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: 1998’s Mankind

2
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

27
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

2
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

4
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

5
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

6
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?

36
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...
This was once controversial!

The Game Archaeologist’s ultimate MMO archives v2.0

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While The Game Archaeologist columns take up the most time of any project I do here at Massively OP, I absolutely love doing them...
Well, all right.

Tibia looks back at its major updates and events of 2018

1
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

26
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

6
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

2
Since its debut on Xbox back in 2001, the Halo franchise has been a massive powerhouse and a mainstay for shooter fans. To date,...
We got it back, after all.

The Game Archaeologist: The Death of City of Heroes

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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

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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

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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

15
In our first part of this series looking back at the stupendous history of City of Heroes, we saw how the idea for this...
City again.

The Game Archaeologist: Digging up the history of City of Heroes

17
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

12
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

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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 three...

The Game Archaeologist: Raph Koster on MUDs and Privateer Online

12
The release of Raph Koster's monster book of game essays, Postmortems, was of high interest to Bree and me for different reasons. For her,...

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