I was mad at EverQuest. Well, mad, I guess, at Verant Interactive, the original EverQuest developers, because I was just so damned excited about EverQuest but I could not get into the beta. It’s all anyone was talking about. I don’t know if any new MMO could get the kind of press EQ was getting; Ultima Online had raised the bar on what had come before, but in requiring a 3D card and immersing you in a world — “You’re in our world now” was their motto — EverQuest was the true harbinger of things to come.
But not for me. I couldn’t get into the beta. I’d even already bought a Voodoo card. I think I had a second phone line for internet by then. I didn’t get in.
I didn’t want to play Ultima Online due to all the grisly, horrible stories about waves of PKers that were all any of the gaming magazines were talking about. It sounded like you couldn’t do anything there without being instantly killed. So THAT wasn’t a possibility. Maybe there was an MMO I could play that prized social connections, role playing, and adventure over trying to run from a crowd of high levels who wanted your rabbit pelts and deer meat.
Nexus: the Kingdom of the Winds had just been released, and it was all those things. I gladly dove into the game, met a bunch of people, grouped up everywhere, got pretty deep into the game and all those things. When EQ finally did go live, I resisted playing it out of some misplaced anger, and continued with NexusTK for a bit. And then I finally switch games and became a part of gaming history.
I never really forgot the game. Though my characters are now long gone, it’s still running after all of these twenty-six years. Wow.
In that time they have completely redone the new user experience. I made a new character, leveled it to five where I get to choose a “path” — Fighter, Rogue, Mage or Poet. I’d done Rogue and Mage back in the 90s; Fighters are more AE focused and Poets are healers. It didn’t take long to level to 8, my current level, just by following the newbie quests. I vaguely remember the high level places I used to be able to go, but for now, I’m hanging around the more populated regions of Korea’s ancient Three Kingdoms just trying to please my masters and gain experience.
Nexus wasn’t my first MMO after Island of Kesmai. I’d played a few others, some with ASCII graphics, some text-only MUSHes, MUDs and MOOs. It also wasn’t the last sprite-based, 2D MMO I played. But there was a time when it was the hottest thing going if you felt like roleplaying with other people online.
I’d write more, but while looking around for news of the game, I noticed that Syp wrote up a great look at its history for Massively a decade or so back, and I’ll direct you over there to read it.
Now I think I’ll go back into Nexus. Almost level 10, and I’ll be able to turn into an animal….!
