Browser-based games or games that run via an Internet browser ( IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari, and the like) was formally introduced to a global audience way back in the 1990's when the use of the WWW (World Wide Web) was beginning to take off and become part of everyday life. The development of Internet Web pages and sites using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), Dynamic HTML, and other scripting resources gave way to so many application opportunities that could be used online while users were connected to the Internet. At that point, computer and video games were already a part of everyday life for so many 'kids' (both young and...not so young), and bringing them online meant either uploading them for downloads or running them while connected to the WWW net.

Since the browsers were already being used to display and process information online by acting as a portal or go-between to the cyberworld the next logical step was to run the games online through them directly or by linking a game on a server to be displayed by the browser. So in the 1990s, browser-based games were born and the cute cyberkids (like those in the pic) were able to start playing browser games online. (D)HTML was very powerful as a tool to display info in a pleasant way (with pics, graphics, and an organized layout) on the WWW and it was but natural that the earliest web-based games took advantage of this. Of course, gaming online using text started with BBS (Bulletin Board Sites/Systems) dating all the way back to my Apple// days but having an online browser app in the 1990s was a totally different ball game on its own.

The micro-computer already made people go Wow in the '80s and the WWW made them go Wower in the '90s and so in 1996, the oldest recorded web browser game was released by Mehul Patel. It was an online strategy game (at first using simple text and images) and was called Earth: 2025. Patel started the ball rolling and when others saw that you could use browser markup language to make games, a lot of them followed suit. DHTML was good for a lot of things but was made foremost to display and layout info and not for making games. Simple animations could be produced but not at the level of playing a game written in a robust programming language like C++ or Java (which started to become so popular then) and also a scripter called JavaScript. Web browser companies started adding plug-ins and link patches that would make third party apps and programs work with the HTML format and code and thus give game developers the flexibility to create better looking and performing browser-based games.

One of the third-party resources which was a real game-changer was an app called FutureSplash Animator created by engineers at FutureWave Software to create vector-based art and animations that could be satisfactorily streamed online to the browser despite the limited phone-line speed and bandwidth provided by dial-up modems of the day. Noisy, slow, and at times unreliable (if you have ever used one back then) but just being connected to the WWW was already awesome. As FutureSplash became popular and more web developers started using it (as well as being acquired by Macromedia then Adobe) the app was renamed to Flash.

The history of browser games would not be the way it was without Flash. In order to use it for games and other applications that needed programming, Flash used a scripting language called ActionScript. This allowed early Indie game developers to create Flash-based games and upload it to game sites online (like Newgrounds and Kongregate) or create their own web pages/sites and upload them to web hosting services (like GoDaddy and Crocogator). From Patel's Earth: 2025 other developers started uploading their games to the WWW and many of them were written in Flash. Flash browser games grew in popularity and dominated online gaming especially in the first decade of the present 2K millennium. Some of these memorable games include Bejeweled (2001), Alien Hominid (2002), and Meat Boy (2008).

Flash was not the only resource developers used to create web games. Many used a gamut of app tools and languages ranging from Java to PHP. As long as it could be used to create server-side apps and link or embed them to web pages or sites, someone was bound to use them. 1999 was a very memorable year for browser-based MMORPG, RuneScape was released. This game practically changed online RPG gaming as it became the predecessor of many online browser MMORPG games today. It featured multiple RPG players and questing via the browser and may as well have started social gaming, to begin with. Created from the efforts of three brothers in the UK who founded JageX, RuneScape began as a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) which was more text than graphic based continually improved and updated adding more graphics and animations until it became the MMORPG legend it is today. The game was first written in Java than C++ to increase its power and flexibility. RuneScape garnered around 200 million registered users through the years and is considered the world's largest and most-updated free MMORPG.

During the later part of the first millennial decade, Flash started to wane after Apple refused to support it with the release of the then-new iPhone in 2007. Flash games however still continued to move on and gain popularity despite the lack of support from smartphone manufacturers and web browsers. Browsers like Firefox, however, provided the option for Flash player plug-ins to continually access the games and other Flash content. However, Adobe is currently intent on fully terminating Flash this coming 2021. With the varied resources currently available to the web site and game developers like the powerful HTML5 as well as advanced plug-ins, browser-based games have moved on with the times.

Mozilla (Firefox) in 2012 released its own browser-based MMORPG BrowserQuest, just to show the capabilities of HTML5 as a gaming development tool. Even if many browser-based games today use other resources and tools aside from HTML5, the games have become a way lot more faster, attractive and efficient with the speed and bandwidth our current Internet environment offers today. Undeniably, Flash or .swf will always play a major role in the development of web browser gaming as it enabled a way to surpass the current limitations of online technology way back in the 1990s. The history of Web Browser Gaming is still currently being written today as more advances are being introduced and developed in the realm of the WWW.