I think this kind of captures the modern day problem with EQ style gameplay. EQ was always mostly about the social aspect, and I’ve seen it (accurately) described as basically a virtual chat room many times. But whereas back in 1999 you had the novelty of a digital world keeping you engaged and more likely to socialize, now that novelty is gone and you have a million more distractions like Netflix, multiple monitors etc. I still think this style of game has an audience for people who mostly want a chill, social game with some carrot dangling/pixels, and I think a smaller community is conducive to that. In my own experience, today’s players on emus (smaller community, but also gameplay requiring more cooperation and communication) are more likely to chat in a group for example than in WoW, but definitely not to the extent that they did 25 years ago. I think the devs should be focusing on ways to encourage cooperation and socialization more than the intricacies of gameplay, or gameplay that’s less about APM and more conducive to socialization/cooperation, for a game like this.
You've pretty much nailed the core tension of EQ-style design in 2025. The original game worked as a "virtual chat room with mobs" because the
mere act of being online together was novel. People were blown away just seeing a dwarf run across the screen. That novelty did half the social heavy lifting for the developers. But in 2025, all that scaffolding is gone. The behavioral ecosystem players lived in back then simply doesn't exist anymore, which people still can't seem to come to terms with.
Now people have Discord servers, Netflix on monitor two, YouTube guides on monitor three, and five ongoing group chats pinging on their phone. Social energy is already fragmented before they ever log in. So if you want a modern audience to socialize organically, you have to
design for it, not just assume downtime or "slow, chill gameplay" will "bring people together” like it did in 1999.
And you're absolutely right that there is still an audience for chill, low-APM, socially oriented MMOs. But the key is acknowledging that EQ-style socialization doesn't just happen automatically anymore. If the game expects players to recreate 1999 behaviors without giving them modern tools or modern incentives, it's setting itself up for disappointment.
The whole "virtual chat room with mobs" model can still exist today, it just won't by trying to recreate the conditions of 1999. You have to recreate the outcomes
intentionally. EQ gave players socialization by accident, because of the era it was born in. The audience for this kind of game is tiny because it's relying on recreating a feeling that came from an era that literally no longer exists. You can design systems that encourage socialization, but you can't resurrect the pre-internet novelty that made EQ's slow crawl feel magical instead of monotonous. That spark is gone, and nostalgia can only paper over that loss for so long.
And the real danger is that a lot of people think what they're chasing is "old-school gameplay", but they're actually chasing old-school youth. One of those can be recreated with clever design. The other can't. And that's the part that worries me about this game. So many of these "old school" projects aren't building for the players and systems of
today. They're building for a memory of players from 25 years ago. That's a beautiful sentiment, but it’s also a shaky foundation if the entire experience depends on behaviors that the modern audience simply doesn't exhibit anymore. And as much as we all like to pretend we're the same gamers we were 25 years ago, we aren't, no matter how much we bemoan wanting a "chill, low-apm" vibe, "grouping to matter", "long travel times", etc. You definitely aren't the same person you were 25 years ago, why the hell would you assume you consume games and social structures in the same way?
