10 Games We All Used To Play In IT Class

There was a time when you lived and died by the wealth and status of your character in a browser-based MMORPG game. Everyone wanted to be the most powerful from a stats or player-vs-player (PvP) standpoint, complete the most quests and/or hold the most currency, becoming a digital God in the process.

Hardly comparable to simple browser-based games given their ludicrous depth, the likes of Runescape became an obsession for some, with hours invested at home and school each day to develop one’s character and skills. New content was constant and eagerly anticipated and the detailed in-game trading and chat/messaging systems were actually highly effective lessons in economics and communication.

Runescape wasn’t the king everywhere, as other browser games, such as the side-splittingly funny and substantially deep Kingdom of Loathing (responsible for the consumption of at least two years of this writer’s life between 2004 and 2006), gained a sizable foothold in certain areas of the country and spread like wildfire amongst friends.

Recently released on Steam, RuneScape, now in its third iteration (a classic version also exists), is going nowhere, even if it looks and feels tired in comparison to modern MMO behemoths like the seemingly immortal World of Warcraft. Onetime players whose lives are now dominated by careers and families can only nostalgically look back at how they were ever able to dedicate a huge chunk of each school day to it.