A toast to the wild west weirdos of the MMO goldrush—from the game that unleashed pandora's lootbox, to a deeply strange mess based off a 1996 science fiction novel
This article reflects on the unique and often strange MMOs from the genre's goldrush era between 2005-2015, highlighting games like Zhengtu Online, which pioneered lootboxes, and The Matrix Online, an ambitious early example of live service elements. It contrasts these experimental titles with the more risk-averse nature of modern game development, suggesting that such creative and peculiar games are unlikely to emerge today.
PC Gamer
- Entities
- Guild Wars 2
- Sony
- The Matrix Online
- Zhengtu Online
- DRAGO Entertainment
- Extraction Shooter
- Empire of Sports
- Aventurine
- Fortnite
- MMOs
- World of Warcraft
- F4
- Game Design
- Otherland
- Arc Raiders
Original source
This article was reported and published by PC Gamer. feed.gg links to it as part of a story cluster — full text, images and rights remain with the publisher.