LambdaMOO takes another new direction ”the admins take back over.
M59 opens.
"Until M59 launched in 1996 and UO launched in September of 1997 with flat monthly rates, billing for commercial MMOGs was mainly on a per minute/hourly basis (with a brief period of free access to AOL's games from December 1996 to about July 1997). Thus, the number of total subscribers was less important than how long you kept your hard- core players (the top 10%) in-game."
” Jessica Mulligan
The Realm enters Beta.
AD&D: Dark Sun Online enters Beta.
AmigaMUD , a graphical free MUD system, is released.
AOL takes on Dragon's Gate . At this point, AUSI has morphed into Interworld Productions.
Quake is released.
Origin demos UO at E3.
Engage is announced at E3. Its first Beta opens in December, on AOL, with a multiplayer version of Castles II .
AOL buys INN.
Sherry Turkle publishes Life on the Screen .
John Smedley at Sony's 989 Studios hires Brad McQuaid and Steve Clover to begin development on EQ .
Cyberspace, Inc. learns that the name is taken, and changes to Second Nature Interactive. Someday, they'll make it to being called Turbine!
Nexon launches Kingdom of the Winds .
Splatterball , by Interworld Productions, is released on Engage. Shortly after, Interworld becomes Mythic Entertainment.
The Journal of MUD Research launches. In the first issue is an article by Richard Bartle, "Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs."
TEN officially launches in September.
MPlayer launches in early November.
The Eternal City ( TEC ) goes into Beta. TEC focuses on providing the most immersive role-playing environment to date, as well a sense of space and a rich environment. The founders of TEC (Scott Martins, Ichiro Lambe, and Charles Passmore) were originally staff at Legends of Future Past .
