content: The "write once, run anywhere" model definitely had its appeal at the time, when Macs were actually a largish segment of the market and other platforms weren't irrelevant. When webgames started becoming popular, Java became king of the hill and, while Flash became more popular, Java remained dominant amongst the more professional ones. It came out at just the right time to have a huge codebase, especially when you have schools choosing to make it their primary teaching language.