Massively

In 1995, The 3DO company began a public beta test of Meridian 59 -- the first 3D online RPG. 25,000 players signed up for the beta, and the game launched in 1996. Meridian 59 differed greatly from games that came before it or since.

The game is played in a first-person perspective, and the graphics engine closely resembles that of Doom, with pseudo-3D environments made up of blocky polygons and populated by 2D sprite characters. Combat is mostly hack & slash, but the game features a wide array of spells split between several spell schools.

The game is particularly known for its mostly-unrestricted PvP combat. Guilds and factions fight one another over territory and tokens. Meridian 59 is skill based, and has no character levels. Players gain hit points by defeating monsters, but skill and spell proficiency increase with each use. Mana is acquired by discovering "mana nodes" hidden in the game world.

3DO operated ten server worlds -- including one with special PvP rules -- before shutting the game down in 2000 after it lost many of its players to much more advanced competitors like Ultima Online and EverQuest. Shortly thereafter, two former 3DO employees -- Rob Ellis and Brian Green -- formed a company called Near Death Studios and purchased the game from 3DO, relaunching it in 2002 with an updated graphics engine. It still operates under the Near Death Studios banner today.

31/03/08