Video game:Dark Age of Camelot: Trials of Atlantis

Mythic Entertainment began developing its first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC), in 1999. Four days after its release in 2001, the game had already sold 51,000 copies. DAoC is a 3D fantasy adventure that combines Arthurian legend, Celtic lore, and Norse mythology in a persistent world that, at its peak, held more than 250,000 simultaneous subscribers. Published by Vivendi Games, Wanadoo, and later Electronic Arts, this game takes place ten years after King Arthur's death, with three of the realms he previously controlled at war with one another. Players can choose to be an inhabitant of any of these three realms: Albion (home of the Britons), Hibernia (land of the Celts), or Midgard (Nordic territory). After selecting a home realm, players create a unique avatar from 18 different races (some races are contingent upon the chosen realm) and four classes standard to RPGs: warriors, rogues, spellcasters, and healers. Hybrid classes with combined skill sets are also available in all three realms. Played from either a first- or third-person perspective, DAoC focuses on basic concepts of play within MMORPGs, such as gaining experience points through combat or the completion of quests, which then allows the character to level up. Each time a player's avatar gains experience and/or money, he or she also gains improved special abilities and basic qualities such as endurance. Within the game, players engage in either Player vs. Environment (PvE) or Realm vs. Realm (RvR) combat. RvR represents one-on-one combat between players, whereas PvE involves fighting computer-created monsters alone or as part of a group. Being part of a battle group or guild helps members complete large-scale PvE tasks or battles, develops economic advantages, and facilitates better communication between players. Guilds come with their own chat channels, economic systems, housing, abilities, and reward systems. Since a main component of the game involves interacting with other players, DAoC has a very strong social framework, and gives significant experience bonuses to players who utilize it. DAoC's interface encourages communication with customizable windows to display chat messages and optional windows for tracking friends and group members. Furthermore, DAoC utilizes an in-game help system and an organization of volunteer players who give advice on gameplay. Players can also choose from among different online servers in order to play with certain friends. Mythic originally designed these servers to hold up to 20,000 players, but they ultimately limited each to 4,000 players so that the world did not seem crowded. Mythic released six expansion packs that offered new classes, races, locations, abilities, better graphics, and other high level content: Shrouded Isles (2002), Trials of Atlantis (2003), New Frontiers (2004), Catacombs (2004), Darkness Rising (2005), and Labyrinth of the Minotaur (2006). All of these expansions eventually became available for free download. DAoC's significance for PC gaming lies in its popularity despite its size and complexity, and the interest it inspired in the general populace, rather than simply the gaming community.