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Online gaming is now a mainstay in the modern gaming world. If a game doesn’t have multiplayer arenas or co-op campaign, it likely has online scoreboards or content upgrades to keep the games fresh. No matter how you slice it, having a modem or a Wi-Fi signal is as essential to your setup as the controller itself. Where did it all begin though?
The Precursor
If you want to be a super nerd about it then we’d rewind all the way back to 1939 at the Worlds Fair with the introduction of the Nimtron. The Nimtron was a computer that allowed 1-2 people to play the game NIM, a math-based game in which two players take turns removing objects from distinct piles…sounds like a hoot doesn’t it? Though not necessarily online this machine sparks the idea of multiple people playing together and competing, then as the years went on and capitalism evolved someone said out loud, “We’d make more money if people could play together without being in the same location.” Ah capitalism.
The Birth
Let’s move into the 1970s where the technology is finally possible shall we? The 1970s were not only about peace, love, and crabs (not the crustacean), but were the early days of packet-based computer networking. PBCN (acronym invented by yours truly) was a method of grouping data into packets that are transmitted over a digital network. This technology was invented by American scientist Paul Baran in the 1960s in a project funded by the United States Department of Defense. In 1978, the first online game was created, MUD (or MUD1)…man they were bad at naming games back then. MUD, an acronym for Multi-User Dungeon, was created by Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle. It was a text-based online role playing adventure initially confined to an internal network, but in 1980 branched out in connection with the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANet). ARPANet was the first wide-area packet network and would later become a foundation for what we know today as the internet. None of this was available to the public yet, all strictly used by government agencies of the US, United Kingdom, and Norway. I can only assume playing a text based online role playing game was one of many ways to defeat the Soviet Union or this is just what governments do in between wars to kill time.
Commercial online games didn’t hit until 1984 with the release of Island of Kesmai. Written and created by two University of Virginia classmates John Taylor and Kelton Flinn in 1980, the game was published by CompuServe and follows MUD’s text-based RPG formula. Inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, it was originally titled “Dungeons of Kesmai”, which would later serve as the title for its 1996 sequel.
The Rise
As the 1980s progressed, more online games arrived for personal computers such as the MSX in 1986 including flight simulator Air Warrior and the strategy board game Go in 1987. As the internet grew in the 1990s, so did the the public’s interest in online games, which naturally shifted over to consoles. It took a while though, as companies like Nintendo and AT&T would initially fail to produce successful/profitable online gaming devices.
The first console with built in internet connection was the Apple Pippin, released in 1996. Sadly, it failed due to a steep price of $599.99. What did Apple think it was, PlayStation 5? Sega would be the only company to reach success with online gaming as they introduced The Sega Channel in 1994 for its Genesis console. The Sega Channel provided players new games direct to console for a fee of $15 a month, ahead of its time, you could say it was the first subscription streaming service. I had one growing up, it was amazing! There was a massive catalog of games and early access to upcoming popular games. My friends were so jealous. Sega decided to halt the project despite have over 250,000 subscribers and release Sega Saturn in 1995, which had online capabilities with use of an attachment called Sega Net Link. The Saturn saw some success early on but was ultimately defeated by the Nintendo 64 and the Sony Playstation, both of which lacked any online functionality. Sega discontinued the Saturn in 1998 and tried again with their Dreamcast console in 1999, which touted robust online features right out of the box. But again, Sega failed to compete with Nintendo and Sony along with a new competitor, Microsoft and its their newly launched Xbox, in 2000. The Sega Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001 and would be Sega’s final console.
Microsoft’s entry into the console market soon brought about Xbox Live, an online service that launched in 2002. Nintendo would then create the Nintendo Wifi Connection in 2005 before being absorbed into the Nintendo Network in 2014. Sony threw their hat in the ring by creating the PlayStation Network in 2006, which was the PS3 era. To this day, these three companies remain the kings of online console gaming. In recent years, online gaming has seen steady growth for both console and computer gamers, Now players of either platform can play together with cross-play on bigger servers with faster internet connections.
Conclusion
There appears to be no end in sight for all companies involved as online gaming continues to evolve. To this day, there are approximately 3.09 billion active gamers and by next year there will be an estimated 3.32 billion active gamers in the world. Online gaming has become a standard in the way we game. If you want to have a successful console, you must give players the ability to connect to the world around them. Not bad, for an industry that started “in the MUD.”
