Project M

This page describes an EQ Live event in November, 2001, during the Velious expansion. Also known as MvP (Mob versus Player).

Developer notes

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• What was Project M and how did it affect the creation of monster missions?

Project M was an experiment done back in fall of 2001 where players could select a monster at the character selection screen. The intent was to allow players to hop into the body of a low level creature and challenge other creatures and players, but the design of the system at the time had some significant problems that prevented Project M from staying on servers long.

• Why didn't Project M work?

First, Project M didn't fit into the immersive world of EverQuest as players were simply choosing an NPC at character select (such as a moss snake). In addition, a small minority of players used Project M to grief new players which introduced a PvP element on PvE servers that was unintended. As you can imagine, the only people who typically had fun were the griefers and even then it was a short term play-style as players never earned rewards.

• So why include a feature like playing a monster now?

Despite the original problems, having the ability to play as a monster can be extremely fun and is something that can add an entirely new dimension to the gameplay if done correctly. I think we've done it correctly with Depths of Darkhollow with both monster missions and spirit shrouds.