I remember playing QuakeWorld (Quake 1) back in the day. I was about 8 years old, I think? My memory may not serve me perfectly on this, but I remember ending pretty high in the rankings at the end of each match at one point.

Then I got some serious nightmares from it (well, yeah, I was 8) and had to delete it. (by deleting the icon from my desktop... I was so innocent back then)

Not sure the specifics, but I don’t think it was flash or java because you had to install a native extension.

Ah it looks like you are correct. It used the NAPI. Per wikipedia:

> In November 2013, citing the planned deprecation of NPAPI browser plug-ins by major browsers, Quake Live began to phase out its browser version and began migrating to a standalone client. However, this change necessitated the removal of OS X and Linux support from the game.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake_Live

Now I remember why I stopped playing as I only had a macbook at the time.

If it required a custom plugin, what was significant about playing it in a browser?

To me, the appeal of a browser game is that it is contained and you don't have to worry about malware.

(Notwithstanding the occasional vulnerability, but those get fixed.)

Yes! It was essentially Quake3 but in the browser. Not sure when they transitioned away from the free browser-based version, but it's still available on Steam.

This prompted me to take a look at quakelive again. It's been years since I last played but I was hooked for a while. This might get me back into it.

If you're interested on a more modern game with similar gameplay, Diabotical is in open beta soon https://www.diabotical.com/

I was in the closed beta - it really satisfies the quake style deathmatching itch I've had lately.

I liked Reflex Arena the most out of the post-Quake Live arena FPS'. It's a huge pity that it didn't really take off. I feel like they made a terrible mistake hedging their bets with catering to the CPM community. From what I saw it alienated the VQL players by using CPM mechanics, and the CPM players shunned it in the end because it wasn't an exact clone of CPM. This was a poor decision, in my opinion. One that ended up dooming what could have been an amazing game.

I remember that! Perfect LAN game