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.
classic mmos
The Game Archaeologist: Dungeons & Dragons
Part of the holy mission of the Game Archaeologist is to ferret out the roots of history that ultimately led to MMORPGs as we...
The Game Archaeologist: Ironman modes and elective permadeath
One facet of video games that's been around almost since the very beginning is difficulty levels. This allowed the player to choose how hard...
The Game Archaeologist: Sierra’s Fates of Twinion and Ruins of Cawdor
A few years ago I regaled you with the fascinating tale of one of the very first multiplayer graphical MUDs, the absurdly named Shadow...
The Game Archaeologist: 1998’s Mankind
In the annals of the MMO genre, the massively multiplayer RTS has had perhaps the worst go of any variations on these online games....
The Game Archaeologist: The Chronicles of Spellborn
Hey! Hey you! Yeah, you the I'm-so-bored-with-all-of-these-MMOs gamer! You've been grousing about for years how MMOs never take risks, never innovate, and are merely...
The Game Archaeologist: Terra, SubSpace, and Sovereign
In the MMO industry, science fiction has always taken the role of the overlooked little brother to big sister fantasy's popularity. Sure, there have...
The Game Archaeologist: Dungeon Runners
Where do you rest on the spectrum of humor? If you find yourself giggling and snorting at dumb jokes, groan-worthy puns, and satire so...
The Game Archaeologist: Fury
Back in 1997, Australian game developer Auran arrived onto the scene with the real-time strategy title Dark Reign. While it wasn't exactly Command & Conquer...
The Game Archaeologist: Project Copernicus
In the end, one of the biggest shames of the whole 38 Studios fiasco is that the MMORPG it was creating and the people...
Leaderboard: What’s the best classic MMORPG still running at the end of 2018?
Longtime MOP readers know that many our writers have a fondness for old MMORPGs, either because that's how we got into the hobby and...
The Game Archaeologist’s ultimate MMO archives v2.0
While The Game Archaeologist columns take up the most time of any project I do here at Massively OP, I absolutely love doing them...
Tibia looks back at its major updates and events of 2018
The end of the year is the ideal time to look back at the prior year and evaluate what worked and what didn't. Tibia has...
The Game Archaeologist: Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2
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
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
August 31st, 2012, was a Friday like any other. City of Heroes players were psyched for the upcoming Issue 24, which Paragon Studios had...
The Game Archaeologist: City of Heroes moves into the Paragon Studios era
As we move into the fourth of five installments in the history, development, and downfall of City of Heroes, you may be wondering why...
The Game Archaeologist: City of Villains, enhancement diversification, and Going Rogue
It's always easy to look back at the making of City of Heroes and its first year with a memory tinted toward the good...
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 for this...
The Game Archaeologist: Digging up the history of City of Heroes
For the longest time in the early 2000s, MMORPGs scared me off. They looked too obtuse, too grindy, too ugly, and too unapproachable for...
