Harry 
title
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 a remote server. Many video games have an online component,
allowing players to play against or cooperatively with players across a network around the world. == Background of technologies ==
The first video and computer games, such as NIMROD (1951), OXO (1952), and Spacewar! (1962), were for one or two players sitting
at a single computer which was being used only to play the game. Later in the 1960s, computers began to support
time-sharing, which allowed multiple users to share use of a computer simultaneously. Systems of computer terminals were created
allowing users to operate the computer from a different room than where the computer was
housed.
Soon after, Modem links further expanded this
range so that users did not have to be in the same building as the computer; terminals
could connect to their host computers via dial-up or leased telephone lines. With the increased remote access, "host based"
games were created, in which users on remote systems connected to a central computer to
play single-player, and soon after, multiplayer games.Later, in the 1970s, packet-based computer
networking technology began to mature. Between 1973 and 1975, Xerox PARC developed
Local Area Networks based on Ethernet. Additionally, the Wide Area Network ARPANET
further developed from its 1969 roots, lead to the creation of the Internet on January
1, 1983. These LANs and WANS allowed for network games,
where the game created and received network packets; Systems located across LANs or the
Internet could run games with each other in peer-to-peer or client–server models. == PLATO ==
In the early 1970s, the PLATO time-sharing system, created by the University of Illinois
and Control Data Corporation allowed students at several locations to use online lessons
in one of the earliest systems for computer aided instruction. In 1972, PLATO IV terminals with new graphics
capabilities were introduced, and students started using this system to create multiplayer
games.
By 1978, PLATO had multiplayer interactive
graphical dungeon crawls, air combat (Airfight), tank combat, space battles (Empire and Spasim),
with features such as inter-player messaging, persistent game characters, and team play
for at least 32 simultaneous players. == Networked host-based systems ==
A key goal of early network systems such as ARPANET and JANET was to allow users of "dumb"
text-based terminals attached to one host computer (or, later, to terminal servers)
to interactively use programs on other host computers. This meant that games on those systems were
accessible to users in many different locations by use of programs such as telnet.
Most of the early host-based games were single-player,
and frequently originated and were primarily played at universities. A sizable proportion were written on DEC-20
mainframes, as those had a strong presence in the university market. Games such as The Oregon Trail (1971), Colossal
Cave Adventure (1976), and Star Trek (1972) were very popular, with several or many students
each playing their own copy of the game at once, time-sharing the system with each other
and users running other programs. Eventually, though, multiplayer host-based
games on networked computers began to be developed.
One of the most important of these was MUD
(1978), a program which spawned a genre and had significant input into the development
of concepts of shared world design, having formative impact on the evolution of MMORPG's. In 1984, MAD debuted on BITNET; this was the
first MUD fully accessible from a worldwide computer network. During its two-year existence, 10% of the
sites on BITNET connected to it. In 1988, another BITNET MUD named MUDA appeared. It lasted for five years, before going off
line due to the retirement of the computers it ran on.In the summer of 1973, Maze War
was first written at NASA's Ames Research Center in California by high school summer
interns using Imlac PDS-1 computers. The authors added two-player capability by
connecting two IMLAC computers with serial cables. Since two computers were involved, as opposed
to "dumb terminals", they could use formatted protocol packets to send information to each
other, so this could be considered the first peer-to-peer computer video game. It could also be called the first First person
shooter. In 1983, Gary Tarolli wrote a flight simulator
demonstration program for Silicon Graphics workstation computers.
In 1984, networking capabilities were added
by connecting two machines using serial cables just as had been done with the IMLACs for
Mazewar at NASA eleven years earlier. Next, XNS support was added, allowing multiple
stations to play over an Ethernet, just as with the Xerox version of Mazewar. In 1986, UDP support was added (port 5130),
making SGI Dogfight the first game to ever use the Internet protocol suite. The packets used, though, were broadcast packets,
which meant that the game was limited to a single network segment; it could not cross
a router, and thus could not be played across the Internet. Around 1989, IP Multicast capability was added,
and the game became playable between any compatible hosts on the Internet, assuming that they
had multicast access (which was quite uncommon). The multicast address is 224.0.1.2, making
this only the third multicast application (and the first game) to receive an address
assignment, with only the VMTP protocol (224.0.1.0) and the Network Time Protocol (224.0.1.1)
having arrived earlier.
== X Window System games ==
In 1986, MIT and DEC released the X Window System, which provided two important capabilities
in terms of game development. Firstly, it provided a widely deployed graphics
system for workstation computers on the Internet. A number of workstation graphics systems existed,
including Bell Labs' BLIT, SGI's IRIS GL, Carnegie Mellon's Andrew Project, DEC's UWS
(Ultrix Workstation Software), VWS (Vax Workstation Software), and Sun's NeWS, but X managed over
time to secure cross-platform dominance, becoming available for systems from nearly all workstation
manufacturers, and coming from MIT, had particular strength in the academic arena.
Since Internet games were being written mostly
by college students, this was critical. Secondly, X had the capability of using computers
as thin clients, allowing a personal workstation to use a program which was actually being
run on a much more powerful server computer exactly as if the user were sitting at the
server computer. While remote control programs such as VNC
allow similar capabilities, X incorporates it at the operating system level, allowing
for much more tightly integrated functionality than these later solutions provide; multiple
applications running on different servers can display individual windows. For example, a word processor running on one
server could have two or three windows open while a mail reader running on the workstation
itself, and a game running on yet another server could each display their own windows,
and all applications would be using native graphics calls.
This meant that starting in the summer of
1986, a class of games began to be developed which relied on a fast host computer running
the game and "throwing" X display windows, using personal workstation computers to remotely
display the game and receive user input. Since X can use multiple networking systems,
games based on remote X displays are not Internet-only games; they can be played over DECnet and
other non-TCP/IP network stacks.The first of these remote display games was Xtrek. Based on a PLATO system game, Empire, Xtrek
is a 2D multiplayer space battle game loosely set in the Star Trek universe. This game could be played across the Internet,
probably the first graphical game that could do so, a few months ahead of the X version
of Maze War. Importantly, however, the game itself was
not aware that it was using a network.
In a sense it was a host-based game, because
the program only ran on a single computer, and knew about the X Window System, and the
window system took care of the networking: essentially one computer displaying on several
screens. The X version of Maze War, on the other hand,
was peer-to-peer and used the network directly, with a copy of the program running on each
computer in the game, instead of only a single copy running on a server. Netrek (originally called Xtrek II) was a
fully network-aware client–server rewrite of Xtrek. Other remote X display based games include
xtank and XPilot (1991). By 1989 Simson Garfinkel reported that on
MIT's Project Athena, "Games like 'X-tank' and 'X-trek' let students at different workstations
command tanks and starships, fire missiles at each other as fast as they can hit the
buttons on their mice, and watch the results on their graphics displays".
Observers estimated that up to one third of
Athena usage was for games. == Commercial timesharing services ==
As time-sharing technology matured, it became practical for companies with excess capacity
on their expensive computer systems to sell that capacity. Service bureaus such as Tymshare (founded
1966) dedicated to selling time on a single computer to multiple customers sprang up. The customers were typically businesses that
did not have the need or money to purchase and manage their own computer systems. In 1979, two time-sharing companies, The Source
and CompuServe, began selling access to their systems to individual consumers and small
business; this was the beginning of the era of online service providers.
While an initial focus of service offerings
was the ability for users to run their own programs, over time applications including
online chat, electronic mail and BBSs and games became the dominant uses of the systems. For many people, these, rather than the academic
and commercial systems available only at universities and technical corporations, were their first
exposure to online gaming.In 1984, CompuServe debuted Islands of Kesmai, the first commercial
multiplayer online role playing game. Islands of Kesmai used scrolling text (ASCII
graphics) on screen to draw maps of player location, depict movement, and so on; the
interface is considered Roguelike.
At some point, graphical overlay interfaces
could be downloaded, putting a slightly more glitzy face on the game. Playing cost was the standard CompuServe connection
fee of the time, $6 per hour with a 300 baud modem, $12 for a 1200 baud modem; the game
processed one command every 10 seconds, which equates to 12⁄3 cents per command. The LINKS was an online network launched for
the MSX in Japan in 1986. It featured several graphical multiplayer
online games, including T&E Soft's Daiva Dr. Amandora and Super Laydock, Telenet Japan's
Girly Block, and Bothtec's Dires. It also featured several downloadable games,
including Konami's A1 Grand Prix and Network Rally.Habitat was the first attempt at a large-scale
commercial virtual community that was graphically based. Habitat was not a 3D environment and did not
incorporate immersion techniques. It is considered a forerunner of the modern
MMORPGs, and was quite unlike other online communities (i.e. MUDs and MOOs with text-based interfaces)
of the time. Habitat had a GUI and large userbase of consumer-oriented
users, and those elements in particular have made it a much-cited project.
When Habitat was shut down in 1988, it was
succeeded by a scaled-down but more sophisticated game called Club Caribe. In 1987, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi
partnered with Nomura Securities on the development of the Family Computer Network System for
the Famicom (NES) in Japan. Led by Masayuki Uemura, Nintendo Research
& Development 2 developed the modem hardware, and Nomura Securities developed the client
and server software and the information database.
Five network-enabled games were developed
for the system, including a graphical, competitive online multiplayer version of Yamauchi's favorite
classic, Go.In 1987, Kesmai (the company which developed Islands of Kesmai) released Air
Warrior on GEnie. It was a graphical flight simulator/air combat
game, initially using wire frame graphics, and could run on Apple Macintosh, Atari ST,
or Commodore Amiga computers. Over time, Air Warrior was added to other
online services, including Delphi, CRIS, CompuServe, America Online, Earthlink, GameStorm and CompuLink. Over time, Kesmai produced many improved versions
of the game. In 1997, a backport from Windows to the Macintosh
was made available as an open beta on the Internet.
In 1999, Kesmai was purchased by Electronic
Arts, which started running the game servers itself. The last Air Warrior servers were shut down
on December 7, 2001. In 1988, Federation debuted on Compunet. It was a text-based online game, focused around
the interstellar economy of our galaxy in the distant future. Players work their way up a series of ranks,
each of which has a slightly more rewarding and interesting but difficult job attached,
which culminates in the ownership of one's own "duchy", a small solar system. After some time on GEnie, in 1995 Federation
moved to AOL. AOL made online games free, dropping surcharges
to play, in 1996, and the resulting load caused it to drop online game offerings entirely. IBGames, creators of Federation, started offering
access to the game through its own website, making it perhaps the first game to transition
off of an online service provider.
IBGames kept the game operational until 2005,
after most of the player base transitioned to the sequel, 2003's Federation II. In 1990, Sega launched the online multiplayer
gaming service Sega Meganet for the Mega Drive (Genesis) video game console. Sega continued to provide online gaming services
for its later consoles, including the Sega NetLink service for the Sega Saturn and the
SegaNet service for the Dreamcast. In 1995, Nintendo released the Satellaview,
a satellite modem for the Super Famicom in Japan only after partnering up with St.GIGA,
that gave the console online multiplayer gaming. In 1999, Nintendo released an add-on for the
Nintendo 64 called the 64DD in Japan only, which offered Internet through a now-defunct
dedicated online service for e-commerce, online gaming, and media sharing. The late 1990s saw an explosion of MMORPGs,
including Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds (1996), Ultima Online (1997), Lineage (1998),
and EverQuest (1999). In 2000, Sony introduced online multiplayer
to the PlayStation 2. It was the first time of Sony doing so, and
like many major consoles to come, will become a norm in the industry.
In 2001, Nintendo introduced online multiplayer
to the Nintendo GameCube using an add-on called a Broadband Adapter and Modem Adapter. It, however, came dead last in competing with
the likes of the upcoming Xbox and the now icon of modern gaming, the PlayStation 2,
both in sales and online impact. Later on, in 2002, Microsoft released the
Xbox, which by using Xbox Live, offered online multiplayer and other Internet capabilities
to the console and continued doing so for its later consoles, the Xbox 360 and the Xbox
One. In 2006, Nintendo released the Wii, which
offered online multiplayer gaming and other Internet capabilities over Nintendo Wi-Fi
Connection and WiiConnect24, respectively. Both services were shut down on May 20, 2014,
along with online capabilities of any games that utilize the feature, such as Mario Kart
Wii (2008).
The same year the Wii hit store shelves, rival
Sony introduced its new monster to add to its line of industry icons, the PlayStation
3 which used the brand new PlayStation Network (PSN) for online multiplayer gaming and other
Internet capabilities to the system, and continued doing so for later consoles such as the PlayStation
4. In 2012, Nintendo made a successor to the
dying Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection involving their next-gen console, the Wii U, and its
handheld counterpart, the Nintendo 3DS, by creating the Nintendo Network to continue
on its online multiplayer and Internet capabilities, in order to compete against Microsoft's Xbox
Live and Sony's PlayStation Network.
Nintendo's latest console, the Nintendo Switch,
does offer online play via Nintendo Network. == See also ==
History of massively multiplayer online games Online game
Multiplayer video game.
