The Online Gaming Life for Me!

By Jim Butler


Any adventurer who’s had to lug the treasures of an ancient wyrm up the sides of an extinct volcano knows it’s best to focus on the basics. Jewel-encrusted weapons over those of simpler design, for instance, and gems and jewelry over raw coins. Coins are heavy, and they’re not worth their weight when compared to a star sapphire or fist-sized ruby.

Of course, the sight of a mountain of gold and platinum coins is what most adventurers live for; the great rewards after a heroic battle against evil. Sorting through and finding the true gems amidst the pile of treasure is an act many are more than willing to endure to find the best of the best.

Like the treasure trove of the great dragon, we’re faced with a number of decisions in our online gaming lives as well. There are truly phenomenal spectacles of sights and sounds that await us in games such as EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online, and Asheron’s Call. These games have certainly changed the face of online gaming forever.

But in the not-so-distant past, other games paved the way for the likes of the giants of today. Multi-user dungeons (MUDs, MUCKs, and the like) were the pioneers of online gaming, and though you don’t hear much from them these days, they’re still spinning tales of adventure and heroism.

Now, some of you might be cringing at this point at the thought of text-based adventuring being able to compare to the majestic spectacle of EverQuest and DAOC. But the roots of our adventuring past have strengths in the present day.

One of the biggest commercial MUDs in existence is Gemstone III (recently updated to Gemstone IV). I started playing GS in the mid 90’s, rolling up my character and adventuring during the days that you got to pay by the hour on GEnie. But despite the costs to play, activity around Gemstone was intense. Thousands of players were online at any given time, slowly earning their way through their Lord and Lady titles and hurling themselves at any and all challenges the folks at Simutronics could dream up.

I tried a few other character classes before settling in on Ranger in Gemstone. I toiled away, dying all too often, before finding a mentor who wanted to take me under his wing and show me the ropes. Jarleth (soon to be Lord Jarleth) took me around the various sights and sounds and pointed me in the right directions for fame and glory. 

I quit Gemstone back in ’98 and concentrated on the new challenges at work (TSR had just been purchased by WotC, and there were plenty of new ways to do things I needed to learn). When Ultima Online came out, I tried that briefly but found that death by sheep wasn’t a particularly heroic way to die, and the idea that I had to be a tailor before I could be a wizard was equally disheartening. I got hooked on EverQuest almost immediately, pushing my character through the world and finally getting a 53rd-level magician to my name (I would have made 60 by now, but I’ve too many other distractions in my life, like real gaming!).

After you’ve suffered through the growing pains of learning a new system, there begins to be more and more things that you really despise weighing heavily on you. Things like:

A Painful trade system: My carpal tunnel has suffered all it’s going to for trying to master tailoring, and don’t even get me started on the availability of trade goods to advance your skill.

Customer Service: I haven’t had to hound EQ customer service in the game often, but each time I have I’ve ended up being told no (if I got an answer at all). I’m a paying customer, and I don’t like being told no (too much Third Edition D&D philosophy in me now, I guess). 

Impossible Adventures: Now that I’m in my 50s, I really need a group of people to accomplish any tasks that I’d like to accomplish. That’s assuming I can even get into the Planes, I’m a member of the right guild, or roll an incredibly high number to win randomed left-overs. If you don’t have a steady supply of high-level friends to adventure with (and that’s 30 or more for a good planar raid or epic quest), you might as well go give away low-level magic to the newbies. 

Broken Economy: Creatures fight you with armor classes that can’t possibly come from what they’re wearing, powerful items you loot from creatures only warrant a few platinum pieces from a local merchant, and a slew of other annoyances. 

Power-leveling: I hate it. Nothing is more annoying to me than seeing a 50th-level character who’s worked his way through the levels in two weeks. Those people generally don’t know how to play the character, they’re just working their way up through the levels because… 

End Game: Until you’ve managed to get into your 50s, there is an awful lot of things that are just beyond your reach. Your spells are all useless because higher level spells do the same things you do more efficiently and with better results. 

Now, don’t get me wrong here, I’m not ticked off at Verant/Sony (the makers of EQ) and I don’t say these things to try and elicit a response—they’ve heard them all before on their own message boards. I say them because they’re weaknesses that are…

A number of weeks ago, I decided to look into Gemstone again and see how things were doing. On a lark, I contacted Customer Service at Simutronics and told them I had this old character from the late 90’s that I’d like to reactivate. A few courteous emails later and Alshazar, giant-man ranger, reawakened in the same spot I had left him those many years ago.

The current-day world of Gemstone (known as Elanthia to the locals) has changed some since I first adventured there. It’s still primarily a text-based game, but graphics that represent your character’s health have replaced typing out the command to check your health all the time. Graphics pop up from time to time, displaying some fearsome beast you’re fighting or perhaps showing you the surrounding landscape. Available mana, known spells, and other useful information appear as well. It’s a good marriage of text and graphics.

The world of Elanthia has a number of things that I’ve always found interesting and entertaining.

Vibrant Story: The world is in a state of change, and since it’s grounded in text it’s a lot easier for you to keep up on what’s happening in the game. 

The Unknown: Some rules elements are still unclear, and this prevents players from building the ‘ultimate bard,’ ‘ultimate cleric,’ etc. While some of the number-crunchers have managed to lift the veil somewhat, questions remain. 

Societies: The Order of Voln allows characters to go out and perform tasks (destroy undead) that result in the awarding of special powers. This lets characters become unique beyond the standard warrior, ranger, empathy, or wizard. 

Class Reliance: There isn’t any single class that’s required at higher levels; all classes are viable. Thus, if you choose to play a bard or empathy, you’ll find that you’ll have plenty of adventuring opportunities. 

Training Options: Each time you level, you have a number of different choices to make regarding the kind of character you want to be. Focusing on edged weapons, ambushing, lock picking, and other abilities are simply a character decision; it doesn’t occur automatically when you level. 

Small Community: The Gemstone community is smaller now, meaning your character’s actions and choices have greater meaning. It also means that your roleplaying acumen is better noticed (and higher-level characters frequently reward such activity). 

Just like D&D: It’s all text, baby. Just like the game we love to play, the Devil’s in the details. Read up… 


This flurry of activity is part of what Simutronics is calling Hot Summer Nights. Basically, it’s a whole series of improvements that will take place in weekly updates over the course of the entire summer (Memorial Day through Labor Day). Change is the only constant in online gaming, regardless of what game feeds your addiction.

But I like the changes I see coming, and it’s convinced me to give Gemstone another look and see if I can make my mark in the world. So, if you decide to take the plunge, let me know you’ve arrived by sending a message to me in the game (Alshazar in the regular game and Kellafar in Platinum), or drop me an email and I’ll send you an official invite to the game.

Oh, and if you’re out there, Jarleth. Thanks for the lending hand those many years ago. I hope fortune smiles upon us and we can trek the woods of Elanthia once again…

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