The virtual topography of Everquest is just like that of the real world thus giving players a sense of familiarity as soon as they log in to the game. The world of Everquest is so massive that it can take many hours to travel from one town to the next and just like in real life you can ride horses, boats, or walk to get around. Players can collect and trade items to use and equipment to wear that give changes in the characters’ appearance (i.e., character looks different wearing boots, shoes, or going barefoot). So just like real life, Everquest allows the infinite freedom of personalization and personification of oneself through appearance and speech.

The more a person plays, the more powerful his or her character becomes, which often leads to competition among players to see who can get his or her character the most powerful in the least amount of time. However, some adventures are too difficult for a player to complete by himself therefore promoting socialization among fellow gamers to team up in order to successfully slay a monster. Since every player has his or her own unique abilities and groups in Everquest can consist of anywhere from two to six people, members of the group must collaborate with each other in order to optimize individual group members’ contributions. Communication is an important part of every group; therefore groups are given a specific channel for communication when they are formed. Such cooperative group work can result in the development of cooperative social skills. Often times a player will encounter another player whom he or she has grouped with before, therefore making it easy for the two players to collaborate. In this way, making friends in the virtual world is a frequent occurrence. There are however certain restrictions on who characters are allowed to group with...