The invention of the MMO
Summary
This article recounts Habitat, the first massively multiplayer virtual world launched in 1982 on a Commodore 64, and traces the development of early online communities from Q-Link to Club Caribe. It highlights landmark features like avatars, in-game currency, and open-ended social play, along with notable incidents such as the vendos/arbitrage and a dupe bug, illustrating early social dynamics and design challenges in online worlds.