Meridian 59 received its last patch 25 years ago and is still running today thanks to an employee

earthpressnews

Meridian 59 catapulted the MMORPG genre into the 3D age in 1996. Now the developer who kept the game running solo from 2000 has spoken out.

We use a symbolic image for the lead image.

What kind of developer is this? Behind the Reddit user DAT_DROP is GuardianKana or Gilroy, who announced in a letter to the community on January 7, 2000 (a little over 25 years ago) (via gilcon.net) that the last patch for Meridian 56 had gone live is.

On the community platform, the developer explained that on that day the moderation of the MMORPG was put in the hands of the players and the team behind the game was reduced to just one person – himself.

The best MMORPGs of all time, voted by the MeinMMO community:

The best MMORPGs of all time for PC and console

More videos

Autoplay

The fate of a pioneer

It was a different time: In the letter to the community, Gilroy wrote at the time:

We all know that Meridian 59 has been around for over 3 years and many people say that it is well past its best. Think about the games you play today… How many of them were there in 1996? Not many, I would bet.

This is because of the unique community that has grown here, and especially because of you! Each of you is part of a larger, grander whole that was unimaginable just ten years ago. You are all pioneers in a frontier, and decades from now you will be able to tell your children about how you played the first ever 3D online role-playing game, Meridian 59, what friends you had and what battles you fought.

Gilroy via gilcon.net

When Meridian 59 was released in 1996, it was the first MMORPG with 3D graphics and therefore a pioneer and important pioneer for the entire genre. At the time, a few hundred players were accommodated in each version of the game world.

The technological advances that developers were able to achieve with games in the 90s and early 2000s were so extensive that games became outdated much more quickly than they do today. When Gilroy wrote the letter to the Meridian 59 community, Ultima Online, Phantasy Star Online and EverQuest already existed.

How does the community react to the nostalgic post? With over 5,300 upvotes and 146 comments, many players are celebrating the journey back to the beginnings of 3D MMORPGs.

  • Vakhir writes on Reddit: “Absolute legends trying to keep the lights on for as long as possible. Thank you for the help with everything.”
  • TommyEarsPizza recalled on Reddit: “I was one of the beta testers on this game. They printed the names of all the testers at the back of the manual. As a child I thought it was the most incredible thing ever. I thought I was a celebrity because my name was printed like that.”
  • Osleg was a fan (via Reddit): “Oh, the countless hours spent there! It was THE game at a time.”

    • Back then, it was simply unthinkable that players would be able to play the same game for ten, 20 or 30 years.

    It is all the more astonishing that thanks to the Resurgence version you can still play the MMORPG oldie today, for free and on a platform like Steam, for example: The first MMORPG was published almost 30 years ago and can still be played for free today

    mmod-game