There is no particular point to the game except, possibly, to move up in levels of character "expertise" -- learning how to become, say, a master warrior, jeweler or hunter. Making it all the way to level 50 and beyond will take you months of playing. In order to grow as a character you'll need to befriend other players, possibly joining a larger group called a "guild," which will join you on your quests, help you hunt gnolls and fire beetles and simply keep you company during some of the more tedious hours of recovering from battle.

With role playing you aren't simply following along someone else's linear storytelling narrative -- you and your newfound friends are the story. "The Everquest world is very real," says Jennifer Powell, a longtime player who often plays with her husband and other friends from the Well. "If you're a sane person, that doesn't affect you too much, but it's kind of stunning how much it's really very real. When I step in I feel like I'm going to another place -- I may see my husband there, but he's another persona inside the game."

By most accounts, the average Everquest player logs in for 15 to 20 hours a week; but more avid players, like Sheyla, will often play for many, many more -- clocking in months of playing time in a year. They'll often log into one of Everquest's many servers every day (in Sheyla's case, this was usually a server called "Quellious") and spend endless hours chatting, instant-message style, with pals from their guilds. Especially close Everquest friendships are often cemented by an online "marriage," an actual wedding ceremony after which the two characters' game assets -- gold, armor, weaponry and the like -- can even be combined into one bank account, if they so desire.

And then there are the fan sites, countless community bulletin boards (for guilds, servers, news sites, plus the "official" Verant boards) and virtual parties that guilds sometimes sponsor. The most avid players often become "guides," unpaid volunteers who on top of playing the game spend up to 10 hours every week offering advice to newbies and assisting players who are struggling.

All said, this makes for some pretty compelling game-playing; the more you play, the better you get, the closer you'll become to your online friends and the more you'll want to play. For the vast majority of players who spend time in Everquest, this is a terrific way to make new friends and use their creative powers to build an alternative world for themselves. But for others, it becomes an obsession; and the bickering, fighting and nastiness often seen in the online communities is a testament to this. Flame wars and feuds erupt, and guilds spontaneously fall apart from the infighting.

"It's such an addictive environment; it's like rats in an overcrowded maze -- they start attacking each other," says Scott Jennings, who manages the popular Lum the Mad gaming news site. "Once you get to a certain high level of player you've got people who have spent literally months of time sitting in front of their machines. And it becomes a really big deal to them, it becomes their life, they become obsessed by it. Anything that threatens them -- someone who threatens their guild standing or something as trivial as someone killing a monster they have their eyes on -- that's the kind of thing that spawns this vitriol and rage. It's tunnel vision, really frightening."

Which is where the story of Sheyla really begins.

By most accounts, Sheyla first appeared in the lands of Everquest in March or April of this year, introducing herself as a 19-year-old woman from Colorado (sometimes Oklahoma) who loved to draw. She joined the "Companions of Light" guild, along with someone who was introduced as her sister Jolena, and quickly made a name for herself as a sensitive but depressed young woman with a quick temper and a tendency to lie. Within a few months, she had logged in so many hours that Verant allowed her to become a guide.

But Sheyla's tenure as a guide was controversial, and she was chided for her occasionally unpleasant interactions with players. Her status as a guide was already endangered when, on Nov. 10, someone using her guide name ("Leza") posted a greeting on an online bulletin board. Verant has very strict rules about "official" communications with the Everquest playing population, and guides are forbidden to post to bulletin boards under their guide names. Soon after "guide Leza's" post, Verant terminated Sheyla's guide account. (The ensuing drama in the bulletin boards led many people to question whether the offending post was actually written by Sheyla herself, especially since it was later amended to include the line "HAHAHAHAHAHA SuXoRs I got her fired!!!!")

The following Monday, people who identified themselves as Sheyla's husband and her foster mother posted to several bulletin boards and mailing lists with the news that Sheyla had taken her own life. They offered few details except the fact that she was a sad young girl who had loved her Everquest friends. The mourning began. "We have our squabbles from time to time but for the most part the players stand together," says one member of the Quellious Quarters community, where Sheyla spent much of her time. "The message boards went quiet for about two days after the first post about Leza's death was posted. I know all of us were in shock and totally stunned by this news."

But as stories about Sheyla came out, the community at large began to doubt whether a suicide had actually taken place -- or if, indeed, the people they had known as Sheyla and her sister Jolena even existed.

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