A Brief History of MMORPGs

In the ever advancing realm of PC gaming, one particular genre of game has quite recently taken the market by storm. That genre is Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs). What began with very simple text-based adventures called MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) has since escalated into a worldwide phenomenon consisting of millions of players across hundreds of games and netting billions of dollars every year... and there is no sign of slowing. Today, games like World of Warcraft and EverQuest have dominated the market. Boasting powerful 3D graphics, persistent worlds that are truly epic in scale and a vast community of players that never sleeps, these games, and many others like them, have secured a solid foothold in the video game industry.

The origins of these games are surprisingly humble. All of today's existing MMORPGs can trace their roots back to the mid -1970s and the first breed of true multiplayer online games known simply as MUDs or Multi-User Dungeons. A typical MUD is solely text-based with no graphical component at all; instead they use text to describe a particular room, treasure, event, or NPC. Players could input the actions they would like to perform based on a list of key phrases and commands (i.e. Attack, Move, Examine, etc.). Colossal Cave Adventure, Zork, and the very first MUD, MUD1 (now known as British Legends), are among some of the most popular titles of these games. Despite their age, lack of any graphics and often confusing interfaces, some of these games are still being played today, albeit with far less participation.

Another strong driving force behind the growing popularity of MMORPGs was the company TSR (Tactical Studies Rules). Founded by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye in 1973, TSR published and marketed the official rules of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D, grew wildly popular among high school and college students. In 1978, the first publication of the revised rules of D&D was released and called Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D). The fantasy elements introduced by these "table-top" role-playing games, as well as literary contributions from authors such as JRR Tolkien, opened minds and paved the way for even more advanced video games as developers tried more and more to capture the themes that players had grown to love.

In 1985, TSR began offering its licenses to game developers. Seeing the astounding success of its novels and role-playing games, TSR sought to grab a share of the video game market as well. The result was the Gold Box Engine.

Named for the gold packaging that the games were sold in, the Gold Box was a series of games set in the realms introduced by the AD&D set of rules. The games used the same graphical engine to power them and thus it became known as the Gold Box Engine. Produced by SSI (Strategic Simulations, Inc.), who managed to acquire the licenses from TSR, the Gold Box series was immensely popular with four #1 best-selling titles including the classic Pool of Radiance (1988) and the equally popular Curse of the Azure Bonds (1989). 13 titles in all made up the Gold Box series over the course of six years.

In 1991, SSI began work on their new Dark Sun engine, and thus formed a partnership with Stormfront Studios and passed development of the Savage Frontier series on to them. At that time, Don Daglow of Stormfront had been writing games for America On-Line (AOL) for years prior. The new partnership that formed between TSR, SSI, Stormfront, and AOL saw the creation of Neverwinter Nights. Not to be confused with BioWare's 2002 title by the same name, Neverwinter Nights combined the graphics of the Gold Box Engine with the online play of MUDs and became the very first MMORPG with graphics. Running from 1991 - 1997, Neverwinter Nights ushered in a new era for online role-playing games, which until that time had been strictly MUDs and text-based adventures with little to no graphical components.

While Neverwinter Nights was the first game to introduce graphics into the fledgling world of MMO games, its popularity was limited, with a player base of around 150,000 registered members by the time the game finally closed in 1997. The closure of Neverwinter Nights saw the end of one online gaming revolution and the beginning of another, greater one, spearheaded by three titles that would become known as "The Big Three."

Ultima Online (1997) was the first of the three games that define the first generation of MMORPGs. Still played today, Ultima Online has enjoyed the longest running time for any MMORPG in history and has received recognition in the Guinness Book of World Records for it.

Following Ultima Online, the next title that makes up the "Big Three" was both the first MMORPG to use 3D graphics. It was also the title which introduced the western hemisphere to the genre which had already been popularized in Asia. That game was called EverQuest.

EverQuest was released in 1999 by Sony's 989 Studios and the majority of its development handled by 989's sub-company Verant Interactive. The game was published by Sony Online Entertainment who has since acquired Verant and continue to run and distribute the game. EverQuest, more so than any of the other titles that make up the "big three" is responsible for pioneering many of themes and interface structures which are the basis for most of today's more popular MMORPGs. From the years 2000 to 2004, EverQuest held the spot of most popular MMORPG in the world, with a player base of over 500,000 by the end of 2004.

The third and final game of "The Big Three," Asheron's Call was released by Microsoft in November of 1999 and was the only competition facing EverQuest whose user-base grew by the thousands on a weekly basis.

What was started by "The Big Three" showed developers and consumers alike the drawing power of the MMORPG genre and over the course of the following years the number of MMO games (both free and pay-to-play) has increased exponentially with new additions popping up every year. Today, World of Warcraft, released by Blizzard in 2004, holds the title of the most popular MMORPG on the market with an astonishing 2 million subscribers.

It's been over 30 years since the first publications of Dungeons and Dragons and the numerous video games that were inspired by it. During those years we have seen the birth of a brand new genre of interactive entertainment. We have seen that genre's popularity grow rapidly from simple text-based adventures to be shared with a handful of users into epic sized, persistent worlds hosting thousands of players 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We have seen the rise of two whole generations of MMORPGs and are even now watching the horizons, wondering what innovations the next chapter will bring.