Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG)

My first computer related memory was playing an all text-based version of Dungeons and Dragons using a MUD at the University of Massachusetts ('MUD' stands for Multiple User Domain, or Multiple Undergraduate Destroyer depending on who you ask. The latter refers to the popularity of RPGs or Role Playing Games, among college students and the games' ability to suck a user in.) It was 1983, and I was 5.

These earliest game worlds, like the one I used to play DND, were all text-based as opposed to the graphic based games of today. Playing these games was a lot like the gameplay involed in the traditional tabletop Dungeons and Dragons. Players would type commands into a parser to enter dungeons, fight dragons, collect loot and gain experience. MUDs were sometimes different from one another, but shared common interface elements, such as typing compass directions to navigate one's character.

The writing of the first MUD is generally credited to Roy Trubshaw at the University of Essex in 1979. The first primitive gameplaying interface was written in Macro-10 (the machine code for DEC-System-10s) and was basically just a bunch of interconnected rooms where players could move around, chat and gain points until they had enough points to become a 'wizard' when they would be endowed with certain powers over 'mortals'. (Around the same time a similar game called Oubliette was developed in the US, however this game was so difficult one could not play alone. Players had to travel in groups to have any chance of survival!) At this early stage of Multi-Player games, being able to play with other people from your computer was still a new idea and what we now know as the internet had not even been concieved of. To play, users set-up guest accounts on JANET (the British Academic Network) and were allowed by the University of Essex to play during the wee hours, when the system was less likely to be occupied by academic goings on. By 1980 the first US players were logging in to MUD using ArpaNet and for the first time there were trans-Atlantic gamers playing together in a virtual arena!

Flash Forward a quarter of a century: The most recent generation of MMORPGs (including EverQuest II, World of Warcraft- WoW, and Dungeons and Dragons Online - DDO,) seem a world away from the early MUDs of the late 70s and early 80s. The virtual world the games are played in are now much larger and more complex than their early predecessors. What distinguishes modern MMORPGs from smaller multi-player games is that the game's world continues to change and evolve while the player is away from the game. Games are able to host thousands of players at one time, which makes for an incredibly rich and active environment where new things are always taking place. In addition, with most games, players are able to choose which strengths and characteristics their avatar will possess when the avatar is first created.

Perhaps a more important difference is that modern MMORPGs are commercial ventures, where MUDs are generally not run for profit. Since the inception of pay-to-play games like Islands of Kesemai in 1984 (Which cost $12.00/hr to play through CompuServe) the online gaming market has become a seemingly limitless source of revenue for game companies. For MMORPGs, players must either purchase the game software or pay a fee to play on the game's server, and in most cases players must do both. For example to enjoy the thousands of hours of gameplay and nearly infinite amount of goals to achieve and tasks to complete that WoW will provide, a player must first purchase the game software either from a retailer (such as EBgames) or Blizzard Entertainment (the game company that created WoW.) The software costs around $40.00 to purchase, after which the player must purchase game cars which will enable them to connect to the game's server. Game cards provide 60-days of access to WoWs fantastic realms for $30.00 US. At present, WoW boasts an impressive 6.5 million players world wide, which is estimated to be about half of the entire MMORPG market. $15/month x 6.5 million player = $97,500,000.00 per month generated from game card sales alone!

There are Online Role Playing Games that do not charge players a monthly fee to play. The most prominent of these is a game called Guild Wars, produced by ArenaNet a game developer founded by several former Blizzard Entertainment employees. For this game, and others like it, the user need only purchase the software (which, like WoW costs around $40.00,) but there is no game card required to access the server. Conceptually, Guild Wars is very much like WoW. The main objective is to complete tasks, and to gain experience and gold in a RPG environment. Guild Wars differs from WoW in that it has a relatively low level cap, instant travel and is winnable, as the developer would not benefit from prolonged gameplay. Because of these core differences from traditional MMORPGs, the developer of Guild Wars has termed the game a Competetive/Cooperative Online Role Playing Game (CORPG.) CORPGs are considered by some to have become a new niche in the vast realm of MMORPGs.

In spite of all the dramatic changes that have shaped modern MMORPGs from primitive MUDs, they still share many common themes. The objectives are similar, and most worlds are still fantasy based. Modern MMORPGs are just as, if not more, addicting that the orginial MUDs, with their stunning visuals, and complex worlds it's easy to let several hours or more slip away in a cyber fantasy game.