Article/Scott Clover Everquest Interview

> First you create a character (on-line persona), choosing from a wide variety of races (such as Humans, Elves, and Trolls) and classes (like Warriors, Bards, Clerics, etc). Once you have decided who you want to be, you enter the world and are placed within a hometown to begin your adventures. What follows is really up to the player. He or she can spend their hours delving into dark dungeons in search of treasure, talking with friends while fishing, going on a short quest that might only take an hour to complete, or going off on a quest that takes you all over the world and requires days to finish. There is no lack of things to do, places to explore, or people (And monsters) to meet.
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> Is the character loaded in from a server, or from a player’s PC?
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> All characters reside on our servers only.
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> Why did you opt to develop a hardware engine only, and no software engine?
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> We started out software only, largely because there was no hardware standard to speak of at the time. But once the 3DFX chipset was presented to us, we decided that 3D hardware was the way of the future. The software engine was just holding us back, and since we wanted to make Everquest the best it could possibly be, we had to dump the sofwater version and go hardware only. I think we made a great choice, and I think our customers will agree with us.
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> An obvious comparison is a huge on-line version of the Dungeon’s and Dragons role playing game. Is this fair?
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> Everquest is a role playing game, and many of us on the team grew up playing D&D, but Everquest is not D&D, it is a completely original rule base that we designed ourselves. Also, D&D was just a couple of friends getting together with some rule books and their imaginations, but Everquest is a living, breathing, online community of thousands of people depicted in rich, colorful 3D. We are bringing things only imagined or written down on paper, to life.
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> The PK feature is an obvious advantage, as is the comprehensive beta testing which is ongoing. Please comment on how these features help the game, and those that a player hasn’t been able to experience before.
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> The PK issue is hotly debated, but many people (the Everquest team especially) feel that players killing other players is best left to action games like Quake 2 that are not persistent worlds. In Quake, the game is to run around and rack up the most kills, and if you get killed there are no lasting implications – you just pop right back into the world and grab another rocket launcher. In Everquest there can be huge, lasting implications to death. Everquest is not about running over powerups and fragging people until your mouse hand cramps up (although I have personally done that in Id’s games, and have loved every minute of it). You can easily spend months advancing your character’s career in Everquest, amassing a huge fortune, honing your skills to mastery, and gathering powerful artifacts. Many people are just not interest in losing all of that hard work in a few seconds to some jerks standing outside of town who get their laughs from killing people that are weaker and looting them. If the customer is interested in playing that way, then they can choose to do that, but others who are not interested won’t have their gameplay experience ruined. We let the customer choose – we don’t force it upon them.
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> What is the maximum number of players that can simultaneously log on to a particular world?
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> Right now we are looking at approximately 1,500 players, but that may change.
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> Do you have the capacity to keep expanding?
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> Absolutely. We will be ready to bring additional servers on line in a moment’s notice.
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> What problems have you faced with the sheer size of the project and the freedom a character has?
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> RPGs, in my opinion, are the biggest development project you can possibly undertake, and throwing the massively multiplayer element into the mix makes the scope staggering. Our world is immense, and the job of making that world come alive has been a huge undertaking. Our team is extremely dedicated, putting in many long hours over the last two and a half years and I don’t think we could have a more talented group of individuals.
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> Does the game suffer when many characters congregate to an area?
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> With any game there is going to be frame-rate loss when too many players get on the same screen, but I think all of us here have been surprised by how well our game performs with a whole bunch of people and monsters on screen. And since our game is hardware only, you can always buy a faster 3D card, especially since they keep dropping in price. Also, our players will be spread out much more than in other games of this type, which really helps.
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> Everquest is seen primarily as a multiplayer game. How does one interact with other PCs and the world around them?
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> You talk to them, trade with them, go on quests with them, battle each other in an arena, and much, much more.
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> Can you play the game as a single player experience?
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> Everquest does not have a true singleplayer mode, but you can certainly adventure alone if you so desire, although you will find that life is easier when you have some friends to watch your back.
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> How have the problems such as horizon drawing, number of placements (such as trees), onscreen slowdown, and the ease of using the interface been overcome?
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> Fast hardware, great people on our team, and lots of good ol’ ingenuity.
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> If you have a 28.8 modem and a low end spec PC, are you still going to be able to enjoy the experience?
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> Your computer must at least meet, but preferably exceed, the minimum hardware requirements. Certainly the fastest computer and video card on the market will turn in much better frame rates, but that being said, the game runs pretty well on our minimum machine. And I play from home using my 28.8 modem with no problems.
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> How have you created NPC and monster AI? What can players look forward to when interacting with computer controlled components?
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> Bloodthirsty hordes of monsters of nearly every kind imaginable hunting you down mercilessly. You can run like a little child, but you can’t hide! Well… unless you’re a rogue.
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> Are there disadvantages or advantages to a certain style of play?
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> There is not just one way to play Everquest. Different things work for different people, and I think our world is open-ended enough to accommodate the personal styles of all of our customers.
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> How many different characters and classes are there?
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> There are 12 playable races and 14 playable classes.
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> How is animosity dealt with?
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> Players will deal with animosity between themselves and other players on their own, unless they require assistance from us, in which case one of our online staff members (known as GMs) will deal with the problem swiftly. In-character animosity, such as Paladin hating evil Necromancers, is part of the game, but real-world-style harassment will not tolerated.
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> Is the game a simple matter of ganging up on monsters and leveling up, or are other skills required? Please mention stuff like fishing, sewing and other skills and their relation to the game.
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> Everquest has many different skills, some combat related and some not. WE have fishing, baking, and many more… Heck, you can even brew your own beer! But unlike other games before us, the player is never forced into doing these things; they will do them if they want to, not because they have to. You can jump right into ridding the countryside of evil nasties, or you can just fish and talk with your friends for awhile. It’s all up to the player.
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> Can you, for example, build your own castle?
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> Too early to say at this point, but there will not be a huge wash of player homes covering the landscape in our world.
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> What can a player look forward to at extremely high levels?
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> Many things, but I will leave that for our players to discover on their own.
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> Is there really a total freedom of movement? How have you achieved this?
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> Yep, you can run, jump, swim, and even levitate all over the world.
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> Thank you very much!
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