Back in 1999 some friends got me into playing Asheron’s Call – one of the first three Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) to hit the market. Originally developed by Turbine Entertainment – a company formed to create this game – and originally published by Microsoft on the MSN Gaming Zone. I played the game to varying degrees from its launch in 1999 until it was shut down at the end of January 2017 getting involved in two official volunteer corps – the Zone Online Team (ZOT) and the Jolt.co.uk live events team and contributing to various third party add-ons and emulation projects.
Almost one year after AC was shut down, the Hey You Video Game podcast decided to do an episode on AC featuring interviews with LOLcifer and Tee Ess, aka me. I had a bit of a cold at the time of the interview but it was awesome to talk about and reminisce about a very unique game. It’s easy to forget how unique the game was; some of the concepts it pioneered are now in every new MMO to hit the market while others haven’t for reasons which could be debated for a long time.