Taking matters into her own hands: How a fan became a dev and went on a quest for missing EverQuest 2 furniture

When most people think of EverQuest 2, one of the world’s longest running MMOs, they probably imagine battling dragons and grinding experience. But the game also hosts a group of dedicated builders who use EQ2’s complex, sometimes neglected, crafting systems to construct and decorate gnomish tinkering workshops and whimsical cabins in snowglobes. For these players, a champion has emerged. Christy ‘Denmom’ Bell, an EverQuest fan turned designer, made it her mission to solve one of the game’s great mysteries: The Unobtainable List. 

Back in the late ’90s, Bell and her husband got into the phase 4 beta test for what would become the world’s biggest MMO, EverQuest. As a former 4-H club member and cooking enthusiast, she was excited to try out the game’s crafting system. A self-described “pretty organized” person, Bell started taking notes and posting them to her AOL Hometown website, but there was a problem. You just couldn’t make a sandwich.