[MUD-Dev] A Brief History of Commercial MUDs

[Auli]

Jessica Mulligan wrote:

> If you're asking for a ranking of commercial MMOGs based on
> subscribers prior to the current Big Three, you're asking the wrong
> question.  Until Meridian 59 launched in 1996 and UO launched in
> September of 1997 with flat monthly rates, billing for commercial
> MMOGs was mainly on a per minute/hourly basis (with a brief period
> of free access to AOL's games from 12/96 to about 7/97).

Sierra's The Realm was also first realeased in late 1996.  It probably
reached peak popularity around January of 1998 with an estimated
25,000 subscribers.  The subscription model was a flat yearly rate of
$49.95.  I think it is generally overlooked because it never
propagated to more than one server (probably because of the
subscription model).  It has since been purchased by the UK company
Codemasters and is still running.  With the demise of Meridian 59 that
probably makes it the longest runnng commercial MMORPG to date
(assuming a single server doesn't disqaulify it from the term
massively, it did have peak player useage of around 3000
simultaneously).  If anyone can find Steve Nichols he may be able to
correct me somewhat, I am going on my recollections as a player and,
later, an admin.

  http://www.realmserver.com

Dwayne A. Hall

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