Today marks the 12th anniversary of the original EverQuest. What keeps one of the original big massively multiplayer fantasy games going after all these years? More »
A study by a student at the University of Minnesota suggests that gold farmers – the unscrupulous salt mine workers of the MMO world – have a lot in common with other undesirable lots, like drug dealers and street gangs. More »
The Shards of Destiny, The latest content update for EverQuest 2, is now live, opening up Erollisi Marr’s Shard of Love to players and adding achievements to the game. More »
The infamous Everquest 2 lying survey continues to make waves, as newly uncovered results reveal that the MMO has five times more bisexual women than the general populace.
MSNBC is running an interesting story on a recent survey conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California that indicates that MMORPG players rank among the most physically fit people in America. The data was pulled from more than 7,000 Everquest 2 players, enticed to answer the 25-minute survey with a limited-edition in-game item.
Still, players scored well on physical health compared to the rest of the nation. They reported exercising vigorously once or twice a week, as opposed to 62 percent of American adults who don’t exercise for more than 10 minutes at any time.
They also found that MMO players are on average 10 percent leaner than the average American.
Okay, so I ran the story as it was presented, now let’s take a look at how we run it in reality land.
p>A few days ago, some SOE devs were accused of “cheating” in Everquest 2 by moving a guild from the game’s test servers to its “live” servers. Sony Online Entertainment have since responded to these allegations, with Bruce Ferguson, EQII’s senior producer, saying: [the move was made]to show kindness to some valued members of our testing community who have been working diligently to improve EverQuest II for the last three years.
How sweet! Sony also say the characters have been stripped of their superior test server equipment. Thing is, MMO site Massively have a long, long list of what they believe is evidence saying that, no, they did a lot more than move some guys, and that yes, foul deeds have indeed been committed. All very juicy, we agree, it’s just a shame nobody cares about Everquest 2. SOE confirms allegations of developer misconduct in EQII [Opposable Thumbs]
It’s Christmas, which means now, more than any other time, it’s vital to be nice, and not naughty. Why? Nice kids get presents! Naughty kids are approached by Santa in the dead of night and beaten black and blue with a cracked, bamboo cane. Which brings us to some Everquest 2 developers, who have been very, very naughty, as they’ve been caught breaking game rules in order to help out their in-game friends.
There are unsubstantiated rumours the developers mucked about with the game world itself, but as we just said, those are unsubstantiated. What’s not up for debate is that the guild Unhallowed Triad, using buddies within the Sony Online Entertainment team, managed to get their characters shifted from the game’s test server to the live servers, bringing with them some character rules and equipment not available to other players on the live servers.
Despite internal claims the act was sanctioned by SOE, it’s a clear violation of the game’s Terms of Service. And Everquest 2 players know it. No doubt there will be inquisitions, witchhunts and all manner of digital torch-burning within the community. Just don’t act so surprised when applying the flames. Because really, when have a bunch of humans ever got together and there not been corruption? SOE caught red-handed: EQ2 Player / Dev relationship breached ethical boundaries [Massively]
