Eyro wrote: »

Anotherone773 wrote: »

Lysette wrote: »

DieAlteHexe wrote: »

TarrNokk wrote: »

Ultima Online

...nuff said

^^^^ That. And we won't even get into MUDS or BBS games.

MUDs do not really fulfill the requirement of the first M in MMO though - I played a few, at most around 100 characters concurrently, but most of the time far less than that. A few of those are still going strong, even to this day.

While its implied that massive means number of players, it likely doesnt. Back when the term came into existence, game were mostly single player. Some games had limited multiplayer functionality where you could log into a server and do certain tasks with a small group of people. Most multiplayer games of the time were single player with a multiplayer feature in which you could battle other players, do group content together, or play against each other on the same map from different locations in the world. They were very limited in play and max players.

MMOs came out before the term was coined. Text based games of the late 90s, now often referred to as MUDs, were never called MUDs. They were called multiplayer online. Ultima online was the first to use the term in late 90s and it caught on as both a genre and "catchphrase". MMO likely either/or/both refers to a large amount of players ( with large being another loose term) and the fact that before MMOs multiplayer had extremely limited functionality for group play. While MMOS allow grouping for everything and thus allowed multiplayer abilities on a totally different level than traditional multiplayer.

I played, what is now called a MUD, in the late 90s, with over 1500 players on a server i could interact with. At the time that was pretty massive in size. But it was cooperative play more than group play. I would still consider games of that type to be a true MMO.

Ive also played many browser based games that are smaller in size with only a few hundred people logged in at a time. I would also consider those to be MMOs. They have the group functionality but not the size per server mainly because browser games are limited in capability. If a game has a single player mode, I dont consider it a MMO no matter how many players you put on a server or how much of it can be played multiplayer. True MMOs are designed to only be played in multiplayer mode.

Im not sure what you are thinking of, but MUDS were certainly called MUDS back then. Several of the ones I played actually had MUD in the name. MUSH was another type of text based game similar in nature and yes they too were called MUSH.

Perhaps you are thinking of something else. For example you mention playing something that would be called a MUD that had 1500 players per server... most of the MUDs I ever played or saw were lucky if they got over 200 players online at once and were coded by some guy in a basement in his free time or as a pet project while in school.

Edits Muds were also the first time I notice that not everyone in the world was me. Shout out to the Estonia army that made up a lot of the MUD world at 3 am.

AuldWolf wrote: »

Good gravy, now you're asking.

That I played, or that I paid for? A somewhat crucial distinction in my long-toothed reckoning! I mean, blimey, if we're including even titles that we played on the creaking machines of bygone eras, titles from the Time of Beige Boxes, then... oh my... I'm not even certain.

I have memories of early MUDs and blinking text parsers reminiscent what was text adventures but became interactive fiction, where we built rooms and spake the tongue of muf. At least, I believe so. You must understand, it was a long time ago. I have echoes of shadows of recollections of a Neverwinter with 2D sprites not Obsidian or Cryptic at all in nature. And perhaps the very dawn of the browser game where we all wandered The Realm long, long before Runescape was a twinkle in someone's low-poly eye.

I've played so many. It all sort of melts into this messy melange at the end of the day. A lot of it was very forgettable, faceless, without form or substance and unworthy of etching its presence into the firmament of my psyche's inner plateau. I remember perhaps most fondly when I was a dragon -- small, at first. Then large. Then incredibly large, so large I blotted out the Horizons. Then smaller again, because that was simply the way of things.

I recall travelling the realms of Ultima from official to unofficial, littered with orcs with names like bumhug, hookahs that actually did something, and enough palette-swapped ghost horses to make even ZOS blush.

It's been a long old road.

I've played them all, pretty much. Regardless of quality, dimensions, culture, or custom. I've had a go at every title that ever was. Whether indie wherein one could take on the form of any beast in the game, or titles more illustrious based upon beloved IPs -- featuring orcs with names like Bazza (not quite as colourful but entertaining nonetheless) -- yet long forgotten. Of futuristic cities of the future with gravitational elevators where one'd duty was to... hunt rats in a sewer.

We've come a long way. It's honestly quite a lot better. I think my favourite title, though, was Champions Online as it pleased with its pastiche of corn and colour, and allowed limitless self-expression. I miss it. Now I have ESO, and ESO is becoming the new Champions Online, so I am happy once more.

Does this answer your question in a roundabout way?

It's a funny question really as it's opened the floodgates and I have these images of the first MMO that aped a third dimension without truly having one -- Merdian59. What an eyesore. And frogs! Frogs that were knights that supplanted words like 'hark' with 'froak' and spoke in the most bastardised middle-English that one couldn't be anything other than delighted by them.

The cyborgs of Anarchy. The calls of Asheron -- two of them! The Ages of Camelot, which were not quite as Dark as everyone claimed. The airships which travelled between landmasses in a way that was breathtaking at the time, and almost made up for losing levels when one died.

The dancing men-who-were-birds who lulled with the flute for reasons I can scantly remember.

Too few words for too many memories.

I feel like I'm experiencing some Grant Morrison-inspired trip. What have you done?

Edit: With all of this, some might be wondering -- Did I not play WoW? I honestly remember very little of it. When I try to force the memories to surface, all that really rises beyond the flotsam and jetsam are the words wall-walking. I remember trying to play, then thinking 'Sod this for a game of soldiers.' and exploring the land instead, my own way. That was much more entertaining, at least for a little while. Generally, though, I did not like it.