Comment on Why the original, 1999 version of EverQuest is still one of the best MMOs to play today
peetabix@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I love that when Everquest first came out there was no map. You had to make your own hand drawn map to navigate in the game. I’d love that in a RPG today.
tburkhol@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I have a nostalgic affection for making my own maps. I remember discovering hidden rooms based on unfilled squares of graph paper, and mapping mazes of twisty corridors, both all alike and all different. I think that translating the digital representation to physical added vividness to the imaginary worlds when they were presented as simple wireframes, 8-bit graphics, or even just text.
Today, I don’t have time for it. I would almost certainly end up visiting the same - I’m guessing - half dozen places I could keep in a mental map, decide the game is boring, and play something else. Lazy. Jaded. Spoiled. Whatever - that phase of my development from reading static books, to reading interactive text, simple avatars, now near-photorealistic animations…the phase where I enjoyed the physical crutch for imagination is just gone.