Project A: Decoding the Map

Decoding a Map

EverQuest : Shadows of Luclin

EverQuest is an 3D online game that was first released in 1999 by Sony Online Entertainment and have been one of the most successful text-based MUD of all time.  The purpose of the map is solely to target those who take part in the game or have interest in the game. 

If you look for more potential clues in the map, we can clearly see that its a map that resemble the world map that we know. 

As we look closer into the map, there is one thing which is very prominent, which is that it might look like a world map, but there are elements within the map that are mythical and non-existing.  

But at the same time, the places and the regions are defined not only by their names but also by the kind of terrain or environment and the ‘things’ they have, which take us to the iconic nature of the map. 

At the top of the page is the title or the name of the map. This can be the linguistic code of the map. 

and looking at the map itself as an  object is very organized, ordered and arranged, which tells us that it was made for the purpose of presenting to its audience and it was made in a way that it looks clean and organized and not all over the place and looking at the quality of the paper, it is evident that it was mass produced too. 

There have more twenty expansions of the game with an average of two expansions per year and the latest one is Everquest: Empires of Kunark. 

So to conclude the decoding of the map, it wont be wrong to say that its an extra significant map, since it talks about mythical storyline and since it tis made for a certain audience to it has presentation quality or code to it. And there is definitely the iconic element there since it has the things and terrains in it. The map also has a name which makes it of linguistic code. 

The mythical and out of the world feel and content of the map makes it a rhetorical map.