History of massively multiplayer online games
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The history of massively multiplayer online games spans over thirty years and hundreds of
massively multiplayer online games A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are ...
(MMOG) titles. The origin and influence on MMO games stems from
MUD A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...
s, ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
'' (D&D) and earlier social games.


The first virtual worlds

In 1974, '' Mazewar'' introduced the first graphic virtual world, providing a first-person perspective view of a maze in which players roamed around shooting at each other. It was also the first networked game, in which players at different computers could visually interact in a virtual space. The initial implementation was over a
serial cable A serial cable is a cable used to transfer information between two devices using a serial communication protocol. The form of connectors depends on the particular serial port used. A cable wired for connecting two DTEs directly is known as a null ...
; however, when one of the authors began attending
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
in 1974, the game was enhanced so that it could be played across the
ARPAnet The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical fou ...
, forerunner of the modern Internet. ''
Adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
'', created in 1975 by
Will Crowther William Crowther (born 1936) is an American computer programmer, caver, and rock climber. He is the co-creator of ''Colossal Cave Adventure'' from 1975 onward, a seminal computer game that influenced the first decade of video game design and ins ...
on a DEC
PDP-10 Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)'s PDP-10, later marketed as the DECsystem-10, is a mainframe computer family manufactured beginning in 1966 and discontinued in 1983. 1970s models and beyond were marketed under the DECsystem-10 name, especi ...
computer, was the first widely played
adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...
. The game was significantly expanded in 1976 by
Don Woods Donald Woods (1933–2001) was a South African journalist and activist. Donald or Don Woods may also refer to: * Donald Woods (actor) (1906–1998), Canadian-born American film and television actor * Donald Devereux Woods (1912–1964), British m ...
. ''Adventure'' contained many D&D features and references, including a computer controlled dungeon master. Inspired by ''Adventure'', a group of students at
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
, in the summer of 1977 wrote a game called ''
Zork ''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and ...
'' for the PDP-10. It became quite popular on the
ARPANET The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical fou ...
. ''Zork'' was
ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...
under the name ''Dungeon'' to FORTRAN by a programmer working at DEC in 1978. In 1978
Roy Trubshaw ''Multi-User Dungeon'', or ''MUD'' (referred to as ''MUD1'', to distinguish it from its successor, ''MUD2'', and the MUD genre in general), is the first MUD. History MUD was created in 1978 by Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle at the Unive ...
, a student at
Essex University The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...
in the UK, started working on a multi-user adventure game in the MACRO-10 assembly language for a DEC PDP-10. He named the game ''MUD'' (''Multi-User Dungeon''), in tribute to the ''Dungeon'' variant of ''Zork'', which Trubshaw had greatly enjoyed playing. Trubshaw converted MUD to
BCPL BCPL ("Basic Combined Programming Language") is a procedural, imperative, and structured programming language. Originally intended for writing compilers for other languages, BCPL is no longer in common use. However, its influence is still ...
(the predecessor of C), before handing over development to
Richard Bartle Richard Allan Bartle FBCS FRSA (born 10 January 1960) is a British writer, professor and game researcher in the massively multiplayer online game industry. He co-created ''MUD1'' (the first MUD) in 1978, and is the author of the 2003 book ''Desi ...
, a fellow student at Essex University, in 1980. ''
MUD A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...
'', better known as ''Essex MUD'' and ''MUD1'' in later years, ran on the Essex University network until late 1987. The popularity of MUDs of the Essex University tradition escalated in the USA during the 1980s when affordable
personal computers A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or techn ...
with 300 to 2400 bit/s
modems A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...
enabled role-players to log into multi-line
Bulletin Board Systems A bulletin board system (BBS), also called computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user can perform functions such as ...
and
online service providers An online service provider (OSP) can, for example, be an Internet service provider, an email provider, a news provider (press), an entertainment provider (music, movies), a search engine, an e-commerce site, an online banking site, a health site, ...
such as
CompuServe CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS) was an American online service provider, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the oth ...
. During this time it was sometimes said that MUD stands for "Multi Undergraduate Destroyer" due to their popularity among college students and the amount of time devoted to them. In 1987,
Nihon Falcom is a Japanese video game developer, best known for their '' Ys'', '' The Legend of Heroes'', and ''Trails'' series. The company was founded in March 1981, making them one of the oldest active video game companies. They are credited with pioneer ...
's Yoshio Kiya, creator of the ''
Dragon Slayer A dragonslayer is a person or being that slays dragons. Dragonslayers and the creatures they hunt have been popular in traditional stories from around the world: they are a type of story classified as type 300 in the Aarne–Thompson classifica ...
''
action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...
s, expressed his idea for an online RPG "with a system that allows total freedom for the player. For example, despite it being a sword and sorcery world, the hero decides to do nothing and just quietly enjoy his life as a local baker in town. If everyone could take up different roles in some kind of computer networked game, I think it would be really fun." In 1989, Yehuda Simmons published '' Avalon: The Legend Lives'' which has seen continued development and support ever since. Avalon, while not the first MUD, certainly set the bar for imitators, boasting never-before-seen features such as fully fleshed out economics, farming and labour mechanics, player-driven autonomous governments with ministers, barons and organization elections, a fully realized warfare conquest system featuring legions, battalions, trenches, minefields, barricades and fortifications, as well as thousands of unique player abilities and skills which formed the basis of Avalon's meritocratic PVP system based on skill-worth as opposed to the traditional level-based progression system favoured by many other games of this genre. Avalon's mission statement was to be the first fully developed roleplaying world - a life within a life using real-world systems to fully immerse players into the lives of the characters they created. Many
MUD A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...
s are still active and a number of influential MMORPG designers, such as
Raph Koster Raphael "Raph" Koster (born September 7, 1971) is an American entrepreneur, game designer, and author of '' A Theory of Fun for Game Design''. Koster is widely recognized for his work as the lead designer of ''Ultima Online'' and the creative di ...
,
Brad McQuaid Brad McQuaid (April 25, 1969 – November 18, 2019) was an American video game designer who was the key designer of ''EverQuest'', a highly successful massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 1999. He later co-founded S ...
,
Matt Firor Matt Firor is a video game producer and designer of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). He is best known for his involvement in games such as ''Dark Age of Camelot'' and ''The Elder Scrolls Online''. Biography Matt Firor's f ...
, Mark Jacobs, Brian Green, and J. Todd Coleman, began as
MUD developers A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text-based or storyboard, storyboarded. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack ...
and/or players. The history of MMORPGs grows directly out of the history of MUDs.


PLATO

Meanwhile, the
PLATO system Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
, an educational computer system based on
mainframe A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...
computers with graphical terminals, was pioneering many areas of multiuser computer systems. By the middle of 1974, there were graphical multiplayer games such as ''
Spasim ''Spasim'' is a 32-player 3D networked space flight simulation game and first-person space shooter developed by Jim Bowery for the PLATO computer network and released in March 1974. The game features four teams of eight players, each controlli ...
'', a space battle game which could support 32 users, and the ''
Talkomatic Talkomatic was an online chat system that facilitates real-time text communication among a small group of people. Each participant in Talkomatic has their own section of the screen, broadcasting messages letter-by-letter as they are typed. This int ...
'' multi-user chat system. ''Oubliette'', written by Jim Schwaiger, and published on the PLATO system predated ''MUD1'' by about a year. It was so difficult that one could not play it alone: in order for players to survive, they had to run in groups. While ''Oubliette'' was a multi-player game, there was no persistence to the game world. Following it, also on PLATO, was a game called '' Moria'' written in 1977, copyright 1978. Again, players could run in parties but in this game it was also possible to effectively play while only running one character. Another early PLATO game was ''
Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
'', begun around 1977 and opened in 1979, written by Bruce Maggs, Andrew Shapira, and Dave Sides, all high school students using the PLATO system at the
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
. This 2.5-D game was running on 512×512 plasma panels of the PLATO system, and groups of up to 15 players could enter the dungeon simultaneously and fight monsters as a team. These games were graphical in nature and very advanced for their time, but were proprietary programs that were unable to spread beyond PLATO. Textual worlds, which typically ran on
Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and ot ...
, VMS, or
DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...
, were far more accessible to the public.


Early commercial development

The first commercial
MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...
(although what constitutes "massive" requires qualification when discussing mid-1980s
mainframe A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...
s) was ''
Island of Kesmai ''Island of Kesmai'' was an early commercial online game in the multi-user dungeon (MUD) genre, innovative in its use of roguelike pseudo-graphics. It is considered a major forerunner of modern massively multiplayer online role-playing games ...
'' designed by
Kelton Flinn Kelton Flinn is an American computer game designer who is a major pioneer in online games. He is a co-founder (with his University of Virginia classmate John Taylor) of the seminal online game company Kesmai, which they began in 1982. His be ...
and John Taylor. This
roguelike Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a subgenre of role-playing computer games traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player characte ...
game became available in 1985 for $12.00 per hour via the
CompuServe CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS) was an American online service provider, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the oth ...
online service and supported up to one hundred players.Koster, Raph (2002) "Online World Timeline," http://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/mudtimeline.shtml Lucasfilm's ''
Habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
'' was an early and technologically influential online role-playing game developed by
Lucasfilm Games Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a large ...
and made available as a
beta test A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...
in 1986 by
Quantum Link Quantum Link (or Q-Link) was an American and Canadian online service for the Commodore 64 and 128 personal computers that operated starting November 5, 1985. It was operated by Quantum Computer Services of Vienna, Virginia, which later became ...
, an online service for the
Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
computer and the corporate progenitor to
America Online AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...
. It was initially created in 1985 by
Randy Farmer Frank Randall "Randy" Farmer (born October 16, 1961) is an American game developer, co-creator with Chip Morningstar of one of the first graphical online games, 1985's ''Habitat''. In 2001 he and Morningstar were the first recipients of the Pione ...
and
Chip Morningstar Chip Morningstar is an American software architect, mainly for online entertainment and communication. Morningstar held many jobs throughout his career in the research and development of technology and programs. Most notably was Morningstar's r ...
, who were given a "First Penguin Award" at the 2001
Game Developers Choice Awards The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were ...
for this innovative work, and was the first attempt at a large-scale commercial
virtual community A virtual community is a social network of individuals who connect through specific social media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. Some of the most pervasive virtual communi ...
(Morningstar and Farmer 1990; Robinett 1994) that was graphically based. It ran from 1986 to 1988, after which it was closed down at the end of the pilot run. A sized-down incarnation but with vastly improved graphics (avatars became equipped with facial expressions, for example) was launched for general release as Club Caribe in January 1988. The first graphical MMORPG was ''
Neverwinter Nights ''Neverwinter Nights'' is a series of video games developed by BioWare and Obsidian Entertainment, based on the ''Forgotten Realms'' campaign setting of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Aside from also being set in the Dungeons & Dra ...
'' by designer
Don Daglow Don Daglow (born circa 1953) is an American video game designer, programmer, and producer. He is best known for being the creator of early games from several different genres, including pioneering simulation game ''Utopia'' for Intellivision in ...
and programmer
Cathryn Mataga Cathryn Mataga (born William Mataga) is a game programmer and founder of independent video game company Junglevision. Under the name William, she wrote Atari 8-bit family games for Synapse Software in the early to mid 1980s, including '' Shamus'', ...
(not to be confused with ''
Neverwinter Nights ''Neverwinter Nights'' is a series of video games developed by BioWare and Obsidian Entertainment, based on the ''Forgotten Realms'' campaign setting of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Aside from also being set in the Dungeons & Dra ...
'' by
BioWare BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated Doctor of Medicine, medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zes ...
). "Neverwinter Nights" went live on AOL for PC owners in 1991 and ran through 1997. This project was personally championed and green-lighted by AOL President
Steve Case Stephen McConnell Case (born August 21, 1958) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist best known as the former chief executive officer and chairman of America Online (AOL). Case joined AOL's predecessor company, Quantum Computer ...
. Both ''Club Caribe'' and ''Neverwinter Nights'' cost $6.00 per hour to play. During the early-1990s, commercial use of the internet was limited by
NSFNET The National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 1985 to 1995 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States. The p ...
acceptable use policies. Consequently, early online games like '' Legends of Future Past'', ''Neverwinter Nights'', '' Gemstone III'', ''
Dragon's Gate Dragon's Gate was an interactive, real time, text-based multi user online fantasy role-playing game, sometimes referred to as a MUD. It was one of the longest running pay-for-play online games in the world, it opened to the public in the sprin ...
'', and ''Federation'' relied heavily on proprietary services such as
CompuServe CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS) was an American online service provider, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the oth ...
,
America Online AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...
, and
GEnie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...
for distribution.
Air Warrior ''Air Warrior'' was a multiplayer online combat flight simulation game launched by Kesmai in 1988. It was hosted on GEnie and used that service as a server for client software running on a variety of personal computers. It underwent continual imp ...
was an early multiplayer game as players could battle each other flying virtual fighter planes. The game was first introduced in 1986 and ran on the GEnie network. In 1993 the game was revised to run over the internet. Following ''Neverwinter Nights'' was '' The Shadow of Yserbius'', an MMORPG on
The Sierra Network Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher founded in 1979 by Ken Williams (game developer), Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is k ...
(TSN), which ran from 1992 through 1996. The game was produced by
Joe Ybarra Joseph Ybarra (born ~1954) is an American producer and designer of video games. He left Apple Computer in 1982 to work at the new Electronic Arts that was founded by his fellow ex-employee Trip Hawkins. He was the original producer of the first ...
. ''The Shadow of Yserbius'' was an hourly service, although it also offered unlimited service for $119.99 per month, until
AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
acquired TSN and rendered it strictly an hourly service. The name was then changed from TSN to the
ImagiNation Network Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genr ...
.


Commercial MMORPGs on the Internet

As
NSFNET The National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 1985 to 1995 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States. The p ...
restrictions were relaxed, traditional game companies and online services began deploying games on the
internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
. The first commercial text-based MMORPG to make this transition to the Internet from a proprietary network provider (CompuServe, in this case) was '' Legends of Future Past''. ''Legends'' was also notable for being one of the first titles to have featured professional Game Masters who conducted online events.Chris Lombardi (1992), "Legends in their Own Minds," Computer Gaming World, http://static.filefront.com/cgw/1992_08_issue97.pdf The term MMORPG was coined by
Richard Garriott Richard Allen Garriott de Cayeux (''né'' Garriott; born July 4, 1961) is an American video game developer, entrepreneur and private astronaut. Although both his parents were American, he maintains dual British and American citizenship by birth. ...
, the creator of
Ultima Online ''Ultima Online'' (''UO'') is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released on September 24, 1997 by Origin Systems. Set in the '' Ultima'' universe, it is known for its extensive player versus player combat system. ...
, in 1997. The term probably derives from "MMOG", which can be traced back to the 1995 E3 Convention, when Dale Addink used it to describe Confirmed Kill. ''
The Realm Online ''The Realm Online'', originally known as ''The Realm'', is a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) launched in December 1996 for Windows PC. It was designed in the tradition of graphical MUDs, before the usage of the terms "m ...
'' was another successful early Internet MMORPG, launched by
Sierra Online Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre ...
. Although released just after ''
Meridian 59 ''Meridian 59'' was a 1996 video game developed by Archetype Interactive and published by The 3DO Company. It was the first 3D graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) and one of the longest running original online role-p ...
'', the
beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; grc, βῆτα, bē̂ta or ell, βήτα, víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiod ...
was active several months before. ''The Realm Online'' had fully animated 2D graphics, both in and out of combat situations, which made it accessible to a wider audience compared to more text-based games or the graphical MUDs on which it was based. Also, its gameplay and interface were already familiar to those accustomed to the graphical adventure games earlier popularised by Sierra. Like many of its predecessors, ''The Realm Online'' only featured simple turn-based combat, however, it did feature a huge number (for the time) of visual character customization options. It, too, is still running. '' Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds'', whose beta was released to Korean audiences in 1996 was one of the first MMORPGs. It is still an active game today with over 1000 subscribers. ''
Meridian 59 ''Meridian 59'' was a 1996 video game developed by Archetype Interactive and published by The 3DO Company. It was the first 3D graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) and one of the longest running original online role-p ...
'', launched by 3DO in late 1996, was one of the first Internet MMORPGs. It was one of the first Internet games from a major publisher, one of the first to be covered in the major game magazines and the first MMPOG to introduce the flat monthly subscription fee. Perhaps most significantly, was its 3D engine, allowing players to experience the game world through the eyes of their characters. A cult following quickly grew for ''Meridian 59'' that still exists today. ''
Tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...
'', launched by
CipSoft CipSoft GmbH is a German video game developer based in Regensburg. Founded in 2001, it is the developer of ''Tibia''. As of January 2023, the company employs 95 people. History CipSoft was founded on 8 June 2001 by Guido Lübke, Stephan Payer ...
in January 1997. It is one of the oldest MMORPGs and was considered most noteworthy in its early years; however, with the development of MMORPGs, its popularity has grown much slower than other MMORPGs. It was first released in January 1997. It is a free game which is open to the public, though players have the option to pay a fee in order to upgrade to a premium account, granting special in-game benefits, including additional areas to explore, access to vocation promotions, and extra spells. At present, more than 500,000 players from all over the world inhabit the Tibian continent enjoying the numerous game features
Tibia News
''
Ultima Online ''Ultima Online'' (''UO'') is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released on September 24, 1997 by Origin Systems. Set in the '' Ultima'' universe, it is known for its extensive player versus player combat system. ...
'', Alpha testing in Jan 1996 and later released in September 1997, is now credited with popularizing the genre. It featured 3D isometric/third-person graphics, and was set in the already popular ''Ultima'' universe. It was also a more involved, complex game than many of its predecessors. Two years after ''
Ultima Online ''Ultima Online'' (''UO'') is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released on September 24, 1997 by Origin Systems. Set in the '' Ultima'' universe, it is known for its extensive player versus player combat system. ...
'', The Fourth Coming was released, an MMORPG in 3D isometric. It was launched in France under the name La 4ème Prophétie and contributed to spread the MMORPG culture in Europe as one of the first graphical MMORPG. It became very popular through the website
GOA Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
until its close in 2001. This MMORPG featured a unique communication system. The game has lost its popularity, however it is still a subject of nostalgia for its old players and some servers continue to host players. A lesser known MMORPG was launched, on the
Mplayer MPlayer is a free and open-source media player software application. It is available for Linux, OS X and Microsoft Windows. Versions for OS/2, Syllable, AmigaOS, MorphOS and AROS Research Operating System are also available. A port for DOS usi ...
network, in March 1998 called ''
Underlight ''Underlight'' is a fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then ...
'' by Lyra Studios LLC. The game featured live action FPS combat in a 3D environment, an advancement system where players write quests for other players, and a unique faction system with fixed ''houses'' that are player run. Also notable was the game's rules required people to play in-character at all times and the game's rich story line. This game was similar to ''Meridian 59'' and likewise has maintained a cult following to this day, recently being re-launched again in 2014 by another group of former players under a new company named KoiWare. Meanwhile, commercial online gaming was becoming extraordinarily popular in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
. '' Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds'', designed by Jake Song, was commercially released in 1996 and eventually gained over one million subscribers. Song's next game, ''
Lineage Lineage may refer to: Science * Lineage (anthropology), a group that can demonstrate its common descent from an apical ancestor or a direct line of descent from an ancestor * Lineage (evolution), a temporal sequence of individuals, populati ...
'' (1998), enjoyed even greater success gaining millions of subscribers in Korea and
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
. This helped to secure developer NCsoft's dominance in the global MMORPG market for several years. NCSoft has released ''
Lineage 2 ''Lineage II'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows and the second game in the ''Lineage'' series. It is a prequel to ''Lineage'' and is set 150 years before the first game. It has become popular sin ...
'', ''
City of Heroes ''City of Heroes'' (''CoH'') was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game which was developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCSOFT. The game was launched in North America on April 28, 2004, and in Europe by NCsoft Europe on Febru ...
'', ''
Guild Wars ''Guild Wars'' is an online role-playing game franchise developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSOFT. The games were critically well received and won many editor's choice awards, as well as awards such as Best Value, Best Massively Multiplaye ...
'', ''
Exteel ''Exteel'' was a third-person shooter game published by NCSOFT, a Korean game company, and was developed by NCSOFT's . Players controlled giant vehicles called Mechanaughts ("mecha") and fought against the computer, or against other online playe ...
'', and '' Aion: The Tower of Eternity''. Recently, titles such as ''
Blade & Soul ''Blade & Soul'' () is a Korean fantasy martial-arts massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by NCSoft (Team Bloodlust). ''Blade & Soul'' was released in Western territories on January 19, 2016. A Japanese animated televisio ...
'' and ''
Guild Wars 2 ''Guild Wars 2'' is a free-to-play, massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSoft. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the core game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild ded ...
'' were released between late 2011 to early 2012. ''
EverQuest ''EverQuest'' is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows PCs. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North Americ ...
'', launched in March 1999 by Verant Interactive (a development venture inside Sony which was always closely aligned with the operating entity that became Sony Online Entertainment), surpassed Ultima Online in player count and success. It was the most commercially successful MMORPG in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
for five years, and was the basis for 29 expansions (as of December 2022) and several derivative games. In 1999, following ''Ultima Online'' and ''EverQuest'', was another hit, ''
Asheron's Call ''Asheron's Call'' (AC) was a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows PCs, developed and published by Turbine Entertainment Software. Though it was developed by the Turbine team (with Microsoft's ex ...
''. Together, these three games are sometimes referred to as the original "big three" of the late 1990s.


Second generation MMORPGs

By the turn of the millennium, game companies were eager to capitalize on the new market. The concept of
massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent world, persistent open world, alt ...
s expanded into new
video game genre A video game genre is an informal classification of a video game based on how it is played rather than Computer graphics, visual or narrative elements. This is independent of setting (fiction), setting, unlike works of fiction that are expressed ...
s around this time, though RPGs, with their ability to "suck in" the player, were (and still are) the most financially promising. The next generation of MMORPGs, following the "big three" of the previous decade, was to include the medieval PvP-oriented ''
Dark Age of Camelot ''Dark Age of Camelot'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in October 2001 in North America, and in January 2002 in Europe. The game combines Arthurian lore, Norse mythology, and Celtic mythology, Irish Celtic legends wi ...
'', the sci-fi ''
Anarchy Online ''Anarchy Online'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) published and developed by Norwegian video game development company Funcom. Released in June 2001, the game was the first in the genre to include a science-fiction ...
'', and ''
Ultima Online 2 ''Ultima Worlds Online: Origin'' (UWO:O) — originally titled ''Ultima Online 2'' () — was to be the first sequel to the popular 1997 massively multiplayer online role-playing game ''Ultima Online''. "Ultima Worlds Online: Origin - P ...
''. ''Anarchy Online'', released first in June 2001, was saddled with crippling technical problems upon its release, mostly due to an inability to handle the huge playerbase. ''Dark Age of Camelot'' launched smoothly four months later, introducing "Realm vs. Realm" PvP and other innovations, and quickly passed ''Ultima Online'' and ''Asheron's Call'' in popularity, and became ''EverQuest''’s main rival. ''Ultima Online 2'' was cancelled by
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
in March 2001, as they had decided that the market was becoming saturated and that it would be more profitable to divert resources to the original ''Ultima Online''. ''
RuneScape ''RuneScape'' is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Jagex, released in January 2001. ''RuneScape'' was originally a browser game built with the Java programming language; it was large ...
'' by Jagex was also released in 2001. 2001 also saw MMORPGs move off of PCs and onto home consoles in a limited form with the release of ''
Phantasy Star Online ''Phantasy Star Online'' is an online role-playing game (RPG) developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega in 2000 for the Dreamcast. It was the first online RPG for game consoles; players adventure with up to three others over the internet to ...
''; however, due to platform limitations, it would not be until '' EverQuest Online Adventures'' release that 'massive' features found their way outside of non-combat areas on consoles. 2001 also saw the first fully 3D sci-fi space-ship MMORPG. ''Jumpgate: The Reconstruction Initiative'' (also ''Jumpgate'' or ''Jumpgate Classic'' and commonly abbreviated as JG or JGC) is an MMORPG in a science fiction setting for the PC, released in North America on September 25, 2001 by NetDevil (developer) and 3DO (publisher). In 2002 the sprite-based ''
Ragnarok Online ''Ragnarok Online'' ( ko, 라그나로크 온라인, marketed as ''Ragnarök'', and alternatively subtitled ''The Final Destiny of the Gods'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) created by Gravity based on the manhwa '' ...
'', produced by Korean company Gravity Corp, was released. Though unknown to many Western players, the game took Asia by storm as ''Lineage'' had done. The publisher has claimed in excess of 25 million subscribers of the game, although this number is based upon a quantity of registered users (rather than active subscribers). 2002 also saw the release of ''
MapleStory ''MapleStory'' () is a free-to-play, 2D, side-scrolling massively multiplayer online role-playing game, developed by South Korean company Wizet. Several versions of the game are available for specific countries or regions, published by vario ...
'', another sprite-based title, which was completely
free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...
- instead of charging a monthly fee, it generated revenue by selling in-game "enhancements". ''MapleStory'' would go on to become a major player in the new market for free-to-play MMORPGs (generating huge numbers of registered accounts across its many versions), if it did not introduce the market by itself. In September 2002, ''
Earth & Beyond ''Earth & Beyond'' was a science fiction massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Westwood Studios and published by Electronic Arts (EA). The game was released in in the United States. EA shut down ''Earth & Beyond'' ...
'' was released. Having been in development since 1997, this was the second 3D sci-fi space-ship based MMORPG. ''Earth and Beyond'' only lasted two years before being shut down by developer
Westwood Studios Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westw ...
' owners,
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
. In November 2002, ''
Final Fantasy XI also known as ''Final Fantasy XI Online'', is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), originally developed and published by Squaresoft and then published by Square Enix as the eleventh main installment of the ''Final Fantasy ...
'' by
Square-Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...
became the first MMOG to provide clients for different platforms using a single set of servers, in addition to being the first 'true' MMOG to appear on a
video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally placed i ...
due to its initial release in Japan in May of the same year on the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
. It would go on to provide a client for a third platform, the
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...
, in 2006. In March 2003,
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...
launched their first MMORPG: ''
Shadowbane ''Shadowbane'' was a free-to-play fantasy role-playing video game (MMORPG) created by Wolfpack Studios and published on March 25, 2003 by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X platforms. Originally commercial and subscription-driven, ''Shadow ...
''. Shadowbane was notable for featuring no quests, and instead relying on player warfare to provide immersion. To support this goal it featured player-built, player-owned, and player-razed cities and capitals, and a system for player government. Also in March 2003
Sony Online Entertainment Daybreak Game Company LLC is an American video game developer based in San Diego. The company was founded in December 1997 as Sony Online Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment, but was spun off to an independent investor in ...
launched '' EverQuest Online Adventures'', a
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
spin-off of the successful ''
EverQuest ''EverQuest'' is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows PCs. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North Americ ...
'' MMO. This game was only accessible to PlayStation 2 players. The game shut down on the March 29, 2012 after nine years of full operations. May 2003 saw the release of ''
Eve Online ''Eve Online'' (stylised ''EVE Online'') is a space-based, persistent world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by CCP Games. Players of ''Eve Online'' can participate in a number of in-game profess ...
'', produced by
CCP Games CCP hf., doing business as CCP Games, is an Icelandic video game developer based in Reykjavík. Novator Partners and General Catalyst had previously collectively owned a majority stake in the company, and in September 2018, CCP was acquired by ...
, which had players taking the role of spaceship pilots and had gameplay similar to the series '' Star Control''. Though not the first space MMO (''
Microsoft Allegiance ''Allegiance'' is a multiplayer online game initially developed by Microsoft Research. It is notable for providing a mix of real-time strategy and player piloted space combat gameplay. Although the game was well received upon release, its sale ...
'' was the first space MMO and was released in 1999), ''Eve'' was able to achieve lasting success. One of the reasons for its success may have been the game's design, in which all subscribers play in one shared universe as a result the natural partitioning of the game universe into solar systems connected by stargates. This partitioning allows the world to be divided up in such a way that one or more solar systems run on different servers, while still maintaining a single coherent world. In June 2003,
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
launched its first MMORPG, ''
Toontown Online ''Toontown Online'', commonly known as ''Toontown'', was a 2003 massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on a cartoon animal world, developed by Disney's Virtual Reality Studio and Schell Games, and published by The Walt Disney Comp ...
'', for open release. Unlike a lot of other first and second generation MMOs at the time, ''Toontown'' was unique from the rest because it specifically focused on reaching audiences of children and families, while most MMOs of the generation appealed to older players. Because of this, it is often entitled the first MMO for families. With ''Toontowns unique playing style, players took on the roles of classic cartoon characters, which were heavily based on the world in the 1988
Touchstone Pictures Touchstone Pictures, Inc. was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featu ...
film, ''
Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American live-action/animated comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely adapted by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from Gary K. Wolf's 1 ...
''. The objective of the game was simple. One had to save the city of Toontown from evil business robots, known as Cogs. While a lot of the game was based on leveling up from side activities, the combat features of the game took precedence. The weapons of the game that lured off Cogs were known as Gags, unique objects found in cartoons and comedic nature (such as a flower pot or TNT). According to the storyline, "Cogs just can't take a joke!" After a good 10 years of the game being targeted to all kinds of audiences, Disney decided to close it in order to shift its development towards another virtual world experience known as ''
Club Penguin ''Club Penguin'' was a massively multiplayer online game (MMO), involving a virtual world that contained a range of online games and activities. It was created by New Horizon Interactive (now known as Disney Canada Inc.). Players used cartoon ...
''. Thousands of community members are still actively playing in community servers that have risen in the wake of its closing. In October 2003, ''
Lineage II ''Lineage II'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows and the second game in the ''Lineage'' series. It is a prequel to ''Lineage'' and is set 150 years before the first game. It has become popular sinc ...
'' (NCsoft's sequel to ''Lineage'') became the latest MMORPG to achieve huge success across Asia. It received the Presidential Award at the 2003 Korean Game awards, and is now the second most popular MMORPG in the world. As of the first half of 2005 ''Lineage II'' counted over 2.25 million subscribers worldwide, with servers in Japan, China, North America, Taiwan, and Europe, once the popularity of the game had surged in the West. 2003 also saw the appearance of ''
Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...
''. While not primarily a role playing game, it is clearly multiplayer and online, and it is used as a platform where people construct role playing games based on Gor, ''Star Trek'', vampires, and other genres. In April 2004, NCSoft produced another significant title, ''
City of Heroes ''City of Heroes'' (''CoH'') was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game which was developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCSOFT. The game was launched in North America on April 28, 2004, and in Europe by NCsoft Europe on Febru ...
''. It introduced several major innovations in gameplay and also featured an extreme number of possible visual character appearances, and its comic-book
superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
theme made it stand out.


Current-generation MMORPGs


2000s

The most recent generation of MMORPGs, based on arbitrary standards of graphics, gameplay, and popularity, is said to have launched in November 2004 with
Sony Online Entertainment Daybreak Game Company LLC is an American video game developer based in San Diego. The company was founded in December 1997 as Sony Online Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment, but was spun off to an independent investor in ...
's ''
EverQuest II ''EverQuest II'' is a 3D fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed and published by Sony Online Entertainment for Microsoft Windows PCs and released in November 2004. It is the sequel to the original ...
'' and Blizzard Entertainment's ''
World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...
'' (''WoW''). At the time, Sony expected to dominate the market, based on the success of the first ''EverQuest'', and decided to offer a flat monthly rate to play all of their MMORPGs including ''EverQuest'', ''EverQuest II'', and ''
Star Wars Galaxies ''Star Wars Galaxies'' was a ''Star Wars'' themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows, developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts. Released on June 26, 2003, to much critical ac ...
'', to keep from competing with itself. While ''EverQuest II'' was a commercial success as predicted, ''World of Warcraft'' immediately overtook all of these games upon release, and indeed became so popular that it dwarfed all previous monthly-fee MMORPGs. The closest MMORPG to ''World of Warcraft'' was, in terms of paying subscribers, ''
RuneScape ''RuneScape'' is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Jagex, released in January 2001. ''RuneScape'' was originally a browser game built with the Java programming language; it was large ...
'' with more than one million subscribers and even more free players. ''RuneScape'' was also the world's largest free MMORPG, though it received less media attention than ''WoW''. With the release of these newer games, subscriptions began to decline for many older MMORPGs, even the year-old ''
Lineage II ''Lineage II'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows and the second game in the ''Lineage'' series. It is a prequel to ''Lineage'' and is set 150 years before the first game. It has become popular sinc ...
'', and in particular ''Everquest''. The current MMORPG market has ''World of Warcraft'' in a position similar to the position of
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
in the tabletop RPG market, with both games' market share being greater than 50% of the overall market. In August 2005 Sony Online Entertainment acquired ''
The Matrix Online ''The Matrix Online'' (abbreviated as ''MxO'') was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) initially developed by Monolith Productions and later, a few months after launch, by Sony Online Entertainment. It was advertised as a ...
'', and the game was shut down at 11:59pm, 31 July 2009. It is the one of the first games Sony terminated along with ''
Free Realms ''Free Realms'' was a massively multiplayer online game, massively multiplayer online (MMO) role-playing video game, role playing video game developed by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) for Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Mac and PlayStation 3 tha ...
'' on March 31, 2014. On April 25 2005,
ArenaNet ArenaNet, LLC is an American video game developer and subsidiary of NCsoft, founded in 2000 by Mike O'Brien, Patrick Wyatt and Jeff Strain and located in Bellevue, Washington. They are most notable as developers of the online role-playing ga ...
(a subsidiary of NCSoft) successfully launched ''
Guild Wars ''Guild Wars'' is an online role-playing game franchise developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSOFT. The games were critically well received and won many editor's choice awards, as well as awards such as Best Value, Best Massively Multiplaye ...
'', introducing a new financial model which might have been partly responsible for the game's success. Though definitely an online RPG, and technically having a persistent world (despite most of the game's content being instanced), it requires only a one-time purchasing fee. It was also designed to be "winnable", more or less, as developers would not profit from customers' prolonged playtime. Other differences compared to traditional MMORPGs include strictly PvP-only areas, a relatively short playtime requirement to access end-game content, instant world travel, and strategic PvP. The game is designed around the max level cap of level 20, so players will not run into the level-spreading problem when grouping. For these differences it was termed instead a "Competitive Online Role-Playing Game" (CORPG) by its developers. With five million games purchased as of April '09, ''Guild Wars'' was still continuously profitable (due to several stand-alone games) but was still not viewed by some as a serious competitor to ''WoW'' in terms of profit and number of players. However, the alternative nature of the payment system in Guild Wars meant that the game did not aim to "compete" with ''WoW'' rather than exist alongside it, and in that sense it could still be considered a large success. There was also significant competition (and potential for profit) among
free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...
MMORPGs. A few of the most successful of these were ''
Silkroad Online ''Silkroad Online'' ( ko, 실크로드 온라인) is a fantasy MMORPG set in the 7th century AD, along the Silk Road between China and Europe. The game requires no periodic subscription fee, but players can purchase premium items to customize ...
'' (launched 2004) by the publisher
Joymax Joymax is a South Korean video game developer. Joymax initially published games for the PC then expanded to other platforms (including mobile devices). Joymax runs a data center in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain ...
, the 3D sprite based MMORPG ''
Flyff ''Flyff'' (short for ''Fly for Fun'') is a fantasy MMORPG by Korean development company Gala Lab (formerly Aeonsoft & nFlavor). Flyff is hosted in 13 countries and 10 languages and has over 30 million registered accounts. Development In Decem ...
'' by Aeonsoft, ''Rappelz'' by nFlavor, (with Aeonsoft and nFlavor merging in 2010 to become Gala Lab Corp) '' Perfect World'' by ''
Beijing Perfect World Perfect World Co., Ltd. ( zh, 完美世界股份有限公司) is a Chinese mass media company based in Beijing. It was founded in 2004 by Chi Yufeng. The company consists of two business segments: Perfect World Games, a video game publisher, an ...
'', the 2D scrolling MMORPG ''
MapleStory ''MapleStory'' () is a free-to-play, 2D, side-scrolling massively multiplayer online role-playing game, developed by South Korean company Wizet. Several versions of the game are available for specific countries or regions, published by vario ...
'' by
Wizet Wizet ( ko, 위젯) is a video game development studio located in Seoul, South Korea. They reached commercial success with their hit game ''MapleStory'' and were absorbed into their publishing company, Nexon. Nexon developed a franchise system and ...
and finally the free-to-play converted ''
Shadowbane ''Shadowbane'' was a free-to-play fantasy role-playing video game (MMORPG) created by Wolfpack Studios and published on March 25, 2003 by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X platforms. Originally commercial and subscription-driven, ''Shadow ...
'' by
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...
. Most of these games generate revenue by selling in-game "enhancements", and due to their free nature have accumulated huge numbers of registered accounts over the years, with a majority of them from East Asia. On July 1, 2009,
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...
shut down the ''
Shadowbane ''Shadowbane'' was a free-to-play fantasy role-playing video game (MMORPG) created by Wolfpack Studios and published on March 25, 2003 by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X platforms. Originally commercial and subscription-driven, ''Shadow ...
'' servers. Many of the most recent big-budget contributions to the market have focused on giving players visually stunning graphics. In 2007, '' The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar'' (LOTRO) was one of the first of these to meet with commercial success, followed by the problematic 2008 launch of '' Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures'' and the
Player versus player Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are mos ...
focused '' Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning''. Much like LOTRO, many of the games in development with big expectations have multi-media tie-ins, such as '' Star Wars: The Old Republic'' (launched 2011) and ''
Star Trek Online ''Star Trek Online'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Cryptic Studios based on the ''Star Trek'' franchise. The game is set in the 25th century, 30 years after the events of '' Star Trek: Nemesis''. ''Sta ...
'' (launched 2010). In mid-2013, ''WoW'' was one of the most played games in North America, and the most subscribed to MMORPG worldwide, with a total of over 7 million subscriptions.


2010s

In 2010, Pocket Legends, the first cross-platform MMORPG for mobile platforms was launched for
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
and later that year for Android. In contrast to PC and console MMORPGs and despite the game's success, development was short lived. Since 2012, no new expansions are released as the player base has shrunk due to the company's focus on the launch of new titles. In 2014, WildStar that is developed by Carbine Studios was released by NCSOFT was a big budget subscription-based game that later moved to a free-to-play model. In November 2018, Carbine Studios and WildStar were shut down for good by NCSOFT. On 19 December 2016, it was announced that
Turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating e ...
would no longer be involved with the development of MMORPG's, to instead focus on a future of mobile development. However they had four games in operation, both
Lord of the Rings Online ''The Lord of the Rings Online'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows and OS X set in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, taking place during the time period of ''The Lord of the Rings''. Originally dev ...
and
Dungeons & Dragons Online ''Dungeons & Dragons Online'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Turbine for Microsoft Windows and OS X. The game was originally marketed as ''Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach''. Upon switching to a h ...
would continue development under a newly formed studio by the name of ''Standing Stone Games'', with game staff, servers and services moving from Turbine to the new studio. As part of this transition,
Daybreak Games Daybreak Game Company LLC is an American video game developer based in San Diego. The company was founded in December 1997 as Sony Online Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment, but was spun off to an independent investor i ...
would become the new publisher, taking over from
Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
. It was announced not long after that
Asheron's Call ''Asheron's Call'' (AC) was a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows PCs, developed and published by Turbine Entertainment Software. Though it was developed by the Turbine team (with Microsoft's ex ...
and Asheron's Call 2 would both close on January 31 2017 as result of the events. Asheron's Call as an IP would remain with Turbine, however the staff and servers leaving would force the game closed.


"The Big Five"

"The Big Five" is a loose term used amongst game critics and reviewers to group the five most popular, successful or active MMORPGs (depending on criteria) of any given period. The games that are commonly considered members of "The Big Five" slowly shift over time, as some lose active players while others gain more. In October and December 2020, ''Massively Overpowered'' contributors Eliot Lefebvre and Carlo Lacsina stated that at the time, "The Big Five" were ''
Black Desert Online ''Black Desert Online'' () is a sandbox-oriented fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Korean video game developer Pearl Abyss and originally published for Microsoft Windows in 2015. A mobile version titled ' ...
'' (''BDO''), ''
Final Fantasy XIV ''Final Fantasy XIV'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix. Directed and produced by Naoki Yoshida, it was released worldwide for Windows and PlayStation 3 in August 2013, as a rep ...
'' (''FF14''), ''
The Elder Scrolls Online ''The Elder Scrolls Online'', abbreviated ''ESO'', is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by ZeniMax Online Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Windows and OS X in Ap ...
'' (''ESO''), ''
World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...
'' (''WoW''), and ''
Guild Wars 2 ''Guild Wars 2'' is a free-to-play, massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSoft. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the core game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild ded ...
'' (''GW2''). Reviewer Bio Break, who in February 2019 included '' Star Wars: The Old Republic'' (''SWTOR'') rather ''BDO'', questioned whether "The Big Five" were properly defined as a group, stating that 'these titles aren't necessarily the most popular or successful, there is just a perception that they are so,' and claiming that ''
RuneScape ''RuneScape'' is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Jagex, released in January 2001. ''RuneScape'' was originally a browser game built with the Java programming language; it was large ...
'' 'doesn't get that much respect among the wider community'. Similarly, critic Josh Strife Hayes listed ''RuneScape'' rather than ''BDO'' amongst 'the five major games that dominated the MMO landscape in the last few years' in July 2021, when ''Final Fantasy XIV'' overtook ''World of Warcraft'' (which had been 'an absolute dominant force' until then). Although players and observers had speculated for over a decade that this or that game would eventually 'dethrone' or 'kill' ''WoW'' by attaining even more popularity, instead many ''WoW'' players just gradually left the game out of disappointment, with only some switching to its main competitors.


See also

*
List of MMORPGs This is a selected list of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). MMORPGs are large multi-user games that take place in perpetual online worlds with a great number of other players. In most MMORPGs each player controls ...
*
History of online games Online games are video games played over a computer network. The evolution of these games parallels the evolution of computers and computer networking, with new technologies improving the essential functionality needed for playing video games on ...
* MOG *
MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...
*
Virtual world A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Massively Multiplayer Online Games *history History of video games