"Multiplayer" redirects here. For other multiplayer games, see Game § Multiplayer

A multiplayer video game is a video game in which 🫦 more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same 🫦 computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or via a wide area network, most 🫦 commonly the Internet (e.g. World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, DayZ). Multiplayer games usually require players to share a single 🫦 game system or use networking technology to play together over a greater distance; players may compete against one or more 🫦 human contestants, work cooperatively with a human partner to achieve a common goal, or supervise other players' activity. Due to 🫦 multiplayer games allowing players to interact with other individuals, they provide an element of social communication absent from single-player games.

History 🫦 [ edit ]

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).

Gauntlet (1985) and Quartet (1986) introduced co-operative 4-player gaming to the arcades. The games had broader consoles to 🫦 allow for four sets of controls.