Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)

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A Massively Muliplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) is a role-playing game (RPG) played online with a computer or a gaming console wherein a large number of players can interact together within a virtual world. This type of game first gained popularity in 1997 through a game called "Ultima Online".

In a typical MMORPG, and as in most RPG's, there exists a virtual fantasy world where a player can assume the role of a make-believe character and interact with the characters played by other players. But unlike an ordinary RPG that can only have one or just a few players, MMORPG's can have a very large number of players (popular MMORPGs have millions of subscribers) interacting simultaneously within its universe. Furthermore, MMORPG universes are persistent, i.e., they continue to exist even if a player leaves the game.

MMORPG service providers or publishers earn not only from the subscription fees paid by their subscribers, but from the sale of virtual goods (such as weapons, accessories, costumes, etc.) as well. A third revenue source for MMORPGs is online advertisements. Indeed, this is big business, with so many people deriving so much enjoyment from leading a second 'virtual' life in MMORPGs that they are willing to collectively pay billions of dollars every year to keep their fantasy worlds going.

MMORPGs are often set up as a client-server system, i.e., the fantasy world is kept running continuously by software on servers owned by the MMORPG publisher, while the players interact with this fantasy world through a client software installed on their computers. Some publishers provide the client software for free, while some sell it to the players.

Figure 1. A screen shot of one of the most popular MMORPG's.

To sell, MMORPGs must be designed to offer something 'out of this world' to their subscribers. Thus, the virtual worlds of MMORPGs usually have themes that are based on things that have captured the wild imagination of people in literature, movies, and pop culture - from dragons and monsters to superheroes and mobsters. MMORPGs allow their players to experience flying, perform sorceries, kill hundreds of warriors, or even be killed. It's all part of a game that keeps the players coming back...and paying their way in.

Since a player in a MMORPG is basically paying for an experience that he couldn't have in the real world, good MMORPGs ensure that subscribers get this 'unique' experience. As such, players are often allowed to customize their own character and progress through many different 'levels' of the character as they act out their roles. This means allowing them to earn points for 'good' actions or getting penalties for 'bad' ones. The goal of every player is to reach higher and higher levels, and perhaps prevent other players from doing the same.

Players are expected to respect the rules of the MMORPG. This includes being faithful to the tasks or behavior expected of the character being played, and being a 'team player' where teams, clans, or guilds are involved. Game moderators are also there to supervise the MMORPG universe and ensure that it will always be a place where anybody can live happily ever after.