I was searching up things about the origins of MMORPG's and I came across this, Meridian 59 is completely free to play, and has been since early last year.

Meridian 59/ is one of the oldest MMORPG's ever sold, and may actually be the oldest one still running(EDIT: this is not true, but it is among the oldest). Now apparently this game has been operating in a completely free to play (no microtransactions or anything of that sort either) manner for close to a year, so it may shut down if the developers feel as if it is costing them too much; it seems like they are doing it more for the community and they game they made than the money though.

Now, this is an old-fashioned MMO, so of course there is a lot of grind, and there is free looting on dead characters corpses and heavy death penalties, however, for those of you who wish to see how MMO gaming has evolved over the years, this is a good choice to try.

Being one of those people who has an interest in seeing how gaming has evolved over the years this interests me to try, this being an older MMO, grouping is pretty much required. So, now I ask, is anyone interested in exploring this game with me? And if so, when is a good time, as coordination is important in these kinds of things.

Some useful links about the game:
official site
tutorial walkthrough
character creation
control quick-reference

Just a very small question from someone who never really played MMO: is there really less grinding today? What is the replacement? I find it interesting to hear about the evolution of MMOs?

Nope, The Realm (my 1st mmo) is still running. The game came out about the same time, or maybe even before Meridian59.

Anyway, even though I don't play mmos anymore, I'm happy that those games still exist.

Yes, there is definitely less grinding today, at least in the sense of direction to what you are doing. Dungeons and Dragons Online for example has almost no grinding, being nearly entirely dungeons, with a lot of choice in what to do at any given level, or even World of Warcraft's quests give at least a semblance of a purpose to the grind. Meridian 59 and other older games have a lot less direction, and as there is a rather harsh penalty for dying the safe route of progression tends to be to kill the same easy enemies repeatedly until you are stronger. There are quests and the like, but they are much fewer and you tend to not want to risk your possessions by doing something that might be dangerous. You're right, it came out earlier the same year as Meridian.

You know those half-hearted side-quests that you can pick up from the messages boards in The Witcher and Dragon Age, but probably ignored because they were pointless and boring? That's the replacement.

Something else about Meridian 59 i should mention, it is a PvP game, PvP is what it is built around, so if you wish to undertake this journey with me (i hope at least one or two of you do decide to) there will most likely be times when we kill other players or get killed by them.

It's better than that in some places. Even in WOW, that gets by mostly on its Skinner Box mechanics, they write story arcs, since classic they don't just let them hang either (damned Worgen questline).

So those "pointless quests" get tied together with an over-arcing story, if you're interested. Otherwise you can do one or two and let it drop.

Gear progression has gotten more social too, raids and party quests are for more than hardcore. Some MMOs reward serious pvp efforts and even tie them into the storyline.

The only grind in DDO is running the same, easy instance once a week if you want to craft a greensteel weapon. These are very nice, but not totally necessary.

Some MMOs will have a rich enough economy or some other sidesystem that you can run your own meta-game (the lack of an auction house in Lineage 2 eventually turned it into a meta-game for me, I had loads of gear none of my toons could wear, just from trading I became obscenely rich - I actually did the same on a fairly broken server in WOW, it became more fun to run the AH economy than play the game).

You look at games like Free Realms or Wizards 101 (I know, I know, kids games, right? sadly superior in some ways to our adult games), you have CCGs in game, cooking, racing, pet raising/training, pet breeding, etc.

Non of the problems you mentioned is a real issue with me, so I'd be in for the fun. Is there some kind of class/race/system/skill/what have you explanation o the web page, so that I could learn a bit on the system before jumping in?
I couldn't find anything on a first quick glimpse.
As for a good time, I could likely venture with you between 9 to 18 CET (not constantly, but rather selecting a 'short' period in that time frame ;)). I'm one of these weak hearted people, so I might occasionally spare somebody's life (I'd like to be a supporter/healer, or tank sort of character anyway, so I'm not likely to score a kill :p) if the person is kind and polite. I have zero tolerance and problem on annihilating *censored word*-players though :p As for getting killed, while that might happen, I suggest we try to avoid this. Suicide missions do not play well with games that feature harsh penalties. Sometimes running and swallowing the pride to return later on with reinforcements might be the better alternative *winks*

For a moment I thought it was about the games publisher since the name sound similar lol. The game looks interesting. Seems to run on donations not on micro transactions or anything. Will check it out when I get a chance.

Character creation info is here: http://www.meridian59.com/hlp/help-char-setup.php there isn't really a class system, instead you just choose skills and spells and level them up by grinding on mobs. I created a character on server 101 this morning and played around a little bit, there is a quest in the tutorial area that absolutely requires 2 people. (due to levers) It is of course possible to just skip that part, but I kind of want to see what is behind the gate. Anyhow, I made a tank-ish type of class. (block, short sword and slash were the skills I took)

i won't be able to play until next week, Paranoia session today and things to do on the weekend, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't set up your character and screw around in the tutorial zone, the guide to that zone recommends maxing out your skills as much as you possibly can before leaving that zone. (max before leaving the zone being 25%) http://www.meridian59.com/hlp/help-raza.php (like I said, grind) excellent, if you enjoy it, then come and play with me. server 101. Maybe we can get enough people to form a GOG guild.

I was half-joking, there... but only half.

The best MMOs I've ever played are still pretty lacking in merit. I don't have a troupe of gamer friends that follow me from game to game, so for me, they're just a time sink to occupy my mind between single-player games.

I've always wanted to try Meridian 59, but was put off by the subscription price. Heard a lot of good things about its community though. Good to see that it's now free (longest running graphical MMO too I believe?) Maybe I'll give it a shot soon.

As was already pointed out The Realm has been running longer, and I believe it is graphical.

So, does this mean you are still interested in trying it?

I played a free trial of Meridian 59 many years ago. At the time I wanted to play more of it, but never did, because I was a kid with no money or credit card.

I've been mildly curious about it ever since, but I dislike PVP and the abusive mechanics of prehistoric MMOs, so I believe I'll just leave it alone.

I see what you did there!
' There are two servers available: 101 is very active and filled with expert players who love to fight. 102 is less populated, but the players are friendlier and more likely to help out new players.'

Hehe, well, I'll sure join you up. *downloading the client and registering, then going to try the game some tomorrow my time*