Originally published at http://www.bigkid.com.au/ on 5th August 2001

Noone tells you much in EverQuest, not even makers of the online RPG, Verant. You have to learn it for yourself the hard way. Take my level 20 Bard for instance, who recently gained the ability to wield two weapons at once. “What would be a good second weapon” I ask my friends innocently. “The Polished Granite Tomahawk (PGT),” they say. “Where do I get that?” “At HighPass Hold.” “Is it tough to get?” “Not really.” So off I trek to HighPass Hold to find the Gnoll who drops it.

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The other kind of conversation we want to be able to implement is ‘player-instigated’ conversation. If the character is set up correctly when the player puts her reticle over an NPC character it becomes bracketed, indicating the NPC can be interacted with. We want the player to be able to choose to talk to our characters as and when she feels like it.

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At my school, whoever was the smartest got bullied intensely. Like every other school, mine loved award ceremonies. I didn’t: following my inaugural ceremony, previous anonymity evaded me and my life rapidly became a living hell.

Every day for years I got bullied. It was the mental punishment I endured which really hurt me. Bulwer-Lytton was correct when he wrote that the pen is mightier than the sword. To be taunted and attacked constantly about everything from my social status (“posh twat”) to my looks (“four-eyed prick”) to my ‘success’ (“fucking boffin”), to have malicious lies told about me, to have people refuse to even speak to me because I’d won awards at a pointless ceremony – this was my life. It seems almost laughable to think that such innocuous words in print can cause so much damage, but when spat at you with venom the bite is very painful. Eventually, any barriers you have are eroded by constant verbal attacks.

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Originally published at http://www.bigkid.com.au/ on 22nd June 2001

Following several weeks of cramming for exams during which I had a birthday and duly received a copy of EverQuest: The Deluxe Edition, I’ve been lost in the massively multiplayer online world of Norrath. Now I know I’ve started my EQ interest late, but after several years of reading about its addictive qualities I listened once too often to some co-workers who now plan their lives around the game, and decided to experience it for myself.

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Ah, the family message board.

I love message boards. I’ve spent pretty much most of my adult life socializing with interesting people on message boards. It’s a fun time. I’ve had lots of adventures.

I have to admit though, I never actually wanted to get involved here. The second I heard the words “Aunt Jenise set up a Yahoo! Group for the family” my heart crunched to the size of a black penny, because _I knew_ eventually there was going to come a morning when i’d be sitting here on my ass in front of the computer dealing with Drama On The Family Message Board.

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We’re rapidly approaching a turning point. Up until now this has mostly been a learning exercise, making up technical techniques as we go along. Very soon we’ll have all the tools at our disposal to complete the idea, when that happens it’s all legwork and very little experimentation with the engine.

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Homo Depressus was – in fact, perhaps still will be – a collection of short comics.

It’s satirical science fiction. But it hasn’t many laughs. It isn’t even black humour, and far prefers the accusing, puritanical gaze to any other expression. It rarely laughs, and when it does it’s a spat, aggressive “HAH!” rather than anything else vaguely integrating.

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DAT500 has been a musician since his age could be counted on two hands but if you ask him what his first band was called he’ll break your nose. He became a professional sound engineer in 1990, taking the odd break for degrees and mostly being ill.

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This here sketchpad is nearly finished; here’s a dump. I’ve also started hand-drawing a website for… stuff. - Mark Nicoll

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The hardest part about this project is keeping my mind compartmentalised enough to be able to deal with the disparate elements, modelling, skinning, unrealscripting, AI scripting, dialogue scripting etc whilst trying to keep a few brain cells left over to see how the story is going to play out as a whole. Trying to think about everything at the same time is too much for my limited mental resources so I’m going to have take a few steps to try and break it down into easier to digest chunks.

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