Computer Role-Playing Games – Part III: Massively Multiplayer Madness

It looks like GameSpy has continued with their Computer Role-Playing Games articles by posting up Part III, entitled Massively Multiplayer Madness. This particular writeup talks about RPGs that allow or are even designed around multiplayer, and includes such games as Baldur’s Gate, Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption, and Dark Age of Camelot. Here’s a snippet about where multiplayer computer RPGs began:

Multiplayer, or more accurately, “multi-user,” games sprung up on mainframes in the 1970s at universities and government facilities — in the dank dungeons where networked computers lurked. It was there that MUDs were born. MUDs (multi-user dungeons) are worlds that exist without fancy graphics primarily consisting of shared imagination and text. These games were written by a handful of prolific companies and dedicated players, and supported by people who preferred to imagine the marauding trolls rather than have them rendered by high-powered video cards and processors