Massively multiplayer online game

Lore & Background

The most popular type of MMO, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), descended from university mainframe MUD and adventure games such as Rogue and Dungeon. These predated the commercial gaming industry and the Internet but featured persistent worlds. The first graphical MMO is generally considered to be *Habitat* (1986), a pioneering online world for the Commodore 64. The first 3D MMO was *Meridian 59* (1996), which paved the way for later titles. Commercial MMORPGs gained acceptance in the late 1980s and early 1990s, pioneered by the GemStone series and Neverwinter Nights, the first such game with graphics, which debuted on AOL in 1991.

Reader's Guide

MMOs emerged from hard-core gaming to the mainstream strongly in December 2003, when a Financial Times analysis measured the virtual property value in EverQuest, resulting in a per-capita GDP of $2,266, placing its virtual world as the 77th wealthiest nation. World of Warcraft became dominant, with 8-9 million monthly subscribers worldwide; in 2008, Western consumer spending on it represented a 58% share of the subscription MMO market in 2009, generating over $2.2 billion in cumulative subscription spending from 2005 through 2009. Virtual economies within MMOs often blur lines between real and virtual worlds, leading to practices like gold farming—acquiring large volumes of virtual currency for sale for real currency. This practice has negative connotations and varying enforcement by game companies. The virtual goods revenue from online games and social networking exceeded $7 billion in 2010, and by 2011 an estimated 100,000 people in China and Vietnam were gold farming as a main income source.

Did You Know?

• The first graphical MMO was Air Warrior, a flight combat simulation released in 1986 on the GEnie online service.
• Neverwinter Nights, debuting on AOL in 1991, was the first graphical MMORPG.
• In 2003, the virtual world of EverQuest was valued as the 77th wealthiest nation by per-capita GDP.
• World of Warcraft generated over $2.2 billion in cumulative subscription spending from 2005 through 2009.

From Text to Three Dimensions: The Birth of a Genre

The roots of the massively multiplayer online experience stretch back well before the commercial video game industry or the modern Internet. University mainframe systems hosted text-based MUDs and adventure titles such as Rogue and Dungeon on the PDP-10, and these early experiments already featured persistent worlds and other design pillars still central to the genre. The leap from text to visuals arrived in 1986 when Kesmai released Air Warrior on the GEnie online service, the first graphical MMO. Kesmai later added three-dimensional rendering, making it the first 3D MMO as well. The GemStone series, also a Kesmai creation on GEnie, helped pioneer commercial MMORPGs in the late 1980s and early 1990s, while Neverwinter Nights debuted on AOL in 1991 as the first such title to include graphics, initially supporting only fifty simultaneous players before expanding to five hundred by 1995. The late 1990s brought landmark releases—Realm Online, Meridian 59 as the first 3D MMORPG, Castle Infinity as the first kid-focused entry, Ultima Online, Underlight, and EverQuest—that collectively popularized the genre. By 2000, multiple titles were each serving thousands of concurrent players, and as developers applied these ideas to other genres, new acronyms like MMORTS emerged before MMO settled as the umbrella term.

Beyond the PC: Consoles, Mobile, and Mainstream Recognition

For much of its history, the MMO market was anchored almost entirely to personal computers, where fantasy-themed MMORPGs dominated. That changed with the sixth-generation consoles: Phantasy Star Online launched on the Dreamcast, and the rise of Xbox Live opened new doors. EverQuest Online Adventures appeared on the PlayStation 2, and Final Fantasy XI became notable as a multi-console title. The mobile phone market saw its first MMO in 2001 with Samurai Romanesque, set in feudal Japan and released on NTT DoCoMo's iMode network in Japan. Later entries included CipSoft's TibiaME and Biting Bit's MicroMonster, which offered online and Bluetooth multiplayer, while SmartCell Technology developed Shadow of Legend to let players continue a PC session on a mobile device. Science fiction also became a popular thematic setting, with titles like Mankind, Anarchy Online, EVE Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and The Matrix Online. The genre's breakthrough into the broader public consciousness came in December 2003, when the Financial Times analyzed the virtual property in EverQuest and calculated a per-capita GDP of 2,266 dollars—enough to rank the virtual world as the 77th wealthiest nation, comparable to Croatia, Ecuador, Tunisia, or Vietnam.

Virtual Economies and the Real-World Tug-of-War

A defining feature of most MMOs is the presence of virtual currency that players earn and accumulate, with uses varying from one title to the next. These in-game economies frequently blur the boundary between the digital and the real, creating what both players and developers often view as an unwanted crossover. The phenomenon is not new: even Ultima Online featured trade in which real money was exchanged for virtual items. As MMOs have grown in complexity, the importance of a well-functioning virtual economy has increased. A telling sign is CCP Games hiring the first real-life economist specifically for EVE Online to analyze and assist with the game's virtual economy and production systems. At the heart of the tension is a battle between the company that created the game and third-party firms seeking a share of the profits. The originating company argues that external trading violates the game's terms and constitutes copyright infringement, since it owns the rights to how in-game currency is distributed and through what channels. The third-party side counters that they are selling the time and effort invested in acquiring currency, not the digital data itself, and that many MMOs demand time commitments not available to every player, meaning those without external access are severely limited in experiencing certain aspects of the game.

Giants of the Genre: Market Dominance and Design Conventions

World of Warcraft stands as the most dominant title in the Western MMO landscape, maintaining eight to nine million monthly subscribers worldwide. After the expansion Wrath of the Lich King, its subscriber base dipped by roughly one million, settling at nine million in 2010, yet it remained the most popular Western MMO. In 2008, Western consumer spending on the title represented a 58 percent share of the subscription MMO market in 2009, and the game generated over 2.2 billion dollars in cumulative subscription revenue from 2005 through 2009. The genre's design conventions also reflect its multiplayer roots: AI-controlled characters remain common, with NPCs and mobs serving as quest-givers or opponents in MMORPGs, though they are less prevalent in action-based MMOs. The PC market has long been dominated by successful fantasy MMORPGs, while science fiction has carved out its own niche with titles spanning EVE Online to The Matrix Online. The sheer scale of these persistent worlds, capable of hosting thousands of simultaneous players, set the stage for the genre's continued evolution across platforms and genres.

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