A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.
Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings was a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows which was released on November 22, 2002 and shut down on December 30, 2005. In 2012, it was relaunched as a beta for active Asheron's Call subscribers. It is a sequel to 1999's Asheron's Call, although content, graphics and gameplay dynamics differed greatly from its predecessor.
World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the Warcraft fantasy universe, World of Warcraft takes place within the world of Azeroth, approximately four years after the events of the previous game in the series, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The game was announced in 2001, and was released for the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise on November 23, 2004. Since launch, World of Warcraft has had nine major expansion packs: The Burning Crusade (2007), Wrath of the Lich King (2008), Cataclysm (2010), Mists of Pandaria (2012), Warlords of Draenor (2014), Legion (2016), Battle for Azeroth (2018), Shadowlands (2020), and Dragonflight (2022). Three further expansions, The War Within, Midnight, and The Last Titan, were announced in 2023.
Eve Online is a space-based, persistent world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by CCP Games. Players of Eve Online can participate in a number of in-game professions and activities, including mining, piracy, manufacturing, trading, exploration, and combat. The game contains a total of 7,800 star systems that can be visited by players.
A massively multiplayer online game is an online video game with a large number of players on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are games that differ. These games can be found for most network-capable platforms, including the personal computer, video game console, or smartphones and other mobile devices.
Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are most often used in games where both activities exist, particularly MMORPGs, MUDs, and other role-playing video games, to distinguish between gamemodes. PvP can be broadly used to describe any game, or aspect of a game, where players compete against each other. PvP is often controversial when used in role-playing games. In most cases, there are vast differences in abilities between players. PvP can even encourage experienced players to immediately attack and kill inexperienced players. PvP is often referred to as player killing in the cases of games which contain, but do not focus on, such interaction.
Guild Wars is an online role-playing game franchise developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSOFT. The games were critically well received and won many editor's choice awards, as well as awards such as Best Value, Best Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), and Best Game. Guild Wars was noted for being the "first major MMO to adopt a business model not based on monthly subscription fees", its instanced approach to gameplay, and the quality of the graphics and play for computers with low specifications. In April 2009, NCSoft announced that 6 million units of games in the Guild Wars series had been sold. The sequel and fourth major entry into the series, Guild Wars 2, was announced in March 2007 and released on August 28, 2012. It features updated graphics and gameplay mechanics, and continues the original Guild Wars tradition of no subscription fees. The Guild Wars series had sold 11.5 million copies by August 2015
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy setting, developed by Mythic Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts in 2008. The game revolved around the continual worldwide conflict that the Warhammer Fantasy setting is known for, and the game is geared toward ongoing, constant war laced with dark humour. Age of Reckoning ended up selling over a million copies and peaking at 800,000 subscribers, but dropped to 300,000 subscribers several months later. The game received generally positive reviews from critics but shut down in 2013. Since at least 2014, an active private server called Return of Reckoning has been run by fans, and it remains active as of September 2023.
Tibia is a multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 1997, developed and published by CipSoft. It is one of the earliest and longest-running MMORPGs; reaching its peak popularity in 2007. The game is free to play but players may pay to upgrade to a premium account. Tibia is a two-dimensional tile-based game set in a fantasy world with pixel art graphics and a top-down perspective.
Granado Espada is a Korean fantasy MMORPG developed by IMC Games Co.,Ltd. Originally released in South Korea in February 2006, the English localizations were launched in the summer of 2007 in North America and Southeast Asia. Granado Espada won the 2006 Korean Presidential Award for Best Graphics and Game of the Year, with features previously unseen in an MMORPG. Granado Espada features a unique art style based on the Baroque period of Europe, differing from the standard “sword and sorcery” fantasy themes of the genre.
Face of Mankind was a first and third-person massively multiplayer online action role playing game (MMOARPG) set in a futuristic persistent world. The game is played from a variety of points of view. It was designed to emphasize roleplay and community, using a faction system and player-driven politics. It was developed by German studio Duplex Systems.
RF Online, originally named 'Rising Force', is a 3D MMORPG developed by CCR. The first version of the game was released in South Korea and was later followed by Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, Indonesian, Portuguese and English translations. The North American/European version of the game launched its retail phase on February 21, 2006. A mixture of science fiction and classic fantasy, RF Online is set in a distant planet in the Novus system where magic exists alongside high technology. Like most MMORPGs, it follows the typical fantasy setting complete with swords and sorcery, but it also emphasizes the three-way Race vs. Race vs. Race (RvRvR) concept and modern/futuristic technology such as mecha and nuclear weapons.
Pirates of the Caribbean Online was a 3D massively multiplayer online role-playing video game based on the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. It was developed and published by Disney Online, in conjunction with SilverTree Media, for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, with additional post-release content developed by Schell Games. The game was first announced by The Walt Disney Company in April 2005, and was originally meant to coincide with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in 2006, but its release was pushed back multiple times. The game went through two beta testing phases during 2007, and was officially released in October of that year, utilizing the Panda3D game engine. Pirates of the Caribbean Online was closed on September 19, 2013.
The history of massively multiplayer online games spans over thirty years and hundreds of massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) titles. The origin and influence on MMO games stems from MUDs, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and earlier social games.
Asda Story was a Fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by the MaxOn Soft corporation. It was published by GamesCampus for the North American market, Play Media Group for the market in Europe, OnGame for the Brazilian market, nDoors for the market in Japan, GamePower7 for the MENA market and mGame for the market in Korea.
World of Warcraft, or WoW, is set in a fictional universe, its primary setting being the planet of Azeroth. The first expansion, The Burning Crusade, introduced a second planet, Outland. Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm expanded upon Azeroth and respectively added Northrend, the frigid northern continent of Azeroth, and drastically changed various other continents by destroying some and unveiling new ones. The next expansion, Mists of Pandaria, added Pandaria, the southern continent previously hidden behind a perennial mist cover. Warlords of Draenor introduced the planet of Draenor, a version of Outland in a different timeline before its partial destruction. The Legion expansion took adventurers to the Broken Isles, an island chain near the Maelstrom in the middle of the Great Sea, and the damaged planet Argus, the headquarters of the Burning Legion. The seventh expansion, Battle for Azeroth, added two new island continents to the center of Azeroth: Kul Tiras and Zandalar. The latest expansion, Shadowlands, introduced the eponymous Shadowlands, a realm composed of five major zones: Bastion, Maldraxxus, Ardenweald, Revendreth, and the Maw.
Perpetuum is a video game by Avatar Creations Ltd. It is a player-driven persistent-world MMORPG set in a science fiction ground setting. Players pilot customisable robots on various islands connected by several teleports. These islands are either alpha or beta/gamma, meaning players can freely engage each other.
RaiderZ was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by the now defunct Korean developer MAIET Entertainment. It was published in North America in November 2012 by Perfect World Entertainment. The game is free-to-play and no monthly subscription fee is required due to the service being funded by real money transactions via the in-game cash shop.
Pirate101 is a 2012 massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by KingsIsle Entertainment. It is a sister game to Wizard101, set in the same fictional universe of the “Spiral”. The player assumes the role of a pirate, who, after being rescued from a prison ship, begins searching for pieces of a map that could take them to the mythical, long-lost world of El Dorado. The player is in a race to reach it with Kane, the game’s main antagonist.
Star Conflict is a free-to-play dynamic massively multiplayer online space action game. The gaming platform Steam describes it as an "action-packed, massively multiplayer space simulation game". The core of the game is PvP spaceships battles, PvE (Co-Op) missions and an open world. The game uses a free-to-play business model.
