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There are a number of factors shared by most MMOGs that make them different from other types of computer games. MMOGs create a persistent universe where the game continues playing regardless of whether or not anyone else is. Since these games strongly or exclusively emphasize multiplayer gameplay, few of them have any significant single-player aspects or client-side artificial intelligence. As a result, players cannot "beat" MMOGs in the typical sense of single-player games. One exception is "Star Sonata," a free-download MMOG located at http://www.starsonata.com/. In this game, you take control of a space-faring vessel, and through trade and negotiation you can be crowned "Emperor" and "win" the game. Nonetheless you'll find lots of NPCs and Mobs in most MMOGs who give out quests or serve as opponents. (see Timesinks)
Most MMOGs also share characteristics that make them different from other multiplayer online games. MMOGs host a large number of players in a single game world where all those players can interact. Popular MMOGs might have thousands of players online at any given time usually exclusively on a company owned server. Non-MMOs, such as Battlefield 1942 or Half-Life ususally have less then 50 players online and are usually played on private servers. Also, MMOs do not have any significant mods since the game must work on company servers. MMOs are special in having spawned virtual economies of game items, something that other game types have not yet created.
There is some debate if a high head-count is the requirement to be a MMO. Some say that it is the size of the game world and its capability to support a large number of players that should matter. [1] For example, despite technology and content constraints, most MMOGs can fit up to a few thousand players on a single game server at a time. Given technology development online multiplayer may eventually become MMOs as well as the average server size increases. However, by then the benchmark may have increased as well and MMO's will host many times even that. Alternatively, if the defining charactertistic of MMOs is that all the players must be in a single-world where they can interact, online games with a highly fragmented un-connected sever base are not MMOs.
To support all those players, MMOGs need large-scale game worlds. In MMOGs, large areas of the game are interconnected within the game such that a player can traverse vast distances without having to switch servers manually. For example, Tribes comes with a number of large maps a server plays in rotation (one at a time), but in the MMOG PlanetSide all map-like areas of the game are accessible via flying, driving, or teleporting.
There are few more common differences between MMOGs and other online games. Most MMOGs charge the player a monthly fee to have access to the exclusive servers. The game state in a MMOG rarely resets; what the player earned yesterday is with them still today. MMOGs often feature in-game support for clans and guilds, such as the ability to manage an association with in-game tools.
The boundaries between multiplayer online games and MMOGs are not always clear or obvious. Neverwinter Nights ( 2002) and Diablo II are usually called online RPGs but are also sometimes called MMORPGs (a type of MMOG).
The popularity of MMOGs is mostly restricted to the computer game market. Online games have not yet gained huge audiences on console game systems. Nevertheless, there have been several console MMOGs, including Phantasy Star OnlinePhantasy Star Online (PSO), released in 2000, was an online title for Sega Dreamcast. PSO was also later ported to Microsoft Windows, but this version was only released in Asia. A bugfix/upgrade edition was released the following year, entitled Phantasy S ( Dreamcast), EverQuest Online AdventuresEverQuest Online Adventures (EQOA) is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game ( MMORPG) for the PlayStation 2. EQOA is one of the few MMORPGs released on a video game console. It is part of the EverQuest franchise that is well established ( PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 PS2 ( Japanese: 2) is Sony's second video game console, after the PlayStation. Its development was announced in April 1999, and it was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000. It was released in the United States on 26 October 2000.), and the multiplatform Final Fantasy XIFinal Fantasy XI is the first MMORPG to be released in the Final Fantasy series, and the first in the series to feature online play. It debuted in Japan on the Sony PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2002, and was released on the Windows PC on November 5 of the sam ( PCThe term personal computer or PC has three meanings: IBM's range of PCs that led to the use of the term see IBM PC. A generic term used to describe all microcomputers (mentioned here). A generic term sometimes used to describe a computer based on IBM's or and PS2).