What even IS an MMORPG? [MMOPINION]

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Every MMO Youtuber has tried to define 'MMORPG', but we still don't have an agreed upon definition, and I think it's because, honestly...

The acronym 'MMORPG' is really, really bad at telling you anything about what the genre actually is, it's not mechanical, or asthetic, it creates a set of games so broad they can look completely different from each other.

So why is the acronym so bad? Let's discuss.

Thanks as usual to all the supporters on Patreon, Twitch and Youtube who keep the content alive.

[Phirestar]

“An MMORPG is an online game that has fishing.”

Me, spending my entire 2011 spring break catching Rocktails in the Living Rock Caverns to get 99 Fishing: “This is the most MMORPG an MMORPG has ever MMORPG’ed.”

[pumirya]

Well, when a mommy MMO and a daddy RPG love each other very much…

[matdoosh]

This had big "when the teacher starts to go off on a massive tangent and the whole class just puts their pens away because you all quietly know if you just play along, you won't have to do any work" vibes

[hoodiegal]

As someone who has gotten most of the fishing achievments in WoW and completed the fish journal for ARR in FF14 on a trial account, I like your closing definition of an MMORPG

[Andrew.Downing]

I feel like the novelty of MMORPGs went away with the internet becoming commonplace in gaming and it evolved into games as service. The ironic thing is, "games as a service" took what was worst about MMORPGs and made it the thing it was all about.

[pedaledur]

In France, one of the best MMORPG forums website used to be "Mondes Persistants" which means "persisting worlds" and I feel like it's a better descriptor for the genre than any part of the MMORPG acronym. There is this idea that your character exist within a world that does not cease to exist even when you're offline.

[inkromancer_studios]

My prevailing theory is that MMORPG was coined because "Online Fishing Simulator With a Magic System" or OFSWMS didn't roll off the tongue quite so gracefully.

[FayeTheSuccubus]

Me, a mathematician, when I hear Josh first start referencing set theory: "Yessss, more must know!"

Me several minutes later: "PLEASE JOSH, USE THE WORD 'subset'"

[DTreatz]

A genre of role playing video game where we make achievements faster than in real life, in more fun ways because IRL sucks, and we act like we're social but most people play alone while being surrounded by people.

[Dazen]

A relic of a time before social media and regular game updates.

[azure]

I just like the fact how MORPG is something simple and straight to the heart of it but adding the extra M causes mass chaos.

[MyopicTurtle]

An important thing to recognize is that most genre tags are interpreted more by genre convention than by the denotive meaning of the words used. If someone says they like visual novels, you'll probably think of those anime dating sim games even though literally none of the those concepts are contained in the words "visual novel." Artists picked up on what people seemed to like in VNs, and were inspired to make these things based on what they themselves liked. At this point, the genre tag is mostly how you find things related to these games online, and this allows for surprising disconnection between the concepts people think of when they use the genre tag, and what an uninitiated outsider can take from the words alone.

[Altizor]

Here's a definition of Massive that I haven't seen raised. A game fits into the MMO genre when I can go out into the world and see other groups of players doing things that I'm not necessarily involved in. I'm talking about world buff runs in WoW, hero point trains in GW2, multi-sided fleet fights in Eve. FFXIV fits in here as well; If you can stand on the roadside and watch groups of players going off to do content, then the game is more than a mere 'multiplayer' game. Feeling like you are sharing the same game world with groups of other players is the Massive bit.

[Fuerwahrhalunke]

I think we have to take into consideration the time at which "MMORPG" as a term was invented. Back then 100 people was already "massively multiplayer", because the standards were so low (Or non existent). It comes from a time where online games were beginning to pop up. We just use it today, because it decribes the genre overall still the best. I do believe that "Massively Multiplayer" can be seen in the context along the lines of "Am I able to interact with multiple people, that aren't connected to my network via LAN".

[Qroxta]

In my head the "massively" reconfigures the "multiplayer" aspect: It's not team-only (like regular multiplayer) or defined expected sizes of groups.

[donovanmarks]

The thing that pushes a multiplayer online game into a massively multiplayer online game is when you share the gameworld with other people who are also playing the game, but aren't playing the game with you.

[Kenailol]

I'll take some minutes to gladly thank you for the great content you consistently put out. There are not many channels nowadays taking the effort to create such well explained and fun content as yours! I've been a fan for a long time now, and keep interested on every upload of your channel. despite not having the time or motivation to play MMORPGS and games in general anymore, your videos always keep me in touch with a phase that was once so important to me, with a dedication I find hard to find elsewhere. And for the people that are still on the phase of enjoying games fully: you're on the exact right place and time to enjoy it the best way. make memories, play games that make you feel that you're alive and share this feeling with your closest friends. one day it might end, but the recollections will be here, and it will be awesome to pay them a visit, too.

[szymon]

Josh: "We need to look at how we use language to communicate and pass information on"
Me: "Oh, linguistics! This'll be interesting!"
Josh: "In maths, there's a thing called 'Set Theory'"
Me: "...."

[AkillesOfSweden]

I really felt this in December when I took a short break from ffxiv before the new patch. I wanted to play an mmo but nothing really scratched that itch. I tried WoW, GW2 and even went back to lotro but none of these were really what I was after even though they’re all mmos. I think I’ll give gw1 a try next time since what I think I am after is more of a rpg with multiplayer than the mmo part.

[ambostralian]

I always took the "massively" part to not be a particular number but a sliding number where people can join and leave without it affecting how the game works for others to a large degree.

If you start a fortnite game and 99 people log off that's affected your gameplay. But if you log on to wow and a random 99 people log off its not affecting you playing the game (it may affect your ability to raid or form a group but it won't stop you going and grinding professions).

People can hop in and out of the living world, interact with each other or not. By comparison other games like fortnite or arena shooters push those 100 people to interact with each other.