History

MMORPGs, as defined today, have only existed since the early 1990s. Still, all MMORPGs can trace a lineage back to the earliest multi-user games which started appearing in the late 1970s. The first of these was Mazewar, though more would soon be developed for the PLATO system. 1984 saw a Roguelike (semi-graphical) multi-user game, called Islands of Kesmai. The first "truly" graphical multi-user RPG was Neverwinter Nights, which was delivered through America Online in 1991 and was personally championed by AOL President Steve Case.
When NSFNET restrictions were lifted in 1995, the internet was opened up to developers, and this allowed for the first really "massive" titles. The first success after this point was Meridian 59, which also featured first-person 3D graphics, although The Realm Online appeared nearly simultaneously and may be credited with bringing the genre to a wider player-base. Ultima Online, released in 1997, may be credited with first popularizing the genre, though Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds was primarily responsible for mainstream attention throughout Asia which was released in 1996, about a year earlier than Ultima Online. It was EverQuest that brought MMORPGs to the mainstream in the West.
These early titles' financial success has ensured competition in the genre since that time. MMORPG titles now exist on consoles and in new settings, and their players enjoy higher-quality gameplay. The current market for MMORPGs has Blizzard's World of Warcraft dominating as the largest pay-to-play MMORPG, though an additional market exists for free-to-play MMORPGs, which are supported by advertising and purchases of in-game items. One exception is Guild Wars, which avoids competition with World of Warcraft by only requiring the initial purchase of the game to play. Though other titles use this pay-structure, Guild Wars remains the only highly popular game of this type.