PLATO network - The Very Beginning
The PLATO network started the online gaming revolution with Empire in 1973. Empire was the start of online games. All the online games we see today are influenced by what the PLATO network conveyed in the early 1970s.
The PLATO network was developed in the 1960s, way earlier than modern computing. The system was originallly created for education purposes by Professor Don Bitzer at the University of Illinois at Urbana. It was not until 1972 when PLATO became more of a system to support thousands of users at the same time. It was on this network that chat rooms were created and used. It is interesting to realize that all the way back in the early 1970s, people could send messages back and forth to each other.
Originally, PLATO was not designed for gaming. However, it became easy to create games on the network because they worked so well. The games had features such as: shared memory storage, high resolution graphics for the time, processing for every key on a keyboard with a quick response, and the ability to close display screens.
The first two player game on the PLATO network was developed by Rick Blomme in the late 1960s. It was called Spacewar. Other games included Avatar (a dungeons and dragons type of game), Airfight, and Wordwar, (a word spelling game).
Without the PLATO network, the online gaming experience would not be as elaborate and precise as it is today. The PLATO network go the ball rolling and started a revolution.
The PLATO network was developed in the 1960s, way earlier than modern computing. The system was originallly created for education purposes by Professor Don Bitzer at the University of Illinois at Urbana. It was not until 1972 when PLATO became more of a system to support thousands of users at the same time. It was on this network that chat rooms were created and used. It is interesting to realize that all the way back in the early 1970s, people could send messages back and forth to each other.
Originally, PLATO was not designed for gaming. However, it became easy to create games on the network because they worked so well. The games had features such as: shared memory storage, high resolution graphics for the time, processing for every key on a keyboard with a quick response, and the ability to close display screens.
The first two player game on the PLATO network was developed by Rick Blomme in the late 1960s. It was called Spacewar. Other games included Avatar (a dungeons and dragons type of game), Airfight, and Wordwar, (a word spelling game).
Without the PLATO network, the online gaming experience would not be as elaborate and precise as it is today. The PLATO network go the ball rolling and started a revolution.