Trey Walker News Editor, PC Games	Recent Favorites: Civilization III, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos beta Most Wanted: Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind, Heroes of Might and Magic IV

The Online Country Club

When Sony Online announced its new premium subscription service for EverQuest at the beginning of the month, I was speechless. The plan is bold--offer die-hard players a way to pay more to get more and, in the process, make a pile of money. The announcement drew some very vocal opposition from players complaining that instead of launching new premium servers, Sony should be focusing on making the basic game better. But perhaps EverQuest has grown up from its utopian roots--where every player has an equal opportunity to advance in the game--and is now entering a new phase. The question is does Sony's new EverQuest Legends service signal the end of an idealistic equality or the end of EQ?

			Would you be willing to pay extra subscription fees to get additional content and services in your favorite online role-playing game? Yes No Depends on the content and services

Is it possible that Sony is looking down the road and seeing the fall of its favorite online game--and seeing this new premium service as a way to wring some additional cash out of the game before it peters out? Mythic's Dark Age of Camelot is a strong competitor, and while it doesn't yet have the numbers that EverQuest enjoys, it looks like it's catching up. Add that to the competition from some big upcoming online role-playing games such as Sony's own Star Wars Galaxies and Blizzard's World of Warcraft, and the dominance that EverQuest is currently enjoying could quickly fade. It will most likely take a long time--even those players who switch to other games will probably still maintain their accounts for a while, and there's plenty of opportunity for Sony to attract new players in Europe and Asia. Even so, it's almost inevitable that something will come along and knock EverQuest off its throne.

Will World of Warcraft knock EverQuest off its throne?

Whether Sony is just trying to milk some extra cash out of its EQ cow or really trying to offer its players some useful additional services remains to be seen. Either way, its new service raises some thought-provoking questions. Is it OK for a company to offer additional services for additional fees? In most cases, I don't think people would object to this, but online role-playing games are a different world altogether in which the laws of capitalism may not apply.

New character pages will be part of the premium EverQuest service--but is it worth $40 a month?

One fear is that by offering those players additional services, Sony will be taking resources away from its basic service. But it's possible that by making some extra money off those players willing to pay more, Sony will be better positioned to improve the basic game as well. The company could experiment with exclusive content on the premium server and then use what it learns in future updates to the basic game. Another concern is the precedent that this new premium service could create--if it's a roaring success, other online games will most likely rush to offer the same thing, and players who feel the need to keep up with the Joneses (which seems to be a popular affliction in online game players) will feel pressured to fork out the additional subscription fees so as not to miss out or fall behind.

According to Sony, Legends will soon launch with the initial 8,000 spots filled. It will be interesting to watch how the service does in the coming months--and how the nonmembers react to the new social order. Will the hard-working basic-service players rise up and rebel against the bourgeois Legends members? Or will they decide that it's fair for people to get extra services if they're willing to spend more money? If it's the latter, we may be seeing a lot more premium online game subscriptions in the future--and maybe that's OK.