The Sierra Network

The Sierra Network
Predecessors
  • Sierra BBS
FoundedMay 1991; 33 years ago (1991-05)
Defunct1998 (1998)
Headquarters
Oakhurst, California
,
United States

The Sierra Network (TSN) later rebranded as the ImagiNation Network (INN), was an online service launched in 1991 by Sierra On-Line.[1] First developed in 1989 and launched to the public in 1991, it offered subscribers a unique online space to play games and socialize, billing itself as a "cyberspace theme park."[2]: 8  This service was the first exclusively focused on online gaming and was among the early adopters of online avatars, laying the groundwork for future gaming communities.[3][4]

  1. ^ "75 Power Players: The Next Generation?". Next Generation. No. 11. Imagine Media. November 1995. p. 75.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Annual Report 1992 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Shapiro, Eben (June 18, 1991). "Now, an All-Video Game Network". The New York Times.
  4. ^ Fyfe, Duncan (October 29, 2020). "How Sierra Was Captured, Then Killed, by a Massive Accounting Fraud". Vice. By 1990, Sierra had established the Sierra Network, a proprietary social network with multiplayer games; they envisioned, essentially, the breadth of Second Life with the mainstream appeal and brand integration of Fortnite, but running on modems and servers housed in a local Wild West-themed restaurant.