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EverQuest Lead Designer Ryan Barker sits down with WarCry Editor John Funk to reflect on how the game - and the MMO space - have evolved over the ten years since the groundbreaking MMO first hit shelves.
WarCry: Can you please introduce yourself? How long have you been on the EQ team, and in what capacity? Where did you first start?
Ryan Barker: My name is Ryan Barker and I'm currently the Lead Designer. I've been on the team since 2001. I started as an apprentice, was later hired on full time and eventually worked my way into the lead roll a little over a year and a half ago.
WC: What was your very first EQ character? What character do you spend the most time with these days?
Ryan: My first character was a bard that I created during beta 4, and then recreated him after launch. I still spend the most time on this same character.
WC: Ten years is a very long time! What do you think are the most significant changes that have been made to EQ since its launch a decade ago?
Ryan: Looking back the biggest shift came with the addition of the Lost Dungeons of Norrath expansion that introduced instance zones to the game. Now days it's standard for an MMO to have this system, but at the time it was very rare. It completely changed the way we do content from then on. Having a dynamic system that adapted itself to the number of players that were interested in doing the content was the biggest shift I've seen during my time here.
WC: What's your favorite expansion, and why?
Ryan: Well Planes of Power was the first expansion that I really felt a level of ownership for, so that one really stands out. It's sort of a tossup between PoP and Depths of Darkhallow. Many of the themes in Depths of Darkhallow were adapted from D&D campaigns that I'd been playing with some of my friends, so it definitely had a lot of personal appeal for me.
WC: Is there any individual system or addition you made to the game that you're particularly proud of? Something you point at and go, "This was my brainchild, and this was totally awesome"?
Ryan: It's really unfair for me to say that I should get that kind of credit for anything we did in game. Everything we do is a team effort that we come up with as a group. There's been some things that originally started with an idea I had, but it grew to something so much more as the rest of the team contributed great ideas to go along with it.
