A history of online video games
By now you must know what we’re like here at Winzum: our first love is always going to be giving you lot the best online competition prizes we can think of, but coming a close second is simply spreading all the knowledge and help that we can. Check out our Winzum blog if you don’t believe us, there’s a truckload of fascinating stuff up on there, from security advice, all the way through to quiz tips.
One of the things we have become most passionate over the last few months is exploring the histories of various things in our highly modern lives. For example, have you ever wanted to learn about the Football World Cup? We’ve got you [a history of the Football World Cup]. Or a history of banking? Look no further [a history of banking].
Well, we thought we would continue the trend, because at Winzum we really are fascinated by history. Stay tuned for the history of online video games, things that have gone from 0-100 in just a few decades…
The earliest online computer games
The history of online computer games actually goes back a lot further than you might think, with very simple online games being available in the foundational packet-based computer-networking era in the 1970s. By the 1980s truly online computer games like Islands of Kesmai and Air Warrior started to appear, setting the fundamentals for what was to follow.
As the Internet became a lot more widespread and commonly available in the 1990s more and more online computer games followed, and this is where early video game consoles also gained basic online connectivity. Things like World of Warcraft appeared a few years later, further demonstrating the massive potential for online computer gaming.
Online gambling explosion in the early 21st century
Whilst the online computer gaming world was going from strength to strength in the early 21st century with things like World of Warcraft and Runescape, one of the most notable areas of online gaming was with online gambling. This existed in the 90s of course, however the technology rapidly evolved as the 21st century rolled around.
The remarkable emergence of the online slot industry is a great example of this, and in the early 2000s it was perhaps even more common for online gaming to be for the purposes of gambling rather than anything else.
Call of Duty 4: The catalyst for game console online play?
Early versions of both the Playstation and Xbox consoles did have the capacity to support online gaming, however there were still quite a few obstacles around in the early days that hampered their progress somewhat. This is all changed in the latter half of the 2000s, especially after the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
This game is often associated with the proper emergence of mass console online gaming, as Infinity Ward and Activision’s online gaming engine went to heights never seen before. The broad accessibility to fast broadband also helped here, and by 2010 there were several million gamers playing online on their Xbox and Playstation consoles.
The modern world of online video gaming
Nowadays online video gaming has got so popular that at least 75% of all so-called “gamers” now play online. In fact, there are billions of people logging onto servers each and every day, playing everything from the infamous Fortnite series to online Grand Theft Auto.
The appetite for online gaming these days is so huge that many game developers have stopped offering the traditional “story mode” in their games, instead opting to focus exclusively on online gameplay.