What was the first online game ever?

[Jac de Molay]

I agree with UR that MUD's we're probably the first real-time online game.

I was probably the only guy in my dorm wing who didn't flunk out of school that year from playing NannyMud. But close. Real close.

[Urban Ranger]

MUD's were cool. Still are. When you become a wizard you can start constructing your section of the world.

[Ming]

I played real time MP games on the Worldwide PLATO network back in the mid 70's. Air Fight (jet fighter combat) and Moon Wars were two popular games. PLATO was based at the University of Illinois and was accessable from most countries around the globe. I would be in games with guys playing from Russia, Japan, the UK... it was great.

[Urban Ranger]

That's neat. Did they just connect by Internet?

[Ming]

It was a dedicated netork. I also took a lot of classes on it. And whenever I would get bored, I would switch log ons and just play games.

[Vesayen]

The first online games were BBS's.... I dont know what was the first.

[Zero]

thanks these infos are great for my project. ill google things you guys mentioned for more info.

[Dis]

tic tac toe

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
I'm too lazy to sift through this, but since I wasn't too lazy to go find it for you, you can do the rest:

http://www.legendmud.org/raph/gaming/mudtimeline.html

"In "Dogfight," two players tried to shoot down each other's "airplane" -- a tiny spot on the screen -- and avoid being shot down. You could control the position of your own airplane using the various keys on the keyboard. (This, of course, was ten years before joysticks and computer mice became common.) Unfortunately, the person with the fastest connection to the main computer in Illinois usually won that game." - Guy Consolmagno, SJ.

(emphasis added)

And nothing's changed since.