re: They don't make games like EverQuest anymore

When I played, there were maps or at least there was the ability to make or download your own maps. I don't necessarily feel that classic EQ was the best iteration of the game. I think you can invoke the spirit of classic EQ with some of the more modern conveniences. That is just mostly things like maps, limited fast travel, and I would even go so far as to promote getting rid of loosing XP after death. Full disclosure that I did start EQ in the Planes of Power era.

I think there's a niche audience for a modern day EQ equivalent. The Project 99 server is a good example of that. An MMO called Vanguard: Saga of Heroes was developed by one of the original minds behind EQ, and it was touted as the spiritual successor. Despite it being a good game, it had a number of issues at launch combined with a number of design flaws (group quest chains everywhere) that lead it to eventually be shut down.

Somebody could make a kickstarter MMO something similar to Shroud of the Avatar that doesn't even have to have amazing triple A graphics, and I think it'd have a playerbase.

That said, I'm not sure it would be the same. I think today we're too focused on the meta-game as the novelty of meeting and adventuring with people from around the world has worn off. Most of us do that every day now in some fashion through this website, facebook, Xbox Live, etc, but back in the late 90s and early 2000s, communicating with people over the internet was an experience, and we also had never played a game like EverQuest before. There are so many MMOs now that most people who have played EverQuest have played at least a handful of them by now (I have probably played 50+). While even games like WoW are designed in such a way to encourage more of a tunnel vision mentality (finish the quest, get to the next level, finish the quest, rinse/repeat), I think even most EQ players today are more concerned with character progression than the novelty of participating in a virtual world. Breaking into a game like P99 seems hard for the before-mentioned reasons (ie no maps) but also because the sense of discovery has long since passed as most players have long since figured out the most efficient way to get from A to B. It's the same hang up I have with respect to playing something like the SWG pre-NGE emulator but to a lesser degree as I feel like I actually have experience in EQ where I'm pretty much a newbie in SWG.

I look back with fondness on my EQ days but at the same time, many hours were spent in that world that probably would have been more responsibly spent elsewhere. It was fine for 13 year old me, but I'm just not sure I would want to devote that amount of time to a single game anymore. I like the ability to play through a single player game (10-30 hours) and move on to the next one. In the EQ days, I really didn't play anything but that and its sequel for a solid 2-3 years.