These are the Games of our Lives
Massively Multiplayer Online Games
“ULTIMA ONLINE
The first MMO experience for many, UO was an interesting diversion especially for followers of the Ultima game series from the ‘80s. Unfortunately some game features lacked... clarity? Fairness? Sanity? Well, it was a very early MMO, let’s just say that.
”A dead body lying in the street. How UNUSUAL!”
”
— Telix the Dastardly Bard
“EVERQUEST
The Zen Bassmasters, disguised as the Company of Shadows, spent several years of misadventure on the EQ 1 Test Server.
”Train to Zone!”
”
— Everybody
“DARK AGE OF CAMELOT
Now truly emboldended, we traveled to Midgard as the Zen Bassmasters, where we battled the elements and died, the Albs and died, and our arch enemy Njessi and died.
”Yeeee! Crack heads! Yeeee!”
”
— Ravelle, An Angry Thane and Zen Moosemaster
“ASHERON’S CALL
The gang took a foray into the low pixel but high quality game Asheron’s Call where we had our first experience with a truly large open world map. Getting lost is so much FUN!
”Keep Midgard clean!”
”
— Rusty while dragging a bag
”Where’s Bam?” “The Lugian Citidel...”
— All together, now
“ASHERON’S CALL 2
We do not speak of Asheron’s Call 2.
”What a load of...”
”
— Fossa
“EVERQUEST 2
We hit our stride in Everquest 2. Our stride being a vague saunter with no specific goal in mind except fishing and questing.
”Aren’t you a little short to be the tank?”
”
— Chinacat to Tyrdan
“EVE ONLINE
The ultimate pew-pew in space that’s still exploding thousands of dollar-equivalent in-game assets per day. Under the banner of Ardent Towing and Demolition we did our fair share of blowing up... oh, and blowing things up. Ya, that, too.
”Don’t run away, guys, don’t... they ran away.”
”
—Nainala, moments before the command ship went BOOM
“STAR WARS GALAXIES
We’re all HUGE Star Wars fans (at least the first three movies) and had a great run in Galaxies, building our own city and generally knocking up against the Galaxy’s scum and villainy. A few of us played just for the starfighter expansion and excelled at it.
”Hey, you wanna go blow up a Star Destroyer?”
”
— Tyas Duskchaser
“FINAL FANTASY XI
Ah, the long and wonderous journey that is Square Enix’s Final Fantasy began for the Zen Bassmasters as an idle comment between Tserof and Gelubii. Nearly twenty years later we’re still play Final Fantasy MMOs and WOW what a ride it’s been!
”MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
”
— Gelubii Pelubii
”GEL! Where are my pants?!”
— Kaiiul Pelubii, after Gel sold Kai’s pants for fishing tackle
“CITY OF HEROES
We had a long run in CoH and really enjoyed it. It was one of the first games with a truly dynamic character customization system, and later on it even allowed you to create your own content.
”What, are you twins or something?”
”
— confused bystander to Fiery and Frosty Nekos
“WORLD OF WARCRAFT
The Zen Bassmasters journey in World of Warcraft has been fitful. While nearly all of us played the game we didn’t find it particularly engaging. Although WoW was much friendlier it lacked FFXI’s story elements and challenge (FFXI punished the unprepared, WoW kinda slapped them playfully). Some of us took to WoW more or less permanently, however (lookin’ at you, Bynn!).
”Wait, is that a flying cow?”
”
—Anonymous
“VANGUARD
Another Sony production that many of us had high hopes for, Vanguard featured crisp graphics and a raft of promised features that never really came about. Still, it gave us hours of enjoyment and wood chopping trying to build a boat.
”So... close! Can’t cross the bridge!”
— Bynn, who never got past the wood elf newbie zone bridge because the graphics were too demanding”
“LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE
Tokien is naturally a favorite of all Zen Bassmasters, and LOTRO did a great job encapsulating it for many. From player concerts in Bree to just a plain relaxing play experience, some still dabble with the game all these years later.
”One does not merely FISH in Mordor.”
”
—Anonymous
“AION
Aion was one of the first truly beautiful MMOs we’ve come across. While not many ZB played it was enjoyable and had many unique elements that appeared in future games.
”Try not to hit the tree again on your way down.”
”
—Xylaria
“WARHAMMER ONLINE
WAAAAAAGGGGHHHH! One of the few games where the player gets to be catapulted. We all LOVED the PvP in this game, something we can’t say for many games. Was very disappointed when it canceled.
”heheheheHEHEHEhahaha”
”
—Dukie the Squig Herder, pretty much all the time
“CHAMPIONS ONLINE
A fun super-heros game that’s still around, although not in active development. We discovered our favorite modes of travel (rocket boots and web-slinging were very popular)!
”YOU CAN’T RUN, EVILDOERS! Okay, well, maybe you can.”
”
— Cookie Crusader
“STAR TREK ONLINE
Many of us are Star Trek fans and quite enjoyed beaming up to our ships and fighting the fight for the Federation (or Klingons, or others later on). Although very much lacking in exploration, the supposed reason for Starfleet’s existance, STO keep us occupied many a weeknight queueing up for battle after battle.
”WHY are the Borg cubes running? ...Ohhhhh.”
”
— Admiral Jack MacGuinness on a very bad day
“FINAL FANTASY XIV
The first release of FFXIV didn’t go so well, but it has since matured into a story telling juggernaut. NOBODY tells stories like FFXIV, and many of us still play to this day.
”Did you read up on this fight?
Nope? Ah, good, the Zen Bassmaster way!”
— Cjm before a dungeon”
“STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC
The Star Wars MMO that sought to avoid having to work so hard keeping up with cannon story, SWTOR told great stories in a setting we all enjoyed and still does today.
”Never thought I’d say this... charge at the guys with lightsabers!”
”
— Shurika, shortly before be died
“GUILD WARS 2
A very pretty and well designed game that, unfortunately, lacked very much fishing. Many of us played this to high level and quite enjoyed it, although the story elements were fairly thin.
”Just a moment while I adjust my death ray!”
— Gelubii as an Asuran Engineer
”
“ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE
ESO is good for a quick MMO fix. Simple progression, easy missions, casual play, every single bloody town you walk past about to be destroyed and in dire need of a hero. It’s been a fun and many of us still play from time to time, but we can never seem to get a group going.
”ANOTHER town on fire? Will somebody kill this dragon already? Oh, wait, that’s my job, isn’t it?”
”
— Nahimis
“ELITE: DANGEROUS
Not everyone’s cup of tea, but ED is a fantastic space flight simulator featuring combat, trade and exploration (lots of exploration, they modeled the entire Milky Way galaxy!). There have been some issues with recent expansions but the core game is still pretty fun.
”Long distance call from Beagle Point, will you accept the charges?”
”
— Markus Amarper, phoning home from FAR away
“FALLOUT 76
Many of us are fans of the Fallout series and the chance to play a kinda-MMO Fallout was great... until we actually played a kinda MMO kinda Fallout buggy mess. Still, most of us got good enjoyment out of it and may try again someday.
”What’s a Deathcla...”
”
— Markus’s Final Words
“VALHEIM
Not an MMO but something that really caught our imagination, Valheim has been a LOT of fun for everyone who’s played it. We’ve climbed mountains—and fallen off them. We’ve sailed the seas—and died gloriously to sea serpents. We’ve explored and explored, and learned to always carry enough wood to make a sheltered workbench and fire... Can’t wait for what the devs have planned!
”Hey, I wonder what that is. ..? RUN AWAY!”
”
— Many of us on many occasions