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How PC Gaming Grew Up
A plain-language look at how personal computers became a gaming platform, from hobbyist programs and shareware to online stores, mods and today's open ecosystem.
Game History
PC and Online History
How computer and online gaming grew up.
Browser Games and the Flash Era
How games played inside a web page spread so easily, what role Flash played, why it faded, and how browser games continue today.
Dial Up to Broadband and Online Play
How the shift from telephone-line modems to always-on broadband changed online games: bandwidth versus latency, bigger downloads, voice chat and persistent play.
Digital Storefronts and Game Distribution
How download platforms gradually replaced boxes on shelves: what digital distribution changed for players and developers, and the trade-offs around ownership.
How Massively Multiplayer Games Began
Early persistent online worlds explained: from text-based MUDs in the late 1970s to graphical worlds of the 1990s, and the ideas that defined the genre.
LAN Parties Explained
Why players once carried desktop computers to one room and linked them together: how local networks worked, what people played, and why the practice declined.
Text Adventures and Early Computer Games
How the first story-driven computer games worked using only words: parsers, rooms and puzzles, from Colossal Cave Adventure to Zork and the Infocom era.
The Rise of Mobile Games
How phones became a gaming platform, from simple built-in games to touch screens and app stores, and how design adapted to short sessions and small screens.
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