Editing Multiplayer video game (section)

== Non-networked ==
Some of the earliest video games were two-player games, including early [[sports game]]s (such as 1958's ''[[Tennis For Two]]''  and 1972's ''[[Pong]]''), early [[shooter game]]s such as ''[[Spacewar!]]'' (1962)<ref name="NGen19">{{cite magazine|date=July 1996|title=Getting Connected|url=https://archive.org/details/Next-Generation-1996-07/page/n29/mode/2up|magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|publisher=[[Imagine Media]]|issue=19|page=29|quote=There have been multiplayer electronic games since the dawn of computing. ''Space War!'', the first real videogame, programmed by Steve Russell on the PDP-1, was an exclusive two-player game. So was Nolan Bushnell's pioneering coin-op ''Pong''.}}</ref> and early [[racing video game]]s such as ''[[EVR Race|Astro Race]]'' (1973).<ref>{{KLOV game|6949|Astro Race}}</ref> The first examples of multiplayer real-time games were developed on the [[PLATO (computer system)|PLATO system]] about 1973. Multi-user games developed on this system included 1973's [[Empire (PLATO)|Empire]] and 1974's [[Spasim]]; the latter was an early [[first-person shooter]]. Other early video games included turn-based multiplayer modes, popular in [[tabletop arcade machine]]s. In such games, play is alternated at some point (often after the loss of a [[Life (gaming)|life]]). All players' scores are often displayed onscreen so players can see their relative standing. [[Danielle Bunten Berry]] created some of the first multiplayer video games, such as her debut, ''Wheeler Dealers'' (1978) and her most notable work, ''[[M.U.L.E.]]'' (1983).

[[Gauntlet (1985 video game)|''Gauntlet'']] (1985) and [[Quartet (video game)|''Quartet'']] (1986) introduced co-operative 4-player gaming to the arcades. The games had broader consoles to allow for four sets of controls.

===Networked===
Ken Wasserman and [[Tim Stryker]] identified three factors which make networked computer games appealing:{{r|byte198012}}

# Multiple humans competing with each other instead of a computer
# [[Incomplete information]] resulting in suspense and risk-taking
# Real-time play requiring quick reaction

[[John G. Kemeny]] wrote in 1972 that software running on the [[Dartmouth Time-Sharing System]] (DTSS) had recently gained the ability to support multiple simultaneous users, and that games were the first use of the functionality. DTSS's popular American football game, he said, now supported head-to-head play by two humans.<ref name="kemeny1972">{{Cite book |last=Kemeny |first=John G. |url=https://archive.org/details/mancomputer00keme/page/32/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Man and the Computer |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1972 |location=New York |pages=32-37, 41-42 |isbn=9780684130095 |language=en-US |lccn=72-1176}}</ref>

The first large-scale serial sessions using a single computer{{citation needed|date=January 2017}} were STAR (based on ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]''), OCEAN (a battle using ships, submarines and helicopters, with players divided between two combating cities) and 1975's CAVE (based on ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''), created by Christopher Caldwell (with artwork and suggestions by Roger Long and assembly coding by Robert Kenney) on the [[University of New Hampshire]]'s [[DECsystem-10]]90. The university's computer system had hundreds of terminals, connected (via serial lines) through cluster [[PDP-11]]s for student, teacher, and staff access. The games had a program running on each terminal (for each player), sharing a segment of [[Shared memory (interprocess communication)|shared memory]] (known as the "high segment" in the OS TOPS-10). The games became popular, and the university often banned them because of their [[Server hog|RAM use]]. STAR was based on 1974's single-user, turn-oriented [[BASIC]] program STAR, written by Michael O'Shaughnessy at UNH.

Wasserman and Stryker in 1980 described in ''[[BYTE]]'' how to network two [[Commodore PET]] computers with a cable. Their article includes a [[type-in program|type-in]], two-player [[Hangman (game)|Hangman]], and describes the authors' more-sophisticated ''Flash Attack''.<ref name="byte198012">{{cite news | url= https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1980-12/1980_12_BYTE_05-12_Adventure#page/n25/mode/2up | title= Multimachine Games | work= BYTE | date= December 1980 | access-date= 18 October 2013 |author1= Wasserman, Ken |author2= Stryker, Tim | pages= 24}}</ref> [[SuperSet Software]]'s ''[[Snipes (video game)|Snipes]]'' (1981) uses networking technology that would become [[Novell NetWare]].<ref name="white20180126">{{Cite web |last=White |first=Bradford Morgan |date=2018-01-26 |title=The History of Novell |url=https://www.abortretry.fail/p/the-history-of-novell |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=Abort Retry Fail |language=en}}</ref> [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] distributed another multi-user version of ''Star Trek'', [[Decwar]], without real-time screen updating; it was widely distributed to universities with DECsystem-10s. In 1981 Cliff Zimmerman wrote an homage to ''Star Trek'' in [[MACRO-10]] for DECsystem-10s and [[DECsystem-20|-20]]s using VT100-series graphics. "VTtrek" pitted four [[United Federation of Planets|Federation]] players against four [[Klingon]]s in a three-dimensional universe.

''[[History of Microsoft Flight Simulator|Flight Simulator II]]'', released in 1986 for the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga, allowed two players to connect via modem or serial cable and fly together in a shared environment.

''[[MIDI Maze]]'', an early first-person shooter released in 1987 for the [[Atari ST]], featured network multiplay through a [[MIDI]] interface before [[Ethernet]] and Internet play became common. It is considered{{by whom|date=January 2017}} the first multiplayer 3D shooter on a mainstream system, and the first network multiplayer action-game (with support for up to 16 players). There followed [[Porting|ports]] to a number of platforms (including [[Game Boy]] and [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super NES]]) in 1991 under the title ''Faceball 2000'', making it one of the first handheld, multi-platform first-person shooters and an early console example of the genre.<ref>Parish, Jeremy, [http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3133741 The Essential 50: Faceball 2000] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040820221008/http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3133741 |date=2004-08-20 }}, ''1UP,'' Accessed April 24, 2009</ref>

Networked multiplayer gaming modes are known as "netplay". The first popular video-game title with a [[Local area network|Local Area Network]](LAN) version, 1991's [[Spectre (1991 video game)|Spectre]] for the Apple Macintosh, featured [[AppleTalk]] support for up to eight players. Spectre's popularity was partially attributed{{by whom|date=January 2017}} to the display of a player's name above their cybertank. There followed 1993's [[Doom (1993 video game)|Doom]], whose first network version allowed four simultaneous players.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/932958/Doom|title=Doom - electronic game|date=2 September 2024 }}</ref>

[[Play-by-mail game|Play-by-email]] multiplayer games use email to communicate between computers. Other turn-based variations not requiring players to be online simultaneously are [[Play-by-post gaming]] and [[Play-by-Internet]]. Some [[online game]]s are "[[massively multiplayer]]", with many players participating simultaneously. Two massively multiplayer genres are [[Massively multiplayer online role-playing game|MMORPG]] (such as ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' or ''[[EverQuest]]'') and [[Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game|MMORTS]].

First-person shooters have become popular multiplayer games; ''[[Battlefield 1942]]'' and ''[[Counter-Strike]]'' have little (or no) single-player gameplay. Developer and gaming site [[OMGPOP]]'s library included multiplayer [[Browser game#Plug-in|Flash games]] for the casual player until it was shut down in 2013. Some networked multiplayer games, including [[Multi-user dungeon|MUD]]s and massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) such as [[RuneScape]], omit a single-player mode. The largest MMO in 2008 was ''World of Warcraft'', with over 10&nbsp;million registered players worldwide. ''World of Warcraft'' would hit its peak at 12 million players two years later in 2010, and in 2023 earned the [[Guinness World Records|Guinness World Record]] for best selling MMO video game.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 April 2024 |title=Best-selling MMO videogame |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/106828-best-selling-mmo-videogame |access-date=2024-04-20 |website=Guinness World Records |language=en-GB}}</ref> This category of games requires multiple machines to connect via the Internet; before the Internet became popular, MUDs were played on time-sharing computer systems and games like ''Doom'' were played on a LAN.

Beginning with the [[Sega NetLink]] in 1996, [[Game.com]] in 1997 and [[Dreamcast]] in 2000, game consoles support network gaming over LANs and the Internet. Many [[mobile phone]]s and [[handheld console]]s also offer wireless gaming with [[Bluetooth]] (or similar) technology. By the early 2010s [[Online game|online gaming]] had become a mainstay of console platforms such as [[Xbox]] and [[PlayStation]].{{citation needed|date=January 2017}} During the 2010s, as the number of Internet users increased, two new video game genres rapidly gained worldwide popularity{{snd}}[[multiplayer online battle arena]] and [[battle royale game]], both designed exclusively for multiplayer gameplay over the Internet.

Over time the number of people playing video games has increased. In 2020, the majority of households in the United States have an occupant that plays video games, and 65% of gamers play multiplayer games with others either online or in person.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Fitzgerald|first=Dylan|title=2020 Essential Facts About the Video Game Industry|url=https://www.theesa.com/resource/2020-essential-facts/|access-date=2021-04-16|website=Entertainment Software Association|date=15 July 2020 |language=en-US}}</ref>