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Id starts testing Quake , which is going to be their real effort at making online multiplayer games . It becomes an instant phenomenon , redefining online gaming and virtual reality in the process.
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Gemstone III goes live on AOL.
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Archetype Interactive begins Meridian 59 (M59) , with Mike Sellers as a designer and the Kirmse brothers, Chris and Andrew, as programmers. Mike offers Raph Koster a job, but he declines because of a job offer from Origin. He recommends Damion Schubert for the job instead. Archetype and Meridian are later acquired by 3DO, where Rich Vogel acts as producer for a time.
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Air Warrior goes live on AOL.
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LIMA MUDlib offers infocom -style parsing.
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Rick Delashmit, hired by Origin for UO , joined Starr Long and Ken Demarest. Demarest shortly thereafter leaves for Titanic, a startup. Later that year, Origin also hires the Kosters as designers.
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AlphaWorld launches, also by Ron Britvich. It's a successor product to WorldsChat , but not the same engine. It supports a whole 12 avatar appearances .
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Electric Communities officially incorporates and gets venture capital. Their product is a major revision of Habitat , called both Habitat and Microcosm . It features a secure distributed architecture. It is later shelved as being ahead of its time, according to Farmer.
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Time Warner Interactive launches Jim Bumgartner's The Palace .
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Jake Song of Nexon leaves Nexon to join Inet, and branches TK server to create Lineage . He joined NCSoft later in 1997.
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Illusia , a graphical MUD with static backdrop scenes, opens to the public.
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TeenyMUD 2.0 is released.
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The TV show VR5 appears on US television. In this show, a researcher has found a way to enter virtual reality, and through it enter other peoples' minds. The show is cancelled after one season .
