Global 'Noughties'
In the 'noughties', computers became widely available in ordinary people's homes, making video games accessible. Simultaneously, the internet conquered the world: social networks and messengers emerged, and people spent a lot of time communicating on thematic forums.
Online games also gained popularity then: from browser-based 'clickers', around which there was a separate cult in our country, to large MMOs like World of Warcraft or Lineage 2. You could find an online project for every taste: from large-scale fantasy adventures to dance rhythm-RPGs and games where you had to take care of a farm. And each one could surprise you with something.
Games gave people a unique opportunity not just to chat online, but to interact with each other: explore worlds together, conquer dungeons, or trade. You could fight a person living on the other side of the world without leaving your chair!
Let me give a personal example: I spent countless hours hanging out in Perfect World. I played on the official Russian server, visited PWI (international version), and had fun on user-created versions.
As a game, PW is very simple: basic leveling, simple battles, equipment selection, and trading. But playing it alone is meaningless and boring, as the social aspect turned a second-rate project into a second life with a separate schedule and rules.
So, to complete a daily quest and get a prize, you had to gather a squad and act in concert — otherwise, it would drag on for several hours. And one careless blow from a player from another guild could easily lead to a diplomatic crisis threatening the balance of power on the server.
By the way, diplomacy was a separate art form. Representatives of different guilds discussed game moments as if the fate of the state depended on it: they collected evidence of attacks, negotiated, accused each other, and held large meetings in voice programs.
This became a mirror of globalization — a period when people learned to live online, and distance ceased to be a problem. The MMO genre turned out to be a digital model of a new world, which is ironic, because unlimited internet access was far from universal.
Monetization and trading systems proved important. They gave impetus to the development of future services and showed that virtual items, having no physical form, can have quite real economic value. Even before the concept of 'digital asset' emerged, players sold equipment, in-game currency, and accounts for real money.
Nimble 'Tens'
In the 'tens', the World Wide Web became an integral part of society: services developed, bureaucracy simplified, new opportunities appeared. The pace of life increased significantly (especially in large cities), so people no longer wanted to spend thousands of hours developing characters.
The social aspect, which had become commonplace, no longer attracted, and once popular MMOs faded into the background, giving way to 'session-based games'. It was then that Dota 2, 'Tanks', and many similar projects gained popularity. And in 2016, Overwatch became the game of the year, cementing this gaming model on the pedestal of popularity.
Session-based games attracted with their simplicity and accessibility: you entered the game, pressed a button — and immediately into battle against equal opponents, because the system automatically matched opponents of the same rank. Progression no longer affected characters — only the player's personal skills.
Battles here also do not take much time — from a few minutes to an hour. Perfect for relaxing in the evening after work.
Mobile games also began to develop actively, allowing you to take entertainment with you and play almost anywhere, as long as there was internet. Mobile projects ceased to be simple time-killers and began to compete with major products: in 2018, Fortnite and PUBG were released on smartphones, and in 2019 — Call of Duty.
In this era, the internet became utilitarian: fast, convenient, accessible. People no longer wanted to live online, but integrated it into real life, putting the World Wide Web on mobile rails.
This idea is also confirmed by the fact that socialization from games began to flow into third-party services like Discord. They were convenient, because they could be used without being tied to the gameplay: they allowed you to call or text a friend from anywhere. You no longer had to go home to use a PC.
Monetization also changed, leaning towards cosmetic items — especially after the microtransaction scandal in Star Wars: Battlefront II in 2017. The sale of in-game advantages and 'loot boxes' became condemned, and publishers focused on selling skins for heroes, weapons, or other items. This can be compared to the fact that not only goods, but also services, began to be actively sold online.
Lonely 'Twenties'
The beginning of the 'twenties' was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly accelerated the development of games-as-a-service. Many companies became obsessed with this direction, and the market was flooded with products, some of which could be launched on PCs and consoles, as well as on smartphones, playing anywhere, saving progress.
Thus, in 2020, Genshin Impact was released. The game became very popular and spawned a lot of imitators — single-player projects that mimic MMOs. These games have online functions, such as chat and joint events, like hide-and-seek in 'Genshin'. But each player travels through their own separate world and does not directly interact with others, although there is an option for cooperative passage of dungeons and joint exploration of the world.
These projects have a huge audience: players communicate, attend events, and developers regularly hold various collaborations and release many related products. But this is just an illusion of an MMO, because the point is not in chat and events, but in a common space and events, which 'Genshin' and its analogues do not have.
Here I want to recall the global trend towards loneliness. More and more often, people prefer online communication to real-life, and many have even stopped going to stores, using delivery and marketplaces.
Even some MMORPGs today have become more friendly to solo players. For example, Final Fantasy XIV has a huge layer of story content, and interaction with other players is only required in high-level raids, in trading, and in guilds. Many story dungeons can be easily completed alone with the help of NPCs.
The requirement for a constant internet connection is needed to keep the player in the ecosystem and get more benefit from monetization. Many stores do the same: by collecting data about you, they select personalized offers, tempting you to make an impulse purchase.
And the acceleration of life has not gone anywhere — such projects do not require much of your time: to log in and do daily tasks, you will need 15-20 minutes, rarely more. These games bring players 'quick dopamine': you no longer need to farm a rare item from a boss for weeks, just press a button to 'spin' a character banner and get a burst of emotions. Just like with short videos on TikTok, Shorts, and Reels, which replace full-fledged long videos for many.
But the catch is that modern games-as-a-service force you to log in every day, which means a person does not 'live' in the game, as before, but plays on a schedule. And even though MMOs required a lot of time, they gave freedom, which is not present here. Just like in our lives, when one thing piles up on another, not allowing us to freely breathe out.
Outcomes
Online games have come a long way, showing us how the internet entered our lives, changed it, and became an integral part of it.
Today, most previously popular MMORPGs have either closed down or are slowly dying. My beloved Perfect World is barely holding on, and the online presence of the PWI version has dropped to single digits. Even the mastodons of the genre are having a hard time.
Players are returning to these games now for three reasons: out of nostalgia, out of habit, or hoping for social elements — just to chat. Many again want to feel that very atmosphere of cohesion that we lack today.
Game companies have caught the wave of nostalgia: Aion 2 has been released, Guild Wars 3 is preparing for release, and the beta test of World of Warcraft: Forever broke the online record for 17 years, becoming the most successful in Blizzard's history.
But it will be difficult to bring back the old days — developers will have to take into account all modern realities. Here I can again recall Perfect World, which got a location with gameplay copying Genshin Impact.
Creators will have to somehow combine old features with the rules of modern society, building a delicate balance to compete for user time. But here problems begin, because old multiplayer projects were loved precisely for their complexity, and subsequent updates that simplified the gameplay were often perceived negatively by players. But if the developers succeed, who knows, perhaps they will determine the future not only of the genre, but also of the internet.