The Internet has changed drastically over the past 20 years, and this has also affected how we experience online role-playing games like World of Warcraft. Unfortunately, the genre has lost some of its appeal over the decades. MyMMO editor Karsten remembers his beginnings.
The world is changing. I feel it on the Internet, I feel it in MMORPGs. Much of what once was is lost. Fortunately, one or two who remember still live on. And with this famous quote from Leipzig, long known as Middle-earth (“ahem”), he begins my nostalgic trip into the past. Our goal: the late 1990s.
Close your eyes and imagine a time when most people on the planet had never or only very rarely been online – according to the State Media Center, in 1997 only 6.5 percent of Germans aged 14 and over regularly used any online service.
No wonder: There was no Facebook, no Twitter, no TikTok, no MyMMO. Good PCs were expensive. The same was true for the Internet itself due to the lack of flat-rate offers. Every online minute drove the monthly phone bill up. Not fun with a slow telephone modem from back then (DSL or even fiber optics were still pure fiction).
Tactile Analog Multiplayer
Back then, I still played games together or against my friends on various platforms and at every opportunity. In my case, a multiplayer game back then was equivalent to couch or desktop co-op: We sat together in front of a screen and shared the often sparingly available joysticks and controllers.
Later, we regularly held small LAN parties in a friend’s basement on weekends to play Diablo 2, Command & Conquer: Generals, or Warcraft 3 up and down. But even then we were always offline.
My first online experience with games must have been sometime after 2002, with the partly fantastic content created by players in the powerful editor of Warcraft 3 and made available through Battle.net. Defense of the Ancients, anyone?!
The First Online Worlds Lure
The genre of online role-playing games gained momentum here in the West with classics like Meridian 59, The Realm Online (both 1996), or Ultima Online (1997) (I will certainly discuss exotic games like the roguelike Island of Kesmai from 1985 or Don Daglow’s Neverwinter Nights from 1991, as well as the various hits from Asia, in more detail elsewhere).
Further important milestones followed, such as EverQuest, Asheron’s Call (both 1999), Dark Age of Camelot (with us in 2002), or EVE Online and Star Wars Galaxies (both 2003). What do all these games have in common? Well, although they were gradually played by more and more players, they continued to appeal to only a very niche audience due to the aforementioned conditions.
The widespread proliferation of faster and cheaper Internet access in German households only grew in the mid-2000s, from which then mainly World of Warcraft, but also subsequent MMORPGs like Lord of the Rings Online or Guild Wars would benefit. Accordingly, many fans of the genre experienced their personal “first time” with this generation.
A Magical Moment That Imprints
Entering the world of an online role-playing game for the first time during this pioneering era was unforgettable. Of course, because you were online and could meet other player characters everywhere to embark on adventures together, fight, or just chat (MMORPG chats were essentially the precursors to today’s social networks). What other games allowed that back then?
But also because often a huge, persistent world was waiting to be explored by adventurers, at a time when games with large, open worlds were something special across genres (and if there was something like that, it was often in randomly generated form, like in Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall).
In my first time, there was another component: As a big fan of Warcraft 3, it was eye-opening to experience the well-known universe from the real-time strategy series – with all its races, classes, and spells – for the first time from a third-person perspective in World of Warcraft. My jaw just wouldn’t close.
By the way, I didn’t have a flat rate at that time. Instead, a tool called Smartsurfer searched for me around the clock for the cheapest Internet tariff. Thus, the new, time-consuming hobby was also affordable for a poorly paid trainee with a small apartment.
Jump to the Present
Follow me back to the 2020s. Today, the Internet is significantly faster, cheaper, and ubiquitous. Kids grow up with smartphones and tablets, and with online games like Roblox, Minecraft, Pokémon Go, or Fortnite.
Moreover, huge, open worlds now exist across almost all genres. The same goes for the interplay of RPG-typical character progression, social features like chats or guilds, and group challenges like dungeons and raids.
Just take any modern service game, and you will find various elements in it that for several years were only present in online role-playing games.
The Fascination Diminishes
Although MMORPGs still potentially offer a unique gaming experience today, such as the feeling of being part of a large community that can develop a wonderful social dynamic on its home server and thereby create numerous memorable moments.
However, at this point, you have to invest a lot of time. Time that you could also spend on other multiplayer games that unleash their allure much faster. If my sons try their first MMORPGs in a few years, their “first time” will probably go quite differently than mine. Simply without the magic of the past.
That makes me somewhat sad in a way because I like to remember that time – and I know that many other MMORPG fans feel the same way who started back then with DaoC, UO, HdRO, and Co. At the same time, I am also aware that the younger generation is experiencing their own first times that are special and magical for them (and that I, as an old fart, look at with a furrowed brow).
Memories of the Golden Era
As a nostalgic kick, I have a humorous post for you on Reddit in which an MMORPG fan has published a picture with numerous original packaging of old classics. Everquest appears, as do Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, Final Fantasy XI, Lord of the Rings Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and many others.
In the comments below the post, there are all sorts of exciting anecdotes. One player remembers his time in the first Everquest: Quests were sometimes triggered by typing the right sentence into the chat in front of NPC characters. Sounds absurd from today’s perspective, right?
Another Reddit user raves: “Star Wars Galaxies is still the most immersive game I have ever played. That makes me nostalgic right away. The game deserves a remake.” Hey, I’m totally in!
How do you view the golden era of online role-playing games and today’s MMORPG experience? Do you also miss the magic of the past? Which online role-playing game was your first time? Let me know in the comments. Colleague Jasmin had problems in school because of her first MMORPG, but she regrets nothing
