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The MMOG industry now is possibly at it's golden age. Games like World of Warcraft and Guild Wars dominate the genre and helped it get on the map, but for every golden age there is a time of desolation. The only good games on the market were years old and the front runners were shovelware of the highest order. Internet n00bs flooded the servers of Runescape and the bandwidth costs skyrocketed on Neopets and other non-app communities. Anarchy Online and Everquest controlled the commercial MMOs with an iron fist, cranking out bs expansions and updates galore. With the release of World of Warcraft, the hardcore MMORPG-er got a breath of fresh air. Although Final Fantasy XI was released two years earlier, the mediocre quality and the complexity of the FF mythology turned away many newcomers to the series and hardcore MMO-ers alike. The release of World of Warcraft marked the beginning of a golden age in MMOGs. Soon there after was the release Guild Wars, finally allowing the casual gamer to foray into the massive online worlds due to the lack of a monthly fee. During this period multiple hybrids were released, however to varying success. The hyped Auto Assault, a MMO Combat Driving Game, received mixed reviews from the critics. Massively multiplayer FPS were flying off the digital shelfs with servers being filled in America's Army, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territories, and Warrock. Even more obscure hybrids were becoming available for the experimenting gamer. Savage: Battle For Newerth merged the massive battles from other MMOs and mixed in FPS and RTS elements to make a strategy and action heavy game. What will the future hold for the genre. As more and more advanced games come out and multiplayer becoming standard and steadily growing in capabilities, will we begin to see more games becoming pseudo MMOs? For now we may never know, but all we can do is stare longingly at our Huxley screenshots and dreaming of the next World of Warcraft expansion.


This is DukeErkSplee, and that was A Gamer's View.