Online gaming is massively popular right now; whether you enjoy being sworn at by thirteen year olds on Call of Duty, or you prefer the more subtle pleasures of being sworn at by slightly older teenagers on Battlefield, you'll never be short of opportunities to indulge. Some gamers prefer the more sedate experience of roleplaying titles, typically played offline, such as Skyrim, Dragon Age, and the recently released Fallout. In these games, rather than facing off against errant adolescents, instead you'll find yourself battling orcs, completing missions, and exploring vast open worlds until such a point as the main questline is over or your thumbs start to bleed, whichever comes sooner.
Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games are what happens when the developers of these two games fall in love and make a baby. And just like a baby, MMORPGs require a hell of a lot of attention. These games blend the open-world fantasy roleplaying experience with the thrill of knowing you're playing with and against thousands of real people. In an offline roleplaying game the elf, the barkeep, and the busty bar wench are all artificially intelligent coded characters. In an MMORPG they are your friends, they are complete strangers, they are real human people; which makes interacting with them (and in some MMORPGs screwing them over) even more satisfying.
You could be a space pirate from the planet Xylon 12, or you might be a lowly Chinese farmer
girl whose brain is riddled with parasites which enable her to telepathically communicate with
wasps.
In MMORPGs you are invited to assume a character or personality just like you would in an
offline game, in a book, or a movie. The only difference is that this time you control the
action; you decide who to talk to and whose face to smash in with a sledgehammer. You
could be a space pirate from the planet Xylon 12, or you might be a lowly
Chinese farmer girl whose brain is riddled with parasites which enable her to
telepathically communicate with wasps. There is no limit to the world in which you
can set an MMORPG, however most of them tend to base themselves within outer space, medieval
landscapes, and fantasy realms.
The most popular MMORPG in the world is of course World of Warcraft, a game set on the
fictional world of Azeroth and the poison of choice for over 5 million subscribers.
This is a game which has destroyed friendships, wrecked marriages, and obliterated careers... so you
know it has something special. But Warcraft isn't the only MMORPG in town, and in recent
years its subscription levels have actually been dropping. This doesn't necessarily mean that
interest in MMORPGs is waning, far from it in fact, but it might mean it's time for something
new to take the stage.
You might think the Browser based MMORPG genre begins and ends with World of Warcraft, but these
games have been built, played and enjoyed ever since computers first became popular over
three decades ago . There was a huge overlap between the kind of people who enjoyed coding
and playing with new technology, and those who dedicated hours in the basement to table top
role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer.
The very first graphical virtual world to be created on a computer is believed to be a game
called Maze War released in 1974. Although some dispute its status as the earliest, there is no
doubting Maze War's profound impact on role playing games, first person shooters, and
indeed every genre we enjoy today. The game itself was nothing spectacular; players simply
wandered around a maze shooting each other, although if we're honest you could reduce
most games down to this description if we tried (we're looking at you Call of Duty).
Despite Maze War's relative popularity, it wasn't until the 1980s that we saw RPGs begin to
have any sort of commercial success, and it was at this point the video game developer
Richard Garriott added the word "massive" into the mix, thus coining the term Massively
Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Most of the early MMORPGs were entirely text
based, and their audience limited to computer lab students and dedicated enthusiasts. But
when NSFNET restrictions were lifted in the mid-90s, MMORPGs suddenly had
access to an audience of millions.
MMORPGs as we know them today began with 1995's Meridian 59. This typical sword and
sorcery classic ran with a flat-rate monthly subscription and was the very first 3D graphical
MMORPG. Meridian was released in an early form in late 95, but wasn't fully published
until September 96, so many gamers consider Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds to be the
actual first instalment in MMORPGs history. This game is still popular today, with over 1000
subscribers at the time of writing, and regardless as to who came first, both games played a
major part in kicking off the MMORPG genre.
Ultima Online Launches - MMORPGs first launched in to the mainstream
Sep 1997
Ultima Online (UO) is a graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), released on 24 September 1997,[4] by Origin Systems. It was the first game of the genre to reach widespread popularity and has had immense influence on all later games of this type.
EverQuest was the second major MMORPG to be released, after Ultima Online, making it an early entry to online gaming in the internet era. It was a commercially successful MMO, breaking subscription expectations and growing for many years after its release, and securing an important position in the history of massively multiplayer online games. It was also the first to employ a three-dimensional game engine. As such it has had a wide influence on subsequent releases within the market. It has earned numerous awards, including 1999 GameSpot Game of the Year and a 2007 Technology & Engineering Emmy Award.[2]
Anarchy Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) published and developed by Norwegian video game development company Funcom. Released in the summer of 2001, the game was the first in the genre to include a science-fiction setting, dynamic quests, instancing, free trials, and in-game advertising. The game's ongoing storyline revolves around the fictional desert planet "Rubi-Ka", the source of a valuable mineral known as "Notum". Players assume the role of a new colonist to Rubi-Ka. With no specific objective to win Anarchy Online, the player advances the game through the improvement of a character's skills over time. After more than 14 years, Anarchy Online has become one of the oldest surviving games in the genre.[1]
Lineage II is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows, the second game in the Lineage series. It is a prequel to Lineage, and is set 150 years before the earlier game.[1] It has become very popular since its October 1, 2003 launch in South Korea, reporting 1,000,918 unique users during the month of March 2007. To date, the game has been played by more than 14 million users, mostly based in Asia.[2]
On November 30, 2011 Lineage II adopted a free-to-play model in Lineage II: Goddess of Destruction, with all game content being free save for "purchasable in-game store items and packs".[3]
Star Wars Galaxies was a Star Wars themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows, developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts.[1] Released June 26, 2003 to much critical acclaim, it spawned three expansions through 2005. The game was completely overhauled in the last expansion, which frustrated many longtime subscribers.[2]Star Wars Galaxies continued operation for six more years. On July 24, 2011 Sony Online Entertainment announced that the game would be closed on December 15, 2011.[3] The servers shut down on December 15, 2011,[4] upsetting many subscribers and Star Wars fans.[5] Notwithstanding the game's closure, there are several private emulator projects in various stages of development that intend to allow users to experience Star Wars Galaxies in different incarnations of the game's existence.
Anarchy Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) published and developed by Norwegian video game development company Funcom. Released in the summer of 2001, the game was the first in the genre to include a science-fiction setting, dynamic quests, instancing, free trials, and in-game advertising. The game's ongoing storyline revolves around the fictional desert planet "Rubi-Ka", the source of a valuable mineral known as "Notum". Players assume the role of a new colonist to Rubi-Ka. With no specific objective to win Anarchy Online, the player advances the game through the improvement of a character's skills over time. After more than 14 years, Anarchy Online has become one of the oldest surviving games in the genre.[1]
The Corrupted Blood incident was a video game glitch and virtual plague in the MMORPGWorld of Warcraft, which began on September 13, 2005, and lasted for one week.[1] The epidemic began with the introduction of the new raid Zul'Gurub and its end boss Hakkar the Soulflayer. When confronted and attacked, Hakkar would cast a hit point-draining and highly-contagious debuff spell called Corrupted Blood on players.
Guild Wars is a CORPG, or Competitive/Cooperative Online Role Playing Game developed for Windows by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. The first campaign of Guild Wars, Guild Wars Prophecies was released on April 28, 2005. The different genre was chosen (as opposed to the "Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) RPG") due to the perceived differences between the game and other MMOs: the focus on Player versus Player (PvP) rather than Player versus Environment (PvE) play made it almost a unique case at the time, players received their own instanced copy of explorable zones and parties were limited to 8 players each, a tiny number compared to the massive caps of other games, which often allowed for up to 64 players in a single party (and unlimited players in non-instanced zones, which were the norm).
BlizzCon is a video game convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote their major franchises. The first BlizzCon was held in October 2005 at the Anaheim Convention Center in the United States where it has been held ever since. The convention features game-related announcements, previews of upcoming Blizzard Entertainment games and content, Q&A sessions and panels, and playable versions of various Blizzard games. The closing night has featured concerts by The Offspring, Tenacious D, Foo Fighters, Ozzy Osbourne, Blink-182, Metallica, and Linkin Park.
Reviews for the initial launch of the game in 2003 were mostly positive. The game was praised for its lush graphics (realistic character models, detailed architecture and lush environments),[35][36][37] liberal use of the movie soundtracks, massive world size, character customization, creative creature ecology, complex skill system, player economy interdependencies and its sandbox approach. Reviewers criticized the overwhelming complexity of the game, combat imbalances of the professions, bugginess and lack of quest content.[38]
The reviews for the first expansion, Jump to Lightspeed, praised the new space combat but criticized the ground game for its lack of sufficient improvement.[39] The reviews for the second expansion, Rage of the Wookiees, lauded the new quest content for current subscribers but lamented the combat gameplay updates and the continued bugginess of the game.[40]
At 5am on April 18, 2005, the CEO of the Ubiqua Seraph Corporation (EVE's equivalent of a guild) emerged through a stargate in the Haras system, accompanied by her most trusted lieutenant. She wouldn't leave alive. CEO Mirial didn't know it, but the contract on her life had been signed more than a year ago. Over the past 12 months, agents of the Guiding Hand Social Club (specialty: assassination to order) had infiltrated every level of Mirial's powerful organisation.
IN complete conjunction with my last episode. Here is an example of the prevailing conflicts of the MMOR+G.
My first reaction to this video was ... well i'm human.. of course it kinda pissed me off. I'm a realist. People are mocking the idea of this funeral as a bunch of "loser nerds who don't know how to go to a RL funeral." However, the dynamic of this game is that there is quite a bit of validation in the relationships you form here regardless of wether or not any RL contact exists.
Since the release of Eve Online there has been proven developer as well as player-corporation misconduct, leading to debates and controversy within the Eve community. On February 9, 2007, a player known as Kugutsumen revealed that an Eve Online developer nicknamed 't20' had provided his in-game alliance, Band of Brothers, with ten valuable blueprints, giving them an advantage over competing corporations.[76] Despite calls for t20's dismissal he is still an Eve Online developer while Kugutsumen was permanently banned from the Eve universe for violating the game's Terms of Service and End-user License Agreement.
Well it didn't happen within 2007 as quite a few people predicted, but World of Warcraft has done it-- Blizzard has announced that their massively multiplayer game has hit ten million subscribers worldwide. Asia is the biggest market at the moment, with more than 5.5 million players, as compared to North America's 2.5 million and 2 million subscribers in Europe. Blizzard also says the past holiday season was a big one for them-- they picked up "thousands of new and returning players" in the past few months.
Aion is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released by NCSOFT. The game combines PvP and PvE (a concept the developers call PvPvE) in a fantasy game environment. As of May 20, 2009, Aion had 3.5 million subscribers in Asia.[7] AION's first major expansion pack was released to North America and Europe on September 7, 2010 under the name AION: Assault on Balaurea. On February 29, 2012 AION became free-to-play in Europe[8] with a limited set of options regarding gathering, trade and chat,[9] while North American Truly Free launched on April 11, 2012 with no such restrictions.[10]
Final Fantasy XIV, also known as Final Fantasy XIV Online, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game for Microsoft Windowspersonal computers, developed and published by Square Enix in 2010. It is the fourteenth entry in the main Final Fantasy series and the second MMORPG in the series after Final Fantasy XI. Set in the fantasy realm of Eorzea, players take control of a customized avatar as they explore the land and are caught up in both an invasion by the hostile Garlean Empire and the threat of the Primals, the deities of the land's Beastmen tribes. Eventually, they are embroiled in a plot by a Garlean Legatus to destroy the Primals by bringing one of the planet's moons down on Eorzea.
On June 4, 2010, it was announced the game was to add a free-to-play option in the autumn, with an in-game store. Free-to-play was successfully launched in North America on September 10, 2010. After a delay in Europe, free-to-play went live on November 2, 2010.[68] During the following six months the company reported tripled revenues from the title.[69]
In July 2010 SOE announced a separate version of EverQuest II called EverQuest II Extended. EverQuest II Extended is a free to play version of EverQuest II funded by micro-transactions or optional subscription play. The free to play version was run on a separate server from the subscription servers.[3]
In November 2011 SOE announced EverQuest II was going free to play following a similar path as EverQuest II Extended. As of December 6, 2011, with the release of GU62 and Age of Discovery, EverQuest II updated from being a subscription based game to a free to play title with subscription optional.
Rift (previously known as Rift: Planes of Telara and as Heroes of Telara before that while still in alpha testing) is a fantasyfree-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Trion Worlds. Rift takes place within the fantasy world of Telara. The game was released in March 2011.[1]
Star Wars Galaxies closes (Result from protests about dumbing down and mass exodus)
Dec 2011
Star Wars Galaxies was a Star Wars themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows, developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts.[1] Released June 26, 2003 to much critical acclaim, it spawned three expansions through 2005. The game was completely overhauled in the last expansion, which frustrated many longtime subscribers.[2]Star Wars Galaxies continued operation for six more years. On July 24, 2011 Sony Online Entertainment announced that the game would be closed on December 15, 2011.[3] The servers shut down on December 15, 2011,[4] upsetting many subscribers and Star Wars fans.[5] Notwithstanding the game's closure, there are several private emulator projects in various stages of development that intend to allow users to experience Star Wars Galaxies in different incarnations of the game's existence.
Star Wars: The Old Republic launches - Fastest Growing MMORPG in first 3 months
Dec 2011
Star Wars: The Old Republic is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) based in the Star Warsuniverse.[2][3] Developed by BioWare Austin and a supplemental team at BioWare Edmonton, the game was first announced on October 21, 2008, at an invitation-only press event.[4] The video game was released for the Microsoft Windows platform on December 20, 2011 in North America and part of Europe.[5][6][7][8] Early access to the game began one week before release, on December 13, 2011, for those who had pre-ordered the game online; access opened in "waves" based on pre-order date.[8]
TERA is a 3D fantasy themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Bluehole Studio. The game was released in South Korea on January 25, 2011, in Japan on August 18, 2011, in North America on May 1, 2012, in Europe on May 3, 2012, and in Russia on February 26, 2015, with closed and open beta testings taking place before the launch dates. NHN Corporation, NHN Japan Corporation, En Masse Entertainment and Frogster Interactive Pictures publishes the game in these regions, respectively.[3][4][5] In February 2013 the game was renamed to TERA: Rising concurrently with the game's launch to the free-to-play model.
On January 29, 2014, Norwegian economic crime unit Økokrim launched an investigation into suspected infringement of the provisions of the Securities Trading Act concerning the 2012 launch of The Secret World.[23]
Guild Wars 2 began development in the middle of 2006; it was first announced to the public in 2007. It began closed beta testing on 16 December 2011.[2] On 23 January 2012, ArenaNet announced that Guild Wars 2 would launch by the end of that year, following beta tests throughout March and April.[3] On 28 June, ArenaNet announced that the game would launch on 28 August 2012.
Aion is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released by NCSOFT. The game combines PvP and PvE (a concept the developers call PvPvE) in a fantasy game environment. As of May 20, 2009, Aion had 3.5 million subscribers in Asia.[7] AION's first major expansion pack was released to North America and Europe on September 7, 2010 under the name AION: Assault on Balaurea. On February 29, 2012 AION became free-to-play in Europe[8] with a limited set of options regarding gathering, trade and chat,[9] while North American Truly Free launched on April 11, 2012 with no such restrictions.[10]
TERA is a 3D fantasy themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Bluehole Studio. The game was released in South Korea on January 25, 2011, in Japan on August 18, 2011, in North America on May 1, 2012, in Europe on May 3, 2012, and in Russia on February 26, 2015, with closed and open beta testings taking place before the launch dates. NHN Corporation, NHN Japan Corporation, En Masse Entertainment and Frogster Interactive Pictures publishes the game in these regions, respectively.[3][4][5] In February 2013 the game was renamed to TERA: Rising concurrently with the game's launch to the free-to-play model.
On June 12, 2013, Rift discontinued the subscription fee. Prior to that date, Rift required a monthly subscription fee for continued play, or purchase of prepaid game cards. Rift is now free to play up to the max level. There are however bonuses if you do choose to pay for "Patron" status.[16][17]
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4. It was developed by Square Enix with Naoki Yoshida as producer and director, and was released worldwide on August 27, 2013. The game is currently available in Japanese, English, French, German, Mandarin Chinese, and Korean. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn takes place in the fictional land of Eorzea, five years after the events of the original release. At the conclusion of Final Fantasy XIV, the primal dragon Bahamut escapes from its lunar prison to initiate the Seventh Umbral Calamity, an apocalyptic event which destroys much of Eorzea. Through the gods' blessing, the player character escapes the devastation by time traveling five years into the future. As Eorzea recovers and rebuilds, the player must deal with the impending threat of invasion by the Garlean Empire from the north.
ArcheAge is an MMORPG developed by Korean developer Jake Song (former developer of Lineage) and his development company, XL Games. The game was released in Korea on January 15, 2013, Europe and North America on September 16, 2014, and has also had a closed beta in China. ArcheAge is described as a "sandpark" MMORPG, which the developers say is a hybrid of the open content style of a "sandbox" game and the more structured play experience of a "themepark" game.
This is as divisive a question as what is the best flavor ice cream, which is the greatest
baseball team, or which Kardashian would you throw off the boat first. Everyone has their
own personal preferences when it comes to MMORPGs, however most will agree on the
basic things a game should get right. If the experience isn't engaging or challenging then it
doesn't matter how many people you play it with, it simply won't hold your attention.
It also helps if you have a game that looks pretty. This doesn't always mean your graphics
have to be cutting-edge, but you should ensure they won't look dated before it's even
released. When budget restricts what you can do in terms of realism, taking the time to apply
an interesting aesthetic can earn you a lot of grace when it comes to graphical limitations.
Of course the main draw of MMORPGs is the massively multiplayer element. It isn't enough
for a game to throw a bunch of players together and expect stuff to happen, that's a tactic
which only works in orgies, and even then you rarely end up with a satisfying result. A game
needs to be engineered in such a way that co-operation and violence between players comes
naturally. Interacting with others to achieve a common goal, whether on a quest or a sword
fight, is what makes a true MMORPG. If you can do everything a game asks of you by
yourself, this is not a true MMORPG, and nor is it the experience gamers expect.
For an MMORPG to provide the wide range of mission styles, characters, multiplayer options
that gamers desire, huge open worlds have now become the norm rather than a selling point.
Players look to immerse themselves in a realistic and expansive environment which reacts to
their presence, and one of the ways MMORPGs do this is to generate a realistic economy.
Players are often able to trade items with other players and non-playable characters within the
game, in such a way that directly affects the prices of other items. The next generation of
games will take this interactivity one step further, by providing players with physical and
metaphysical virtual game environments which they can alter on a fundamental level.
This data is not 100% accurate, but is the best available to our knowledge. If you notice any big inaccuracies please email us.
5 -
The differences Between MMORPG and Other Online Games
Link
One of the main differences between MMORPGs and other online games is the mind-set
required. In an online shooter you'll face perhaps thirty or so other opponents in single
rounds, and more often than not your job is to waste every last one of them. In games where
friendly fire is allowed you'll probably even shoot your allies just to steal a perk or two. With
an MMORPG this malevolence takes a back seat, for the most part, to the sense of
cooperation necessary to achieve the game's objectives. There can be hundreds of thousands
of people simultaneously playing in any one world, and if you're going to survive you'll have
to be nice to at least some of them.
Another important aspect of MMORPGs is that the world your character exists in continues
to function regardless of whether you are playing or not. This is similar to the ethos of
sporting management simulation games like Football Manager, where there are a multitude of
fixtures, transfers, and interactions going on without your input. In most offline games your
character is forced to wander down a path or a small selection of paths towards a definite
ending. In an MMORPG there is no end, the game cannot be won, and the objective is the
same as it is in life; which is to carve out a successful existence within the world you inhabit.
Of course some might say that playing an MMORPG too much can destroy your chances of
achieving this outside of a virtual world, but it is this lack of clear victory conditions which
draws so many people towards these games. There is always something more for your
character to do, something else you can achieve, and that goes for both a newbie starting off
slaying chickens in the forest, and a level 200 veteran who knows the game better than they
know their own parents.
The debate between indie and corporate developers extends far beyond gaming, as fanboys
and fangirls have for years argued over what truly constitutes an authentic entertainment
experience. For every person who goes to watch the latest unsigned indie band, there are
literally thousands more sobbing teenagers buying One Direction tickets. Hold up, are we
really comparing corporate developers to a horrible British boyband? Maybe, but that's not
necessarily a bad thing.
Let's face it, if someone sells a million albums, downloads, or tins of horse medicine, they've
made something a lot of people want. A corporate MMORPG with hefty financial backing
needs to have this broad appeal, and developing ideas into a form which attracts customers is
a very useful talent, one which many indie developers often overlook. The problem is, trying
to create a game which pleases everyone can lead to stock characters, sanitized dialog, and a
feeling you've played this game a zillion times before. When an indie developer creates an
MMORPG such constraints aren't as evident, enabling them to take risks on new ideas,
innovative gameplay, and quirky features which would never get past an army of suits with
share prices to think about.
Obviously not all aspects of an indie production fit this romantic rose-tinted vision of things.
Lengthy development times mean tech specs can be outdated by the time you reach your fifth
scheduled release date, and a small team can't catch as many glitches as an army of
programmers can, but really it all depends on what you want from a game.
There are plenty of sleek, glossy MMORPGs out there with more bells and whistles than a bell and whistle
shop, and they obviously offer things that many people want, even if it's something they've
seen several times before presented in a shiny new wrapper.
But that isn't enough for some people. Many MMORPG fans play to immerse themselves in
something they've never felt before; a game which feels like it was created not by a
company, but by a person, albeit someone who probably hasn't seen their family or daylight
for several months. These experiences aren't exclusive to indie developers, but when
someone builds a game from the ground up with their own hands, they're making something
they themselves want to play, and chances are you will too.
Corporate games are like Tom Cruise; occasionally you'll get a Top Gun or a Mission
Impossible I, but mostly you'll be drenched in the acceptable mediocrity of War of the
Worlds or Mission Impossible III. Indie developers, they're like Steve Buscemi. The ride can
be uncomfortable and half the time you wonder what the hell is going on, but what they lack
in cosmetic appearance they make up for with more character and personality than a thousand
cut copy games ever will. So by all means splurge your cash on the latest WoW expansion,
because let's face it, it'll probably be just as addictive and fun as the rest of them. But if
you're looking for something new, challenging, and inspiring from Expansion Pack Seven -
The Fog of Ordinarium, then you may be looking in the wrong place.
The very first MMORPGs were entirely text based; in fact you could say they were a natural
technological progression from the 'choose your own adventure' books popular in the 80s
and 90s. The main reason games started out in this simple fashion is because it is cheap. With
writers able to smuggle far more story options into lines of code than a physical wad of paper,
these games began to expand and become increasingly complex, with some driving towards
the look and feel of traditional games, albeit with far more depth.
Not every company chose this route however, and some entirely text based MMORPGs
continue to thrive today. Many of them prefer to include some graphical elements for things
like characters and images, but the actual gameplay still takes place entirely through the
exchanging of words. Obviously text based games are not for everyone, but those who love
them do seem to develop a deep affinity with the medium. It seems text based games acquire
a slightly more creative audience than graphical based platforms, which is unsurprising
considering the imagination required to invest yourself in a world entirely seen through
words.
That isn't to say that graphical MMORPGs are for people with no creativity, far from it in
fact, it simply means they attract an audience who are looking for something different. With a
world built ready-made for you to explore, sometimes it can prove a far more satisfying
experience to roam around in an unknown environment of someone else's making. The
comparison between text and graphical MMORPGs is just as pointless as one between books
and movies. If you read a novel expecting the same feeling from watching Die Hard 9 you're
going to be let down, and nobody is looking for creative exposition to exercise your creative
muscles in a two hour car chase lead by a shirtless Bruce Willis. The two styles have much to
offer many different people, but which you choose depends entirely on what you look to
achieve from your entertainment. It is much easier to feel part of a virtual world if you can
see it clearly in front of you, but then some people prefer the challenge of creating their own.
The
comparison between text and graphical MMORPGs is just as pointless as one between books
and movies. If you read a novel expecting the same feeling from watching Die Hard 9 you're
going to be let down, and nobody is looking for creative exposition to exercise your creative
muscles in a two hour car chase lead by a shirtless Bruce Willis.
When it comes to commitment, no other genre requires more of your time and energy than a
MMORPG. You can't casually dip in and out of online play as you would most other
multiplayer games, instead you must actively dedicate whole chunks of your day, week, and
perhaps even years of your life to fully experience everything the game has to offer. You'll
be thinking about your game in the morning before you go to work, you'll check notifications
on your breaks or at lunch, and the minute you get home you'll throw something vaguely
edible down your throat and squat yourself down for several hours of dedicated gameplay.
But the advantage MMORPGs have over other games is that this dedication isn't wasted
every twelve months when the latest incarnation of the game is released. Whereas players of
major titles in other genres can expect a new instalment every twelve months or so,
MMORPGs instead tend to offer optional expansions and continuous content updates. All
online games have a lifespan of course, but comparing an MMORPG to something like
Madden or Halo is like comparing a Galapagos Turtle with a fruit fly. Some MMORPGs are
still turning a profit a decade or two after they were first launched, and have even retained
many of their original players. While the aforementioned two major franchises can also claim
such longevity, it is unlikely they would have retained this fanbase without their annual
release strategies.
There is no reason to believe that this trend of longevity will discontinue any time soon, in
fact the opposite seems to be true. More and more people are looking for interesting virtual
lives to augment their humdrum physical ones, and the sense of permanence an MMORPG
offers tends to be a major selling point. Previously people would seek temporary respite from
their working lives in the arms of a movie or a half-hour blast on the Playstation. Now these
same people are looking for something constant, a world parallel to their own where they can
be anything they choose; an online persona they can live vicariously through and develop
ever more over time. Despite all the noise about waning attention spans and the desire for
ever shorter content, it seems there is an expanding audience out there for long-form, long-term
content in which you can truly invest yourself.
With micropayments becoming even more popular it is natural for the gaming public to
become a little suspicious of anything offered for free, and that goes for everything, from
MMORPGs and mobile apps to the man behind Wendy's offering you "free hugs and naps".
From the moment a player signs up they'll be wondering how far they can proceed without
paying. Do I need an expensive upgrade to get anywhere? Will I be charged for talking to this
robot unicorn? Is this new purple cat bazooka going to cost me real cash? The more
unscrupulous developers hide these micropayments within the game as a way to make
money, but there are better and more respectful ways to treat your audience.
Cash shops within games are a popular way for game developers to earn without players
actually having to pay a monthly subscription fee. With this option there is no obligation to
purchase anything, however you are likely to find it becomes easier to develop your character
and make progress if you make the occasional purchase. This probably adds an element of
realism for some gamers, as let's face it, you can't really go through real life without paying
for a haircut or a new pair of jeans. Obviously you can try, but you're probably not going to
achieve much by doing so.
Another popular financial model is community funding. Instead of charging gamers for tools
to make their gameplay easier, you are actually appealing to their love of the game and desire
to see it continue. This Kickstarter style model is a far more organic way of developing
games and studios than interrupting your play to demand cash at random moments, and even
though it can be less reliable, it somehow feels more worthwhile. Instead of slinging your
hard earned money at a fictional character behind a fictional counter in a fictional world, you
are instead directly funding a developer with the cash they need to keep evolving and
developing the game that you love.
Whether a game is free to pay, premium, freemium, or micro-payment funded, the key thing
to realise is that your customers must always be informed and ethically treated. Realistically
everyone likes to pay as little as possible for everything, and whilst there are no definitively
good or bad payment models, some methods of obtaining finance work far better in certain
situations than others. As long as you are honest and open, you will find that most MMORPG
players are willing to fork over plenty of their cash for the right experience.
MICROPAYMENTS
A micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually
one that occurs online. A number of micropayment systems were proposed and developed in
the mid-to-late 1990s, which were ultimately unsuccessful. A second generation of
micropayment systems emerged in the 2010s.
CASH SHOPS
The Cash Shop is an in-game shop where players use real-life currency to purchase
unique virtual goods such as avatars, digital pets and other in-game items. Most Cash
Shop items expire after a period of time. The Cash Shop also offers a shop permit,
allowing players to set up a store in the in-game market location called the Free Market.
CROWDFUNDING
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary
contributions from a large number of people, today often performed via internet-mediated
registries, but the concept can also be executed through mail-order subscriptions,
benefit events, and other methods. Crowdfunding is a form of alternative finance, which
has emerged outside of the traditional financial system.
FREE
Freeware games are games that are released as freeware and can be downloaded and played,
free of charge, for an unlimited amount of time. This list does not include: Open source
games; Games that were previously sold commercially; games that require purchase for
play time, game items, new content or features; Browser games alias browser-based games;
Mods: software that cannot be played as stand-alone game.
FREMIUM
Freemium is a pricing strategy by which a product or service (typically a digital
offering or application such as software, media, games or web services) is provided
free of charge, but money (premium) is charged for proprietary features, functionality,
or virtual goods. The word "freemium" is a portmanteau neologism that was coined by
Jarid Lukin in 2006.
PREMIUM
Premium refers to a segment of a company's brands or products that carries tangible or
imaginary surplus value in the upper mid- to high price range. In most ways, the premium
segment can be thought of as the contrary to value brands. In that sense, the term
"premium" replaces the traditional attribute "luxury".
Most if not all MMORPGs support a virtual world, within which every player's character
resides. These virtual worlds could be represented as a constructed 3D environment, or a
website with images and links, perhaps even as little as a black screen with white text. In any
case, a MMORPG's virtual world must satisfy three important criteria to become a fully
immersible experience; Interactivity, Physicality, and Persistence.
Fritz Bielmeier
Interactivity is what enables players to interact with the virtual world through their characters.
The player is not the character, but the character's actions are explicitly dictated by the
player's commands. By simply clicking a mouse or tapping a keyboard, a player feels
invested in the action which is taking place on screen, whether that action is chopping down a
tree or strangling a wood elf with your virtual bare hands.
Roman Drits
Physicality embodies the physical limitations by which player-characters are constrained. In
the case of 3D worlds, a character may need to "walk" across a street or "jump" over a
flaming corpse to travel to their destination. The player may need to navigate a website
through predefined hyperlinks or type the correct words into an input field to "move" their
character. Even if your game is set within a realm which does not obey the laws of physics,
biology, or even common sense, the players, acting through their characters, must be aware of
the physical limitations imposed by your virtual world.
Persistence is the perpetual existence of the virtual world regardless of whether any players
are actively interacting with it. Any subset of players can interact with a virtual world, while
the remainder does not. Further, the virtual world will remember a character's attributes,
assets, and typically location. By making a player feel that they are simply one tiny
component of a much larger universe, you more accurately mirror the experience of human
existence, thus adding to the brutally realistic feel of your game world.
The basis of any economy is the trading of goods and services with others. People trade
because they want things that they cannot or do not want to produce for themselves; and
people want things which are valuable to them. When many people within a defined area
engage in trade with each other, we call it an Economy.
That basis does not change just because people want and trade within the virtual world of an
MMORPG. The public is slowly coming to terms with the loss of physical interaction with
purchased items. The music and movies you pay to download may not be something you can
tangibly hold anymore, but it is nevertheless a real and desirable product. It is something you
can hear, you can see, you gain emotion from. Likewise, players who trade artificial goods
within the artificial world of an MMOG are participating in a real, if artificial, economy. It is
a Synthetic Economy.
While Synthetic Economies largely reflect economic behavior in the real world, there is one
critical difference: the virtual world is capable of buying and selling an infinite number of
goods at any price.
This is applied in many MMORPGs through non-playable character vendors. NPCs are often
able to buy as much as you can sell, and sell as much as you can buy. Do you want to sell one
million chicken feathers? Sure, the merchant has a printing press in the back room. Do you
want to buy one million pieces of leather? No problem, just give him a moment to reach into
his portal of infinite leather pieces.
Imagine the chaos if this reality came to pass in our own world economy. What happens
when every single commodity on the planet suddenly becomes infinitely abundant and
therefore worthless? This is a situation with consequences far beyond what gamers want to
explore, and a synthetic economy without limits is unlikely to support an interesting
experience. No in-game world should ever end up like a virtual Zimbabwe, suffering from
hyper-inflation and currency runs, therefore designers often impose artificial limitations on
these infinite possibilities by taking lessons from the real world.
A virtual currency is simply the currency used within a MMORPG. You can call this
currency whatever the hell you want; Gold, Credits, Flarbgrons, Shatnerdollars, it doesn't
matter. But just as virtual goods and services have real value, so do virtual currencies. This
value is derived from the players' mutual willingness to exchange virtual currency for virtual
goods; however there are some other mitigating factors you also need to consider.
MMORPGs often do not allow the direct trade of items or VC for USD, but black markets are
common, and often VC can be directly traded for USD. Whilst these transactions are not
permitted by developers or the moderators within each virtual world, it is nevertheless
interesting to observe the exchange rate which has developed between VC and USD.
This exchange rate is only possible because the players are able to trade with each other
within the virtual world. Games without player to player trade are cut off from the real world,
and do not have exchange rates. So whilst the trading of VC for USD is not actively
encouraged by game developers, it does seem to provoke even more investment in the game.
If you've spent hours earning virtual gold and you've made a few bucks on eBay from it,
you're going to feel pretty satisfied with yourself. Conversely, if you've purchased a
significant in-game item for several hundred dollars, and then lost said item in a forest
because you logged on when you were drunk, your sense of frustration will be anything but
virtual.
The trading of virtual currency for real cash isn't necessarily something MMORPG developers
have to consent to, but when designing their game world, it is certainly something
they should acknowledge.
If you've spent hours earning virtual gold and you've made a few bucks on eBay from it,
you're going to feel pretty satisfied with yourself. Conversely, if you've purchased a
significant in-game item for several hundred dollars, and then lost said item in a forest
because you logged on when you were drunk, your sense of frustration will be anything but
virtual.
As a designer, you have full control over the virtual world you create. Thus it is critical that
you understand how your design decisions will impact the synthetic economy and the virtual
currency you use to run it. Researching the following topics will build a good base of
economic knowledge:
Supply and Demand of markets
The impact of price controls and quotas on supply and demand
The purpose and behavior of currency as a medium of exchange
Common economic breakdowns
Hyperinflation of currency
Shortages and surpluses due to price ceilings and price floors
Black markets and why they develop
Unemployment
Use your insights from researching these topics to foster a healthy economic system, and
avoid the common pitfalls. The International Monetary Fund rarely returns the call of game
developers asking for advice on how many Shatnerdollars a barrel of Witches Tears should
cost, so contact Chris.GameEconomist@torn.com
if you run into trouble.
As residents of the virtual world, players who understand economics will undoubtedly excel
as participants in the synthetic economy. Someone who spends all day trading on the stock
market is using the exact same techniques to make money as someone in the virtual world.
Learn the same base of knowledge outlined above for developers, and then explore how it
applies to the economies of MMORPGs you play. Analyze updates, events, and trends to
determine their impact on the economies, virtual currency, and then capitalize on that insight
to better achieve your in-game goals. What we're basically saying is, learn to think like a
banker if you want to virtually earn like one.
For genuine enthusiasts of MMORPGs that enthusiasm extends far beyond the limits of their
virtual game of choice. There are online forums, blogs, and other
networks where these fans
can meet and gather to discuss the merits and techniques of their chosen game, whilst also
sharing news and gossip about planned or rumoured gaming developments. Because of this
enthusiasm, MMORPG bloggers are amongst some of the most high profile and most
frequently visited bloggers within the blogosphere. If you are new to the world of
MMORPGs and don't know where to start then here are some of the most authoritative
bloggers within the MMO world:
Bio Break is a multi-MMO blog created by Justin "Syp" Olivetti in 2008. Syp has
been a lifelong gamer, graduating to MMOs back with 2001's Anarchy Online and
never looking back.
Having played video games since he first saw a Pong machine at the Old Spaghetti
Factory in 1974, he fell in love with the dynamics of online multiplayer games with
persistent (or semi-persistent) worlds like Stellar Emperor back in 1986.
C. T. 'Murf' Murphy began blogging in 2012, but he's been playing MMORPGs since 2000.
His most recent blogging venture, Murf Versus, began in 2013. There, he primarily
rants and raves about MMOs, as well as other games.
Just another random Gamer that got lost in the mmo woods along the way. Now
dabbling in many games, especially those that promote conflict and competition
with others. Started July 2012 - Although Switched to a new shiny blog early 2015.
Covering MMOs has been Chris' passion for the better part of a decade. Game By Night
was started to cover games from the working man's perspective. Chris is now a professional
freelance games writer.
Tobold's blog is one of the earliest MMORPG blogs around, older than World of
Warcraft. There is a huge archive with over 5,000 posts about many different MMORPGs.
The blog is less active now, and covers more other games, including pen & paper
roleplaying.
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