Meridian 59
| Meridian 59 | |
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Original cover
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| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) | December 15th, 1995 |
| Genre(s) | MMORPG |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Meridian 59, abbreviated M59, is an online role-playing video game first published by the now defunct 3DO Company. First launched online in an early form on December 15, 1995 and released commercially on September 27, 1996 with a flat-rate monthly subscription. Meridian 59 is often credited as the first 3D graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Meridian 59 is currently available as open source software and is being run by original developers Andrew Kirmse and Chris Kirmse.
Meridian 59, the first commercial, 3D massively multiplayer online role-playing game, was developed by Archetype Interactive and published in September 1996 by 3DO. Meridian 59 was Archetype Interactive's only product; Archetype Interactive was acquired by 3DO in June 1996. Archetype was run by Steve Sellers, Mike Sellers, and John Hanke, with Andrew Kirmse and Chris Kirmse filling key technical roles. Damion Schubert contributed to the design along with a team totaling 22 employees and contractors. The game's technological base was initially inspired by Scepter of Goth.
The game was in an early beta stage in April 1996 when it was noticed by Kevin Hester and other game developers at 3DO. Trip Hawkins, CEO of 3DO, recognized the forward-looking value of the game and the company, and 3DO bought Archetype in June 1996. More than 25,000 players joined the game's public beta that lasted up until its commercial launch on September 27, 1996, beating its next major rival, Ultima Online, by approximately a year.
Although Meridian arguably holds the title as the first realtime three dimensional online role-playing game, it lacks some features of its modern successors. For instance, the ability to jump was not implemented as a function of character input. Any jumping required in puzzle solving is done by climbing an incline and falling from one platform to another. This is the same limitation that Doom suffered; the game used a similar engine written in part by the original developers.
Due to restrictions placed upon level designers by the graphics engine, many of the maps appear to have similar limitations to Doom. For instance, unnatural sharp edges are common, as are short walls that are placed to prevent the (non-jumping) player from entering incomplete areas of the world. Tree-lines are duplicate image stamps, similar to tiled desktop backgrounds, and environment sounds are short clips from readily available sound sources.
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