The 5 most influential MMO events in history

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5 Most Influential Events In MMO History

By Earnest Cavalli December 06, 2007 | 3:46:01 PMCategories: MMO Gaming

The assassination of Lord British, World of Warcraft's Leeroy Jenkins video and the slaying of Everquest's Sleeper all make the cut in MMOCrunch's list of the five most important events in the short history of the MMO genre.

The events, which also include EVE Online's $16,000+ Guiding Hand Social Club theft, all made headlines when they occurred and their repercussions are still being felt today.

See below for our take on the events and further proof that I really need a girlfriend.

The Assassination of Lord British (Ultima Online):
Aside from the largely forgettable multi-user dungeons (MUDs) that came before it, Ultima Online is considered to be the father of modern MMOs. Richard "Lord British" Garriott, in turn, is considered the father of Ultima Online.

When his avatar was murdered at a public appearance, it was the virtual equivalent of Nietzsche claiming "God is dead," then stabbing him in the face with a fictional dagger.

As a result "Lord British" is seen as both Garriott's avatar and a metaphor for the tenacious resolve with which MMO gamers will strive to exploit these games with complete disregard for other players, or the game's creators themselves.

Plus, it's simply hilarious.

Leeroy Jenkins (World of Warcraft):
The ultimate example of how huge this video became -- and how huge World of Warcraft is -- is that my 48-year-old mother knows this virtual avatar by name. She has no idea what my character's name is, she often forgets my middle-name, but if you ask her who Leroy Jenkins is, she'll politely giggle, mention something about "that World game" and launch into the middle-aged feminine equivalent of Jenkins' trademark yell.

The Guiding Hand Social Club theft (EVE Online):
This single event, more than anything else, proves how immersive and intense the MMO genre can be.

The story is a deep, intrigue-filled tale worthy of a Tom Clancy novel, but in short it goes like this: the Guiding Hand Social Club (an EVE corporation) spent a year of real-time setting up operatives within a rival organization. After enough of their members had reached deep into the other group's heirarchy, an order was given, and the operatives managed to simultaneously murder the rival group's CEO and steal virtual goods and ISK (the EVE currency) worth around $16,500.

As the MMOCrunch article states, the most impressive part of the entire thing is that it was entirely within the game's rules, and to this day the developers giggle like madmen just thinking about it.

The Corrupted Blood Plague (World of Warcraft):
What happens when Blizzard creates a communicable, deadly disease that can only be contracted by players who already have the ability to instantly travel around the virtual landmass of Azeroth? As the plague proved, thousands of new players die, those who survive spend hours making terrible jokes about The Black Plague and AIDS fatalities and universities all over the world study the virtual proliferation of disease for years to come.

Even without real-world consequences the feeling during the plague was one of apocalyptic calamity, but of course that lasted only as long as it took for someone to shout "LEEEEEERRROOOOY JEEEENNKINS" in the middle of Ironforge.

The death of The Sleeper (Everquest):
Everquest pioneered many of the MMO conventions still used today, one of which is developers who interfere with the game when things don't go their way.

During an attempt to kill The Sleeper by a triumvirate of guilds containing 180 players, Sony Online Entertainment decided to despawn the boss "because it was not intended to be part of the story."

Many saw this as yet another occurrence of Sony's interference with their once pure game, and it heralded a huge loss of faith in the company's ability to run the important (and most profitable) MMO of the day.

We can't disagree with any of the entries on the list, but would like to add at least one more: the exploits of Fansy The Famous Bard in Everquest.

Fansy was a low-level bard who exists solely to annoy other players. As they would quest and live out their virtual lives, Fansy would draw huge numbers of high-level monsters down upon them, killing everyone in the process.

Well, almost everyone; Fansy exploited the game's design by using the Bard class' speed-boosting abilities to outrun the powerful enemies.

Add that to the fact that he was one level too low to be killed by other players, and you have one of the most influential and hilarious instances of griefing ever seen in an online game. To this day he's remembered by Everquest's Player-vs-Player community as a plague, and by the rest of us as a hilarious exercise in developers' unintended consequences.



Link is here if you want to read it again: http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/12/5-m ... luent.html

[Irwin Hunter]

I will go with the Leeeeeroooyyy !!! I watched that video... Almost started to Play WoW after seeing it..