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1960-1969 The 1960s

A first message between two hosts opens a network

A programmer at UCLA typed the first characters sent between two host computers on ARPANET, addressed to a machine at Stanford Research Institute. The connection failed after two letters, and the network it began carried everything afterward.

Key facts and significance Hide details
Platform
Industry-wide
Region
North America
Period
The 1960s

Why it matters

Online play needed a network before it needed anything else. This is the first working demonstration of general-purpose communication between distant host computers, and every later form of connected gaming, from university dungeon worlds to global shooters, rests on the approach proved here.

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