Editing Role-playing video game (section)

===MMORPGs===
{{Main|Massively multiplayer online role-playing game}}
{{further|Multi-user dungeon|History of massively multiplayer online games}}
Though many of the original RPGs for the PLATO mainframe system in the late 1970s also supported multiple, simultaneous players,<ref name="barton_ddesktops_b">{{Harvnb |Barton |2008 |pp=37–38 |Ref=barton_ddesktops}}</ref> the popularity of [[Multiplayer video game|multiplayer]] modes in mainstream RPGs did not begin to rise sharply until the early to mid-1990s.<ref name=":0" /> For instance, ''[[Secret of Mana]]'' (1993), an early [[action role-playing game]] by [[Square (video game company)|Square]], was one of the first commercial RPGs to feature [[Cooperative video game|cooperative multiplayer]] gameplay, offering two-player and three-player action once the main character had acquired his party members.<ref name="gspy_somana">{{cite web |title=Secret of Mana |first=Justin |last=Lee |date=February 15, 2004 |website=GameSpy |url=http://archive.gamespy.com/halloffame/february04/secretofmana/index.shtml |access-date=January 24, 2010  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050125221832/http://archive.gamespy.com/halloffame/february04/secretofmana/index.shtml |archive-date=January 25, 2005}}</ref><ref name="ign_somana">{{cite web |title=Secret of Mana Review |first=Lucas M. |last=Thomas |website=IGN |date=October 13, 2008 |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/10/14/secret-of-mana-review |access-date=January 24, 2010}}</ref> Later, ''[[Diablo (video game)|Diablo]]'' (1997) would combine CRPG and [[action game]] elements with an [[Internet]] multiplayer mode that allowed up to four players to enter the same world and fight monsters, trade items, or fight against each other.

[[File:Daimonin Stoneglow beta4.png|thumb|left|Multiple people chat and play online in the MMORPG ''Daimonin''.]]

Also during this time period, the [[Multi-user dungeon|MUD]] genre that had been spawned by [[MUD1]] in 1978 was undergoing a tremendous expansion phase due to the release and spread of [[LPMud]] (1989) and [[DikuMUD]] (1991).  Soon, driven by the mainstream adoption of the Internet, these parallel trends merged in the popularization of [[graphical MUD]]s, which would soon become known as [[massively multiplayer online role-playing game]]s or MMORPGs,<ref name="synthworlds">{{Cite book |last=Castronva |first=Edward |author-link=Edward Castronova |title=Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games |publisher=University Of Chicago Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-226-09627-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/syntheticworlds00edwa/page/10 10, 291] |quote=[pp. 10] The ancestors of MMORPGS were text-based multiuser domains (MUDs) [...] [pp. 291] Indeed, MUDs generate perhaps the one historical connection between game-based VR and the traditional program [...] |url=https://archive.org/details/syntheticworlds00edwa/page/10 }}</ref><ref name="berkshire_encyc">{{Cite book |last=Bainbridge |first=William Sims |author-link=William Sims Bainbridge |title=Berkshire Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction |publisher=Berkshire Publishing Group |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-9743091-2-5 |volume=3 |page=474 |quote=Developers had long considered writing a graphical MUD. [...] the last major 2D virtual environment in the West marked the true beginning of the fifth age of MUDs: Origin Systems' 1997 Ultima Online (UO).}}</ref> beginning with games like ''[[Meridian 59]]'' (1995), ''[[Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds]]'' (1996), ''[[Ultima Online]]'' (1997), ''[[Lineage (video game)|Lineage]]'' (1998), and ''[[EverQuest]]'' (1999), and leading to more modern phenomena such as ''[[RuneScape]]'' (2001), [[Ragnarok Online]](2002), ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' (2003), ''[[Eve Online]]'' (2003) ''Disney's [[Toontown Online]]'' (2003) and ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' (2004).

Although superficially similar to single-player RPGs, MMORPGs lend their appeal more to the socializing influences of being online with hundreds or even thousands of other players at a time, and trace their origins more from MUDs than from CRPGs like ''Ultima'' and ''Wizardry''. Rather than focusing on the "old school" considerations of memorizing huge numbers of stats and esoterica and battling it out in complex, tactical environments, players instead spend much of their time forming and maintaining guilds and [[Clan (video gaming)|clans]]. The distinction between CRPGs and MMORPGs and MUDs can as a result be very sharp, likenable to the difference between "attending a [[renaissance fair]] and reading a good fantasy novel".<ref name="barton_1571_12h"/>

{{quote box|width=30%|align=right|quote=Single-player games are great, and I love them. They have a great feature. Your life is very special. You are ''the'' hero and you get to save the ''whole'' world. (...) [''Tabula Rasa''] is like [[Walt Disney World|Disney World]]... You can go to shops and get food, but when you get on the boat for the pirate ride, you're in your own version of reality. Once the ride starts, you are blissfully unaware of the boats in front of you and behind you.|source=—[[Richard Garriott]], regarding the use of [[instance dungeon|instancing]] in ''[[Tabula Rasa (video game)|Tabula Rasa]]'' (2007)<ref name="borlanddd_d" />|}}

Further, MMORPGs have been criticized for diluting the "epic" feeling of single-player RPGs and related media among thousands of concurrent adventurers. Stated simply: every player wants to be "The Hero", slay "The Monster", rescue "The Princess", or obtain "The Magic Sword". But when there are thousands of players all playing the same game, clearly not everyone can be ''the'' hero.<ref name="borlanddd_d">{{Harvnb |King |Borland |2003 |pp=255–257 |Ref=borlanddd}} "Thousands of players have gathered online in massively multiplayer worlds, but that meant that thousands of people might be vying for the status of hero. Too many heroes mean that nobody, or only the few, can be special. Fighting even the most dangerous of monsters gives less of an epic thrill when it is clear that it will simply regenerate after you have killed it, and when 13 parties of adventurers are waiting behind you in line for their turn. There is only one Frodo in the ''Lord of the Rings'', one Avatar in the land of Brittania."</ref> This problem became obvious to some in the game ''EverQuest'', where groups of players would compete and sometimes harass each other in order to get monsters in the same dungeon to drop valuable items, leading to several undesirable behaviors such as [[kill stealing]], [[Camping (gaming)#Spawn|spawn camping]], and [[Looting (gaming)#Ninja looting|ninja looting]].<ref>{{cite web |last=MacLellan |first=Jon |title=Please? Maybe a Thank You? |publisher=IGN Entertainment, Inc. |website=GameSpy |date=May 1, 2001 |url=http://www.gamespy.com/articles/491/491748p1.html |access-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hailey |first=Charlie |title=Camps: A Guide to 21st Century Space |publisher=The MIT Press |date=April 30, 2009 |isbn=978-0-262-51287-9 |page=74 |quote=Spawn camp affords an absolute position, controlling the game not by strategic action but through immobility—to the extent that popular games like ''EverQuest'' have come to be known as ''EverCamp''.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Lopez |first=Miguel |title=Onlife #32: Good game ninja loot. |publisher=IGN Entertainment, Inc. |website=GameSpy |date=November 9, 2005 |url=http://www.gamespy.com/articles/665/665716p1.html |access-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref> In response—for instance by Richard Garriott in ''[[Tabula Rasa (video game)|Tabula Rasa]]'' (2007)<ref name="borlanddd_d" />—developers began turning to [[instance dungeon]]s as a means of reducing competition over limited resources, as well as preserving the gaming experience—though this mechanic has its own set of detractors.<ref name="McQuaid">{{cite web |url=http://www.gamergod.com/article.php?article_id=2933 |title=Instancing in Online Gaming |first1=Brad |last1=McQuaid |date=November 29, 2005 |website=GamerGod |access-date=August 8, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060324110936/http://www.gamergod.com/article.php?article_id=2933 |archive-date=March 24, 2006}}</ref>

Lastly, there exist markets such as Korea and China that, while saturated with MMORPGs, have so far proved relatively unreceptive to single-player RPGs.<ref name="1up_singlefuture" /> For instance, Internet-connected personal computers are relatively common in Korea when compared to other regions—particularly in the numerous "[[PC bang]]s" scattered around the country, where patrons are able to pay to play multiplayer video games—possibly due to historical bans on Japanese imports, as well as a culture that traditionally sees video games as "frivolous toys" and computers as educational.<ref name="stewartchoi">{{Cite journal |last1=Stewart |first1=K. |last2=Choi |first2=HP |title=PC-Bang (Room) Culture: A Study of Korean College Students' Private and Public Use of Computers and the Internet |journal=Trends in Communication |page=65 |year=2003 |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=3958007063689222609&hl=en&as_sdt=800000&sciodt=800000 |access-date=October 12, 2010}}</ref> As a result, some have wondered whether the stand-alone, single-player RPG is still viable commercially—especially on the personal computer—when there are competing pressures such as big-name publishers' marketing needs, video game piracy, a change in culture, and the competitive price-point-to-processing-power ratio (at least initially) of modern console systems.<ref name="barton_1571_12h" /><ref name="1up_singlefuture">{{cite web |last=Wilson |first=Jason |title=The Future of Single-Player RPGs |website=1UP.com |publisher=IGN Entertainment Games |date=December 30, 2009 |url=http://www.1up.com/features/future-single-player-rpgs |access-date=December 19, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222083513/http://www.1up.com/features/future-single-player-rpgs |archive-date=December 22, 2015 }}</ref><ref name="1up_chasing">{{cite web |last=Crigger |first=Lara |title=Chasing D&D: A History of RPGs |website=1UP.com |publisher=IGN Entertainment Games |year=2008 |url=http://www.1up.com/features/chasing-history-rpgs |access-date=December 19, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222091559/http://www.1up.com/features/chasing-history-rpgs |archive-date=December 22, 2015 }}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Though things like [[downloadable content]] can stem piracy to some degree, and MMO and single-player RPGs may to some degree attract different audiences—and thus not interfere with each other financially.<ref name="barton_1571_12h" /><ref name="1up_singlefuture" /><ref name="1up_chasing" />|group="Note"}}