@[email protected] describes working on internet infrastructure back in the 1990s. This was on one of those “drive by” AskLemmys where a new user posts a juicy question, then after a couple hours they delete the topic and their account. However, those posts and comments are still visible in Piefed, ex: https://piefed.social/post/1733969#comment_9969293

  • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.netEnglish
    1·
    5 days ago

    Shade couldn’t support anywhere near that many, but the poster refers to it as “(first mmo?)” which is why I commented.

    • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialEnglish
      1·
      5 days ago

      So if I understand correctly, Shades was inspired by MUD1, but not actually an MMO by definition, i.e. “Massively Multiplayer Online.”

      • Elrainia@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        5 days ago

        It was definitely not a MMO! It was a bit of a joke comment (British humour - sorry). I’d be amazed if it had anything more than 100 consecutive players (that’s a complete guess).

        I had no idea of it’s MUD heritage then and it’s only today that the comments above have really made me join those dots up.

      • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.netEnglish
        2·
        5 days ago

        Yep. I’m pretty sure the networking and computing tech required for a true MMO didn’t exist until ~1995, and pretty much as soon as it did we got Ultima Online and then EQ.