Ultima Online

…Garriott and his team created Ultima Online, a pioneer in the burgeoning genre of online computer games. Three years later he started Destination Games, which later became part of NCsoft, the world’s largest online-game developer and publisher. In November 2007 he launched the multiplayer online computer game Tabula Rasa.

…Windows OS were Electronic Arts’ Ultima Online (1997– ) and Sony’s Everquest I & II (1999– ). Though still persisting, the number of subscribers to these games declined significantly as MMORPGs with improved graphics were released. Sony also runs the game server for Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XI (2002– ),…

Ultima Online designers were the first to observe this phenomenon at work when a castle in their game world sold for several thousand dollars on the online auction site eBay. This was the beginning of a market valued at more than $1 billion by 2006.…