Monster update for Everquest
Your chance to be reincarnated as a rat
In a move which could be either insane or an act of sheer brilliance, Verant have implemented a new patch on Everquest's player vs player combat servers which allows people to take on the role of monsters. Instead of simply entering the game as one of your normal characters, you can now click on a new "monsters" button in the top right of the character select screen, at which point you will be given control over a low-level monster in a randomly selected zone. This could leave you running around the world as a gnoll, orc or rat, which is sure to be a novel experience. Obviously there are limitations. You can't talk to other players (whoever saw a talking rat?) and you can't trade with them or do any of the other things that normal humanoid characters can do. You can't leave your zone, and you can't loot the bodies of any pesky heroes you kill. In fact, pretty much all you can do is run around beating up on other monsters and players, although you can gain experience and improve your skills for as long as you live. Unfortunately once you leave the game or get killed all you can do is re-enter the game as another random monster, so you can't save your monstrous character and come back to it later. Still, it's a novel idea. Maybe one day we will see a true massively multiplayer game where even the monsters are controlled by players, and orcs, trolls and dragons can loot, pillage, trade and level the same as their human counterparts. In the meantime, roll up a rat and get nibbling at those lousy do-gooders...