''MegaWars'' was a series of real-time

online 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 ...

space empire building games which were hosted on

CompuServe CompuServe, Inc. (CompuServe Information Service, Inc., also known by its initialism CIS or later CSi) was an American Internet company that provided the first major commercial online service provider, online service. It opened in 1969 as a times ...

in the 1980s and lasted well into the 1990s. The original MegaWars I was a port of Decwar, originally developed at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. A port using a basic client/server protocol and a basic graphical interface on the

TRS-80 Color Computer The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, later marketed as the Tandy Color Computer, is a series of home computers developed and sold by Tandy Corporation. Despite sharing a name with the earlier TRS-80, the Color Computer is a completely different ...

as ''MegaWars II'' was never released. ''

MegaWars III ''MegaWars III'' was a massively multiplayer empire building game written by Kesmai and run continuously on CompuServe between 1984 and 1999. It was one of CompuServe's most popular games throughout its lifetime with thousands of players joining ...

'' followed, based on an entirely different engine originally developed by

Kesmai Kesmai was a pioneering game developer and online game publisher, founded in 1981 by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor. The company was best known for the combat flight sim '' Air Warrior'' on the GEnie online service, one of the first graphica ...

External links

Mega Wars III The RebirthMegaWars I infoMegaWars III info

CompuServe Multiplayer online games Space trading and combat simulators Video games developed in the United States