Diablo
The original Diablo (1996). Battle.net hostile PvP and dueling defined the template that Diablo II would scale, and the early competitive culture set the precedent for ARPG PKing.
Diablo launched in late 1996 from Blizzard North and shipped with Battle.net multiplayer that allowed hostile PvP in shared games. The dueling culture that emerged in those early Battle.net public games is the foundational moment for ARPG competitive PvP: the hostile-flag system, the trade-and-PK economy, the iconic ear-collecting trophies on PK kills, and the dedicated dueling lobbies that ran for years.
The PvP was unbalanced and exploit-prone by modern standards (the famous town kill exploits, the lag manipulation, the duped-item economy), and that turbulence was a feature of the era as much as a bug. The competitive scene was player-organized and largely informal, but it set the template that every ARPG since (D2, Path of Exile, Last Epoch, Diablo IV) has built on, walked back from, or argued with.
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