Do you guys play EQ to escape?

[bomaroast]

I keep playing for that little tinge of satisfaction that comes from every group I'm in, someone commenting that it's the best group they've ever been in.

[Ennewi]

Originally Posted by Dulu [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You're replacing one addiction with another.

Everquest isn't the answer you are looking for.

quest
late Middle English: from Old French queste (noun), quester (verb), based on Latin quaerere 'ask, seek'. See also inquest.

c. 1300, "an inquest;" early 14c., "a search for something" (especially of judicial inquiries or hounds seeking game), from Old French queste "search, quest, chase, hunt, pursuit; inquest, inquiry" (12c., Modern French quête), properly "the act of seeking," and directly from Medieval Latin questa "search, inquiry," alteration of Latin quaesitus (fem. quaesita) "sought-out, select," past participle of quaerere "seek, gain, ask" (see query (n.)). Romance sense of "adventure undertaken by a knight"(especially the search for the Grail) is attested from late 14c. Johnson's dictionary has questmonger "Starter of lawsuits or prosecutions."

(The last part isn't directly related, but interesting that ruleslawyers are included.)

Your ancestors survived for hundreds of thousands of years in much harsher conditions than you are in now. You objectively have an easier life than ANY of your forefathers.

Man the fuck up dude. Seriously.

Our ancestors also maintained severe addictions and questionable beliefs, which helped create those conditions. For a good majority of them, addiction was their way of manning the fuck up.

But then, saying "man the fuck up" is lazy advice, a platitude of the 21st century asshole. Not calling you an asshole, but it is an asshole thing to say.

If there is an answer, it isn't church or history or workout routines...it would have to be in the question itself. The quest. In our search for and research of a bug and its fix, a disease and its cure, a quest and its reward, etc. And the [exact words] to convey something not tldr on these forums.

[scifo76]

Originally Posted by agentjayd007 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm not sure if I am making this post in the right forum. I was thinking maybe it belongs in the off topic section since it isn't about being in the game itself, but it still has to due with EQ.

My first memory of EQ wasn't actually being in the game itself. See, my mom worked with a guy who played EQ and during one of those "take your son/daughter to work for a day" things, he showed me everlore.com. I read up on all the classes and races, the cities, everything. I had to have EQ. A week later my dad and I went to the mall and we passed by FuncoLand, which eventually would become GameStop. Through one of the windows I saw EQ sitting on a shelf, it was the Kunark box art with Firiona Vie and that blue Iksar. I begged my dad to buy it and he did. Then we walked to the food court for dinner, I could hardly eat though because of how excited I was. I read that box up one side and down the other. Eventually, I got home, installed the game, and asked dad for his credit card cause it was $15 a month. He wasn't too thrilled about the game having a subscription, but he paid it anyway.

That was the first memory I made about EQ and I would make countless others as the years went by.

Things have been going pretty crappy for me for a little over a year now. It's really difficult to keep my head above water while I try and get to a better place mentally and emotionally. EQ is such a powerful thing, the immersion and the world itself is something I was amazed at when I first played at 12 years old right when Kunark came out. Here I am 20 years later and it still makes me feel that way. The sounds and the music and the look of the zones take me back. Honestly, the game has been therapeutic in a way because sometimes if I feel like just saying something out loud that I am too afraid to say in real life, I do so in game when I find a nice secluded spot to myself. Usually that place is the river in Toxxulia Forest, but if people are around, I'll find somewhere else. Like in the middle of the forest in Greater Faydark or something.

EverQuest reminds me that I can be happy. I remember how it made me feel when I was a kid. The memories help me cope with my alcoholism in a way by reminding me of life before alcohol and that self medicating with a toxic substance won't help anything. I relapsed recently and the guilt and shame I felt from it shook me to my core, but logging into EQ helps me deal with that, even when I am going through withdrawals and I can't sleep and have to force myself to eat something even though I have no appetite. I have been on the server since before P99 launched Kunark and have yet to hit max level on a character because honestly, I don't care about leveling. I made a druid to specifically be able to port around the world and go back to the same places I went to as a kid. It's an escape. I'm not sticking my head in the sand and forgetting about my problems and acting like they aren't there, I know they are. But sometimes it is just too difficult to handle at the moment, so I jump into EQ until I am ready to face the music.

This post ended up being way longer than I intended but I just wanted to say something.

Thanks for sharing your story. Take care.

[fastboy21]

You shouldn't regret posting your thoughts.

Most of us here have a similar recollection, not the same details obviously but the same very positive good feeling surrounding the nostalgia of our experience with EQ.

If you find EQ to be a needed escape it isn't necessarily a bad thing. Most of us also relate to the various power this game can have...if you do have a diagnosed mental illness you should def bring up your video game playing if you are concerned about it with a health care provider. For some folks, I have even heard some positive anecdotal improvement in depression and social anxiety.

[Awweshux]

Thank you for your post. This game is a total escape for me too. Escape from watching the news 24/7 and angsting about the state of the world. Escape from buying shit on Amazon. Escape from boredom. Escape from imperfection of RL. It's fun. It's beautiful. It's an amazing thing to be able to open the computer and enter this lovely magical world. It's amazing to be in the game where you first were able to play with people from all over the world, and you still can. Thank you again for sharing your post. We're all in Norrath to escape and play in a world very different from the real one. Or is it.....