Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are often considered either a genre of role-playing games, one in which a large number of players interact within a persistent world, or a combination of role-playing games with massively multiplayer online games. Both are correct. The term MMORPG, and arguably the genre itself, was coined by Richard Garriot, the creator of Ultima Online, the game often credited with popularizing the genre in 1997.

Example of a character creation engine from an RPG.

As in all role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a character, usually located in a fantasy or science fiction setting, and takes control of that character's action. This includes creating and customizing this character with options such as race, skin color, hairstyle and color, face shape and characteristics, jewelry, and tattoos. Similar to RPGs, the MMORPG places the player as the main character in the story of the game, except in an MMORPG, multiple storylines are impacted by the choices of the character, starting with what faction or group the player selects at the beginning of the game.

Not all MMORPGs offer a specific storyline or plot for each character. Some allow characters more free reign, with some suggested storyline missions and other regular quests. MMORPGs also differentiate from RPGs in that players can group and help each other through their individual storylines. These games have proven massively popular, with one of the most popular MMORPGs, World of Warcraft, reaching a peak of 12 million concurrent subscribers in 2010, six years after the game's initial release. While Star Wars: The Old Republic was launched in 2011 and became, overnight, the fastest growing subscription MMORPG in the industry, with over a million users at launch and tens of millions in-game hours spent in the first few days.

Unlike traditional RPGs, in which the goal of the game can be described as the completion of the game, MMORPGs tend to depend on emergent gameplay based on interactions of players and groups of players. While the game provides tasks and battles that increase in difficulty, presenting a progression, the game's primary purpose is to help players build their characters in terms of experience, abilities, and wealth. MMORPGs have their own economies, in which players can earn in-game currency in battles or from the sale of items looted in battles to buy desired items. Some of these in-game economies extend into real currency, and players can pay to get unique equipment and items.

Example of a complex skill or progression map in MMORPGs, which can encourage 'grinding.'

In MMORPGs, with the development of the player's character as a primary goal, nearly all MMORPGs feature a character progression system in which players can earn experience points to help players reach new "levels," which make the character either better at what they do or allow them to use new equipment or have new abilities. Traditionally, this experience is granted through combat with monsters or completing quests for non-player characters (NPCs). The experience points and many of the in-game economies tied to battle create a cycle, leading players to engage in increasing combat without change in the gameplay. This is often pejoratively referred to as "grinding." When a player is trying to keep up with the progression of friends or other players, griding enables them to team up with and progress with others at an optimal rate.

When playing an MMORPG, a player must first enter the game server through an account that can host several of their avatars or a single one. Sometimes the player can unlock more spots for avatars through pay models, depending on the game. The server the player will be on will depend on the area, time zone, and language group of the player. These servers use a client-server system architecture, where the server generates a persistent instance of the virtual world that runs continuously, which players connect to through the client software.

Example of a potential MMORPG server architecture.

The client software may provide access to the entire playing world, or expansions on the original game could be required to allow access to certain areas of the game. Popular MMORPGs EverQuest and Guild Wars used this model, requiring players to purchase expansion packs to explore more areas. Depending on the number of players and the size of the virtual world, the game may be run on multiple servers that can each represent an independent world, where players on one server cannot interact with those on another. As well, servers are often limited to a few thousand players. Although the notable exception to this was Eve Online, which was capable of accommodating several hundred thousand players on the same service, and over 60,000 played simultaneously at certain times.

The most popular model for monetization in MMORPGs has shifted. Early in the history of the games, the dominant model was a subscription model, which had players paying a monthly fee for the upkeep of the servers and the game. However, with free-to-play models emerging, many MMORPGs have either switched to or launched as free-to-play, as that model earns the game far more players at the outset and creates more interest in the game.

In MMORPG games, with players competing in a virtual economy for social status, strength, and wealth, developers can use gamification to gain revenue beyond an initial purchase of a game. This can, as noted above, include a monthly subscription, a premium membership option, in-game advertising, or a cross-over of virtual items purchased with real currency through microtransactions. Models in which some players pay extra and others play for free are often criticized for creating a pay-to-win environment. However, this can also create interest, retain old players, and gives players a chance to shortcut some of the "grinding" many of these games require. However, the use of microtransactions and in-game economies that can use real-world currency have led to some scams, due to the lack of legal guidelines.

As noted above, a large portion of the MMO and MMORPG market has moved toward a free-to-play model, which is capable of enticing large numbers of players to the game. A study that investigated spending patterns in games showed that around 89 percent of players spend money in free-to-play games. Respondents in the study found the majority of the 89 percent thought they needed to spend the money to remain competitive.

Some of the largest MMORPGs titles are free-to-play, with World of Warcraft being the only subscription-based game to make it on the top-ten earner's list. However, as the proliferation of games in the area increases, the ways in which a free-to-play model can be employed and earn developers' money have also proliferated.

For example, the game League of Legends offers players a chance to buy various skins, which change the appearance of a character without changing the character itself. This model earned the game $600 million in 2013. While another free-to-play title, CrossFire, utilizes a cash shop where players can buy cosmetics, guns, ammo, and armor for the game, which can give a player a significant advantage over other players. This is a different approach from League of Legends, which tries to ensure fairness for all players, only offering cosmetic changes and embracing a pay-to-win approach.

While MMORPGs have been criticized by players for their use of microtransactions, there has been further damage to the reputation of these games because of scams that have taken advantage of players. One such scam included a user named "Cally," who executed a scam in Eve Online and took in-game money from a large number of other players. Although it has become widely known that there are individuals who will try to scam players out of their money, scammers remain in various games and players continue to fall for the scams. Players remain vulnerable because there are many ways to execute a scam, depending on the game, and scammers can take advantage of the game itself through weaknesses in the code.

For developers, there tend to be three areas of focus to prevent scams. First, developers aim to make the code more resilient to scammers and put up firewalls to prevent scams once caught, or they put in place protocols to lessen the effectiveness of the scam. And they can place more security, such as anti-cheat or related software, to prevent known scams from happening again. Some of the simplest ways of stopping scams can be ensuring the user has a password and email to identify a user.

However, as games have become more resilient to scams, scammers have found new ways to scam players, including phishing campaigns against known players and their emails, or else from the game developers themselves, in order to steal personal and financial information from players. These scams remain popular around MMORPGs because the games have the economic elements and pay-to-win monetization models, which, since they are on the internet and attract massive amounts of players, offer a chance for scammers to take advantage of these elements. Whereas a regular RPG game may not attract scammers, as generally in this type of game a player purchases the game (and maybe an expansion pack) but rarely will make purchases with real money through the remaining game play.

As partially explored above, social interaction and teamwork tend to be important aspects in MMORPGs. This includes allowing players through the game to communicate with one another and creating more expectations around social interactions in the game with more sophisticated communication tools. Some criticism has been targeted toward games that are seen as unbeatable without teamwork and players coming together to defeat bosses and larger monsters, and rather than encouraging teamwork and social interaction, this can create an expectation that players can reject.

Examples of factions players are required by an MMORPG to choose in World of Warcraft.

In many MMORPGs, this teamwork is formalized through in-game guilds or clans—some of which are chosen by the player at the beginning of the game, and others are chosen as the player's character develops. They are selected at either a plotted point in the character's progression, marking a new stage of the game—such as choosing a faction or side of a game, either at the beginning of the game or after a "tutorial period," which can introduce a character to the different sides of the story. Some games allow flipping of sides through playing or choosing through the course of the character's career (such as a "guild" around merchants if the player decides to play the game selling goods as a merchant).

The social interaction in MMORPGs has been studied more extensively than other aspects of MMORPGs, in part as the social interaction has been found to be a part of a player's enjoyment and engagement level in a game. Such that, the more positive social interaction a player has in a game, the more likely they are to enjoy the game and engage with the game on a deeper level.

While these social interactions create peer groups, and in-game groups can foster cooperation and social support, the interactions can also facilitate social aggression and peer victimization. With the suggestion that, while some players have great social interactions with positive social and psychological outcomes, other players will have the opposite experience with opposite outcomes. The best indicator found of either has been in-game social support. Put another way, if a player finds an in-group in-game, it is less likely they will experience negative social interaction.

Despite this, MMORPGs have been found to be highly sociable interactive environments that offer the majority of players an opportunity to create friendships and emotional relationships. These can be highly social games, which may, through social interaction and accepting environments, allow players to express themselves in ways they may otherwise not feel comfortable doing in real life because of their appearance, gender, sexuality, or age. Also, the individual can explore their personal expression in a place where teamwork, encouragement, and fun can be experienced.

Due in large part to the ability for social engagement with others, MMORPGs have been used for their potential in education. One such experiment into the possible use for education was in second language learning. In the experiment, the MMORPG was found to provide students with a safe digital space where they could communicate with a target language with global players and with their educators and researchers observing and helping them learn both outside of the MMORPG and inside of the MMORPG. It was found to facilitate many opportunities for language practice and individual and group experiences of communication with other speakers of the language. And it was found to support effective language learning with plenty of opportunity for support, while helping the students understand the language with greater context.

A decent amount of studies have been conducted into the possibility of both harmful and positive aspects of MMORPGs, especially as stories of people ignoring their own health or the health of their children have sensationalized some of the harm associated with these games and their potentially addictive qualities. Evidence has shown that a player's individual characteristics and motivations tend to be more important in terms of their relationship with the game and their individual risk of developing problematic play. Problematic play may lead to mental disorders, such as depression and addiction, and can negatively impact an individual's quality of life.

However, for as many negative experiences players have encountered with MMORPG, many players have benefitted from being part of a social community and using it as a learning platform or a safe space to explore identity issues.

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has been included in section III of the DSM-5 and refers to the problematic use of video games, either online or offline, despite the name. The diagnosis of IGD is based on the criteria set out in the DSM-5, and a diagnosis is made if five of the nine have been met in the past twelve months at the time of evaluation. This diagnosis can be further expanded to other types of games, such as board games, as studies have not determined the types of games which should and should not be included under this disorder. However, studies have found that around 86 percent of IGD cases have another DSM-IV-TR diagnosis present. This has led some to argue that the game is not the issue itself, but rather a symptom.

MMORPGs have come to the attention of many for the cases of IGD that have been related to some of the more popular titles in the genre. These games are a substantial part of the gaming industry and see an average player log 26.6 hours a week online instead of engaging in real-world activities and responsibilities. This has led some to consider the genre as part of an international epidemic. The association has been further enforced with studies exploring the level of psychopathology in MMORPGs, which have found regular players of MMORPGs have reported increased rates of problematic use and interference compared with non-MMORPG players. This includes MMORPG players often playing games for excessive amounts of time and difficulty mediating the relationship between the type of games played and problematic use.

Although, as noted above, most individuals who do exhibit IGD have other conditions diagnosed under the DSM, suggesting the addiction could be a symptom of greater concern for the individual. There are elements of the MMORPG and the way the games have been designed that have been suggested to increase the risk of addiction, including games containing the following elements:

• high amounts of novelty
• a lot of social interaction
• discovery-oriented
• low-intensity enjoyment
• complex social classes and hierarchies
• highly competitive

Games with these features were found to draw players who are at risk of addiction, and players tend to experience gaming-related problems when compared to nonplayers, partially due to their motivations for socialization, escapism, and in-game motivations.

MMORPGs have their roots in the text-based Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) and Multi-User Share Hallucinations (MUSHes), which began in the late 1970s on personal computers. They can further be traced to the traditional role-playing genre (RPG) and their related games, including the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons and its many imitators. The game that constitutes the first MMORPG has been argued, with some suggesting the 1984 release Islands of Kesmai as the first. This was part of an early wave of games that required players to pay per hour to play the game. For Islands of Kesmai, it cost players $12 per hour for CompuServe subscribers. Neverwinter Nights released in the early 1990s and was available to AOL subscribers and cost $6 an hour to play. Realistically, given the restrictions placed on the internet during the 1990s, as well as bandwidth and server capabilities, these games could not be understood as "massive" in the same way as later titles that would come to define the MMORPG genre.

That came around 1997, when Ultima Online, developed by Origin Systems, was released. This came after games such as Meridian 59, Legends of the Future Past, and The Realm Online were released; but unlike Ultima Online, they did not garner much commercial success. Ultima Online was followed by another success in Lineage, released in 1998, which garnered over a million subscribers. However, it would be the release of EverQuest in 1999 that would become the most popular MMORPG and a commercial success, until 2004.

In 2004, the MMORPG genre went through what many have called its second generation. This came with the launch of World of Warcraft. This game changed many of the expectations around MMORPGs, due to its massive popularity, with the highest subscriber count for the game reaching 10 million concurrent subscribers in 2010. It became a part of popular culture. The success of this game saw an explosion of games published to try and capture the popularity of World of Warcraft.

The year 2021 has been suggested as a potential point for a third generation of MMORPGs. Part of this has been due to the release of Amazon Games New World, which garnered a lot of interest at launch. But much of this has also been based on the resurgence of the MMORPG and MMO genre overall following the COVID-19 pandemic, when video game engagement across genres increased. Others have suggested that the possibility of a third generation of MMORPGs is based on the cyclical engagement of gaming from players and the quality of games, as older games age out and new games are developed. A large slate of MMORPG games in development in late 2021 through 2023 aim to capture the increased interest in video games following the COVID-19 pandemic.