The Most Important Multiplayer Games Ever

Gamasutra's 'Quantum Leap' awards roll on, with game developers voting in the titles they see as the most important multiplayer titles ever made. These are non-massive multiplayer games that significantly advanced the pastime of playing videogames with other people. Some of the listed games are gimmes (Goldeneye, Tribes), but I thought an Anonymous submitter's comment about humble Pokémon was interesting: "Tajiri-san's introduction of the collect and trade concept opened the eyes of every developer, all of whom previously believed multiplayer was either head-to-head or cooperative. What Pokémon created with this breakthrough concept was a true sense of community centered about a game - a kinship among people which transcended the immediate game environment. With the inclusion of real-world Pokémon merchandise, and a constant flow of new, wicked-cute characters, it was easy for anyone to embrace the Pokémon lifestyle...not that I would ever admit to it." Any multiplayer classics you'd add to the list?

How about Pong?

[CrazyJim1]

Maybe not the first multiplayer game, but viewed as the first multiplayer game saw by the masses.

Street Fighter 2

[Erioll]

Whatever you can say about "firsts" and "blood vs none" that happened in those days, SF2 was "the" game that popularized the fighting genre like no other. I'm not qualified to say what was "new" or "different" about it, but let's just say that in ONE SITTING with my friends and I, I MORE than covered the cost of the cartridge in games played vs quarters at the arcade. And to think the cartridge was around $80 in early-90s money, think of how many games we played. And that was HARDLY one session.

How about...

[Pojut]

The original Gauntlet arcade game?

Or the simpsons/xmen-style arcade game? You get four people going at it...oohhhhhhh man, good times good times.

No Unreal Tournament?

[El_Muerte_TDS]

I somehow expected Unreal Tournament to be listed. End of 1999 was a big deal for FPS MultiPlayer, there was Quake3 and Unreal Tournament. Both served a very important part in the future of multiplayer FPS games.

And if it was up to me I would say Unreal Tournament was the more important one of the two.

Here we go...

[Rob T Firefly]

Cue the swarms of "butbutbut their miserably tiny list didn't have my games! WTF???"

Here's a starter.. they mention two Quake games, but no Doom. WTF???

How about some other genres

[Itchyeyes]

Although there are some old school throwbacks, the majority of games on this list are first person shooters. What about other genres? I would think there should at least be a spot on there for an RTS like Warcraft 2 or Command & Conquer. Also, the article specifically does not include MMO's. Why? It hardly seems relevant to make a list of ground breaking multi-player games without at least mentioning Everquest or WOW. And of course there's the glaringly obvious omission of Counterstrike. I like Gamasutra, but this is a pretty poor list.

UMMMM CS?

[otacon]

a little game called Counter-Strike?

Re:The classic multiplayer 'game'

[strokemouth]

The initial version had too many bugs. I'm waiting for the sequel.

Re:UMMMM CS?

[badenglishihave]

I agree. Not that the games they picked aren't good choices, but CS really opened the door to computer gaming for non-geeks. So many of my friends who were strictly console got into Counter-Strike and subsequently play computer games to this day. From my point of view, it really changed the way people look at computers as a platform for easily accessible and innovative entertainment.

Super Smash Bros?

[Andy Dodd]

While not as much of a contributor to "social multiplayer gaming" as Wii Sports might be, the Super Smash Bros. series definately started the whole "party game" trend that Wii Sports continued.

During my junior and senior year of college, many of my friends were of the opinion that for the most part, one should not watch TV or play video games at a party. Super Smash Brothers was the one exception - It got played at quite a few parties, especially my senior year. Like a previous poster's comments about Goldeneye for N64, it was able to keep a large number of people amused (not just the four actually playing the game) for rather extended periods of time. In fact, I recall one night when our neighbors (who were all close friends of ours, we intentionally got two four-bedroom apartments across the hall from each other) were hosting a party. Prior to attending, many of my apartmentmates decided to play SSB for a bit. Within an hour or so, most of the guests of the neighbor's party were either watching or playing the game in our apartment.

Of course, the fact that we were playing on my LCD projector probably had something to do with it. SSB is amazing on a ten-foot screen. :)

Re:This list must be a joke

[ostermei]

Leaving out Diablo is also insulting. If you include Tribes, it's absurd to leave out Diablo. This game paved the road for Everquest.

I can see why you (and others) would want to have Diablo on the list, as it was a very popular game (although I didn't bother picking it up until rather late in its lifespan, so the only multiplayer experience I encountered was thoroughly buggered by all the cheats people were wielding). However, saying that it "paved the road for Everquest" is not exactly accurate. Just because they are both fantasy-themed games and they both allow multiple players doesn't mean that one led to another. It would be like saying that Spacewar [wikipedia.org] paved the road for Freespace [wikipedia.org] because they both featured spaceships.

If you really want to mention the games that paved the way for Everquest (and every other MMO that's ever existed, for that matter), you'll need to look further back than a simple hack 'n' slash dungeon crawler like Diablo. What you're looking for is Ultima Online [wikipedia.org] and just MUDs [wikipedia.org] in general.

Now, to give Diablo credit, it did lead to a bunch of great games in the hack 'n' slash genre, notably the woefully under-appreciated Nox [wikipedia.org], the console-bound Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance [wikipedia.org] series, and the Champions of Norrath [wikipedia.org] series (perhaps that's what you were referring to with Diablo leading to EQ? ;) Although, on the other hand, Diablo isn't really the pivotal point for these games, either, as Diablo itself would never have existed if not for the venerable NetHack [wikipedia.org].