Qustions about Real and "Fake" MMOs

Chaos11

Iv been playing MMO since i can rember and i some times see these just messed up MMOs were theres no unqie system just a game were u Grab a quest and go kill something for expla i played Maplestory ONCE and just quit it i dint get that this is a real game or some Arcade game with mmo elements

So My Qustion is when is the line Between REAL MMOS AND "FAKE" ones.

What makes it a mmorpg

Gear,Story,Quests,Mobs.Char,Landscape,Small random Animtes like birds or squrills running around.

Shinami

Hi Chaos

 

I will try to answer your question from a programmers point of view. 

 

When I read the name MMO, it reminds me of a program specification. Making a Massively Multiplayed Online Code in order to allow such games to work with so many people. MMO has a very similar netcode specification and structure which comes acrosss forumboard systems, server based games and literally anything with such a high player count.

 

RPG is the term we have to define, not MMO. 

 

Roleplaying games are supposed to be story driven games where characters are part of a game world and interract with it. However thanks to the way Developers code a game, they make it so everyone can take part in the story. Thanks to this either you are a secondary character or part of a world where more heroes exist than enemies.

 

Most of the time is spent fighting and defeating enemies and going through a quest chain which is uninspiring and kind of lame. There are almost no stories of infiltrating an area, killing a boss and seeing a scene of a story unfolding and the time of the world moving forward to an end. MMORPGs are very static...

 

Its amazing that Guild Wars I and Phantasy Star Online (and Universe) along with RYL are CLOSER to being Roleplaying without being MMORPGs than the 300+ MMORPGs in the games list of this forum. 

 

I love the idea of instanced dungeons and maps because it throws a group of players into a truly dangerous world where they are the heroes who have to save the world. Unfortunately, when you have to share the world with everyone, its more about completing endless quest chains than anything else where all quests have to be resettable to allow everyone to complete them. 

 

So what is a REAL GAME and a FAKE game is really up to you..

 

To me 99% of MMORPGs are not Roleplaying since you aren't recognized by the world and do not even improve the world. And 99% are not even MMOs since even if 1,000,000 play, most still play in parties of 5 - 20.....so its not that "massive"

 

Make a game where literally you have 1000s of players working together to make everything happen and have a LARGE AI of monsters trying to take down the players and their cities and we will have the world's first true MMORPG.  

 

I am used to calling MMORPGs TAGs (Turn Based Adventure Games)

 

Simply because attacking/defense, casting and many functions are turn based where the only realtime element is the actual movement of the characters.