Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

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MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) is a genre of MMOG where many players engage in an online version of a role-playing game. Most MMORPGs are usually played on the PC, but there are a growing number of exceptions on video game console.

Of all the genres of MMOG, MMORPGs are the most played genre throughout the world with combined global memberships in subscription and non-subscription games exceeding 15 million as of 2006.[1].

Features

Most MMORPGs have their gameplay based off the traditional Dungeons & Dragons, but new gameplay features are periodically introduced in a new game as its selling point. An outstanding feature in almost every MMORPG is the use of a persistent world, which is a ever-changing virtual world hosted by the game's publisher and/or developer. This world is constantly governed by a team of Game Moderators or Game Masters (abbreviated as GMs), and in some ways can be seen as an evolution of the Dungeon Masters (abbreviated as DMs) from Dungeons & Dragons. The world moderated by the GMs of a MMORPG is home to huge player communities and social networks, and most games have in-game support to create organizations of players termed as Guilds or Clans. In addition to that, items, game currency and skills in each MMORPG form its own virtual economy in which the players constantly deal with. Like in all role-playing games, a storyline or lore often gives reasons to the existence of quests or motivation of the fictional groups in the game. There are two ways players can experience the gameplay: they can choose either to solo by themselves, or group up with other players on the same server.

In order to maintain the software and hardware running the persistent world continuously on a server, players are required to adhere to one of the several types of business models used by the game company.

External Links

  • MMORPG.COM - A notable online community for latest news and features on MMORPGs.
  • MMOGCHART.COM - Bruce Sterling Woodcock's tracking of MMOG subscription data.
  • The Daedalus Project - Nick Yee's ongoing survey study of MMORPG players. Demographics, narratives and essays.

References

Citations
  1. ↑ Chart of Subscriber Growth, http://www.mmogchart.com
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