I largely agree with the perspective of that video.
Specifically thinking of the difference between EQ and WoW, I do think there's one objective difference though: downtime. It wasn't uncommon to spend minutes recovering from a fight, or wait 20+ minutes between spawns if you were camping a particular spot. At the time we moaned about it, so WoW came along, and "solved" the complaint.
In hindsight, the downtime was the best part of the game. Chatting with strangers in a pickup group. Gambling. Friendly duels. Dumb feats of strength. Mutual grumbling about waiting for the boat. My fondest memories were all the things around the gameplay, but that doesn't make the game irrelevant. It was an excuse and a reason, but also a setting. The combination was intoxicating.
Specifically thinking of the difference between EQ and WoW, I do think there's one objective difference though: downtime. It wasn't uncommon to spend minutes recovering from a fight, or wait 20+ minutes between spawns if you were camping a particular spot. At the time we moaned about it, so WoW came along, and "solved" the complaint.
In hindsight, the downtime was the best part of the game. Chatting with strangers in a pickup group. Gambling. Friendly duels. Dumb feats of strength. Mutual grumbling about waiting for the boat. My fondest memories were all the things around the gameplay, but that doesn't make the game irrelevant. It was an excuse and a reason, but also a setting. The combination was intoxicating.