The Invention of the MMO

Habitat, created in 1982 on the Commodore 64 computer—which had only 64 kilobytes of memory—became the first massively multiplayer virtual world. The C64's affordable price ($595), impressive graphics and sound capabilities for its time, and inclusion of Q-Link, a dedicated telecom network, made it possible for users to connect and play together in shared virtual spaces. This combination of accessible hardware and networking technology laid the foundation for the MMO genre that dominates gaming today.