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I got hooked on the lost-in-the-MMO genre with SAO (Sword Art Online), but I
didn't even know it was a genre until a few weeks ago. I caught up on Log
Horizon, and now I'm watching Overlord. Obviously, MMOs are a relatively new
phenomenon, but approximately how old is this genre of anime?

I am curious because I'm about to go looking for more titles and I'd like to
know how far back to search and/or when to stop looking.


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anime-history
MMO RPG anime are great! Is this a new trend, or are there older anime in this genre?


The earliest show I can think of where a character is trapped inside a video
game is [.Hack//Sign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.hack//Sign), which aired
in 2002.

However, this isn't purely an anime feature - I read many books with similar
situations, some dating before 2002. [Example
2002](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heir_Apparent_\(novel\)), [Example
1998](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28695.City_of_Golden_Shadow)

Presumably this genre is a type of mutation of the ['Trapped in the TV'
trope](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TrappedInTVLand).

It's an easy way to legitimize a fantasy world for an author, so it's become a
common staple in teen/young fiction.

Whilst not exactly the same, there are earlier media like [The 1980's Dungeons
& Dragons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_\(TV_series\))
cartoon that have characters magically transported to a fantasy world. Or even
books like [Type Writer in the Sky
(1940s)](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TypewriterInTheSky)
in which characters are transported to a foreign land through the pages of a
novel. **It's simply modernization of this trope.**

So, to answer your question - 2000s and onwards is a good starting point, but
you might find similar shows with a slightly different approach earlier than
that if you want.


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