People are nice because they can be, in the outside world you are alienated, but here you can have a chance to be on top. Because here you are all in the same gauge

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people are generous because- if you scratch my back ill scratch yours- if you help someone, later they might help you, especially with Epics. I will help people I know to get what they need, or even people I dont know, but like at 2am its mainly close friends in the game(that I will help).

Much like Shadowhand, who had even asked me on occasion what we were all keeping from her, as It was expected as a real life friend, to keep Vezkulias secrets. I finally got around to asking him about his life with Shadowhand, and his version of the story. Shadowhand was one of the first 10 members to join GOTK (you need 10 people to make a guild official on any server) When Vezkulia went on her first Hate raid ( plane of Hate raid for the guild) Shadowhand lead the group that Vez was coaching Vez on what to do to survive the fights dont sit on the pull and stay off the walls After that (smoking) we just started kicking it everyday and we got close, and she started flirting and stuff. About a month later we were getting married, and you and the guys told me to tell her the truth, so I did I had talked to him about telling Shadowhand that he was a guy because virtual marriage or not, Shadowhand was a friend to a lot of His real life friends, we were having to lie more and more and avoid people getting too close, and they could tell something was up. It just wasnt fair. So I married them to each other in the twilight sea, a very pretty Zone, out of the way, and at the time, new.

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(Wedding Picture of Shadowhand and Vezkulia taken from Dafnes perspective, in this shot the man in white in the back is Garathson, the woman with the sword is Della, the black man in white is Sirsoncho the Dark elf Man is Faulinza)

This is not considered a real wedding, but a symbol of alliance and romantic love in the game, people get their names changed to match and they are generally married my clergy or a cleric. So it has many of the same functions as marriage. Many people donned white robes or their formal clothing to the wedding. People who practice trade skills can make wedding cake and bring wine or alcohol to get drunk ( the toons get drunk in the game) After this ceremony they were inseparable up until her death. A week before her death, Vezkulia was going to go to Michigan and meet Tiffany and stay til her twin babies she was pregnant with were born. He was in love with her, and wanted to see if it was for real. He entertained notions of staying with her

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because as he told me she made be a better person, like I was capable of being good at being with her. Sometime early in the morning on the message board of Guardians of the Keep a post from Charles -tiffany/shadowhands brother was posted. Shadowhand was killed in a car accident killing her twin babies as well, and he wanted us to know because she cared so much about her online friends.Drinal rallied around Guardians of the Keep hearing about them losing their friend Shadowhand, most of us had been approached in the next few weeks with gifts and condolences on behalf of other guilds on our server, as well as inquiries into the memorial service in real life, and people checking to see how Vezkulia was doing as she was not login in much for the following week. The days to follow we all began to talk about what our relationships meant in the game and how we knew each other. Many of the real life females in the guild began calling one another to authenticate that we were actually females, and real. Garathson finally came down to meet us and check up on Vezkulia. Later, when we all found out about her death being faked, as well as her identity, I never asked him how he felt about this until our interview, I didnt know how to ask knowing that he fell in love with someone we all thought we knew well, and then finding out we didnt know shadowhand at all, so finally I asked, when did you find out about Shadowhand not being who you thought, and what did you feel about that? I actually felt relief that someone I cared so much about was still alive, though I think there were better ways of going about it (revealing her identity)

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Interestingly, with all the homophobia in the game (more on this at a later date) no one accused him of being homosexual or tried to make him out to be a fool. No one in the game that I knew or talked to felt this reflected on his sexuality. This event has changed how her friends react to their online relationships. I dont put as much effort into people I meet in the game now. I asked him how he felt about falling for this and he simply said Im an emo (emotional) dude, and Im not ashamed of that I think he means, sometimes you just feel things for people and whether or not they hurt you or deceive you maybe thats not a reflection of being stupid gullible or desperate. On the night after her death we drove across the bay area to drop off Garath at his house. After he got out of the car, Vez began to cry, and I held him. We talked about her, and I asked him what they used to talk about I never talked to her on the phone, she couldnt speak because of the rape.When I refer to the rape this is a real life aneqdote from Shadowhand, which she told players when they wanted to talk to her on the phone, she explained that she had had her throat cut while being raped, and that she could not speak I also believe this was used as a tool to be authentically female and accepted by more of the verifiable female players lending clout to the claim of her gender by associating with girls who should be able to tell if she was faking it. I had only heard of this rape once, but not the details, he explained to me that she had not been able to speak after her throat had been cut, during a rape. I felt cynical and awful when he told me this, my inconsolable friend, while he wept in my arms. I realized at that moment that something was even more wrong than her untimely death. I pushed this thought aside, and gave him a small dagger charm I had, that reminded me of

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shadowhand (as she was a rogue- and their primary weapon is a dagger) I wanted him to have something to make him feel better. I wanted to do something. Guardians of the Keep and Drinal Mourn Many people were affected by losing Shadowhand. Higar talks about his feelings about Shadowhand with me :
You told Higar,

'Have you ever had a moment that made you super emotional- either happy or sad or mad, ' Higar tells you, 'emotional moment would probably be when we beat Emp Ssra( Emperor is a boss mob) in the Temple of Ssra on the moon of Norrath)-so much time and work went into it as a guild and there was a certain feeling of it having been done for Shadowhand-was not too long after she died-I didn't cry, but I got choked up ;) You told Higar, 'lets talk about shadowhand her life and death a bit' Higar tells you, 'OK' You told Higar, how did you meet shadowhand? What was she like?' Higar tells you, 'met her by being in guild with her and her being friends with Garathson, who I had known since my first week playing' You told Higar, 'wow how long ago was that?' Higar tells you, 'Garathson? Within the first week I played' You told Higar, 'yah how long ago' Higar tells you, 'Jan 2001' You told Higar, 'what was she like?' Higar tells you, 'a good person, no real defining moments in particular, just someone I was comfortable talking to as a friend, along the line of my earlier definition' You told Higar, 'yah' Higar tells you, 'more of a sister than anything' You told Higar, 'and what do you think happened around her death?' Higar tells you, 'as much as I've heard-that she got into a car accident and pretty much died instantly, as did the twins she was carrying' You told Higar, 'so you didnt know about the investigation into her disappearance' You told Higar, ' guildees investigation into her death?' Many people in the guild know that Shadowhands death is subject of controversy, and some people guard the secret of it being faked closely. Higar tells you, 'yeah, I've heard about that' You told Higar, do you have an opinion?' 33

Higar tells you,

'it raised some questions, but I haven't seen anything that disproved it, so am going with what I've heard unless I see otherwise' Higar tells you, 'it makes the emotions I felt at the time no less real' You told Higar, 'so she still is a friend that died, either way' Shadowhand was a friend of mine as well, and this is pretty much how I feel about it regardless of the death not being a death the outcome of losing a friend is more or less the same. I do feel somewhat betrayed, but I think the loss of a friend was higher than the betrayal for me. Other questions arouse, how did we define our relationships with eachother? If we mourn the passing of a guildee, is this because are really a friend?

Garathson found out Shadowhand was dead through Keily who had told him in game, after she had seen a post on the boards from her brother Chuck He logged in to the message boards to see what was going on. I logged into Thurgadin, and just stared at a wall, I felt really strange. Ironically days before Garathson and I had had an argument in private tells about why he would not come to see us (local eq players) as he lived less than an hour away, he had told me then I dont want to mix my real life and my eq life I asked him if he didnt think of us as his real friends he said dont make me answer that, because its not fair I then asked him, if he spent 6 hours a day everyday with any of his real life friends and family? He responded, I dont want to ruin it, Daf. He told me recently if you meet people you cannot deny that they are real When I logged in after getting a phone call from Faulinza telling me the bad news, I logged into Everquest to mourn with my guild. Garathson was on and sent him a tell to ask how he was pretty fucked up actually So I suggested he come down at least to see

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Vezkulia and also because the fact is, we do mean something to one another, and most people arent going to understand losing a friend in a video game. He describes this decisions to come meet us as his obligation as the guild leader, and he felt that we needed each other, to establish how we felt about losing Shadowhand. Garath never told anyone in his real life because he didnt want to have to answer questions, or be ridiculed for becoming attached to someone he didnt know in real life. We swapped phone numbers online and I called up and we talked about meeting. It was a very brief conversation in which we just focused on the details, getting him on appropriate train and me meeting him on time. I said um, what do you look like, Im assuming you dont look like a Barbie Ken doll in armor. he laughed and said, Ill be wearing a Led Zepplin T shirt. How about you? I told him to look for a chubby goth chick So in a few hours I headed to the train station. I called to him when I saw him wandering through the station, and he looked relieved. We climbed into my Purple Saturn and listened to some guild Favorites as I wanted to lighten the mood and not start in on the sad event that brought us together. I was waiting in the train station and I saw this really big scary orange haired woman in black and I totally got freaked out that it was you- and then I called you name and she kept walking we both laughed, and I said well im not half that scary I dont think he said no, it wasnt bad at all.

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The only Male on the Cover of Playwiz, Garathson, By Doug Schuler

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I think the thing that struck me most meeting him for the first time was just how young he was. He was a hair taller than I was and had that Eq look slightly pale with some circles under the eyes and a bit of a gut. I was impressed realizing how much work and organization went into the guild and I wondered how a teenage pothead could manage us so well.

When we rehashed this in the caf, he explained that he felt obligated as the leader to come and see us, make sure Vezkulia was ok. And that he knew no one in his RL would understand because its just a game and so he never told any non-players about it. (insert meeting of Vezkulia, Garathson, Slokt, and Faulinza.) We drove out to meet up with Slokt and Faulinza, and talked a bit just the four of us, the big concern was not us in general but, Vezkulia, the guy who fell in love with Shadowhand. A day or so later, chuck Tiffany/Shadowhands brother logged in and began to talk to guildees, a lot of Shadowhands friends. Garathson said I knew it was her/him or that she wasnt dead, because of a couple of strangely Shadowhand things he said, it just was not some stranger, I knew she wasnt dead at that point and I didnt know what to do. I was hurt. Something in the manner of intimacy in which Chuck spoke, and his expressions, felt like it was not some stranger, but Shadowhands player trying to get

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out of a situation in which he had lied about being a girl, and didnt want the stigma of having fallen in love with a guy. Other people in the guild grew suspicious for a number of reasons, like Aonorn and Jazmina and myself I logged in when I got home from meeting Garathson, and Jazmina female Barbarian Shaman

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(Courtesy of Doug Schuler/Valthira Arcane)

who sent me a tell after I said some kind of greeting in guild chat. So what do you think? she private messages me.

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I said you know, some of this just isnt adding up. She responded quickly I know exactly what you mean Aonorn and Jazmina a couple who both joined guardians several months before me, lived just over the state line from Shadowhands home state and began to wonder about the details, when they could not find a listing for Tiffany anywhere, when they wanted to send flowers. Then, it was thought they would be able to find a police report or obituaryespecially of a pregnant with twins road fatality. They found nothing. They did however find out that chuck had an address, and was listed in the phone book, but there was no sign of Tiffany anywhere. I had noticed that chuck Tiffany/Shadowhands brother had posted( left a note on a internet bulletin board for guardians of the keep) about her cremation and that her ashes would be spread in less than a week from her death date. This seemed awfully fast for anyone to be cremated. Later that evening Jazmina and I talked on the phone about the details we were having trouble with. What occurred to me during this time is that not only how amazing it was to be effected by someone I never met in real life, but that there deception was so huge to so many around me. Jazmina felt utterly betrayed, as she had shared many private details with Shadowhand about her own rape, and personal problems. Her reaction to this made her more or less begin to leave the game, and as of now she no longer plays. Della her real life friend and online gamer feels she never recovered from this betrayal in the virtual world so she just couldnt enjoy playing anymore.

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Shortly after her ashes had been released, Chuck began to log in as shadowhand wanting to talk to everyone and play her, something Vez wouldnt allow as the account was given to him in a will that was mailed to him. Chuck began to send formulatic letters of remembering to each of her previous friends, including me. Each letter contained personal information that only Shadowhand would know, and a desire to be a part of our lives, as her brother wanting to be close to her friends. After several attempts to connect with me, I replied: look, I am sorry you lost your sister, she was a good friend of mine, and was having a relationship with a good friend of mine. I am dealing with a lot of people in real life pain about this, and basically this story stinks to high heaven. Maybe I am in denial, but as a friend of Shadowhands please send me a copy of either her death certificate or her obituary. I need to know she is really dead, or stop talking me and stop hurting my friends. Chuck didnt speak to me after that. Thinking about Shadowhands death, which always make me sad. I wish that Chuck/Tiffany Shadowhand, had really thought about just telling the truth, because even though I understand the fear of losing all your virtual life, either way she lost everything she had on the game, her friends, her love, and ironically her virtual life. I think back to how much pain the people who were close to her were in. I wonder how many more people will resort to this sort of fabrication. Much like in life, even though deception was visited upoun a group of people, life goes on.Chances are still taken, even if players are wiser about their boundaries, make phone calls to prove people exist, and practice some reservation until meeting people in real life. Virtual life and Real life relationships- where is the line?

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One of my questions about relationships on Everquest is how much of a persons identity comes across? How much are people lying about who they are? Are any of the people honest online about who they are? Garathson feels its one of two ways, people are either totally honest about who they are, or they are lying because they choose to be who they want and arent happy with who they really are. He says that he can manipulate people based on what they are looking for online, and tries not to do it in real life, because its wrong to do, but acceptable when you are online and everyone is lying to you. This reflects a the difference in morality a lot of players have expressed in these interviews, what is ok to do online is often wrong or deceptive to do in reality, like faking your gender or manipulating your friends. I would hardly say that either of these deceptions are unique to online relationships.

Everyone I interviewed was glad of meeting at least one person in real life, from game, because they would not have met otherwise. Vez(kulia) tells us about going to meet Valthira and Keily in Colorado. I was going snowboarding in Colorado so I told everyone in guild (chat) that I was going there, and Keily and Valthira ( who created Playwiz) piped up that they lived there. So I went there and met them. Keily is like a mom, a housewife, and we didnt have a lot in common other than Everquest, but it was so good to see her and hangout, it really wasnt so weird, because we knew each other. It made me happy to know her.

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I look at the last few years of my life and the times that Garathson and I have spent together. I know we would not have met any other way, and his friendship means something to me, he is not my closest friend, but there is a bond there of being and doing similar things that a lot of other people wouldnt understand. Even if he is 10 years younger than me, raised totally different, and a male, we have a common bond that is a basis for the rest our relationship. Granted, he and I generally do not talk about Everquest anymore; because we both have left the game mostly and are both in school we share ideas and goals. We still maintain a common ground that is lost with our friends who only play Everquest and do nothing else. The currency of our relationship evolved while other relationships suffer from a lack of shared currency. We try to connect, but as the game evolves past where we were in the time we left, it becomes alienating, for all parties involved. 'how can you tell the difference between your friends in this game and acquaintances?' [You told Higar, 'how do you differentiate?' Higar tells you, 'same as anywhere else, I would say-your friends are the people you talk to regularly and mention the little things in life to, talk about emotions with, acquaintances are people you recognize enough to say hi to and maybe chat innately with once in a while, but never really get into an emotionally deep conversation with' You told Higar, 'did it surprise you when you had emotional investments in people you never saw or met in RL?' Higar tells you, 'not at all' Higar tells you, 'the only difference between talking and typing is how long it takes to get the words out' You told Higar, 'totally' Higar tells you, 'you become friends with people in RL by talking to them and doing things with them' Higar tells you, 'only difference in EQ is the venue' You told Higar, 'you don't think people are being fake with you here?' You told Higar, 'or do you think they are pretty much the same?' Higar tells you, 'I dont think it matters-they could be just as fake in RL, as long as they are consistent it seems moot in my decision to be their friends or not'
You told Higar,

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You told Higar, 'yah I know Higar tells you, 'I can say I

what you mean' know more people who appear fake in real life

than I have in EQ' Higar tells you, 'people feel more free to be real when they you cant see them blush' You told Higar, 'no shit ' You told Higar, 'to say what you can't normally in life?' You told Higar, 'do you ever feel braver?' ] Higar tells you, 'not sure its braver' Higar tells you, 'more like less worried about offending someone' You told Higar, 'yah ' You told Higar, 'what would you call it?' Higar tells you, 'more free to be myself'

This is a Screenshot of Higar killing one of the cleric epic Npcs just for fun, after I turned in my pieces for my epic, funnily enough he ends up getting killed by the other npcs who dont take kindly to his violence on Lheao.

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Addicted to a virtual social life? Growing up online. We discussed the addiction aspects of the game, as I had noticed that he had referred to the times when he played as when he was addicted, his wake up call and the way he quit the game were all similar to the kinds of anecdotes one tells when quitting smack or any other substance. In fact, He sites a job where he was given meth for free at work as a big reason he quit, I was obsessively cleaning off my desk when I found a note from my college saying I was on Academic probation, and thats when I posted I was quitting and I took eq off of my computer. I quit because I didnt want to fuck up school, and I was using meth. I Quit Everquest for Meth, Garath has been clean for almost a year now, and when I asked him which was harder to quit he said Everquest was harder to quit, Meth was my empowerment to quit, quitting meth was so much easier. I still check the Everquest boards, and I had Everquest Icq for months afterwards. We talked about some of the exterior reasons for his intense playtime, and addiction. My home life was pretty shitty at the time. I was not friendly with my mom, as she had a boyfriend who tended to get rough with me- I didnt tell her I just stopped coming around. My dad was an overnight ER doctor, and we just moved, I had a couple of cheap (*not good friends) friends, while Everquest gave me a chance to be myself, and make real friends.At the times he would attempt to go out or have people over, he still preferred life in the game to reality- His guild being supportive, and interested in him, it was not unusual for him to merely hand out beer and and smoke a bowl while his friends hung around his house he would just play Everquest. Even though Garath seemed to have given up a healthy social life for cyber living he mentions that the people he was hanging out with before Everquest -that they are in rehab, jail and another is on methadone. So

45

you can only imagine where I would have ended up, though I wonder sometimes if I would have done more with playing music. Through out the interview Garath refers to times he chooses not to tell people he played so much and that he even gets angry at his friends who still play- because he feels they are wasting their lives. I will be at a party and my friends (who still play ) cant and wont talk about anything else. I mentioned that usually that is because people arent doing much else. He agreed. He has a certain amount of shame attached to Everquest, which I have yet to get to the root of, accept that it makes him slightly socially unacceptable. With the self righteousness of someone sober he says I have a hard time remembering how all that monotonous shit can be fun, Mezr plays this really boring console game and he jokes that EQ trained him to like boring repetitions. Intimacy, as it pertains to Sex or Cyber This subject is huge, and barely touched on by the research I did for this paper, but I feel its important to at least briefly touch on it. I talked with Higar about the potential for addiction and also discussed his real life relationship with his now ex wife:
You told Higar, You told Higar,

'do you ever worry that you play too much?' 'do you think it interferes with the rest of your life, or is this an enhancement?' Higar tells you, 'this is what I do instead of clubbing or watching TV-there are times I know I overdo it, but it bothers me less now that it really only affects me' You told Higar, 'just like any social life' Higar tells you, 'exactly' You told Higar, 'when did you start playing eq and why did you get drawn in ?' Higar tells you, 'January 2001, my ex-wife convinced me to play' Higar tells you, 'yes, for about a month' Higar tells you, 'then or now?' Higar tells you, 'and about a month into it, trade skills' You told Higar, 'why do you enjoy the trades so much, you know I have trouble getting that one'

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Higar tells you,

'as for trade skills, not quite sure why I like them, I think its the mini-gambling aspect of it' The gambling aspect of the trade skills is that, like in life while trying to make something- either a cake or a piece of clothing, there is a chance you will fail and ruin all the materials that went into making something. Higar tells you, 'more the thrill of finding something new' Higar tells you, 'walking into a new zone and having a "whoa!" moment' Higar tells you, 'then it was the exploration and learning new things about the world' You told Higar, 'what is your best whoa moment' Higar tells you, 'hmmmm-overall or those first few months? for just dumbstruck by the majesty, I'd say the first time I rode a boat to FV(Firona Vie a place in the game ) and the "wings" opened on the boat before it set sail' This boat actually sails you to different ports, boat trips take you past islands and other lands taking up to 15 minutes, to give you the sense of travel. You told Higar, 'and you mentioned you are divorced, how did that come about and when, does she still play and do you have kids, how is that working out?' Higar tells you, 'we had been drifting apart for a long time-we never really worked married, we were (and still are) great friends, but horrible spouses' You told Higar, 'does she still play eq?' Higar tells you, 'quit about a month ago, well, not officially quit, but all but' I really wanted to interview Kassandra, as she is Higars ex-wife, a female player, and currently living with Fumarin whom she met on Eq. I will be attempting to interview her later. You told Higar, 'how do you feel about that?' Higar tells you, 'honestly, it doesnt affect me enough to feel either way about it' Higar tells you, 'both being clerics, we never grouped when we were lower level and we both had different goals in the game when we got higher level' You told Higar, 'you and your ex didnt play much together'
You told Higar, '?' You told Higar, 'yah ' You told Higar, 'have

you had sexual or intimate relationships with anyone on eq or because of playing eq'? Higar tells you, 'I suppose it would be intimate, since there has been no actual sex-though its a clouded line since sex is as much a mental thing as a physical' You told Higar, 'so is cyber, sex?'

47

Higar tells you,

'that's an interesting question-I believe the answer is "sometimes"' You told Higar, 'how do you define the difference' Higar tells you, 'sometimes its just another form of entertainment, though the times when I did that were from before when I played EQ...then again, I suppose the same could be said of RL sex' You told Higar, 'have you had real sex with someone you met on eq ( whatever real is)' Higar tells you, 'on an emotional level, yes-physical, no' You told Higar, 'lordy everyone is talking hold on ' Higar tells you, 'LOL, OK' Because of the nature of the chat (example shown in the glossary) there is about 7 modes of communication at any time in the game, and if several people want to talk to you at once, there is nothing stopping them. This is referred to tell hell getting so many tells at once you have to stop a conversation to address people.
You told Higar, 'everyone I swear people I don't even remember' Higar tells you, 'LOL' You told Higar, 'do you ever hide the fact that you play from other

people'
Higar tells you, 'nah, I usually start babbling to people about it' You told Higar, 'yah you know more about eq than anyone I know' You told Higar, 'just fell that far into the world' You told Higar, '?' You told Higar, 'or is it just that you are thorough' You told Higar, ':)' Higar tells you, 'bit of both-lol' You told Higar, 'hahaha'

As our conversation progressed, we started to discuss our own relationship a bit, which was something originally I had planned to steer clear of, but it seems important to include.
You told Higar,

'what is the nicest thing anyone has done for you in 'but I wouldn't call it the nicest thing that someone did

Eq?'ed
Higar tells you,

for me, it was more something good I participated in than a single act of kindness Higar tells you E

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E is a reference to a personal code he and I developed, when at one point in our time as friends we contemplated meeting and dating, because we had grown close in ways that we had not expected. E represents Exactly. For a while, he and I felt very misunderstood by the RL people in our lives. I had just divorced and he and his wife and just separated. Talking to him made me feel better. Exactly was our catch phrase between us that represented the great understanding we shared. We have used this for the past few years to identify each other when other people are playing with our accounts. I contemplated not including this relationship as part of my experience, because it was personal to me, but then chose to include it, because it would be hypocritical not to. I asked Higar what he though about including it:

Higar tells you, 'I think it would be hard not to include it, given that title' You told Higar, 'ok so tell me your perspective on what you participated

in?'
Higar tells you, 'trying to organize my thoughts on that one' You told Higar, 'thats cool ' ] You told Higar, 'do you want to talk about something else for

a bit while

you figure out what you need to say?' Higar tells you, 'yeah, let's do that, this may take a bit =)' Due to time constraints, we have not been able to reconnect finish this part of the interview as he lives in a different time zone and we are not available online at the same times. This did however open up the conversation to how one can qualify a relationship online?

How long will this go on?

When asked how much longer Vezkulia would play, he said who knows, summer is coming. I wont play another game like this, Eq will be the first and last, after this 49

game is ended, im going to go back to drinking beer with my friends. I havent been playing much lately between work school and my thesis I dont have time, and as you know- the longer you stay off the easier it is to not login. In the old game people used to enjoy leveling up and exploring now it seems like a race to the end game, they dont even know the history anymore. I look at the last few years of my life and the times that Garath and I have spent together. I know we would not have met any other way, and his friendship means something to me, he is not my closest friend, but there is a bond there of being and doing similar things that a lot of other people wouldnt understand. Even if he is 10 years younger than me, raised totally different, and a male, we have a common bond that is a basis for the rest our relationship. Granted, he and I generally do not talk about Everquest anymore; because we both have left the game mostly and are both in school we share ideas and goals. We still maintain a common ground that is lost with our friends who only play Everquest and do nothing else. The currency of our relationship evolved while other relationships suffer from a lack of shared currency. We try to connect, but as the game evolves past where we were in the time we left, it becomes alienating, for all parties involved. Garathson joked about Garathsons gear By now everything on that toon is worthless, including his epics- with all the new expansions What was once prized and amazing gear is now only a drop in the bucket. The guild has moved on to new zones we cant even get to without going on a variety of quests we dont have
You told Higar, 'when do you think you will quit the game?' Higar tells you, 'when SoE pulls the plug on the last server' You told Higar, 'do you have any questions for me?' You told Higar, '*nods' Higar tells you, 'do you ever regret having started playing EQ?' You told Higar, 'thats tricky'

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You told Higar, You told Higar, Higar tells you, Higar tells you,

'no ' 'and heres why'

'(good, that was next)'. '(but you knew that...)' What struck me about this part of the conversation is that Higar implies an inherent understanding of how well I knew him, as well as how well he knows me, but you knew that You told Higar, 'Eq got me through the worst part of my life, my divorce- and not knowing what I wanted to do with myself' You told Higar, 'not the game, but people I was close to or empathized with here' You told Higar, 'there is a confessional quality to the game that made it easy for me to talk, and the imaginary aspects of it, entertained' Higar tells you, 'aye, I think, like any good center of social interaction, that's true' You told Higar, 'some people think eq players are pale dorks locked in their houses because they have no choices or that they are so socially unforgivable.... do you think there is truth to that? are we socially retarded or socially advanced?' Higar tells you, 'I think that, like any collection of 400K+ people, you'll find examples of just about every kind of person in existence' No where near done with Norrath Like in life, there are varing degrees of healthy relationships, honesty and deception. People extend themselves to blind faith in the people in their lives, while some aquaintences in their lives are merely people to exchange shared Cultural currencies. Even though there is the deception of genders and physique throughout Everquest, it is not too different from wearing elevated shoes to be taller, getting plastic surgery or even remaining in the closet (whatever closet you can imagine)to people you are friends with . People cheat on their mates everyday, get married for money and sometimes fall in real love.All of which I have witnessed online without too many differences. I think like any culture, there are upsides to everything.The nature of Everquest gets people to socialize with people whom are outside of their generally demography and physical location,

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sometimes part of a group they previously believed to be bad, or have exhibited phobic tendencies towards- like homosexual males. I had several players ask me to discuss the Queer education of the guild, through one or two players advocating against the gay slurs on the game. ( sony has an non enforced policy against slurs from the real world.) I also have not had a chance to explore many of the aspects of playing Everquest as a real female, or how the male players feel about them.Some of the female players wanted me to discuss the plight of female players.Other players expressed an interest in looking into the difference in slang between the various Everquest races, as well as looking into religion of Norrath as its roleplayed. Another topic of great interest to me is the amount of housebound people that play Everquest. Many people with chronic or debilitating diseases play Everquest, in order to have a social outlet. I have met players with cancer, people who are wheelchair bound, deaf, HIV positive, and also agoraphobic. I would love to continue research in the direction of seeing the positive affect the game may have on people who want to be able to play without people their condition stigmatizing their social life. Making contact with players willing to talk about their conditions is hard: they want to remain normal on Norrath, and people who have divulged who is sick and who isnt to me then asked me not to talk to them. I am probably going to approach the topic from a Public forum ( BBS) and post an open invite to players who might want to talk about it. I think if it can be established that this game can enrich lives of people who are physically limited, it would be interesting to see what possibilities are there for people who dont have the game yet.

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The designers are becoming aware of this possibility, Bill Trost was asked what his favorite Eq moment was he replied ,A wheelchair-bound EverQuest player came up to me at a Fan Faire and thanked me for creating a place where she could run like everyone else. Bill Trost(SOE April 2004) Norrath is huge, and needs to be explored as it reflects how people are building Global virtual communities, coming out of their homes, and then building it into their lives. This game has a huge impact on the way people meet and interact, for its players.
Glossary These terms are based on the most "offiicial" definition, as well as remaining synonamous with the way the term is used by the players. I have included my own terms based on their use in the games. I did not cover to many terms outside of those used in this paper, as I was limited in the amount of time I had to research. <3 - a symbol that generally represents a Heart, which symbolizes love or loving feelings in online chat. Other variations on this include <# which can represent hatred or dislike. *snicker* - an astrix is employed to imply you are narrating, as in if you are laughing at someone and want to narrate your emotional responce, ex. "Dafne Snickers at Faulinza's joke". cd-key - a unique code that is available with the purchase of your software for the game. It is used by software companies to people from using pirated cdroms. Needed for a player to update their account with newer software. AA - short for alternate advancement. After level 50, a character can expand on thier skillset, not only through class levels but through AA levels. These are spent to obtain architypal class and race abilities to make a character unique from other characters of the same level without alternate advancement levels. AA Title - After achieving a certain number of Alternate Advancement levels, a character is given an AA title. Dafne's AA title at this time is Venerable. alt - an abrevation of Alternate character. These are used by people who have leveled up one character and now have a second or third character to play when they do not wish to play their Main character. Alts are often used as an escape from players one already knows and or duties in a guild. Armor Class (AC) - A measure of how hard it is to score a hit in melee upon a character.

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Barbarian - (race) a race much like Humans; strong and rugged. They make their home in the upper northlands, in the city of Halas. Most Barbarians become Warriors because of their nature, but they may also delve into magic and become Shamans or even become Rogues. Their starting city of the Barbarians is Halas on Antonica. They are not so favored with the Dark Elves, Iskar, Ogres and Trolls. Barbarians reside in the northern regions of Norrath, more specifically in the tundra of Antonica. They are very large and muscular, doing mostly physical labor for jobs. The hometown of the Barbarians is Halas, which lies off of Everfrost. Coming from a more primitive society, the Barbarians tend to lean towards more power rather than intellect: many Barbarians become warriors during their time. As a tribal culture, Barbarians are a little rough around the edges when it comes to interactions with other races. Even the Barbarians' mannerisms and features have a rugged quality. The Barbarians do have racial tensions with some of the other races throughout Norrath, especially ones who are physically weak, such as the Erudites. They prefer to talk with the Dwarves, as they are both very stout and enjoy drinking ale. (www.everquest-online.com) Buff - a beneficial enhancement that lasts for a limited time. Camp - (from Ruins of Kunark manual) "This is a different command than the hotkey command "camp" (which exits you from the game) to "camp" means to hang around an area where you know a monster (or npc) will spawn regularly, others have to be killed before they will spawn a second time." There is a lot of etiquette involved in "camping," such as deciding who has a right to a contested monster and what constitues "Kill stealing." "Camping" was a term and activity invented by the players and now Sony suggests that "camping" something suggests that you hove ownership of the monsters in question. channel - a custom chat any player can create for friends to have a private conversation even if the characters are not in the same guild and are not grouped together. Character - 1) The Avatars in the game are referred to often as characters. The persona or role adopted by a player during the (game.www.realmsii.com/glossary.html) 2) The inherent complex of attributes that determine a persons moral and ethical actions and reactions; "education has for its object the formation of character"- Herbert Spencer (www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn) chat logs - A recording of online dialogue. Used by players practically, for settling disputes by "logging" dialog on the game with a simple command. It acts like an unbiased witness. I used this tool to record

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interviews in the game as well. People are not aware for any reason that you are using this command it simply saves all conversations and game narratives that scroll on your screen, later you access the file. Chat server - a no graphics interface to talk to people on various servers. People who are at work or are suffering from computer or connection difficulties will log into the "chat server". class - a skill set. Skill sets are broken into the following classes in the game

Bard - plays enhancing music spells to support the group helping them fight better. Cleric - primarily heals characters. Druid - offers up a benifitial spells, heals, and port abilities. Paladin - a hybrid of a warrior and a cleric. Berserker - a throwing melee class Beastlord - a character who's pet is supported to kill things while they heal it. Shadow knight - hybrid of Warrior and Necromancer, the opposite of a paladin. Necromancer - does mainly damaging spells and can summone an undead pet to kill for them. Rogue - backstabs and has the ability to picklocks and steal. Ranger - does alot of damage to monsters and can track monsters at a distance Enchanter - can charm monsters into fighting for them and offers up benifitial spells that help the mental capacities of the casters so they may cast more spells.

Mage- can summon object and people making support no rent items to help the group or raid succeed at thier goals, also has a variety of pets to destroy monsters.

Wizard- massize damage spells and abilities to port players around the game. Shaman- heals and offers physically enhancing benifitial spells to improve combat, as well as dehabilitates the monster to make it more suseptable to being killed.

Cleric - (class) a servant of god, a holy man or women born with the special power to heal others. Through the prayer to a deity, the Cleric can summon power to heal, or even hurt his or her enemies. Clerics gain powerful healing and enhancement spells, greatly increasing the health and defenses of their group, while

55

keeping them healed in the most dangerous battles. While other priest classes have healing spells, no one can match up with the power and efficiency of clerical healing. Along with the use of healing spells, the Cleric also shows great strength when fighting the undead. Many offensive spells will eliminate undead targets extremely fast that the Cleric possesses. Clerics are one of the most essential parts of a group, especially later in the game, as their healing powers are needed to conquer the fiercest of monsters. (http://www.everquest-online.com) cyber - in this situation, cyber is short for "cyber sex" ex. "do you like to cyber while on raids?" Dark Elf - (race) The Dark Elf is a race full of evil. They are the evil brothers of the Wood Elves and the High Elves. They have dark blue skin and pale white hair. They were created by the god of hate, Innoruuk, and do not like any of the other races. The Dark Elf comes from the city of Neriak on Antonica. They are small to medium in size. They have good hiding abilities to remain unseen and they prey on their enemies with their enhanced vision at night. Their downside is that they are an evil race so they may find a lot of trouble cooperating with other races. The Dark Elf being of the Tier'Dal or Elves have magical abilities which lead to them the classes of the Cleric, Enchanter, Magician, Necromancer, and Wizard. They may also take on the classes of Rogue, Shadow Knight, and Warrior. The deities that they follow are those of evil like their creator Innoruuk, or the god Solusek Ro. They may also swear fealty to other gods like Bristlebane or Rallos Zek. The Dark Elves are a spawn of Innoruuk, who created them from Tunares Elven race. They are quite similar the other forms of Elves throughout Norrath, but tend to lean more toward evil ways: necromancy, death and destruction. The Dark Elves has a skin tone of dark blue and also are very fragile creatures. They reach a height of about five feet with evil running through their blood. The Dark Elves reside in Neriak, which is a large city divided into three sections. They tend to prefer the dark and the underground, and ally themselves with the dimwitted, but strong and black-hearted Ogres and Trolls. (http://www.everquest-online.com/content/races-darkelf.php) desktop PC - A stationary personal computer. droppable - items that can be looted or made that one can pass from character to character; generally not as valued as items that can not be traded or picked up once a character has them and that cannot pass from character to character. Epic - noun. The non-droppable exceptional item specific to a character's class that is attained through the

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class-specific epic quest. Generally, they are easily recognizable, very difficult to attain, and provide great benefits to a character who has one. They serve as a symbol of status in the game. adj. refers to a chacter that has their epic. ex. "Epic Cleric." Everquest (EQ) - EverQuest is a massive Mutliplayer Online RolePlaying game, similiar in genre to books and games like Lords of the Rings or Dungeons and Dragons. It is the evolvution of table-top/pen and paper Role- playing games, gradutated to a virtual 3-d world platform, where people subscribe to the service, load the software and then create avatars to play in their way through the game, cooperating with groups of up to several hundred in a game session to kill Dragons and Monsters in the game in order to get rewards like experience and equipment for thier Avatar. Often referred to by players as EQ. experience - Incrimental rewards in the game that cause your character to "level up" in the game . gear - refers to equipment and loot from mobs accumulated over time that a toon wears. ex. "My gear is starting to look pretty good after those 3 raids" Guardians of The Keep (GoTK) - (Guild) Guardians of The Keep is my old everquest guild, which was "born" on Drinal and is a respected guild on the server. The server-wide ranking of Guardians of the Keep is believed to be in the top 3 guilds, but is also the first Drinal born guild who made it to the Plane of Time. Guild - a formal association of people with similar interests; "he joined a golf club"; "they formed a small lunch society"; "men from the fraternal order will staff the soup kitchen today" (www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn ) guildees - people of the guild, as refered to by members of the guild. ex. "He is one of my guildees" guild leader - The character, either by nomination or creation of the guild, who is in charge of the guild and is the only character who is capable within the guild to disband the entire guild and who can promote players to officer status. guild officer - second to the guild leader and generally responsible for guild banks and helping organize or lead raids. there can be up to 10 officers in a guild. Guild officers can disband and invite players to the guild. Hahahah - phonetic, meaning the sound of laughter hehe - phonetic, another representation of laughter. Hit Points (HP) - A measure of a character's life force, they are reduced by damage during combat and can

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be replenished by healing spells or by resting over time. ICQ (I Seek You) - A user-friendly Internet program that tells you which other ICQ users are online at all times. ICQ allows people online to chat, send messages and files and play games together. (www.ohn.gov.uk/help/usinginter/glossary.htm) Iksar - (race) The Iksar are the lizardmen of Kunark, created by the faceless one Cazic-Thule, they ruled Kunark for thousands of years. Now they are just the remenants of an old but evil past. No one can get along easily with the Iksar as their affinity to their creator is unmatched. There are some though who choose to be more neutral in the world. The starting city of the Iksar is in the Kunark city of Cabilis. Their body sizes range from small to medium and they can regenerate their injuries, swim in the sea, forage and see in the dark with their night vision. They are hated by all other races in Norrath because of their loyalty to Cazic-Thule. The Iksar may become a Monk, Shadow Knight, Necromancer, Warrior, and Shaman. The Iksar are one of the most primitive races of the world, and they only to actually live on the continent of Kunark. The Iksar are a lizard race, with hard and sometimes colorful scales all over their body. Their reptilian physiology grants them a natural affinity for water, as well as enhanced regeneration. The whole race of Iksar prefers to be isolated from the rest of the world and lean toward tribal ways. They are allies with nobody, and think very highly of themselves. The Iksar depend only on their god and creator, Cazic Thule. Iksar are unwelcome in all known cities of Norrath. Next to the Lake of Ill Omen, the Swamp of No Hope, and other places on Kunark, the giant city of Cabilis is home to the Iksar. (http://www.everquestonline.com/content/races-iksar.php) insta-clicky item - a peice of equiptment that casts a spell without cost to the character. This is used for many raid strategies to cast a "dummy buff" on a player in order to retain real buffs when buffs are being stripped away in combat by a monster you or your raid group is fighting. King Bergurgle (Lord Bergurgle) - (MOB) Underwater goblin king who "drops" the King Bergurle crown, which is a vital part of the cleric epic. Level up - A player term referring to the now 65 levels in the game. As you quest and play the game, your character recieves experience that accumulates into a "level" which rewards you with new skills, spells or abilities to be used in the game. In order to get "experience" one must be challenging monsters and strategies appropriate to thier level.

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Log in - To perform a sequence of actions at a terminal that establishes a user's communication with the operating system and sets up default characteristics for the user's terminal session. ( storacle.princeton.edu:9001/oracle8-doc/server.805/a53717/gloss.htm) Lmao - "Laugh my Ass off" Lmfao - "laugh my fucking ass off" lol - "laugh Out loud," an abbreviation commonly used in many online communities to represent laughter. lolol - "laugh out loud laugh out loud" Loot - items of value you receive off the bodies of fallen monsters you have killed, or items you receive from Npcs as you complete quests. lowbie - someone who is not brand new to the game, but has played to the "mid game"(less than 60, but more than 50 levels) Lower Guk - (zone) The Ruins of Ancient Guk is a vast array of tunnels that connect between the ruins themselves and the upper tunnelways that eventually lead to the Innothule Swamp. It is also the battleground between the living frogloks, led by the Froglok King, and the undead who have taken over most of the deepest ruins, led by their Ghoul Lord. This dungeon is generally regarded as one of the two most deadly dungeons on the continent of Antonica. It is divided up into two general areas, the "Live" side and the "Dead" side, named for the life/unlife status of the majority of the frogloks within. There are general dangers for the dungeon, as well as for each side, that I will mention before going into specific dangers.

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Luclin - also the name of the third expansion of everquest, it is the moon above Antonica, and is the home of the Vah Shir (a tiger/cat race of sentient beings) Magelo - a file online that allows you to share information about what your character is wearing, its level, and its abilities with people on various Bullitin boards not in the game. A "magelo" is often used like a resume to decide if you are of the right power level of game play to join a guild. These files are provided as a service on www.magelo.com. MOB or Monster - "Monster Object." A 3d animated object created (spawned) by the game to be engaged in combat by Player Characters. Mule - because of the limited bank space and the number of items one can accumulate, many people create a "dummy character" which is designed to hold extra loot, like a pack animal, and sell unwanted items in

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the Bazaar. This is so you do not have to run to the Bazaar (market place for players) location after playing your "main" to sell your items. This way, a player can keep only the items they want readily available on their main character. Necromancer - (class) Being the master commander of the dead, the Necromancer is the most powerful force in all of Norrath. Necromancers are servants of the dark gods, studying ancient and mysterious tomes to gain power over the world of the dead. Necromancers are primarily a magic-using class . . . Necromancers are a very self-sufficient class and often choose to adventure alone, though they can provide great value to a group as well. The necromancer is an excellent choice for the independent player who enjoys a wide variety of abilities. (http://www.everquest-online.com) Non-Player Character (NPC) - characters created by the program that have programmed speech and do specific things when prompted to do so by PCs. Noobie, Noob, Newb, or Newbie - all refer to someone new in the game, or someone who is inexperienced in the game setting. ex. she totally didnt know how to get to east commonlands, what a noob Norrath - The engineered world of the game, the universe is referred to as Norrath, which includes all the places that are in the game. This world has the a rich history documented online and in the game itself, including the rise and fall of gods and empires. Online - "connected to the Internet". It also is used to refer to materials stored on a computer (e.g., an online newsletter) or to a device like a printer that is ready to accept commands from a computer. (www.oit.ohio-state.edu/glossary/gloss3.html) In this context, a player whose computer is connected to an everquests server. ex. "Will you be online later?" paper-game - a roleplaying game based on character sheets and the imagination of the players involved, games like Dungeons and Dragons, Deliria, and Vampire the Masquerade.This type of gaming was the precursor to Everquest. Patch - noun. a short set of commands to correct a bug in a computer program. (www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn) verb To dowload a patch to correct a program already installed on your computer. PC - 1) "Player Character," referred to as a toon on occasion. This term is opposed to Npc (Non-player

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character), which is a character created by the program that have programmed speech and do specific things when prompted to do so by PCs. 2) A personal Computer.

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peak time - the time on each Server when the most players are generally on. Plane of Knowledge - (zone) A central common area for all levels of players that is free of "monsters" but includes places like a liberary and a bank where people can store goods and start quests from the Non-player characters that "work" in the liberary and areas surrounding it. It also boasts 20 port stones (see Port Stone), which lead to the various home cities of the various races in the game and the starting point for the other planes (see PoP). This area is commonly used on Drinal as a place to "MGB people" (Mass group buff) for profit, and/or social popularity.

player - a person who is playing Everquest.

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PMed - Private Messaged PoP - the "Planes of Power," an expansion of the game aimed specifically at the more seasoned player. that has groups and raid groups that must pass certain challenges to achieve the status PoP Flags - character status that allows them to go into certain parts of the world off limits to anyone who has not achieved a certain goal. To overcome certain challenges to get a PoP flag is refered to as "being flagged" or "getting a flag." port - A method of transportation in which a wizard or druid "transports" or translocates characters to other areas of the game to save time or to rescue the group from a mob or mobs that they are losing to. There are specific locations to get ported to and there are specific ettiquettes to going about getting a "port". port stone - As the game became larger and fewer people enjoyed spending hours of game play "porting" players around the game, the engineers added port stones, which allow a character to go to some specific remote locations instantly. In the Plane of Knowledge there are many "port stones" that allow more freedom to move about the world of Norrath. PVP - "Player versus player," a game function that allows a player character to attack and kill other player characters in the game who are also operating in the same player vs player function. There is a huge variation on play styles between PVP servers and Non-PVP servers. Drinal is a "hippy " server, which means it is generally non pvp - even though the option is available. Race - A character's (PC or NPC) lineage trait. Race determines the classes available to a player character and their starting city in the game. raid - noun a group of more than one group united under a leader that employs a concerted strategy to kill a monster/mob(s) for several pieces of loot that go to a decided (usually beforehand) character that the group intends to advance. verb to participate in a raid. ex. "We are ready to raid Trakanon." Raid Leader - a person leading a group of 6 or more to kill a specific mob or clear out a Raid leader specific zone. Also, a raid leader generally divides up the loot and settles raid disputes. Resurrect (res, rez) - when a character "dies" in the game, a cleric and sometimes high level Paladins and Necromancers can "resurrect" the player, making them appear at their body with depleated health and with some of their experience returned to them (which is lost when the character dies). Also referred to as, Rezzin, a rezz or clicking someone. As a character levels in the game, resurrections from higher level

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characters are more valuable as it saves time. RL or IRL - "Real Life" or "In Real Life". Real life is sometimes used to qualify a statement by a player, like "This is my RL girlfriend, as apposed to Tikkitonka, who is my EQ girlfriend" (for roleplay purposes) rotflmao - "rolling on the floor laughing my ass off" Rune - (buff) any spell of the Rune nomenclature that when cast on another player character offers up the benifits of extra hit points. It is used to sway a hard fight by preventing the tank from dying. server - 1) a computer/device which provides information or services to computers on a network. Sony employs hundereds of servers to support EQ. 2) A specific server pool for EQ that is refered to as a single server entity by name and has a characters that are independent of characters on other servers. ex. "I play on the Drinal server." Siren's Grotto - (zone) An underwater cavern, full of aquatic life. Many of the creatures here are very high level, and see invisible. The other problem here is that much of the zone is underwater. This can make getting around problematic if you don't have a way to breathe underwater. (www.eq atlas.com) Spam (in tells, guild channel, etc.) - excessive text messages in any channel, chat, or tell that is considered abuse of the channel or is incredibly annoying. spell - a prayer, or verbal direction of magickal energies toward the accomplishment of some goal. (www.geocities.com/Athens/8526/glossary.htm) In the game, "casters" (characters who's class has a primary skill to cast spells) can perform spells that can raise people from the dead, destroy monsters, help warriors become more powerful for limited amounts of time, etc. spell reagents - items that are bought or aquired to are also consumed when casting certain spells. Tag or Guild Tag - The name that appears under your character's name designating them as a member of a guild. "Getting Tagged" refers being invited to a guild, as after you have joined a guild part of your nametag, which floats above your characters head, refers to your guild membership. ex. "getting tagged for Guardians of the keep" Tank - a warrior or melee class character capable of taking a beating, usually with a high Armor Class and a lot of Hit Points. Taking this beating is called "tanking" from the root "tank - a large armored vehicle" ex. "that guy has thousands of hp - he is a good tank." tell or /t - a private message from one player to another player. These are sent using the typed command

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/tell or /t with the name of the player's character following it. Players will type things like "/t if you want to go to Lower Guk with me?" Commonly tells are preferred over "spamming" ( cluttering up) public channels with matters that are handled privately. Thurgadin - (zone) Thurgadin is the home of the Coldain, the dwarves who have lived for ages on the ice continent of Velious. The Coldain have lived in their current place of Thurgadin for quite some time, after having to flee their old home after it was overrun by the frost giants. They settled into the Great Divide hidden away, hoping to avoid the further attention of their enemies. TL fragment - A "translocation Fragment." An item given to you by an npc "porter" which marks you to be transported to a different location. Toon - A character. A term players use to refer to their characters; "toon" is short of cartoon. As the characters player's play are polygon based animations, it's an apt nickname. trade skills - skills that make items out of other items without the expenditure of anything else. They are collectively baking, fletching, pottery, jewelcraft, poison making, potion making, tailoring, smithing, and tinkering. Trakanon - (MOB) Undead Shadowknight It was Trakanon who led the assault on the Iksar Empire, raidng their cities before taking up residence in Venril Sathir's old stronghold of Sebilis. He has managed to dodge death, and seems to have come out even better off. He claws for 650, with a sickening melee range, and his breath attack has been known to kill whole groups in minutes. It is Trakanon who drops the Breastplates for the Kunark Class specific armour. Only the triggered version drops the Undead Dragongut Strings required for the bard epic.

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Venerable - 1) profoundly honored; "revered holy men" (www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn) 2) In everquest, the title Venerable is awarded to a character after a certain amount of alternate experience is rewarded you in the past 65 levels of the game. The title is included in your name tag (above a characters head) to show your status.

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VTS or Velketor the Sorcerer - (MOB) This is the top fellow in the Labyrinth named after himself - a spell casting giant. Velketor's Labyrinth - (zone) This is an underground labyrinth near the Dwarf city of Thurgadin. The first part consists of icy walkways that work their way upward. The walkways are slippery in some places and populated with spiders (some spiders are invisible). After climbing about halfway up the walkway area, you can pass through a secret wall and reach a large circular room with a pit in the middle. This trapped pit leads to the Icepaw kobold area. The trap for this pit is a shimmering orb that casts reoccuring AE dispell every 5-10 seconds. The Icepaw kobolds are level 50+ and hit in the 150200 range, with named kobolds hitting for 250. The rest is still unexplored. Zone - noun An area in everquest. Zones are divided by border that, when crossed, cause the game to stop and load the next zone. verb To cross a zone line. Zoning is used sometimes to escape MOBs chasing a player.

Player Characters This section describes some of the player characters refered to in the text of the paper. Aonorn- 65th level Paladin, real life boyfriend of Jazmina Dafne - the author's player character, a level 65 Dark Elf Cleric, married online to Froanz, part of "Ferrix clan" (toons that share the same last name) Della - a level 65 druid, officer of GoTK who recently stepped down from the position, real life best friends with Jazmina Emiem - a player character who began playing everquest last year when I bought the player the game Faulinza - 65 dark elf wizard, played by RL friend who is a homosexual male, has since retired from the game. Fenert - first epic cleric of GoTK, retired and sold on eBay to a Drinal lowbie guild. Fineghal - A troll Shadow Knight that I became friends with and had an intimate although casual relationship with. Froanz - a Level 65 troll, married online to Dafne, part of "Ferrix clan" (toons that share the same last name)

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Fumarin - Fumarin is the boyfriend in real life of Kassandra and one of Garathsons first online friends. Garathson - a player character who was the guild leader of GOTK for a few years and has since retired. Higar - Kassandra's ex husband in real life. Hoanz - Dafne's online brother-in-law, Froanz's online Brother, a level 65 troll shaman, part of "Ferrix clan" (toons that share the same last name) Jasmina - level 65 Barbarian warrior that lives in real life with Aornorn and is real life best friends with Della. She investigated Shadowhand's death and has since quit the game. Kasandra - real life girlfriend of Fumarin and previously married in real life to Higar. Keily - Wood elf druid level 65, real life mother. Mantik - a 65 barbarian warrior with whom I had cyber sex and some "romantic" relations with. Mezr- level 65 enchanter who was purchased by a RL friend of Garathson in order for him to play the game, developed a methanphetamine habit with Garathson as they worked in the same place, where the drugs were free. Molgar - guild leader of Guardians of the Keep before Garathson was guildleader. Mordulan - a level 50 necromancer that a RL friend played, this player was responcible for several of people in his real life social group (Slokt, Faulinza, Vezkulia, Dafne) joining EQ in order to maintain contact while he was in scotland going to school. Shaade- current GoTK guild leader, a level 65 enchanter. Shadowhand - A player character who was married online to Vezkulia and was the highest ranking rogue in GoTK at the time of her "death" Slokt - one of my friends in real life, 65the level troll warrior, likes to "chop chop chop" Tbuk, Fayll and Forzz - two men that i have know in the game for several years and my real life boyfriend's Main toon. Valthira - Dark elf Wizard level 65, plays a female. In real life, he is the artist behind the Playwiz Magazine Covers. Vezkulia - a level 65 dark elf female cleric played by a guy, also a long standing officer in GoTK. Married online to Shadowhand. Example of a Eqlog.exe (online game log)

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Here is an example of the autmatic log I used for online interviews. This the text of the game as its played that is loaded into a file on my computer which I then print out and edit for research. Words in bold are terms defined in this glossary. Wed May 19 20:46:51 2004] You told Kilzum, 'where you working these days?' [Wed May 19 20:46:56 2004] You told Kilzum, 'make a baby yet?' [Wed May 19 20:47:09 2004] You say to your guild, 'so NOT the same guy :(' [Wed May 19 20:47:14 2004] Kilzum tells you, 'same place no had to go invitro :( ' [Wed May 19 20:47:29 2004] You told Kilzum, 'invitro work??' [Wed May 19 20:47:31 2004] Skinnytick tells the guild, 'must not be' [Wed May 19 20:47:51 2004] Kilzum tells you, 'starting the treatments 2 weeks so wouldn't know for abit yet' [Wed May 19 20:47:55 2004] You say to your guild, 'I swear, he used to be super cool and funny as hell' [Wed May 19 20:47:55 2004] Higar tells you, 'the only difference between talking and typing is how long it takes to get the words out' [Wed May 19 20:47:58 2004] You are thirsty. [Wed May 19 20:47:58 2004] You are out of drink. [Wed May 19 20:48:08 2004] You told Kilzum, 'wow good luck so excited for you ' [Wed May 19 20:48:20 2004] Kilzum tells you, 'thanks yea we pretty xcited too' [Wed May 19 20:48:27 2004] You told Higar, 'totally' [Wed May 19 20:48:29 2004] Higar tells you, 'you become friends with people in RL by talking to them and doing things with them' [Wed May 19 20:48:38 2004] Higar tells you, 'only difference in EQ is the venue' [Wed May 19 20:48:57 2004] You told Higar, 'you don't think people are being fake with you here?' [Wed May 19 20:49:03 2004] Castironn tells the guild, 'GRATS flur on bert FLAG !!!!!!!!' [Wed May 19 20:49:04 2004] Kammolin tells the guild, 'and then he hit purburty' [Wed May 19 20:49:10 2004] Salamane tells the guild, 'grats flur!' [Wed May 19 20:49:11 2004] Kammolin tells the guild, '!' [Wed May 19 20:49:11 2004] You told Higar, 'or do you think they are pretty much the same ?' [Wed May 19 20:49:12 2004] Unbridled tells the guild, 'yay Flur!' [Wed May 19 20:49:13 2004] Flopnroun tells the guild, 'Grats!' [Wed May 19 20:49:13 2004] Valanya tells the guild, 'Grats!' [Wed May 19 20:49:15 2004] You say to your guild, 'grats :)' [Wed May 19 20:49:19 2004] Flurrying tells the guild, 'grats others too :)' [Wed May 19 20:49:23 2004] Lizboy tells the guild, 'woot gratz flurry, and grendell too' [Wed May 19 20:49:26 2004] Flurrying tells the guild, 'personally i just need VZ now' [Wed May 19 20:49:26 2004] Castironn tells the guild, 'and other!!!!!!!' [Wed May 19 20:49:31 2004] Unbridled tells the guild, 'oh grats Grend :)' [Wed May 19 20:49:31 2004] Flopnroun tells the guild, 'Grats 2x =D' [Wed May 19 20:49:32 2004] Skinnytick tells the guild, 'although daf...i do remember him in lower guk when i was camping the smr for epic and he was cool=\' [Wed May 19 20:49:34 2004] Castironn tells the guild, 'HURRAHY' [Wed May 19 20:49:36 2004] You are thirsty. [Wed May 19 20:49:36 2004] You are out of drink. [Wed May 19 20:49:46 2004] Grendell tells the guild, 'thanks all first cch and the ma goes down what a leader lol' [Wed May 19 20:49:56 2004] Grendell tells the guild, 'well first one I organized' [Wed May 19 20:49:59 2004] Boomboomboom tells the guild, 'gratz guys !' [Wed May 19 20:50:00 2004] Higar tells you, 'I dont think it matters-they could be just as fake in RL, asl ong as they are consistant it seems moot in my decision to be thier friends or not' [Wed May 19 20:50:04 2004] Emiem tells the guild, 'grats!!!' [Wed May 19 20:50:05 2004] You say to your guild, 'omg im so noob I just walked up and said "nice glowing axe" to someone and they said yah its the berserker epic im like um .. yah havent been on much lately :X' [Wed May 19 20:50:06 2004] Skinnytick tells the guild, 'grats' [Wed May 19 20:50:15 2004] Castironn tells the guild, 'lol'

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[Wed May 19 20:50:18 2004] Unbridled tells the guild, 'lol' [Wed May 19 20:50:24 2004] Castironn tells the guild, '<3 daf' [Wed May 19 20:50:24 2004] You told Higar, 'yah I know what you mean' [Wed May 19 20:50:25 2004] Grendell tells the guild, 'omg Dafne *hugs*' [Wed May 19 20:50:26 2004] Higar tells you, 'I cansay I know more people who appear fake in real life than I have in EQ' [Wed May 19 20:50:30 2004] You say to your guild, '/blush'

EQ by the Numbers

Excerpt from an Article found at game spot. I included these facts to illustrate just how big this game is, as far as the perceived virtual size, as well as the populations of these worlds EQ players live in:

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of EverQuest, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) has today released a list of interesting facts about the game. First launched on March 16, 1999, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game is currently played by more than 420,000 people all over the world. Other facts about EverQuest announced by SOE today include the following: More than 2.5 million copies of the game and its expansions have been sold in boxes or digitally downloaded since 1999. If stacked end to end, the total number of EverQuest boxes created would reach a height of more than 265 miles, which would stretch out of the Earths atmosphere and past the orbit of the International Space Station. 71

EverQuest averages about 250,000 new subscribers every year. Currently, there are more than 420,000 people playing the game. At peak times, more than 100,000 people around the globe will be playing EverQuest simultaneously. Heaviest hours of operation for EverQuest are from 5pm PST to 11pm PST, with the biggest days being Thursday and Sundaytraditionally, the biggest nights for prime-time television viewing. There are almost 12 million characters created by players within the game. Of these 12 million, more than 3 million have been played in the last six months. The oldest EverQuest player is 78 (part of three generations of a single family that play together from different states). The youngest is nine (he plays with his mother and father). There are more than a million non-player characters populating the world of EverQuest, made up of nearly 400 unique types of creatures. Total play time for all current players in the game equals more than 184,000 years. Only 17 percent of the characters played within EverQuest are human83 percent are composed of the 14 other fantasy races available in the game. EverQuest currently has more than 420,000 inhabitants, making the games population larger than 42 of Americas state capitals. There are more than 350 square miles of dungeons, mountains, plains, valleys, cities, and forests to explore in the game. There are more than 40,000 unique items for players to discover, create, and buy within the game. More than 3,000 of these items have never been discovered by players. There are almost 100,000 trees within the world of EverQuest.

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More than 1,500 servers run the world of EverQuest, which is the equivalent of one of the worlds top 100 supercomputers. More than 18 miles of wire and cable connect all these boxes together. Over 10 quadrillion bytes of EverQuest data have left the SOE network in the past five years. Thats a 10, followed by 15 zeroes. By Justin Calvert GameSpot(may2004)

The History of Norrath This is from the official Everquest site: May 22, 2004 It is said that outside of space and time an entity known only as the Nameless exists, and that this being created all that there is and was and will be. It is also written in ancient texts that from His mind sprang not only the universe and its countless suns and worlds, but also a myriad of sentient, powerful, yet finite creatures whom one such as a man, or elf, or dwarf, would call a god. In aeons past came one of these gods upon the world Norrath. Veeshan, Crystalline Dragon and ruler of the Plane of Sky, found this world pleasing and deposited her brood onto the frozen continent of Velious. With one swipe of her mighty claws, Veeshan opened several great wounds upon the surface of Norrath, staking her claim to this promising new world. Dragons then walked the land and flew the skies, powerful beings of great intellect, wisdom, and strength. Thus began the Age of Scale. In time the other gods noticed Veeshan's work, and being often petty and jealous beings, they too came upon Norrath, intent upon leaving their mark. Brell Serilis was first, and from his Plane of Underfoot, a dark realm of vast caves and endless tunnels, he quietly created a magical portal to a cavern deep in the belly of Norrath. Through this portal the Duke of Underfoot seeded the depths of Norrath with all manner of creatures. Brell then returned home, sealing his portal within a labyrinthine chamber of mystical Living Stone. And when the other gods came to Norrath, Brell Serilis approached each of them, and after some time convinced them to meet as one to discuss the fate of the world. The Great Mother Tunare, and Prexus, The Oceanlord were in attendance, and Rallos Zek, the warlord, was also there, yet in mistrust kept his distance. Brell, carefully avoiding all queries as to the origins of his information, told of Veeshan's discovery of the new and potentially powerful world in which she had deposited her brood. Words befit of the King of Thieves poured forth from Brell's lips and he proposed that they accept an alliance of sorts, to which all save Rallos Zek agreed, ignorant of the fact that Brell had already

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released some of his creations into the Underfoot of this new world. The planet that would be called Norrath was divvied up between these beings of power for the purpose of keeping the Wurmqueen in check. Each would create a race of beings to watch over Norrath and keep a vigilant eye on the schemes of Dragonkind. Brell claimed the bowels of the planet and created the Dwarves, stout and strong, deep beneath the mountains of Norrath. In the abysmal depths of the oceans Prexus left his children, the Kedge, hearty aquatic beings of great mental power and stamina. And on the surface of Norrath did Tunare create the Elves, creatures of limitless grace and beauty, and Rallos Zek the Giants, fierce and formidable beings, intent upon the defense of their lands. Thus began the Elder Age. It was inevitable that such energies involved in seeding planets with life would attract even more of the gods, and it was the Elves who drew the unwanted attention of Innoruuk, Prince of Hate. In a decrepit tower overlooking the dark decaying alleys of the Plane over which he ruled, Innoruuk waited, stoking the fire of his Hate until it was a raging inferno. He cursed his fellow gods for not including him in their pact and vowed to make them regret such disrespect. From the halls of the Elves' fair city, Takish-Hiz, the Prince of Hate snatched away the first Elven King and Queen. In his realm of pain and anger he slowly tore them apart, physically and mentally, over the course of three hundred years. He then gathered the quivering remnants of these beings of light and rebuilt them into his own dark sadistic image, a twisted mockery of Tunare's noble children. In depositing the Teir'Dal, as Innoruuk's Dark Elven creations would come to be called, back into the Underfoot of Norrath, the seeds for The Prince of Hate's final revenge were sown. Fizzlethorpe Bristlebane and Cazic-Thule came next to Norrath, and Brell met them, concocting a second pact with these latter gods, wishing another excuse to create more peoples into the world. Rallos Zek again watched from afar, determined to add to his creation as well, and this time Brell convinced the Warlord to join the pact, assuring him that it was indeed an appropriate time to fulfill his desires. Deep in the earth did Brell return to create the gnomes, resembling dwarves to some extent, yet more wiry and gnarled, consumed with tinkering with devices more so than their cousins. On the surface, away from Elves and Giants, Bristlebane made the Halflings, short and stubby folk, agile and with a propensity to meddle and even pilfer at times. Cazic-Thule, Lord of Fear, was drawn to the swamps and jungles of Norrath and there created the green skinned Trolls and reptilian Lizard Men. And Rallos Zek returned to the surface, pleased with his sanction to create even more peoples for his army. He made then the Ogres, massive, unmovable beings of questionable intelligence, and the Orcs, bred for battle and singled-minded in their desire for conquest. By this time, those who are now known as the elder races of Norrath had begun to expand and mature. Villages became cities, and cities became kingdoms. Several of the races became bent on expansion and warfare became part of their developing cultures. And of all the races, it was the Ogres who quickly proved the most interested in battle and plunder, and their empire grew outward from their mountain home until it eventually encompassed a large portion of Tunaria, largest of the known continents. Their knowledge of magic grew as did their greed, until they became weary of only Norrath, and when they learned of other planes and dimensions, invaded the Plane of Earth itself.

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Rallos Zek watched with pride as his creations challenged the gods of that realm, and when they eventually knew defeat, the Warlord himself led a second invasion. The war that ensued shook the heavens and angered the greater gods. Through their combined might, Rallos Zek was finally thwarted and forced back to his domain, after which a great barrier to the Planes of Power was erected, denying entry to both the lesser gods and mortals as well. And then, in what some view as spite and others justice, the gods cursed the Warlord's creations. Thousands of Ogres were slain and their empire collapsed around them. The Giants were spread from one end of the earth to the other, forced to flee their homes as the gods brought snow and ice to their previously lush lands. And the goblins were also cursed, but no writings remain of their punishment as they no longer keep records of their history (which is perhaps some indication as to the severity of their curse). Thus began the Age of Monuments. As the dust settled, the last of the gods came to Norrath. Mithaniel Marr, god of Valor, and Erollisi Marr, goddess of Love, created the Barbarians, a hardy race who settled the cold and rugged northlands, near the ruins of the Giant empire. Being the youngest race, they were generally unwashed and rugged, possessing very few social graces. And while they too had a warlike culture, there were those amongst them who began to believe in something more. By this time the other civilizations of Norrath had either long since declined, or were well on their way, and this small minority of Barbarians saw an opportunity to triumph where the others had failed. Perhaps this was a seed of wisdom planted by the Marr Twins, or perhaps it was only by chance, but as the Barbarians spread out across the lands, warring with both each other and any other race encountered, this tiny movement continued to grow. And so even amidst desolation and war, there was hope. Thus began the Age of Blood. The last of the old races to decline was the empire of the Elves. The Elddar Forest spread across the entire southeastern quarter of Tunaria. Cities and villages built high into the trees housed thousands of Wood Elves, and the marble cities of the High Elves were built in the forest's clearings and meadows, their white towers and spires climbing out of the forest, higher than the tallest tree. But then came the last curse of the gods, as Solusek Ro, Lord of Flame, arched the spine of the serpent mountains, bringing heat from the burning sun to the ancient forest. The rivers ran dry, it rained less each year, and while the great elven druids fought long and hard, using their powerful magics to combat the change, they could only delay the inevitable. Slowly the forest gave way to desert, and eventually even great Takish-Hiz crumbled and the elves were forced to flee Tunaria, leaving much of their greatness behind. Thus began the Lost Age. This next period of Norrathean history as it relates to many of the races is the least known. It is surmised by the more knowledgeable historians that while the elder races regrouped and reestablished themselves, a small group of Barbarians were suddenly transformed both physically and intellectually. Most believe this to be the last major and direct act of divine intervention, and perhaps the reason so little is known about this period is that the gods wish it to be so, deciding afterwards that they would have less to do with their creations. In any case, this small and enlightened group were the fathers of the Human race, and they rapidly gained a foothold throughout the lands, studying the

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lost art of geomancy. The Combine Empire, as this lost race of Humans is called, spread throughout the known world, but then died even more quickly than it grew, and for reasons still unknown. And while they are the ancestors of every Human on Norrath and their relics and ruins still litter the lands from Odus to Faydwer, little history of this period remains. After the fall of the Combine Empire, the remnants of mankind dwelled mostly in the center of Tunaria, inhabiting primarily the vast and fertile plains of Karana. Villages appeared and prospered, several reaching the size of towns, and two even became cities. To the west a strong and noble band of Humans, lead by Antonius Bayle the First, founded Qeynos under the lofty principles of law. Freeport, to the east, became an active and dangerous port of call for all who dared to venture into the Ocean of Tears. Humanity, much to the disdain of the elder races who watched from afar, remained strong, even daring to rename their home after one of their own instead of one of the gods. The great continent of Tunaria would forever more be known as Antonica. This is not to imply, however, that humanity was at peace. Competition was fierce, and when resources grew scarce for one reason or another many groups abandoned the promises and alliances of their past and fought. A few leaders spoke out against the violence, urging the masses to remember why they had fled the cold north. Others reminded them of their former glory and the might of the Combine Empire. These leaders insisted that humanity adhere once again to those principals to which all had agreed. Explorers and adventurers returned from afar with tales of elves, dwarves, and other strange creatures, as well as descriptions of ancient abandoned cities. A few even came back with limited knowledge of sorcery and the mystic arts. And when that discontent minority of leaders heard all of this, they became both jealous and determined. A small, frail man of great intellect called Erud led this group, and he formed them into a council. They quickly became irritated, even disgusted, by their fellow man. Leaving a small network of spies behind, the remainder of Erud's followers fled the city of Qeynos and boarded a small fleet of ships. They sailed to the west and landed upon the barren coast of the island of Odus. The land was sparse and uninhabited and quite appealing to the council and their people. They quickly built a city of their own, dissimilar in almost every way to both Qeynos and Freeport, for it was almost entirely a towering castle. Erudin it was called, and within it the scribes and scholars, who called themselves High Men, gathered and analyzed reports, captured books and scrolls, and other artifacts brought to them by their spies. The first human mages since the Combine Empire were born wizards, sorcerers, and enchanters occupied the great halls of Erudin and grew immensely in both power and knowledge. Thus began the Age of Enlightenment. It came to pass some years later that a small group of Erudites discovered the lost art of Necromancy. They were branded heretics and great conflict arose. For the first time in several hundred years, the Erudites fought. They engaged in a civil war not entirely dissimilar to that which they had loathed and fled from back on the mainland. But there was one very significant difference they did not use swords and bows, but rather magic, and the result was terrible. Lives by the hundreds were lost, great buildings and structures destroyed, and eventually the heretics were forced to flee Erudin, to hide and regroup in

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the southern regions of Odus. In one final battle, great mystic energies were released and an immense hole leading to unknown depths beneath the earth was created. Into the sides of this chasm the heretics built their own city which they called Paineel. And while both sides still seethed with anger and hatred towards one another, their fear of what the last battle had wrought has kept any further conflict at bay. Thus began the Age of Turmoil. It is in this age you find yourself, an age filled with wonder. The elder races have begun to reclaim their former glory. The younger races have matured, and an active economy stretches across Odus, Antonica, and Faydwer. And while conflict and battle is hardly rare, it has also been centuries since open war has plagued the lands. A myriad of alliances and factions exist, friend and foe plot and scheme, and the world of Norrath is ripe for action. Equip yourself for adventure, seek allies and knowledge, and head out into a rich world of dungeons, towers, crypts, even planes and realities beyond your imagination. Learn skills, earn experience, acquire treasure and equipment, meet friends and encounter enemies. And whether you assume the role of a noble human knight, a vicious dark elf thief, a greedy dwarven merchant, or whatever suits your desire.

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