A History of EverQuest - The MMO That Made The Genre
Channel: Computer Gaming Yesterday
Date: 20/11/2020

Released on March 16, 1999, EverQuest created a template that most MMORPGs eventually followed and, after many years, even changed single-player games. 

Sources:
[1] https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/02/13/the-inside-story-of-how-a-major-mmo-went-wrong
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/PantheonMMO/comments/a7m983/old_everquest_dump_compilation/
[3] https://www.pcgamer.com/breaking-the-internet-the-story-of-everquest-the-mmo-that-changed-everything/
[4] https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-1-4302-3352-7_10.pdf
[5] https://winners.webbyawards.com/2000/websites/general-websites/webby-technical-achievement/157752/sony-station
[6] https://www.mmorpg.com/everquest/interviews/building-eq-the-brad-mcquaid-interview-2000093085
[7] https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=rec.games.mud.announce/sya7IcOZ08g/A4E7JB8tONAJ
[8] https://loreofnorrath.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/phase-1-beta-chat-log/
[9] https://nygamecritics.com/2019/11/23/the-insight-john-smedleys-memories-of-legendary-everquest-creator-brad-mcquaid/
[10] https://archive.org/details/PCGamer199904/page/n57/mode/2up?q=Everquest
[11] http://www.gamecriticsawards.com/1998winners.html
[12] https://twitter.com/gamebits/status/722542208650473477
[13] https://www.neverdiemedia.com/products/everquest-phase-4-beta
[14] https://imgur.com/a/DFHoi
[15] https://archive.org/details/Computer_and_Video_Games_Issue_194_1998-01_EMAP_Images_GB/page/n13/mode/2up?q=Everquest Page 14
[16] https://archive.org/details/PC_Zone_Issue_060_1998-02_Dennis_Publishing_GB/page/n101/mode/2up?q=Everquest page 100
[17] https://archive.org/details/PCPowerplay-022-1998-03/page/n35/mode/2up?q=Everquest page 36
[18] https://archive.org/details/GamefanVolume6Issue06June1998/page/n69/mode/2up?q=Everquest page 68
[19] https://archive.org/details/PCXL10Jun1999/page/n79/mode/2up
[20] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHnDSr-b02Q
[21] https://www.shacknews.com/article/110494/better-together-stories-of-everquest?page=15
[22] https://www.everquest.com/news/imported-eq-enus-50380