Trade Wars

{{short description|Series of video games}} {{Italic title}} {{redirect|Imperial StarShip|Imperial Star Ships in ''Star Trek''|Mirror Universe}} {{For|economic conflict|Trade war}} '''''Trade Wars''''' is a series of video games dating back to 1984.<ref name="pc_world"/><ref name="twhistory"/> The video games are inspired by ''Hunt the Wumpus'', the board game ''Risk'', and the original space trader game ''Star Trader''.<ref name="SherrickInterview">{{cite web | url=https://wiki.classictw.com/index.php/TradeWars_1_(Sherrick) | title=Chris Sherrick Interview | work=TradeWars Museum | access-date=7 March 2021}}</ref>

==History== The first game with the title, ''Trade Wars'', by Chris Sherrick, was developed in BASIC for the TRS-80 Model II, and soon ported, by Sherrick, to the IBM PC for the Nochange BBS system in 1984.<ref name="twhistory">{{cite web | url=https://wiki.classictw.com/index.php/Inside_TradeWars_-_History_-_Timeline | title=Inside TradeWars - History - Timeline | author=John Pritchett | work=TradeWars Museum | access-date=17 Aug 2025}}</ref> Sherrick conceived his game as a cross between Dave Kaufman's BASIC program ''Star Trader'' (1974), the board game ''Risk'', and Gregory Yob's ''Hunt the Wumpus'' (1972).<ref name="twhistory"/>

Because Sherrick released his earliest versions with a free license, many variations of the game appeared over the next few years, including ''TWV - Galactic Armageddon'', ''Yankee Trader'', and ''TW2'' (a development of the original by John Morris who took over from Chris Sherrick).

In September 1986, James T. Gunderson, a sysop known by the handle "Lord Darkseid", ported TradeWars to Turbo Pascal 3 for use on WWIV BBSes. Like most games for WWIV at this time, Gunderson's TradeWars implementation was written as a chain or sub-program. This enabled sysops to install the game without recompiling WWIV, but it required Gunderson to distribute the game as source code, rather than as compiled code. He called his version ''TW2 for WWIV'', and it shared no source code with the Sherrick version, which had been written in Basic.

A succession of sysops and users modified Gunderson's version, making bug fixes, adding new features, and incorporating thematic elements from disparate sources like ''Star Trek'' and ''Superman''.<ref name="twhistory"/>

WWIV sysop Gary Martin also obtained this the source code, which he later described as a "hot mess" that "crashed all the time." In an effort to stabilize the game, he overhauled the core source code, and released his new version as ''Trade Wars 2001'' in late 1986. Only 14 sysops paid to register ''TW2001''.<ref name="bic-intvw"> {{cite interview |last = Martin |first = Gary |date = 19 Jul 2019 |title = Gary Martin, creator of 'TradeWars 2002' |url = https://breakintochat.com/blog/2019/07/19/gary-martin-creator-tradewars-2002/ |website = Break Into Chat |interviewer-last = Renaud |interviewer-first = Josh |access-date = 17 Aug 2025}}</ref> But Martin's next effort, the ''TradeWars 2002'' series, would become arguably the most popular variant of TradeWars.

In 1988, the author of WWIV, Wayne Bell, ported his BBS software in Turbo C. This major change meant older chain programs would no longer work, so beginning in March 1989, Martin embarked on a total rewrite of ''TW2001''. He added numerous new features, such as the StarDock, where players could interact with each other, buy new ships, and watch "movies" (ANSI art animations). A fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation at this time, Martin decided to give his game a more consistent Star Trek theme, and established the Ferrengi as the game's main antagonists.<ref name="bic-intvw"/> ''TradeWars 2002'' v1.00 was released in June 1991. No longer just a WWIV chain, ''TW2002'' was a standalone program that could run with almost any BBS software.

''TW2002'' v1, v2, and v3 were BBS mainstays throughout the 1990s. In 1998, Gary Martin sold the ''Trade Wars'' license to John Pritchett, who had written ''Tradewars 2002'' v3 and its gold expansion. John and his company, EIS, developed a stand-alone game server, ''TradeWars Game Server'', which has allowed ''Trade Wars'' to survive beyond the BBS era. Martin and Pritchett together have sold more than 28,000 ''TW2002'' registrations between 1990 and 2025.<ref name="twstats">{{cite web | url=https://wiki.classictw.com/index.php?title=Inside_TradeWars_-_Impact_-_Statistics | title=Inside TradeWars - Impact - Statistics | author=John Pritchett | work=TradeWars Museum | access-date=17 Aug 2025}}</ref>

==Gameplay== Though specifics vary between versions, in general the player is a trader in a galaxy with a fixed set of other players (either human or computer). The players seek to gain control of resources: usually fuel ore, food, and equipment, and travel through sectors of the galaxy trading them for money or undervalued resources. Players use their wealth to upgrade their spaceship with better weapons and defenses, and fight for control of planets and star bases.

Since the basics of the game structure are numerical, these games are not reliant on high resolution graphics or rapid processing, which makes them ideally suited to low-resource computing platforms.

Today, classic ''Trade Wars'' is primarily hosted by Windows computers running the Trade Wars Game Server (TWGS), which accepts incoming telnet connections and launches the Trade Wars ANSI game. ''Trade Wars'' is also run by many of the surviving BBSs, and variations have been ported to the web, cell phones, and the Palm OS.

==Reception== ''Computer Gaming World'' in 1993 rated ''Trade Wars'' two points out of three, stating that for many players "there is no other on-liner than ''Trade Wars'' ... This game will be around for a while, in one form or another".<ref name="shefski199305">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=106 | title=A survey of gems to be found on private bulletin board systems | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=May 1993 | access-date=7 July 2014 | author=Shefski, William J. | pages=64}}</ref>

The editors of ''netgames'' called ''TW2002'' "perhaps the granddaddy of all BBS games" in 1994,<ref name=netgames>{{cite book | editor0-last = Maloni | editor0-first = Kelly | editor1-last = Baker | editor1-first = Derek | editor2-last = Wice | editor2-first = Nathaniel | title = netgames | year = 1994 | publisher = Michael Wolff & Company | isbn = 0-679-75592-6 | page = 141 | quote = "Perhaps the granddaddy of all BBS games, TW 2002 is immensely popular and easy to find on BBSes all over the galaxy." }}</ref> the same year Pritchett has said was the peak of the game's popularity, with an estimated 70,000 active TradeWars players.<ref name="twstats"/>

==Legacy==

''Trade Wars 2002'' was named the 10th best PC game of all time by ''PC World Magazine'' in 2009.<ref name="pc_world">{{Cite web | last = Edwards | first = Benj | title = The Ten Greatest PC Games Ever | publisher = PC World | date = February 8, 2009 | url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/158850/best_pc_games.html#slide2 | access-date = 2010-01-03}}</ref>

''Trade Wars'' is cited as an influence by game developers including Paul Sage, lead designer of ''Ultima Online'',<ref name="sage-intvw"> {{cite interview |last = Sage |first = Paul |date = 21 Dec 2000 |title = Paul Sage Interview |url = http://rpgvaultarchive.ign.com/features/interviews/psage.shtml |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030725033340/http://rpgvaultarchive.ign.com/features/interviews/psage.shtml |archive-date = 25 Jul 2003 |website = RPG Vault |interviewer-last = Aihoshi |interviewer-first = Richard |publisher = IGN |access-date = 17 Aug 2025}}</ref> Josh Johnston, lead programmer of ''Jumpgate'',<ref name="johnston-intvw"> {{cite interview |last = Johnston |first = Josh |date = Oct 2002 |title = Developers' Roundtable: Third-Party Software |url = http://www.mogonline.com/pdf/mog1/Devs-third_party_software.pdf |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040210064843/http://www.mogonline.com/pdf/mog1/Devs-third_party_software.pdf |archive-date = 10 Feb 2004 |work = Massive Online Gaming |publisher = Massive Online Gaming |quote = As for other online games, the only third-party game software I can remember using very much is TradeWars Helper — I was a TradeWars junkie. |access-date = 17 Aug 2025}}</ref> Eric Wang, producer of ''Earth & Beyond'',<ref name="wang-intvw"> {{cite interview |last = Wang |first = Eric |date = 17 May 2006 |title = Developers' Roundtable: Third-Party Software |url = https://www.gamespot.com/articles/earth-and-beyond-qanda/1100-2779449/ |work = GameSpot |publisher = GameSpot |quote = The development team has drawn inspiration from games like Elite, Privateer, Tradewars 2000, Starflight, and Starfleet Battles. |access-date = 17 Aug 2025}}</ref> and Pete Mackay, a designer of ''Star Citizen''.<ref name="mackay-intvw"> {{cite interview |last = Mackay |first = Pete |date = 2013 |volume = 1 |issue = 8 |title = The Economy: An Interview with Pete Mackay & Rob Irving |url = https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/s3gn5845kmpjzr/source/JumpPoint_01-08_A_Few_Good_Men.pdf |magazine = Jump Point |publisher = Cloud Imperium Games |pages = 28-29 |quote = The foremost inspiration for the economy comes from Privateer ... but Pirates! Gold, Transport Tycoon and TradeWars 2002 are other games in the cargo hauling genre that are fondly remembered by the team. |access-date = 17 Aug 2025}}</ref> Reviewers have compared many games to TradeWars, including ''EVE Online'',<ref name=netgames/> ''Jumpgate'',<ref name="gamespy-review"> {{cite web |last = McConnaughy |first = Tim |date = 22 Nov 2000 |title = Jumpgate (PC) |url = http://archive.gamespy.com/reviews/october01/jumpgate/index2.shtm |website = GameSpy |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050206020705/http://archive.gamespy.com/reviews/october01/jumpgate/index2.shtm |archive-date = 6 Feb 2005 |quote = In short, Jumpgate is sort of like the old BBS game Tradewars. |access-date = 17 Aug 2025}}</ref> and ''Spore''.<ref name="spore-review"> {{cite web |author = Tyson |date = 9 Sep 2008 |title = Review - Spore |url = https://videolamer.com/review-spore |website = videolamer |quote = Spore is an original game that borrows snippets from other games like Civilization, The Sims, Trade Wars, and Pokemon. |access-date = 17 Aug 2025}}</ref>

A major online game based on ''Trade Wars 2002'' was under development in the early 2000s under the name ''TW: Dark Millennium'', later renamed ''Exarch''. When the developer, Realm Interactive, was acquired by their publisher, NCsoft Austin (Richard Garriott/Destination Games), the development of ''Exarch'' was discontinued. What started as ''TW: DM'' was eventually released by NCsoft as ''Dungeon Runners''.<ref>[http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/exarch/news.html?sid=2708152&mode=recent Trade Wars: Dark Millennium Q&A - PC News at GameSpot<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==See also== * Space combat simulator

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://wiki.classictw.com Official TradeWars Museum] * [http://www.tradewars.com TradeWars tribute website] * [http://www.eisonline.com/ EIS, owner and developer of classic TradeWars] * [http://www.classictw.com Official EIS TradeWars forum] * [http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/library/PROGRAMS/DOORS/TRADEWARS/tradewars.html History of Trade Wars 2002 - John Pritchett] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100323022213/http://www.tmcbbs.com/twvariants.html A list of other ancient versions; alas none of the actual files have been archived here]

Category:Door games Category:1984 video games Category:TRS-80 games Category:Massively multiplayer online turn-based strategy games Category:Space trading and combat simulators Category:Space massively multiplayer online role-playing games Category:Browser games Category:Multiplayer online games Category:Video games developed in the United States