It's 2016 and Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games aren't exactly the way it was once was. New breeds of online games have sprung as fast as video game technology progressed. But a few gaming company giants are sticking around for the business, providing communities with interesting game design outputs.
MMORPGs combine role-playing video games and massively multiplayer online games summing up into a very large player population that interact online. Usually, the player undertakes the role of a character in a fantasy or sci-fi world and commands over the character's actions. MMORPG's only difference from a single-player or small multi-player RPGs is the number of interacting players and by the game's 'permanent' world that is hosted by the publisher. The world continues to exist and progress even if the player has logged out.
MMORPGs are being participated worldwide with revenues exceeding $500 million by 2005, Western revenues exceeded a billion dollars by 2006. People in North America and Europe spent $1.4 billion thru subscriptions as of 2008. By 2014, notable MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft gained 10 million subscribers and had a total revenue of $1.4 billion. Star Wars: The Old Republic became the fastest growing MMO in worldwide history by having more than 1 million subscribers on its first day.
Nowadays, it seems that the term MMORPG start to alienate from us as modern online games take over. True, that they adapt the same principle but it's not termed as such anymore, we just call it 'online multiplayer'. However, a few titles still persist in the MMORPG world. Just this month, Zenimax Online Studios' The Elder Scrolls Online has received the One Tamriel update. This patch eliminates level and faction restrictions in the game, granting players to do quests with whoever they want regardless of level or faction, Gamasutra reports.
Those who are still into MMORPGs or are developing one, this Twitch video stream is worth watching. It contains several mind-opening discussions on what MMO design has evolved into over the last 10 years or so, and also how player reaction is molding what online games would look years from now. Below is a video of top MMORPGs this year:
