Everquest: "Just A Piece"
Posted: Monday January 11th, 2010
by
I logged in last night exhausted after my second full day of being on the back of a motorcycle. So I wasn't exactly in the right state of mind to play or to do a comic for that matter. So I asked the GU chat channel for some help. I was given some ideas but the one that rung the most true to me was a request to do a comic about how EQ's UI covers so much of the screen leaving you little more than a few inches to really see what's in front of you. (Thanks Anadriel.)
As we talked more about the state of the UI, another partcipant, suggested that I needed someone to "Pimp My UI". (Thanks Sresa.) Thus was the comic born.
Now quite a few years back, I pimped my own UI. I've mentioned, and even linked, it before. But every time SOE patched the game it broke. And I had to fix it again. It got so annoying I stopped supporting my own work. Right now I'm using the game's default UI. I have dug through EQ Interface for more options, but the fact is they're just versions of the default that don't really add any functionality or ease of use.
So where I'm at right now is to start begging SOE to hire a UI Developer. I mean from my perspective it's one of the biggest barriers to entry into the game. I was fairly used to it when I quit, but even when I came back I was overwhelmed. I just started closing stuff down. I figured when I needed to use it... I'd just have to find it again.
Now, to add some clarity to my position, I'm not talking about hiring someone to slap yet another "pretty" skin over it. I mean hiring someone to completely overhaul the UI. If I knew what I was doing, I'd volunteer. But, I only know a good UI after the fact. I couldn't begin to develop a clean functional UI from the ground up.
All this being said, I'd really like to hear from you guys. What elements make a good UI from your perspective? EQ players, what would you like to see changed about the current UI?
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