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Some of the earliest video games were two-player games, including early sports games (such as 1958's Tennis For Two and 🧾 1972's Pong), early shooter games such as Spacewar! (1962)[1] and early racing video games such as Astro Race (1973).[2] The 🧾 first examples of multiplayer real-time games were developed on the PLATO system about 1973. Multi-user games developed on this system 🧾 included 1973's 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 machines. In such games, play is alternated at some point (often after the loss of 🧾 a 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). 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. 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 games are "massively multiplayer", with 🧾 many players participating simultaneously. Two massively multiplayer genres are MMORPG (such as World of Warcraft or EverQuest) and MMORTS. Over time 🧾 the number of people playing video games has increased. In 2024, 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.[8] Asymmetrical 🧾 multiplayer is a type of gameplay in which players can have significantly different roles or abilities from each other – 🧾 enough to provide a significantly different experience of the game.[10] In games with light asymmetry, the players share some of 🧾 the same basic mechanics (such as movement and death), yet have different roles in the game; this is a common 🧾 feature of the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre such as League of Legends and Dota 2, and in hero 🧾 shooters such as Overwatch and Apex Legends. In games with stronger elements of asymmetry, one player/team may have one gameplay 🧾 experience (or be in softly asymmetric roles) while the other player or team play in a drastically different way, with 🧾 different mechanics, a different type of objective, or both. Examples of games with strong asymmetry include Dead by Daylight, Evolve, 🧾 and Left 4 Dead.[10] |