MMORPG

Overview

A MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) is a game in which players from all over the world take control of unique (often self-designed) avatars in an online gameworld. Games in this genre frequently take place in fantasy or sci-fi settings much like other Action/Adventure games. MMORPGs, like other role-playing games, are what Simon Egenfeldt Nielsen et al. might call "process-oriented games:" instead of giving the player one, ultimate objective, the game offers a system with which the player can endlessly interact . For example, in World of Warcraft, a player may complete a quest-line in an area in the game, but might continue to slay monsters for the sake of leveling up or saving up for a new item. In MMORPGs, then, there is no ultimate goal beyond what the player prescribes for him or herself.

MMORPGs share many elements with other kinds of role-playing games, including but not limited to setting, character creation, and quests. Narrative is usually incorporated in to MMORPGs through quests, tasks that the player can complete in order to gain a reward, whether that reward be in-game currency, experience points to improve the character's abilities, or items. In MMORPGs where there is a main storyline for the player to follow, quests might be linked together to form a long narrative; however, these "main quests" are often accompanied by "side quests:" shorter, optional narrative units that are not essential for progression in the game. In this way, the narrative of MMORPGs are non-unilinear, a term videogame scholar Sebastian Domsch uses to describe narratives that the player can shape by choosing the order in which (or whether or not) they complete quests . Though non-unilinear narratives are not unique to MMORPGs, they allow the player flexibility in choosing how much he or she wants to participate in "processes" offered by the system of the game.

The flexibility the non-unilinear narratives in MMORPGs' gameworlds allows for players to engage in quests individually or in groups; indeed, the way in which MMORPGs allow a large number of players to coexist in a gameworld together via a server is what sets them apart from other kinds of videogame RPGs (see Action RPG and JRPG). Players might band together temporarily in "parties" to defeat certain enemies that might be too strong for an individual to overcome. In other MMORPGs players can also join "guilds" (sometimes known as "clans," "kinships," or "crews") which function to bring players with similar goals in contact with one another . In this way, MMORPGs offer a variety of social options which can help the player achieve his or her desired experience.

History

The ancestor of all MMORPGs as we know them today is the pen-and-paper role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons. Commercially released in 1974, D&D capitalized on the popularity of the fictional world of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. D&D originally allowed players to choose between four races (human, hobbit, dwarf, and elf) as well as between three classes (wizard, warrior, and cleric). Furthermore, D&D required a "dungeon master" to use the game's rules in order to create adventures for other players to experience. As D&D became popular, similar pen-and-paper role-playing games began to emerge using similar frameworks by which players could both create and verbally enact adventures.

The popularity of D&D and other pen-and-paper role playing games gave rise to computer text adventures based in similar fantasy settings like Colossal Cave Adventure (1976) and Zork (1980). When these single-player text adventures became similarly popular, others began to create multi-user dungeons (or MUDs), which allowed for several players to access a server and experience text adventures at the same time. For example in the first MUD (referred to as MUD1), players could make changes in the gameworld that other players could register. Players could chat with one another and, in some MUDs, even engage in player versus player combat .

As technology improved, companies began to produce what were first known as graphical MUDs, and later, the earliest MMORPGs. In 1991, Stormfront Studios released Neverwinter Nights, the first MUD to incorporate graphics . The game was available through AOL in the years 1991 through 1997. Neverwinter Nights spurred the creation of other graphical MUD in the 1990's, including the popular 1997 release of Ultima Online. Ultima Online operated on a ten-dollar per month subscription fee, making it a predecessor to today's popular subscription-based games. In its first year Ultima Online gained over 100,000 subscribers, demonstrating the growing commercial potential of massive multiplayer online worlds .

In the 2000's, MMORPGs reached unprecedented levels of popularity and financial success. At the brink of the new mellenium, Sony Online Entertainment released EverQuest which improved upon Ultima Online's crude, isometric graphics, by offering a fully 3D world. It also offered an wide variety of races and classes for players to choose from for character creation . In 2004 Blizzard Entertainment released an online spin-off of the Warcraft franchise, World of Warcraft, or WoW. Like Ultima Online, and EverQuest before it, WoW also operated (and still operates) on a subscription basis. By 2011, WoW had gained over 12 million subscribers, and is still today one of the most successful videogames in the world .

Prominent Examples

Neverwinter Nights

Not to be confused with the BioWare game of the same name, Stormfront Studio's 1991 Neverwinter Nights is the first game that resembles a modern MMORPG, though, as stated above, it was considered to be a graphical MUD at the time of its release. As a whole, the game still relies heavily on mechanics from earlier text adventure games. Though the game offers rough graphical depictions of the gameworld in first person, it still relies on textual descriptions appearing on the bottom of the screen to alert the player to details. For instance, the player might see an unmarked door on the screen, but the text will inform them that the door leads to a "General Item Store," or alternatively, they might see only an empty pathway but the text will alert them to the presence of a beggar or an old woman with whom he or she might interact.

The way in which battle sequences appear in Neverwinter, however, appear more like modern day MMORPGs. For instance, the perspective changes from first to third person so that the player can view his or her own character, as well as enemies and other players nearby. In this turn-based combat mode, the player can move an icon representing his or her avatar and attack enemies in order to earn experience and treasure . Though the turn-based system still relies on a text adventure formula to describe the damage done to enemies, it allows for a representation of movement around the battle field. Furthermore, it allows for multiple players in a party to coordinate attacks in order to achieve victory.

Neverwinter Nights, 1991 http://www.w5d.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/neverwinter-nights-1991-h1n-net.jpg

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft, 2004 http://origin.arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/gaming-evolution.media/wow-2004.jpg

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic (or SWTOR), was released in 2011 as was the fastest growing MMORPG of all time, accruing 1 million subscribers only three days after its launch mid-December .

Star Wars: The Old Republic, 2011 http://lowdownblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/star-wars-the-old-republic-banner.jpg

Significance and Criticism

--popularity

--social elements and pop culture significance (Felicia Day's The Guild)

--Everybody hates grinding

--Women and online gaming? (maybe?) (do I want to open this can of worms?)