.hack Story

Here is a timeline I found on another site to explain a bit about 'The World' and the company who created it. (Company in the game, not real!!)

End of the 20th CenturyThe U.S. Department of Defense develops ARPANET, which becomes the basis of the Internet. By 1999 almost everyone across the world has internet access.
Beginning of the 21st CenturyAs the Internet increases in popularity, classified government information becomes harder to conceal and easier to obtain. Hackers continue to attack networks; cyber crime increases.
2002The United Nations subsystem WNC (World Network Commisson) is created.
2003The WNC has its first meeting.
A computer virus "Hello WNC" infects over 10,000,000 users.
Deadly Flash a virus that is capable of inducing epiliptic seizures is released, killing several people. The creator of the virus, a young Japanese man is the first person to be sentenced to death for cybercrime.
2004The WNC tightens its laws regarding cybercrime.
Emma Wielant dies in a car accident. Her incomplete epic web poem Epitaph of Twilight disappears from the web.
The National Bank of Switzerland is hacked, over $84,000,000 are stolen from accounts.
2005The New York Stock exchange is hacked, causing stock prices to hike worldwide.
December 24: Pluto's Kiss, almost all systems worldwide shut down for 77 minutes. The culprit is a 10-year-old boy living in Los Angeles.
Following Pluto's Kiss, all internet activity save for government or business purposes is restricted.
2006The period known as the "Twilight of the New Gods" begins. Production of online video games ceases.
January: Jim Stonecold, 44th President of the United States, resigns due to criticism resulting from Pluto's Kiss.
Summer: ALTIMIT OS, the only operating system to completely survive Pluto's Kiss, becomes the most popular operating system in the world. Some of the company's core staff leave the company to form the CyberConnect Corporation. Harald Hoerwick, a genius programmer from Germany, presents the game Fragment to CyberConnect and is hired by them.
The Commentator begins his tenure at CyberConnect.
2007January: ALTIMIT Corporation creates twelve regional offices throughout the world.
CyberConnect Japan is founded. Junichiro Tokuoka begins work on the Japanese localization of Fragment. He is assisted by Kazushi Watarai.
May: Beta test of Fragment begins, quickly becoming one of the most discussed topics among gamers.
July: Harald Hoerwick goes missing.
July: The beta test of Fragment ends in.
The WNC passes laws forcing all computers to run ALTIMIT OS.
December 24: Virgin's Kiss is created as an international holiday by the WNC. Network restrictions are lifted. Fragment, now renamed The World, is released worldwide getting over 100,000 downloads on the first day alone.
The period known as the "Twilight of the New Gods" ends with the release of "The World."
2008.hack//Intermezzo (flashbacks): Mimiru meets Mimika while exploring the unbalanced dungeon in The World.

Japanese .hack timeline as seen in .hack//AI buster 2[edit] 2010.hack//AI buster: Kazushi Watarai runs into a Vagrant AI named Lycoris while debugging. Balmung and Orca defeat The One Sin.
.hack//2nd Character: Haruka Mizuhara meets the character Albireo while playing under her character "Hokuto".
.hack//SIGN: The character Tsukasa becomes trapped within The World.
.hack//Wotan's Spear: Kazushi Watarai has an encounter with the Vagrant AI Macha.
.hack//ZERO: A player named Carl has an encounter with a strange PC.
.hack//Intermezzo (non-flashbacks): Mimiru returns to the unbalanced dungeon with Bear.
Pluto Again incident, also called the Second Network Crisis, begins.
.hack//Games: Kite begins his investigation of the circumstances that led to his friend Yasuhiko falling comatose.
.hack//Another Birth: Akira Hayami creates a character in The World in order to find out why her brother Fumikazu fell comatose.
.hack//Liminality: Junichiro Tokuoka begins investigating the cause of the problems within The World, focusing on the contacts of a player named Sieg.
December 24: The .hackers fight the final phase Corbenik. Junichiro Tokuoka finishes his investigation of CC Corp. Pluto Again ends with the rebirth of Aura.
2011Kazushi Watarai quits CC Corp.
The "Golden Age" of The World begins.
2013Balmung is hired by CC Corp.
.hack//Kamui: Saki Shibayama is appointed leader of the Cobalt Knights; she begins deleting the various Vagrant AIs within The World.
.hack//Rumor: Brigit joins The World and runs into a Vagrant AI named Rumor.
2014.hack//Firefly: Hotaru logs onto the JP servers for the first time.
.hack//Legend of the Twilight (manga): Shugo Kunisaki and his twin sister Rena Kunisaki win the limited edition .hackers character models and begins the search for Aura to return Zefie.
The root town Naval Monte is opened for only one summer.
December 24: The World has a temporary system crash. There are problems and errors throughout the Internet. Aura's disappearance is confirmed. The "Golden Age" of The World is over.
2015Bugs begin to appear in Altimit OS.
Winter:Jun Bansyoya assigned as the leader for Project G.U.
Jyotaro Amagi hired by CC Corp.
Spring: Mia is destroyed by CC Corp in order to extract her Epitaph data.
Summer: Something goes terribly wrong with Project G.U., resulting in the loss of about 80% of The World's data. Jyotaro Amagi starts a fire at CC Corp headquarters.
Autumn: Jun Bansyoya resigns from CC Corp, taking responsibility for the fire.
December 24:The World R:2 and ALTIMIT Mine OS are released to the public. The characters Ovan, Kuhn, Endrance, and Yata are created.
2016Spring: Gabi and Kuhn found Kestrel.
Jun Bansyoya dies. His younger half-sister, Reiko Saeki, hides her relationship to him in order to be hired at CC Corp.
The first outbreak of AIDA. Ovan's player starts investigating The World.
Summer: Odd events begin to occur inside of the game. The veteran player Yata is hired by CC Corp to investigate. The characters Naobi and Ender are created, and TaN is formed.
September: The Twilight Brigade is established.
October: Gord and Bset join the Twilight Brigade.
November: Haseo and Tabby start playing The World R:2 and join the Twilight Brigade. The events of First Login occur. .hack//Roots begins. Azure Kite appears for the first time.
December: .hack//Alcor: Alkaid becomes Emperor of the Demon Palace.
2017January: Kuhn leaves Kestrel.
February: The Twilight Brigade and TaN disbanded. Canard is founded. Shino becomes a Lost One, and Haseo starts searching for "Tri-Edge".
March: Kuhn resigns from Canard. The Forest of Pain event occurs and ends.
May: Haseo becomes known as "The Terror of Death". Endrance becomes Emperor of the Demon Palace.
.hack//GnU: Raid joins the Guild Moon Tree.
.hack//CELL: Midori, a powerful player encounters Tri-Edge and draws the interest of Haseo.
July: The events of the .hack//G.U. games begin. Haseo becomes guildmaster of Canard. Salvador Aihara begins to explore Doll Syndrome in his show Online Jack.
Summer: The events of the .hack//G.U. games conclude. Shino awakens.
2018The World R:2 service suddenly ends.
2019December 24th - The original The World R:X disc is created by Jyotaro Amagi.
2020.hack//LINK: Twilight Knights: The World R:X is released to the public. Saika Amagi transfers into Tokio Kuryuu's class.