classic mmos
Generally used to describe MMOs from before World of Warcraft's launch in 2004, though sometimes shortened to describe just the first few MMOs launched prior to 2000.
The Game Archaeologist: Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2
Justin Olivetti - December 8, 2018
At the end of June 2014, dozens of online worlds flickered and vanished with the flip of a switch. It was a online apocalypse...
The Game Archaeologist: Castle Infinity, the MMO that was literally rescued from a dumpster
Justin Olivetti - November 24, 2018
In the grand history of MMORPGs, kids games seem to have it rougher than most. Developers have had a hard time cracking into that...
The Game Archeologist: Halo Universe
Since its debut on Xbox back in 2001, the Halo franchise has been a massive powerhouse and a mainstay for shooter fans. To date,...
The Game Archaeologist: The Death of City of Heroes
Justin Olivetti - October 13, 2018
August 31st, 2012, was a Friday like any other. City of Heroes players were psyched for the upcoming Issue 24, which Paragon Studios...
The Game Archaeologist: City of Heroes moves into the Paragon Studios era
Justin Olivetti - September 15, 2018
As we move into the fourth of five installments in the history, development, and downfall of City of Heroes, you may be wondering...
The Game Archaeologist: City of Villains, enhancement diversification, and Going Rogue
Justin Olivetti - August 25, 2018
It's always easy to look back at the making of City of Heroes and its first year with a memory tinted...
The Game Archaeologist: City of Heroes' launch history and the Marvel lawsuit
In our first part of this series looking back at the stupendous history of City of Heroes, we saw how the idea...
The Game Archaeologist: Digging up the history of City of Heroes
Justin Olivetti - July 28, 2018
For the longest time in the early 2000s, MMORPGs scared me off. They looked too obtuse, too grindy, too ugly, and too unapproachable for...
The Game Archaeologist: Kesmai's Air Warrior and Legends of Kesmai
Most studios would be overjoyed to have pioneered one significant advancement in video game history, but then again, most studios aren't Kesmai. While it's...
The Game Archaeologist: A history of EverQuest's expansions
I don't know if EverQuest holds the crown title for the MMO with the most expansions, but I'm sure it's among the top...
The Game Archaeologist: Raph Koster on MUDs and Privateer Online
Justin Olivetti - June 30, 2018
The release of Raph Koster's monster book of game essays, Postmortems, was of high interest to Bree and me for different reasons. For...
The Game Archaeologist: The tangled legal history of Interplay's canceled Fallout Online
With the recent revelation that Bethesda's Fallout 76 is going to be an online multiplayer survival game, players who have been hoping for...
The Game Archaeologist: Myst Online
Justin Olivetti - June 9, 2018
The impact of Myst in 1993 was akin to an atomic bomb going off in the PC gaming world. The leap forward in graphical...
The Game Archaeologist: The rebirth of The Realm Online
Debuting in 1996, The Realm Online (or, as it is sometimes shortened, The Realm) became one of the first online RPGs to overlay...
The Game Archaeologist: Warhammer Online
Justin Olivetti - May 19, 2018
When it comes to notable years in the MMORPG genre's history, 2008 stands out as one of the most significant. World of...
The Game Archaeologist: Red Planet's Lost Colony vaporware
Justin Olivetti - April 28, 2018
You know the story of Roanoke, right? That early American settlement that abruptly went missing with only the word "Croatoan" carved into a...
The Game Archaeologist: Harry Potter Online
If all goes well, later this year we will finally be treated to an actual Harry Potter MMORPG in the form of Harry...
The Game Archaeologist: Lineage
If we judged MMOs by their numbers alone -- and I'm not suggesting we do so -- then the original Lineage would be...
The Game Archaeologist: A Tale in the Desert
Justin Olivetti - March 31, 2018
Once asked what he thought was the most innovative MMO from the last decade, Dr. Richard Bartle, the creator of MUD, gave a succinct answer: "
The Game Archaeologist: Shattered Galaxy
War. War never ends. Especially if it was designed and encouraged to wage forever. One of the most popular computer gaming genres of the late...
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