ZOMG: The Genius of an Original Storyline - Gaia Online's Latest and Greatest MMORPG Development

To those who have never truly felt the Gaia Online experience for themselves, you should know that the development of this new MMORPG is a major accomplishment for the developers of its social network.

zOMG serves to expand upon a continuing storyline that is available in manga form on the Gaia website. Unlike most current MMORPGs, zOMG employs its plotline flawlessly into its gameplay, proving its superiority to others that rely only on leveling and PvP.

Also unlike traditional MMOs, equipment is not a major defining aspect in zOMG, sparing players the costs, in game and out, of having to buy some. In fact, equipment has absolutely no real effect on a character other than visual appeal, as players use their avatars that were developed in Gaia Online as avatars in the game as well. The only significant, equipable objects in this world consist of power rings that are used as weapons and power up devices. Due to Gaia Online's recent changes to the game, these rings can no longer be purchased or sold at the marketplace, but some rings that were obtained before the changes can be found for sale. Unfortunately, being that it is not possible to sell rings any further, those available in the market don't often come cheap.

One of my personal favorite aspects of this game is the lack of a notable PvP system which, though unfavorable to some of the more aggresive players, I believe can be fairly annoying in other games. Instead the game fosters the creation of friendships between players as well as team cooperation, as it requires a minimum of three players to even get to the final boss.

To level up in this world requires, not experience, but small purple spheres called charge orbs. These orbs can potentially spawn from any creature, but the closer the level difference between it and the player, the greater the chances of receiving them. Unfortunately, orbs can still be fairly hard to come by and overall, annoying to have to find as it requires about 3600 orbs to upgrade all eight of a players rings to charge level 10.0
Traveling from one end of the world to the next takes place in a 2D setting and can be fairly tedious considering the amount of time spent running away from the enemies. Should a player find him or herself bored of moving between maps or the chain quests, there are always several things that can be done locally to one's amusement.

Being a browser-based game, zOMG has its flaws and benefits in terms of getting it set up. There is absolutely no download required and thus no intrusion of memory space upon a player's computer so anyone can get to playing immediately, no matter how low on hard drive space. On the other hand, having such a large game file being hosted directly on the site takes its toll on any computer's capabilities. The high levels of animation and large number of players adds to the game's ping and thus makes an unavoidable and often annoying lag that can affect gameplay. Also, if a player remains idle for a period of around 15-30 minutes, the game automatically disconnects thus requiring them to relog into that server or another.

Overall, despite its setbacks zOMG is actually a fairly enjoyable game to more mellow audiences. Still being in its beta phase, it would not be too far out of the realm of possibility to expect more enhancements to its gameplay and efficiency. To all those who are interested, give zOMG a try and while your at it, take a moment to send some gratitude to the developers of the game.