It’s All About Me!
Hello and Welcome! For my first TMO Warcry column, I want to take an opportunity to tell you a little about me and my experiences with online multi-player gaming.
They go under various names - MMOG, MMORPG, Massive Multiplayer. What you call them isn't important. What is important is that they're huge - huge in size, huge in popularity, and huge in fun! At least, they're huge in fun for me - and I've been playing them for looooong time.
These games have a history dating back to the 1970's when the first MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) were developed. In the late '70's, two college students at the University of Virginia created a game called The Island of Kesmai. It was fantastically popular, and CompuServe began hosting the games in the early 1980's.
In the late '80's, other games began to show up, including the one that got me hooked - Gemstone II, launched on GEnie in 1988. Another GEnie favorite of mine had a historical bent - Hundred Years War. In the early 1990's, Doom was released, and gamers got their first taste of the "first person shooter." That genre took off with the release of Quake. I never quite got the hang of any FPS, though. Role-playing games were always what called to me.
The MMORPG genre was well and truly launched with the appearance of Ultima Online in 1997. The Ultima games had a huge following, and hordes of aficionados swarmed to UO. Even with all the bugs, the lag, and a huge PK-problem that discouraged newbies, Ultima Online took off and gamers - including myself - never looked back.
EverQuest launched in 1999, soon became the most popular MMORPG - with superb graphics and great grouping capabilities. Asheron's Call followed later that same year, creating the first "seamless" world and one that had an ever-changing story arc, updated monthly. AC was the game that won my heart well and truly. Starting the day after the Christmas I got the game, I spent hours and hours each week in the world of Dereth. My family and friends soon followed me into that world, and many are still there.
From AC I moved on to experimentation with lots of other games: Anarchy Online, DaoC, AC2, Star Wars Galaxies, and many others.
What's the future for MMORPGs? Bright - exceedingly bright. You have only to look at the Warcry site itself to see what is available. Additionally, there are dozens of other offerings in development. While some of these will undoubtedly fall by the wayside, many will eventually hit the retail shelves.
And the game, currently in development, that I think has the capacity to really create an electrifying jolt within the gaming community? You guessed it - The Matrix Online. With the power of the popular film trilogy, an already well-developed fan base, and the great strength of the Wachowski brothers, Warner Bros. Studios, and Ubi Soft behind it, I think this game is poised for greatness.
So, you can understand why I feel truly fortunate to have been selected as Site Manager for TMO Warcry and why I'm looking forward to working with all the other staff members, the developers, and the fans to make this site the absolute best place to be for all things TMO.
I hope you all will join me in this mission!
Khimera
Site Manager, TMO Warcry
