camping (thing)

A camp is an unofficial, but widely known and often well-defined area that players can sit around all day at and kill mobs (monsters) for loot, experience, quest items, or for fun. Camps are usually created not long after a new zone (playing area) is introduced to the online world. Players will initially find separate areas of high-density mobs of a certain level that are relatively easy to kill (do not require forces of more than a group, 6 people, to kill) and give them a label based on the common mobs' (often mobs that are similar in name and appearance are at the same camp) names, the name(s) of a rare spawn(s) amongst those mobs, or the name of an item(s) they drop. Over time, depending on proximity, spawn time, difficulty, frequency of use, and other factors of said camps, these labels will merge, remain the same, or disappear.

An example of camps merging are the Necrosis Scarab and Sebilite Guardian camps in the zone of Old Sebilis. When the zone opened initially, players sat around at the the 'Nec' (Necrosis) camp and the Guard (Guardian) camp in separate groups. However, the guard camp was wedged between the Nec camp and the 4r (4 rooms. Center room with 4 rooms coming off of it with a possible named mob in each). What eventually happened was that the nec camp and guard camp merged into Nec/Guard and it became socially unacceptable to take the guard camp without taking the nec camp. It was perceived as wasteful and your group was seen as weak if the zone had high activity.

Camps are made and destroyed as the game is modified. If a group of mobs are suddenly made slightly more difficult, the efficiency of the camp lowers unless the experience given is greatly increased. The effect of this is the popularity of the camp decreases greatly and it becomes underused over time.

Camps can be very flexible given the conditions. If you are taking an inflexible camp (very clear boundaries), but there is nobody inhabiting another nearby camp then your group may pull (tricking mobs into following you to your camp) from that camp over to yours with no social consequences. However, if a group arrives to take the adjacent camp that you're pulling from then you will be expected to give temporary ownership of that camp to them. If you don't, the people in the group trying to take that camp will have a negative attitude towards you, your group, or even your guild (organized collection of everquest players with an established name and reputation).

Camps can be dangerous. Even though your group knows that they can all handle a camp (killing all the mobs in a camp and being able to kill them when they spawn again), random events may cause problems. Random events like a train (when someone has a trail of mobs following them and they run to the nearest zone line to get rid of them. "Train!" is shouted as a warning because those mobs will attack anyone in sight once the person being chased has left the zone) can decimate a group at a stable camp if they're not careful. To minimize these events, all groups are expected to be courteous and follow a set of nearly-unspoken rules.

1. Stick to your camp. (Stay in close proximity to it and do not wander)
2. Leave your camp if you lose a group member and cannot handle it.
3. If you must train, announce it well ahead of time. If a train made by you kills someone, pay a cleric to rez (ressurection. Revives a deceased player and returns some experience) them.
4. Call out the name of your camp when asked in zone-wide chat.
5. Call out the name of your camp when your group's leaving.

Breaking camp

Strategies

Massive groups

Massive camps