Project M
"Project M" was an EQ Live event in November, 2001, during the Velious expansion. Also known as MvP (Mob versus Player). It eventually led to the Depths of Darkhollow expansion.
Patch notes
Project M Implemented:
Tonight we have patched something to the PvP servers that many players have been waiting for. The ability to play that gnoll, orc, or the cute and fuzzy rat. On your character select screen you will notice another button in the upper right part of your screen called "Monster". Clicking this button will randomly place you in a low-level NPC in a random zone. You will be given full control of the creature to do with it what you like. You may hunt and kill other creatures. You may even attack other players.
Some things to remember when playing your own personal monster (NPC).
You will not be able to interact with players or NPC's other than moving and hitting attack.
You cannot speak, trade, sell, or do anything else that a player can do.
You will spawn with normal loot for the monster you are playing and Player Characters will be able to kill you for loot and experience.
If you are a spell casting monster you might want to take a moment to memorize some spells.
Once you die, you will return to the character select screen where you may choose to return as another NPC or play your normal character.
You may gain experience, levels, and skills as this NPC, but once you die, it is all lost. You will need to start over the next time you choose to be a NPC character.
You can't zone as a monster. If you try to cross a zone-boarder you will lose your progress and return to the character-select screen.
Monster PCs (MPCs) can not loot, sell, or gain items. They only get what they start out with.
This ability to play a monster is being implemented for PvP servers only as we have no plans to implement non-consensual PvP on a non PvP server.
However, we are still working with this system. We may find other ways to implement Project M on the non-PvP servers that are acceptable. We aren't done looking at the possible uses of this new feature.
Developer notes
ref
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.
