Ever a Crack Whore

So, last night my wife sees an ad for one of those TV News Magazines (like 20/20 or 60 Minutes or something) and they're doing a story on how addictive Everquest is. She calls to me from the other room (I was playing Zeus, which is a great game, I might add) and asks me if I've ever heard of Everquest.

I reply, "Evercrack?"

She immediately comes in the room. "Did you just call it crack?" she asks. "That's what they're calling it on this news program."

I laugh because it shows, once again, how with the times the news agencies are. Everquest has had the nickname "Evercrack" for at least the past three years, an allusion to its addictive quality. (It also got the nickname EverRat from the activities one performs during the first few levels of play: killing rats and other small creatures in order to level up.) It amazes me that the news agencies are sometimes so with the times and at other times so behind. They were complaining about the horrible effects of GTAIII on our society when that game became popular but are still decrying the harmful effects of Doom which is nearly ten years old -- more than a few lifetimes in game-years. It's like bitching about the harmful effects of 24 in one article and about the harmful effects of the A-Team in the next.

Sure, I realise that the vast majority of the viewing public has no idea that most 13-year-olds have hardly heard of Doom and are instead playing other (equally violent) games. They probably don't know that much about video games at all. My lovely wife, married to an avid gamer, had no idea what EverQuest was until last night. So they keep referencing old games that people have probably heard of while providing no news at all. I love major media...

So I had to promise that I'll never play EverQuest. Not a hard promise for me to make anyway, I'm waiting for Star Wars Galaxies.