‘Multiplay - ‘Diablo’‘
[MISC] [AUSTRALIA] [MAGAZINE] [1997]
Long before online multiplayer was as technically refined as it is today, we all had to make do with LAN parties, dial-up modems, and services like Heat.Net among other antiquities.
Meanwhile, in Australia, things were actually worse. Reportedly, they didn’t even have 56k dial-up in 1997; surprisingly they were behind the curve with tech-savvy Aussies being the ones with a halved 28.8k. Hosted games were poor quality due to “enormous packet loss/warping and insane latency.”
Enter Multiplay: an online service that used licensed US-based tech to host Australia’s only Battle.Net server, as well as many other popular games of the time like Myth and Quake II. Some of the technical details are lost but the fans I’ve talked to suggest that the service “tunneled IPX and TCP/IP over a dialup connection.” An insert in Australian copies of Diablo gave buyers a special offer for the service, which normally ran for $10 a month. (Or over $50 in 2020.)
Source: PC Powerplay, August 1997 (#15) || Internet Archive; chris85
Note: Special thanks to Redditors AvalieV, badonkadonkthrowaway, and logan_bogan13 for their input on this post.
