They were grounded, both my boys, although the reason escapes my mind just now (and if you know what it was, don’t remind me…I prefer to remember only their good times). As part of their punishment, they couldn’t watch TV or play any games.
Instead, they could watch mom (me!) play EverQuest for the first time.
My ex-husband* had played EQ for a long, long time with folks we both knew from our days playing GemStone III (see last week’s random Owlchick death). I had not played a graphical MMO before and wasn’t sure I’d like it. Rob set up my PC, bought and installed the game for me so I could check it out.
I chose to be a wood elf bard.
“You’ll regret it,” said Rob…or words to that effect. “Bards are a weak class with….”
He went on and on for hours while I groused over not being able to make my character look like what I wanted her to look like.
Finally somewhat satisfied, I logged in. My little cherubs chafed for me to do something interesting. So I did. I went shopping with Rob.
His character was a, I dunno, level something really high dwarf, and so he provided me with some cash and we headed into Kelethin so I could buy whatever and do some training. We went to visit the bard guild, wherein I said, “What’s this do?”
“That’s a spell,” said Rob, suggesting that I cast it because it would…
…enrage the NPCs in the guild, causing them to rush over and kill me. My cherubs were very entertained.
They also enjoyed seeing the Priest of Discord take me out when I stopped to say hello to him, as instructed.
“I don’t like this game,” I grumbled.
And eventually, I stopped playing it altogether because I spent more time dead than alive. During one horrific day, I’d littered the area with so many corpses, they were getting numbers appended to them.
That said, I did like the times when I could watch over Rob’s shoulder as he road the boats across the ocean, the sun setting in the distance over the water. It was like a promise of better things to come.
And, I suppose, that was true. For had I not even tried EQ, I wouldn’t have applied for a job with EverQuest II.
*Note: my ex and I are still friends, or I’d not include him in this little walk down memory lane. Besides which, my first death in EQ was totally his fault. Totally.
