Browser MMORPGs Worth Playing

There are easily thousands of browser based MMORPGs out there, but most of them are garbage. Obviously with so many games some at least a handful of have to be good. I’ve actually played hundreds of them and out of all the browser games, not counting the mega popular RuneScape, I’ve played one of the best is Dark Orbit from BigPoint. I’m not the only one that thinks this either. The game has some 30,000+ players online at any given time. I believe the only other browser MMO with this kind of playerbase is RuneScape, but I’m excluding that from this list because everyone already knows about it. I’m trying to list games that you guys may not have played and should play. Other than Dark Orbit, another really neat browser game is Pirate Galaxy. It’s actually a really new game but has incredible 3D graphics. It’s a sci-fi MMORPG as well that has some of the best graphics of any browser game ever. Seriously though, it has better graphics than Earth Eternal and Fusionfall which are other good looking browser games.

Next up on my list of browser MMORPGs worth playing are a few strategy MMORPGs. Odds are most of you have heard of or even played Evony, as they’ve been advertising EVERYWHERE. But have you guys heard of War of Legends or even The Seventh Dragon? There are so many other good browser based strategy MMORPGs out there. Games like Caesary, Tribal Wars and Travian for example are all well worth checking out if you’re into the whole strategy genre. Many of these games are actually better than Evony, because they have more variety.

Another really awesome browser game that’s worth playing is Adventure Quest Worlds from Artix Entertainment. It’s a surprisingly in depth fully fledged MMORPG on the browser. Like Dark Orbit, the game has tens of thousands of players online at any given time. I find that incredibly impressive for a browser game. Plus, the game has so much content as well as a high level cap. Adventure Quest Worlds is one of those games you can sink a hundred hours into and still have a lot left undone.

I hope you found this list at least somewhat helpful. Go try one of the games I mentioned, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. If you have any other good games worth mentioning let me know.

MMORPGs Should be More Compatible

Anyone else wonder why so few MMORPGs are compatible with Linux and Mac? I’m not a developer, so I don’t understand the development bits, but how much more expensive could it be to make a game compatible with these other popular operating systems? As of now there are only a handful of mac MMORPGs out there and even fewer Linux MMORPGs. After windows these two are the next biggest, so you would imagine that game developers would ensure their games be compatible with them. I mean, a game that runs on more systems would reach a larger audience, thus make more profit through their cash shops (for free to play games) and subscriptions (for pay to play).

There are a handful of games that run well on all the major operating systems (Windows, Mac and Linux). One of them is Savage 2 from S2 Games. The unique MMORTS game that plays a bit like Fantasy Earth Zero, but without a persistent world. Then we have Runescape from Jagex. It’s not surprising that Runescape runs fine on Linux and Mac, as it launches through the web browser and uses Java.

Another compatibility issue many games have is that they have high system requirements. If I was a game developer, I’d make sure my game ran smoothly on 99% of PCs, that way my target audience is larger. If you look at all the MMOs out there, the most successful and most popular free MMORPGs are the most playable – the ones with low system requirements. MapleStory, Ragnarok Online and Gaia Online for example all have low system requirements. On the pay to play front games like Age of Conan and Vanguard which each require super computers to run have extremely low playerbases, while World of Warcraft which runs fine on mediocre machines is doing well. There’s definitely a direct correlation between system requirements and playerbase. Developers need to stop making gmes only 10% of the population can even run. It doesn’t make sense.

I know this is a bit of a rant, but I dunno. I think MMOs and games in general should run smoothly and easily on everyone’s PC. Developers need to find a nice all in one solution. This isn’t a problem for consoles, as everything is standardized, but console MMORPGs would never work.

There are a LOT of Old MMORPGs Out There

I’ve always known MMORPGs were big business, but I didn’t know so many older MMORPGs were still in service today. I figured the MMO business was a lot like technology. As games gold older, they were shut down and replaced by newer games. This is definitely true for console games, but some older MMORPGs still exist today. I guess it’s because a lot of these games can introduce new patches and expansion packs.

Anyway, the first game I wanted to mention was Ultima Online. The game originally released in 1997 and is still around today. The game has enjoyed countless updates and is still updated regularly. The game was developed by Origins Systems back in 1999 but was bought out by Electronic Arts later. Ultima Online is widedly considered the first popular MMOPRG ever. The game isn’t free to play though, so that sucks. It is an MMORPG free trial game though, so users can play it for 14 days without paying. Back when the game first released, it was the most hardcore PvP MMORPG ever. EverQuest is an older game too, but it was released in 2001. It was the first real fully 3D mmorpg.

After Ultima Online, Tibia, the 2D MMORPG, is still around. Tibia was also released in 1997 but has much simpler 2D graphics. Unlike Ultima, Tibia is free to play, making it one of the longest running free MMORPGs ever. Much of the game’s content though is only available to paying members.

On the more free to play front though, RuneScape and Ragnarok Online are some of the oldest MMORPGs still in service. Both boast over 50 million players world-wide. 50 Million is a huge number, considering World of Warcraft has only 12 million subscribers. That’s not a 100% fair comparison though, as both of these games are free to play and WoW is pay to play. Plus the 50 million number is registered accounts, not active users.

Browser MMORPGs Will Rock in 2011

2009 and 2010 have been great years for browser MMORPG Games. With the incredible growth of free to play gaming, browser games like RuneScape, Earth Eternal, Dark Orbit and Heroes of Gaia have enjoyed incredible growth. These games are all incredibly high quality and offer a gaming experience comparable to traditional downloadable MMORPGs. Earth Eternal for example has graphics that are easily better than most free to play MMOs. For example, the graphics in Earth Eternal are easily better than the visuals in older 3D MMORPGs like Talisman Online and 2Moons. It may not be much, but those visuals on a browser is ridiculously impressive. It opens the door for HUGE possibilities in 2011 and beyond. Who knows, maybe we’ll be playing Eve Online on the browser sometime in the future.

Another aspect of the browser MMO industry that’s really been taking off is strategy MMORPGs. Ever since Tribal Wars and Travian pioneered the genre years ago, the genre has REALLY exploded in popularity. I was surprised to hear that even Electronic Arts made their own free browser strategy MMORPG – Lord of Ultima. A big Western game developer launching a free browser MMO is news to me. This means that more and more western developers will likely enter the arena, raising the bar in terms of quality. I say this because Lord of Ultima is an awesome browser based strategy MMORPG. Maybe even the best. The visuals are top notch and the interface is good too. I’m not too surprised though, as EA’s studio that’s in charge of the free to play department made Battlefield Heroes and Battleforge – and both of those games are amazing.

If it sounds like I’m a bit too optimistic about browser games in 2011 and beyond, it’s because I am. I’ve been a gamer since my father first bought me Super Mario World 2 for the Super Nintendo, and this free to play MMO revolution is intense. So many awesome high quality games coming out, and the entire free to pay space is still niche. What do you guys think? Am I too optimistic ?

A Break from 3D MMORPGs

Last week I took a break from the two 3D MMORPGs I was playing, Battle of the Immortals and Runes of Magic, to play a few browser games. I don’t normally play browser MMORPGs, as they aren’t nearly as in depth as client based games, but I decided to give a few games a chance. The first game I played was Deepolis which is a submarine themed MMORPG published by BigPoint. BigPoint is easily one of the biggest players in the browser game space, as they publish Seafight, Dark Orbit, War of Titans and numerous other games. Now, all of their games are remarkably similar, but for some reason I really liked Deepolis. I guess I liked it because of its simplicity. Also, the fact that players can compete for a chance to win cash Is pretty awesome.

The second browser MMO I played was Heroes of Gaia, which is actually a fairly new game. Heroes of Gaia is published by gPotato, the same dudes behind Allods Online, Aika, Luna Online and Fly For Fun. Heroes of Gaia plays a lot like other strategy MMORPGs, but with a slight twist. Players can control their heroes and fight enemies outside of their ‘towns’. I recommend the game to anyone who likes real time strategy games. In fact, the game plays a bit like the old school Heroes of Might and Magic games.

After playing both Deepolis and Heroes of Gaia for a full week, I definitely learned to appreciate these browser games a bit more. Sure, they aren’t nearly as in depth as most client based games, but their simplicity and accessibility makes them great games. If I’m ever at a friend’s house, I could always hop onto their PC and check up on my town in Heroes of Gaia. That would be impossible in Runes of Magic, as its a 4+GB download.

Anyone else here play Deepolis? Or any other browser game? What do you guys think about them vs client games?