GMT Games
GMT Games is a California-based wargaming publisher founded in 1990. The current management and creative team includes Tony Curtis, Rodger MacGowan, Mark Simonitch, and Andy Lewis. The company has become well known for graphically attractive games that range from "monster games", of many maps and counters, to quite simple games suitable for introducing new players to wargaming. They also produce card games and family games. "The Washington Post" called GMT "the modern hobby's highest-profile wargame publisher".
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
MMORPG is a term coined by Richard Garriott to refer to massive multiplayer online role-playing games and their social communities. The link between Garriott and the MMORPG term has been recognised by many scholars. Previous to this and related coinages, these games were generally called graphical MUDs; the history of MMORPGs traces back directly through the MUD genre. Through this connection, MMORPGs can be seen to have roots in the earliest multi-user games such as "Mazewar" (1974) and "MUD1" (1978). 1985 saw the release of a roguelike (pseudo-graphical) MUD called "Island of Kesmai" on CompuServe and Lucasfilm's graphical MUD Habitat. The first fully graphical multi-user RPG was "Neverwinter Nights", which was delivered through America Online in 1991 and was personally championed by AOL President Steve Case. Other early proprietary graphical online RPGs include three on The Sierra Network: "The Shadow of Yserbius" in 1992, "The Fates of Twinion" in 1993, and "The Ruins of Cawdor" in 1995. Another milestone came in 1995 as NSFNET restrictions were lifted, opening the Internet up for game developers, which allowed for the first truly "massively"-scoped titles. Finally, MMORPGs as defined today began with "Meridian 59" in 1996, innovative both in its scope and in offering first-person 3D graphics, with "The Realm Online" appearing nearly simultaneously. "Ultima Online", released in 1997, is often credited with first popularizing the genre, though more mainstream attention was garnered by 1999's "EverQuest" and "Asheron's Call" in the West and 1996's "" in South Korea.