EverQuest

Many of the elements in EverQuest have been drawn from text-based MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) games, particularly DikuMUDs, which in turn were inspired by traditional role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. In EverQuest, players create a character (also known as an avatar, or colloquially as a char or toon) by selecting one of twelve races in the game, which were humans, high-elves, wood-elves, half-elves, dark-elves, erudites, barbarians, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, ogres, and trolls. In the first expansion, lizard-people (Iksar) were introduced. Cat-people (Vah Shir), frog-people (Froglok), and dragon-people (Drakkin) were all introduced in later expansions.

At creation, players select each character's adventuring occupation (such as a wizard, ranger, or cleric), a patron deity, and starting city. ).

EverQuest began as a concept by John Smedley in 1996. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost. It was developed by Sony's 989 Studios and its early-1999 spin-off Verant Interactive, and published by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). Since its acquisition of Verant in late 1999, EverQuest was developed by Sony Online Entertainment. EverQuest had a budget of $15 million.

The design and concept of EverQuest is heavily indebted to text-based MUDs, in particular DikuMUD, and as such EverQuest is considered a 3D evolution of the text MUD genre like some of the MMOs that preceded it, such as Meridian 59 and The Realm Online. John Smedley, Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover and Bill Trost, who jointly are credited with creating the world of EverQuest, have repeatedly pointed to their shared experiences playing MUDs such as Sojourn and TorilMUD as the inspiration for the game. Famed book cover illustrator Keith Parkinson created the box covers for earlier installments of EverQuest.

Reviews of Everquest were mostly positive upon release in 1999, earning an 85 out of 100 score from aggregate review website Metacritic. Comparing it to other online role-playing titles at the time, critics called it "the best game in its class", and the "most immersive and most addictive online RPG to date". Dan Amrich of GamePro magazine declared that "the bar for online gaming has not so much been raised as obliterated" and that the game's developers had "created the first true online killer app". The reviewer would find fault with its repetitive gameplay in the early levels and lack of sufficient documentation to help new players, urging them to turn to fansites for help instead.

Greg Kasavin of GameSpot similarly felt that the game's combat was "uninteresting" but did note that, unlike earlier games in the genre, EverQuest offered the opportunity to play on servers that wouldn't allow players to fight each other unless they chose to, and that it heavily promoted cooperation. Despite saying that the combat was little "boring", that the manual was "horrible", that the quest system is "half-baked", and the game having small share of miscellaneous bugs, he ultimately called EverQuest as one of the most memorable gaming experiences he had. Baldric of Game Revolution likewise stated that the game was more co-operative than Ultima Online, but that there was less interaction with the environment, calling it more "player oriented" instead of "'world' oriented". A review in Edge said that EverQuest was the best online role-playing yet while noting that the game would be very unforgiving for new players at the start.