MMORPGs - From MUDs To Mainstream

Thanks to GameSpy for the first in a series of weekly articles charting the evolution of massively multiplayer online games. The piece discusses the claim that "All of the elements of MMOGs existed by the late eighties, but they did not exist in a single product", but suggests that Meridian 59 was the first "Internet-based, true graphical-based MUD." The article goes on to chart the rise of MMORPGs through Ultima Online (which "proved that there was a market for MMOGs, but... also suffered from problems that would haunt online worlds"), Lineage (which found "a ravenous market of its own overseas"), and EverQuest (which "accomplished everything that Meridian 59 attempted to do.")