MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) have become a new fad in the gaming world. They allow mass amounts of players to interact and take part in a virtual universe, often a world with somewhat of a fantasy or science fiction theme. The word MMORPG is synonymous with games such as World of Warcraft and Guild Wars. The popular Korean game, Ragnarok Online, has also gained an amazing reputation here in the States.
World of Warcraft is the latest installment of a series of games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the first of Blizzard’s creations to be identified as an MMORPG. First released in November of 2004, World of Warcraft has grown through downloadable patches and its first expansion, The Burning Crusade. There are two vast worlds to explore—Azeroth and Outland, fully rendered in three-dimensional graphics. Players can choose from one of ten races; five on each faction. The two factions, the Horde and the Alliance, cannot communicate because they are opposed to each other, but they can go head to head in player versus player mode (PVP). The artistic style of World of Warcraft’s graphics make up for the otherwise low polygon count used to render the world. The game uses a client-server setup to accommodate the millions of players who are on simultaneously, and it is a pay-to-play MMORPG.
Guild Wars, unlike World of Warcraft, is completely free to play—one simply needs to purchase the game to attain an account. Developed by ArenaNet in February of 2005, this game boasts gorgeous graphics without requiring players to have an immensely advanced video card. The game is set in a fictional, peaceful land called Tyria. Guild Wars provides a unique approach to MMORPGs because although a player begins in this land, he or she will end up in the Tyria of the future, where chaos is commonplace. Guild Wars runs on a Windows platform, but unlike World of Warcraft, it will not run on a Mac. The game has had several expansions to enhance player interest.
Ragnarok Online is a unique gem in the MMO world. The characters are 2D sprites as opposed to the fully rendered three-dimensional players of World of Warcraft and Guild Wars. The environment of Ragnarok, however, is 3D. Released by GRAVITY Co., Ltd in Korea in August 2002, the game quickly reached North America in 2003. It is now international. Although players can only be human, there are various classes to choose from that evolve into even stronger classes and so on. The customization of characters is slightly limited, as only a few hairstyles and colors are offered, but accessories can give a character more uniqueness. The GRAVITY team is in the process of developing Ragnarok 2, which is a new version of the game, in hopes of improving the players’ experience.
(websites used: http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/review/R78376.html, http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2005/06/08/guild_wars_review_1/1, http://pc.ign.com/articles/572/572070p1.html )
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These are very informative summaries and it sounds like you know what you are talking about. I did mine a different way in that I posted the URL that I was talking about above each summary. This is because I may not know as much about my topic. The point of the text is clear and everything is defined.
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