Kesmai Marks Anniversary

Even though its own online gaming site, GameStorm, is only a year old, Kesmai has been working on its "massively multiplayer online gaming" model for the past 16 years. Kelton Flinn and John Taylor formed the company in 1982; their first projects were text-based MUDs and role-playing games - Dungeons of Kesmai, Mega Wars III, Island of Kesmai (now Legends of Kesmai), and Stellar Warrior were among their efforts.

In 1987, Kesmai released Air Warrior, one of the first graphic multiplayer online games. Today the company is owned by News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch's company, which owns all the Fox properties (the movie studio, the TV network, etc.), HarperCollins publishing, and the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, among many others.

Still, Kesmai's beginnings stretch to 1982, and, like any 16-year-old, Kesmai doesn't want to be sitting around, forlorn and alone, as birthday candles slowly melt into small puddles of wax on its birthday cake. No, it would rather have people around, helping it celebrate. And of course, the more people it can gather around, and more specifically, convince to sign up for its GameStorm service (at $9.95 a month), the more likely GameStorm will reach its second birthday.

And so, Kesmai is holding a "Sweet Sixteen" birthday contest. Kesmai is asking entrants to submit a short statement (no more than 200 words) describing their most vivid "Memories from the '80s." A panel of judges will pick the four best entries, based on humor and originality. Prizes range from a year's membership to GameStorm to a GameStorm travel alarm clock. The deadline to submit entries to the contest is Nov. 2.