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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Five weeks of winter vacation, and Brad Williams thought he was going to die.
The 22-year-old student had gone home to Toronto, leaving his computer in his dorm room at Andrews University in southern Michigan. With it was EverQuest, a computer game that has drawn hundreds of thousands of users, its appeal so akin to a bad habit that some have nicknamed it "EverCrack."
"Yes, I'd like to quit," Williams said. "I'm addicted, pure and simple."
EverQuest, the latest in video games, is played completely online and costs users $39.95 to buy. Once installed on a computer, users assume a character, any one of a number of races (human, half elf, gnome and so on) as well as an occupation (wizard, warrior or bard, for instance).
Once characters are created, they are let loose in the vast lands of Norrath, where they encounter monsters, guards, and most importantly, other players.
"It's kind of like a microcosm of society. Anything that you would expect in human nature would be carried out in the game also," said Jack Davis, a video game designer who plays about four hours daily.
Since the game's March 1999 debut, EverQuest has sold 352,000 copies, making it one of the hottest games in the $6.1 billion world of online entertainment. Of those copies, 259,000 people maintain their $9.95 monthly subscriptions that allow them to play online.
Two other games that are similar are also doing well. Both Ultima Online and Asheron's Call have about 200,000 subscribers each. About 20 other games like EverQuest are in development.
ToyVault, a Keavy, Ky.-based toy maker, is even planning a line of action figures. The company will offer eight different characters for $10 each in late November, in time for the Christmas season.
EverQuest's continued success is highly unusual, even unprecedented, said Ben Rinaldi, senior editor of Gameweek, a trade publication. "Most games last two or three weeks tops before players move on and they want the next big game," he said.
No one is more surprised by its success than the creators.
"We thought, if we can just get 70,000 people to buy it, and we can just keep them playing for four months, we'll just marginally be profitable," said Brad McQuaid, vice president of Verant Interactive, the developers of EverQuest. "It's been overwhelming. ... It's gone like crazy."
For a reason, say fans. They can't get enough of it.
"I've tried to quit several times and it just doesn't work," said Williams.
He once sold his account for $850, but still plays, sometimes up to eight hours a day (others are known to log 15 hours). While in school his Bs slipped to Cs, he said.
A player who spends a great deal of time with a game is not necessarily addicted, said Kimberly Young, executive director of the Center for On-Line Addiction, in Bradford, Pa. Young is also a psychology professor at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.
"That's like trying to define alcoholism by the number of drinks, you can't quantify it." However, she added, "I still think spending that much time on any one thing isn't good."
Young said she looks for symptoms similar to other addictions: a loss of control over time spent online, withdrawal from loved ones, and a preoccupation with going online. The cases she usually sees that involve EverQuest are students like Williams whose grades are slipping because of too much time spent playing.
Some suggest the game is so addictive because of its social nature.
Players can move on to the next level by gaining experience through quests, which involve finding a torch, a piece of armor, a wand or other object. Quests also involve killing monsters. Completing a quest is much easier with other players, since many have complementary abilities.
Every character has built-in skills — spellcasting or a cleric's healing powers, for instance — and each is honed as a player progresses through the 60 levels. Players can join a more lasting group, called a guild, and communicate through the chat interface built into the game.
"Some think it's like being in a chat room, but it's really nothing like a chat room, because you have to work together and you have to trust each other," said Cindy Archuleta, who planned a Las Vegas EverQuest convention in July and also serves as an online guide.
Archuleta said that she has become good friends with her gaming cohorts. One couple, she said, actually met through the game.
Williams, the student, has seen the downside: He met at least four people online who said their marriages broke up because of relationships with people they met in the game.
"If my girlfriend threatens to leave me," he said, "then I'll quit."