''The Realm Online'', originally known as ''The Realm'', is a
massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) launched in December 1996 for
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
PC. It was designed in the tradition of
graphical MUDs,
before the usage of the terms "
massively multiplayer
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 ...
" and "MMORPG".
[ ]
Originally published by
Sierra On-Line
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 ...
, it was abandoned by that company because of its unfavorable comparison to ''
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. ...
'' and ''
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 Amer ...
''.
It was next taken up for a short time by a company called
World Opponent Network
World Opponent Network (WON) was an online gaming service created by Sierra Games as the Sierra Internet Gaming System (SIGS). WON was used by games such as ''Homeworld'', ''Half-Life'', '' Outpost 2'', '' Star Trek: Armada'', '' Soldier of Fortu ...
which was also owned by
Sierra On-line
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 ...
, then
Codemasters
The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts. Founded by brothers Richard and David Darling in Oct ...
, and presently is a
Norseman Games production.
In April 2018 Norseman Games of Michigan, LLC granted an exclusive license to Rat Labs, LLC to develop and distribute ''The Realm''. Later in June 1, Rat Labs opened a "fresh start" server that is free to play.
Gameplay
''The Realm Online'' uses
turn-based combat, which makes it different from other
MUDs of its generation,
and is convenient for players with a bad Internet connection.
it has been credited to be the first virtual world to use
instances, with every battle taking place in a special room outside of the open world.
The game has been criticized for its unforgiving
character creation
Character creation (also character generation or character design) is the process of defining a game character or other character. Typically, a character's individual strengths and weaknesses are represented by a set of statistics. Games with a ...
: a character that hasn't been created optimally can't reach maximum potential.
Popularity
In the game's first year, 25,000 user accounts had been made. In 2008, the server would still reach an online population of 100 to 200 players during peak hours and has since returned to these numbers with the release of the free to play version of the server.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Realm Online, The
Instanced massively multiplayer online role-playing games
1996 video games
Graphical MUDs
Video games developed in the United States
Video games scored by Chance Thomas
Windows games
Windows-only games