4. EverQuest
Now we move onto a game that has lovingly been given the nicknames "NeverRest" and "EverCrack" due to its addictive qualities. You know a game is addictive when one of its titles was called "The Chains of Eternity". The world of the MMORPG was really hammered home with the release of EverQuest in 1999, and it has continued to grow and evolve throughout the 21st century. Although not as popular as the latest examples of the genre (that will be mentioned shortly) EverQuest still has all of the qualities to keep a teenager locked in his room for hours. The numerous classes available to the gamers makes the gameplay versatile, with the disparity between tanks, casters and healers resulting in a new experience every time you played. Also, as would become apparent in future MMORPGs, this would encourage groups of friends to band together in order to combat the quests and grow in levels as quickly as possible. The game's complexity allowed the gamer to progress quickly through all the major missions or to meander through the settings, completing all the mini-quests and building up XP, which could take multiple many-hour sessions, especially considering the bandwidth speed in 1999. With nearly 400 zones to play in and at its peak 3000 people per server, the EverQuest experience was a great way to socialise and meet new friends without actually meeting them. There is a grim reality to the addictiveness of EverQuest though, which was displayed by the well-publicised suicide of Shaun Woolley, an EverQuest user, which caused his mother to set up Online Gamers Anonymous. Although it has not been proven that the game was the primary cause of him taking his own life, it has left a black mark on the addictive qualities of this game.