Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games

Massive(ly) multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a type of online role-playing video games (RPGs) where a large number of players interact in virtual worlds.

In RPGs players assume the role of a fictional character (i.e in a fantasy world) and control many of the character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player RPGs by the number of players and by the game's persistent world. MMORPGs are usually hosted by the creator and continues to evolve over time.

MMORPGs are very popular worldwide. In 2006, the combined global membership in both subscription and non-subscription games exceeding 15 million roles. In 2005, worldwide revenues for MMORPGs exceeded half a billion dollars. Western revenues exceeded one billion USD in 2006.

The majority of MMORPGs are based on traditional fantasy-themed worlds in an in-game universe comparable to Dungeons & Dragons. Many MMORPGs employ hybrid themes that merge or substitute fantasy with with science fiction, sword and sorcery, crime fiction, the occult, and other themes. MMORPGs use similar tasks and scenarios involving quests, monsters, and loot.

MMORPGs, as we now them today, have only existed since the early 1990s; however, all MMORPGs trace a lineage back to the earliest multi-user games from the late 1970s. The first was Mazewar. Islands of Kesmai, a Roguelike (semi-graphical) multi-user game, appeared in 1984.

The first "truly" graphical multi-user RPG was Neverwinter Nights, delivered via America Online in 1991.