The history of video games dates back to the 50s when scientists in academia created games mostly for simulations. At M.I.T., young professors and students played games with simple interfaces like 3D tic-tac-toe, Solitaire, and even moon landing. The first-ever video game that entered the gaming world was Pong, a tennis-inspired video game by Atari and it was released years later in 1972. For young millennials, computer games were a huge hit back then when TV shows and channels were less popular.
Despite some video games becoming obsolete, there is still a handful that can be played to this day. Let’s walk down memory lane with these old-school video games that Millenials used to play (and maybe still do!)
First on the list is Sims, a life simulation game that came out in the early 2000s. It was the brainchild of American Will Wright who initially intended the game to be for personal use but then decided that the public should have access to it. This game was a hit because players could build their own homes for their characters and watch them interact in real time with other characters. The player can create their own home or watch their Sims character build it themselves and they could even visit their friends in neighboring houses to converse with them or to simply hang out.
Pacman is another famous maze arcade game developed by Namco in 1980. It was originally supposed to be called Puck-Man but it was later changed into Pacman, The goal of the game is that there’s a character walking through an enclosed maze and the objective is to consume all the dots while avoiding the colored ghosts. The game ends when the ghost consumes you and it’s a fun game for all and it was widely played in the arcades.
Neopets was another well-loved game that was more of a virtual pet website than a video game. It was launched in 1999 and there was no true set objective for the users. All the players needed to do was to make sure their Neopet was well-loved and taken care of. If they needed to eat then they would have to be fed, if they needed attention then they would have to be played with. Most importantly, if they were sick then they would have to be tended to. Right now, Neopets and its social media accounts are still active but its presence past 2020 is still left unknown.