When you’re a kid you’re always told to respect your elders, and for good reason. Older folk are wiser than you are and can remove their teeth at will, just because they want to cripple your sanity for years to come. Sure, younger people have their advantages too: they can move quicker than a sloth made entirely of tar and most of them can remember the week before last (okay, well, a few can). Both ends of the chronological spectrum have their own advantages and disadvantages in humans, but also in MMOs too.

I’m sure some young whippersnappers aren’t aware that MMOs have been around for quite some time. Yes, there was actually a time before World of Warcraft, the game that arguably catapulted the genre into the mainstream. These were heady days when MMOs were practically unknown to the general populous of Earth, and, when viewed by the common non-gamer, inspired bewilderment and questions such as: “So these are real people? And you’re talking to them?!”. It was a different time back then, and so were many of the games. But was this the golden age of MMOs, or are we living through it now?

unknown to the general populous of Earth, and, when viewed by the common non-gamer, inspired bewilderment and questions such as: “So these are real people? And you’re talking to them?!”. It was a different time back then, and so were many of the games. But was this the golden age of MMOs, or are we living through it now?

Let’s go back to 1997. Titanic hit our screens, showing us that casual nudity actually can be that dull, and children learnt to neglect pets the virtual way with their new Tamagotchi. In this year, the long-running MMO, Tibia, was launched and became the pinnacle of online multiplayer fun. The game world began with only a single, lonely city but eventually grew and grew into the old-school behemoth it is now, boasting 1.3 million accounts and 77 servers. The game still retains the look and feel of when it was released back in 1997, offering robust and fairly simple RPG mechanics. Sure, Tibia may not look like much compared to today’s standards, and the class variety isn’t as broad,(Golden Age Gold) but the game’s got it where it counts.

Other classic games then followed Tibia’s lead, such as the overwhelmingly popular Ultima Online, which gave players the option to buy their own house and raise pets as well as containing all the good old RPG tropes we’re so used to. Since Ultima was already a popular series at the time, the in-built fan base saw Ultima Online gain thousands of subscribers relatively quickly, compared to other MMOs at the time. Ultima paved the way for one of the giants that really gave MMORPGs their name – Everquest. To some this was the golden age of the MMO.