Ask any MMO fanatic how they feel whenever an exciting new MMORPG is about to be released — you’ll hear words of immense excitement, joy, anticipation, and wonder. For the more socially inclined gamer, MMOs are a fantastic opportunity to immerse oneself in a world where persistence is the rule, not the exception — where your efforts do not end at a credits screen, but echo long into the future, through several expansions, and, in some cases — forever. MMOs are where the magic of the internet and all that it can do is fully realised, and where bonds that live with some gamers forever are forged.
Echoes of Memory Online, a highly anticipated high fantasy MMORPG, had its release date delayed three times, much to the scorn of Ilya, who’d been playing MMOs all the way back since Ultima Online. With its release finally on the horizon, Ilya could scarcely contain her excitement. She’d pre-purchased the deluxe edition, which allowed her the privilege of early access, which meant that she was taking her annual vacation leave to fully immerse herself in the game. The very moment the servers came online, Ilya settled herself in her chair, put her headphones on, and double clicked the shortcut on her desktop. No sooner had she opened the game, than her eyes went wide with wonder.
The login screen was an iridescent masterpiece. An array of breathtaking hues painted the skyline — deep, vibrant azures streaked with celestial whites overlooked pristine spires clad in marble and gemstone. Ancient, lifeless ruins juxtaposed verdant fields adorned with rolling hills and deep, radiant pools of pure, glittering sapphire. A serene silence permeated, only scarcely disturbed by the dancing winds that carried gliding songbirds across the picturesque scene. And there, in the centre, four iconic words that had spurred the imagination and intrigue of gamers, MMORPG fans or otherwise, for eight long years…
Welcome to Echoes of Memory Online.
Soon, the silence was replaced with the swelling of majestic orchestral notes. Rushing to input her login details, Ilya clicked the login button in a hasted frenzy, and pumped her fist into the air when she saw the login menu transition with a soft, crystalline note. There were several races and classes to choose from, from dwarves to lizard folk, but Ilya knew precisely what she’d be choosing — she’d spent months poring over the pre-release trailers, race and class information, and had long since settled on choosing a half-elven barbarian, specialising in using intimidation tactics to avoid especially challenging encounters. Ilya had really looked forward to the nuanced take the game promised to take on the role-playing aspect of the game, allegedly allowing players’ choices to influence the direction of the game’s stories and plot outcomes.
As she finalised her character, Ilya had to think of a name for her character — one befitting the setting, and one that would colour her daydreams while she was otherwise unable to play. After no small amount of deliberation, the Googling of ‘fantasy half-elf names’, and the surveying of her previous Everquest characters, she eventually decided that she would bestow upon her character the very same name she had in the real world, for the name Ilya sounded fantasyesque in nature. Besides, she often went by ‘Illy’ in real life, so there would be enough distinction there. Once she’d entered the four characters needed to spell the name Ilya into the prompt box, she held her breath as her mouse hovered over — and then clicked — the ‘enter game’ button.
The world roared with a veritable excitement as hordes of players emerged from the character creator and into the plaza of Siliana, the capital and starter city of the game. The music swelled into a melodious harmony that set the peaceful yet grand tone of the game. It permeated the space with the idyllic feeling of being in a world of pure bliss and adventure; a seamless transition from the mundane to a realm of endless wonder and excitement.
The chat’s scroll was impossible to keep up with — players of all sorts sending messages asking for help, recruiting to their guilds — even the inevitable ‘WWW[.]BUYMYGOLDPLS[.]COM’ bellowed out across the global chat channels. While the uninitiated may have found this spam off putting, MMO veterans like Ilya knew that, though it might have been tedious to wade through, this meant that the world was alive. Being surrounded by all these new players brought Ilya back to the early days of Everquest, which was the last time she’d felt the world quake with the cacophonic excitement on its release day. Echoes of Memory Online would be a special experience, Ilya knew, and she was all too excited to share this experience with her closest friends.
Panning the camera, Ilya set forth, trying her best to wade through the droves of player names in an effort to find an NPC from which she could purchase her starter gear and get started on her first quest. She found a swarm of players concentrated around a particular merchant’s stall, and hurriedly searched for the lone NPC’s name amidst the ocean of names and user tags.
“Welcome, Adventurer!”
“This must be your first time in Siliana. I do not seem to recognise you! My name is Azkar, and I own this fine little merchant’s stall. You’d be a fool to venture out into the field without taking the right provisions. Don’t you worry, you won’t find finer prices in all of Siliana.” The NPC flashed a dazzling smile as he motioned to his wide array of goods, from potions and trinkets to swords and maces. Starter gear was rarely exciting to acquire - by its very definition, it was simple, basic, ordinary, but it always had a certain je ne sais quoi to it; a feeling of anticipation, as though one was standing atop the cliff’s edge, peering off the precipice overlooking vast, endless shores. Shores that marked the beginning of an extraordinary adventure.
Ilya prepared herself for her first quest. It was just a few mundane clicks, of course — and the gear she purchased was nothing special. A (silly looking) helmet, a full-plate that looked not so full (this caused Ilya to roll her eyes, but she still smirked; some things never change), and, of course, her battle-axe. She was a barbarian after all. Being here, ready to take on the very first quest — knowing there could be years of memories ready to be made across thousands, if not tens of thousands of quests? To say she was struggling to contain herself would be an understatement.
“Head now to the Sunken Star, dear lady, a tavern over yonder, where your first steps will thrust you into the depths of a story of friendship, love, betrayal, despair and hope. Good luck, and remember this encounter: it may just stay with you for the rest of your life.” Azkar offered a reassuring smile, before the quest marker appeared on Ilya’s screen. It guided her through winding marble streets to an outdoor tavern built around an everflowing fountain whose waters glistened and gleamed in the ray-traced light. There, Ilya was prompted to interact with an NPC who presented her with her first quest.
In most MMOs, early quests were commonly known to be fetch quests — players often had to slay a certain number of boars or wolves and return their hides. Rather unconventionally, this game surprised Ilya. Once the NPC whose lengthy dialogue had been skipped had concluded speaking, Ilya’s quest journal was updated.
‘Add another human player to your friends list,’ it said, prompting a look of utter incredulity to appear on Ilya’s expression.
“I HAVE TO TALK TO PEOPLE???”
No sooner did she have her proverbial breakdown, than, from the corner of the screen, a red-haired avatar approached Ilya. And, within a few seconds, a message appeared in Ilya’s private chat log:
Yara [private]: “Hey, I’m not usually very social, but I need to complete this quest. Can we exchange friend invites? You can delete me after?”
Ilya was in a similar position, although she was more of the sentimental type. Did she really want the first friend she added to be one that she removed nigh instantaneously? Ilya tapped away at her keyboard, trying to find the best way to phrase her response. Eventually, she settled on:
Ilya [private]: “Hey, it’s nice to meet you. I’m not very good at interacting with others either — ironic since I love MMOs, I know — but I’m happy to be friends if you’d like 🙂”
Yara [private]: “Oh, that’d be really cool! Maybe we could do some quests together some time.”
A few popups, clicks and surprisingly satisfying menu sounds later, Ilya had made a new friend! They exchanged a few messages from then on — Ilya shared her past experiences with MMOs, particularly of her guild back in Everquest, whilst Yara told her of her past experience with World of Warcraft & Final Fantasy XIV.
Yara [party]: “Want to hear a funny but really sad MMO story?”
Ilya [party]: “Yes!”
Yara [party]: “So, we were raiding an Ultimate Encounter this one time.”
Yara [party]: “We’d been fighting it for a few months — really hard boss, made especially for really good players (we weren’t good players btw). Anyway, we were getting really good at it, and we once got him down to 1% health — he was basically dead. Anyway, I forgot I had ordered a pizza. Suddenly, my phone starts blowing up, and I answer it while doing my rotation. The pizza guy is basically screaming at me to come get my pizza, while I can’t really figure out how to explain to him that I’m raiding and can’t stand up for 5 minutes without seven other humans being extremely angry at me — he’d probably think I was in a toxic relationship or two 😆. Oh, and he could hear me slamming my fingers on the keyboard. He wasn’t happy, and, uh, well… I probably forgot to mention that I was the healer, and I had accidentally been casting all my healing spells on myself and nobody else…”
Ilya [party]: “So what happened then?? Did you beat the boss?? Did you get the pizza at least? Please tell me you got the pizza…”
Yara [party]: “Nope, I got kicked from the raid group for trolling, and the guy left with my pizza. Probably the saddest day of my life.”
Ilya [party]: “So far,” Ilya typed with a wry smile on her lips, prompting a ‘LOL’ response from Yara.
The interaction amused Ilya greatly. Some five moments ago, they were strangers, separated either by a landmass or an ocean, and now here they were, typing away as though they’d known each other for years. Though, much like the real world, making friends in virtual worlds could be daunting, it was often very easy to forget that pretty much everybody playing the game would be a gamer at heart — and what better way to forge new connections than to bond over a shared passion or hobby?
Yara [party]: “Hey, do you want to do the first combat quest together?”
Ilya [party]: “Combat quest? Where do you get that?”
Yara [party]: “Speak to the innkeeper, he’ll ask you to do a fetch quest. It’s super cool and fun. Come, I’ll show you.”
And thus, with her new friend at her side, Ilya set forth on what would be the first of many wondrous quests in her new MMO. She’d already made a friend, completed her first quest, and outfitted herself properly. She couldn’t wait to see what the world had on offer for her. Maybe this game would finally be the one that brought the magic of Everquest back to her life.