Massively

In 1998, California-based Lyra Studios launched Underlight, a game that was truly unique. Underlight placed its emphasis on role-playing and social interactions, in contrast to the combat focus of most MMORPGs. In fact, in-character role-playing was dictated by the terms of service and enforced by Lyra.

Underlight was played in 3D in the first-person-perspective, and was set in a strange dream-world, in which various organizations (composed entirely of players, as the game had no NPCs) cooperated or competed. At the game's peak, 15,000 players inhabited its unusual world.

Story and role-playing driven MMORPGs are unusual. Underlight had things in common with some of the less-conventional families of MUDs from the text era, such as talkers or MUSHes.

Underlight was shut down in early 2007, but passionate members of its community have put together a sequel of their own, titled Underlight: Shades of Truth.

allrpg.com

31/03/08