Gaming News What is the oldest active MMORPG today and how does it survive?
MMORPGs emerged with the democratization of the Internet in the 1990s and have continued to evolve since then. However, some pioneers are still active almost 30 years after their founding. How do they survive and, above all, who is really the oldest representative of the genre?
MMORPGs, or massively multiplayer online role-playing games, are a relatively young genre in the video game sector. Unlike other experiences, they require an additional element in addition to their support to function: a mandatory login. In order to develop, we had to wait until the Internet was democratized in the 90s, until every household was connected to it. Therefore, MMORPGs gained popularity starting in the late 90s and exploded with the global success of World of Warcraft.
While the genre now has only a few major giants dominating the market, some founding titles are still around, almost 30 years after their launch. Of all these games, which is the oldest MMORPG still active? And most importantly: how does he manage to survive now? Well, the answer is much more complicated than you can imagine.
Which is the oldest MMORPG still active? It’s complicated…
When I asked myself what the oldest massively multiplayer online role-playing game still active was, I didn’t think the answer would be so hard to find. If you ask the question directly on Google, a certain Furcadia appears first in the results. As we can see from the presentation of the Wikipedia article, according to Guinness World Records, it would be the oldest social MMORPG still active since its first release on December 16, 1996. However, if we look closer, The title has little to do with an MMORPG as we understand it as the role-playing dimension really doesn’t seem to be very pronounced compared to the social side. So you have to keep looking.
Until recently I could have quoted you The Realm Online, also launched in December 1996 and which looks much more like an MMORPG as we understand it, with combat, spells and quests. Unfortunately, the game recently closed its doors on June 30, 2023, after 27 years of good and loyal service. Let’s look again. When you think of an old MMORPG, the first thing that comes to mind is none other than Ultima Online. The title is still active and remains a pioneer of the genre. And yet the game seems to have been beaten by a few months by a familiar experience: Tibia. While Ultima Online launched in September 1997, Tibia was released a few weeks after The Realm Online, on January 9, 1997. Since then, the title has been updated by CipSoft and continues to exist in its own corner. But that is not all.
If we keep looking we can find some Meridian 59 is available on Steam and was first released on October 7, 1996. Beyond the Western perspective, it should be noted the existence of Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds, a Korean MMORPG by Nexon that launched in Korea on April 5, 1996, but became available in North America in 1998. And if we want to go further, We can talk about Neverwinter Nights from 1991 or even Avalon online since… 1989! But hey, that doesn’t really count because the first is only playable via private servers, while the second is more of a text-based MUD than an MMORPG. By MUD we mean multi-user dungeon, a prototypical version of the genre we are talking about today.
Therefore, if it is difficult to clearly determine which is the first MMORPG in history, it is more interesting to ask How do these games, which have been around for more than twenty years, work today?while most current gaming services only last a few years.
But what is the recipe for such longevity?
To understand how these old MMORPGs manage to last so long, we will focus mainly on the case of Ultima Online, which is still the most famous of all and therefore gives us the most answers. First, The reason why the game has lasted so long is partly because it defined its time when it was released and gave it a solid player base from the start. For many, it was their first MMORPG experience, discovering a persistent world that evolves even when they’re not playing and where they can interact with other players. This inevitably creates a strong sense of nostalgia, which explains why some early players remain loyal to the game for years to come.. But that’s not all.
If we do a little searching on the internet, we notice this Ultima Online players enjoy the freedom their title offers This allows them to have their own experiences, rather than the more linear progression of modern MMORPGs. This more organic way of playing also means that the game economy plays a central role in the gaming experience, as all items in the game can be created and resold by other players. And when it comes to Tibia, it’s the hard and uncompromising side of the experience that makes it successful. In other words, What’s also part of the charm of his old MMORPGs is that they were released before World of Warcraft and weren’t as heavily formatted as those that came out after it. We find an experience that is both simpler in its mechanics and more original in certain aspects, which explains its popularity among a very specific audience.
As we move on, we’ll notice that too“Ultima Online places a high value on player interactions.”, like many games of its time. This is how users have built relationships with real people over time, ultimately leading to an attachment to the title that can extend beyond the experience’s dated graphics. In this way, The game becomes more than a game and turns into a platform for making friends online, like an early social network. But that is not all. The more you play the game, the greater the investment of time and money, as the title has a monthly subscription. After a moment, In the end, we become so committed that it becomes difficult to exit overnight. In addition, it is worth noting that for more than twenty years of its existence, Ultima Online has released more than 100 updates that improve the gameplay, which requires constant re-release of the adventure.
Until then, we were only interested from a player perspective. If the latter are essential for the survival of a game, It is interesting to take a look at the developers to understand why they support such a project for so long. When you read the forums, there’s something you don’t think about that explains why so many old MMORPGs are still online today. From a purely technical perspective, these titles were developed on servers that were far less sophisticated than those that more modern games use. The advantage of developer view weighting is this The maintenance of these servers is not very expensive precisely because their infrastructure is very simple given their age. This is why there are still so many old MMORPGs online, and having subscriptions makes it even more profitable for their developers.
Nostalgia, investment, emotional connection, originality… The reasons for the continued success of old MMORPGs are numerous and we note that they inspire the most popular games of our time. You only have to look at the success of World of Warcraft Classic and Fortnite OG to see that nostalgia continues to be a strong driver among gamers. It shows that these old MMORPGs have a bright future ahead of them.
