Players run a client to connect to an MMORPG and someone else, usually the game's publisher , hosts the game world. Most MMORPGs are commercial and require the player to pay a monthly fee in order to play. The virtual worlds they create are called "persistent worlds", meaning that the world continues regardless of who is logged in or not. When a player logs in, they are represented in the game world by an avatar — a graphical representation of the character they play. History
MMORPGs are computer games that can be traced back to the 1970s to non-graphical online MUD games, to text-based computer games such as Adventure and Zork , and to pen and paper role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons . Habitat , a graphical MUD from the mid 1980s , predated the modern notion of MMORPG by a decade.
The first modern MMORPG is now mostly credited as Meridian 59 ( 1996 ), but it was Ultima Online ( 1997 ) that popularized the genre. Both of these games featured a flat monthly subscription fee instead of the traditional per-hour plan. These games also used and spread the term "massively multiplayer".
In many MMORPGs, the economy becomes unbalanced over time due to inflation and can reduce meaningful interaction between players of varying level (i.e., newbies versus more powerful players). This is primarily due to the gradual accumulation of wealth and power within the game. Some MMORPGs have addressed this with varying degrees of success. Asheron's Call for example uses a guild system where lower level characters swear allegiance to higher level players, and generate additional experience points for them. The theory being that it is in the interest of higher level players to assist the lower players and thus increase the reward they receive. Ultima Online has items wear out gradually, so that there is a constant demand for crafting resources, which new characters can acquire and sell to the higher level characters. Diablo II , while not an MMORPG, has similar problems in Softcore but not in Hardcore play where death is permanent. This is due to the constant recycling of players, creating an active market for all levels of equipment.