What is an MMO?

britboy4321

britboy4321

britboy4321

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We are all aware of the classic normal games that are clearly in the MMO category. However I got thinking about the definition recently and I'm actually wondering, would you describe the following (theoretical things) as MMO games or not (I honestly don't know!):

1) Someone releases a team fortress 2 patch, allows mental sized maps with 800 players a side, but no other changes (so no 'levelling' or 'macros' or 'quests' or 'guilds' etc). Is this now an MMO? Or is an MMO more than 'lost of players in 1 online 'universe'?
2) Someone does the same for an RTS like company of heroes. Does it earn the badge 'MMO'? Do your actions have to be able to interact with others for it to be an MMO? Seperately what about a company of heroes game with 4 people playing, 40000 people online watching and able to chat in a chat window (maybe giving advice to players if they read it), MMO, or not?
3) Finally if somone creates a TURN BASED GAME NOT REAL-TIME .. log in and take your 1 turn per 24 hour period (in middle of night server works out consequences and informs you ready for your next daily turn).. but there's 10,000 players .. is THIS a MMO?


The final question .. how many players do you think you kind of need for something to be declared 'massively multiplayer online' rather than simply 'multiplayer'? 100 players? 1000? 100000? basically where is the line?
 
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I think a requirement is a persistent world. WoW is an MMORPG because of this, and Battleground Europe is an MMOFPS because of this.
 
Tombstone said:
In my opinion its not merely a question of how many players , it needs to be a persistent world shared by those players.
Click to expand...

OK cool.

What about 'Company of heroes' .. 4000 players .. when your final 'base' is destroyed it appears somewhere random unpopulated with enemy units on the MASSIVE map so you can start rebuilding. So the game just goes on and on and on and on
?

MMO?
 
britboy4321 said:
OK cool.

What about 'Company of heroes' .. 4000 players .. when your final 'base' is destroyed it appears somewhere random unpopulated with enemy units on the MASSIVE map so you can start rebuilding. So the game just goes on and on and on and on
?

MMO?
Click to expand...

How can it be unpopulated with enemy units?
 
britboy4321 said:
OK cool.

What about 'Company of heroes' .. 4000 players .. when your final 'base' is destroyed it appears somewhere random unpopulated with enemy units on the MASSIVE map so you can start rebuilding. So the game just goes on and on and on and on
?

MMO?
Click to expand...

Certainly more like an mmo , probably get a bit repetitive and you'd end up thinking why should I bother blowing up his base as he will just respawn somewhere else, but then that could be levelled at many mmos. Other players would have to be able to attack your bases while you are offline too otherwise its not very persistent
 
Swifty55 said:
How can it be unpopulated with enemy units?
Click to expand...

You're allowed a maximum of 200 units in COH (if memory serves me)

In a blimin massive map, there WILL be places with no enemy (even if you have 40,000 players, if map is big enough). So server parachutes 'dead player' another base into that bit, and off he goes again rebuilding. A 'kinda' consistant world. MMO?
 
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What is an annoying Britboy post?

We are all aware of the classic annoying posts that are clearly in the troll category. However I got thinking about the definition recently and I'm actually wondering, would you describe the following (theoretical things) as britboy posts or not (I honestly don't know!):

1) Someone posts a team fortress 2 thread, and britboy comes in and posts about mental sized maps with 800 players a side, but no other changes (so no 'levelling' or 'macros' or 'quests' or 'guilds' etc). Is this now a ruined thread?
2) Brityboy does the same for an RTS like company of heroes. 40000 people online watching and able to make annoying posts (maybe giving advice to players if they read it), Troll, or not?
3) Finally if somone creates a TURN BASED FORUM - NOT REAL TIME. You have to wait for someone to post before you can reply???

The final question .. how many threads do you think you kind of need for something to be declared 'annoying' rather than simply 'a forum post'? 100 posts? 1000? 100000? basically where is the line?
 
err its a massive multiplayer online - mmo..

how many ? more than 128 simultanious connections in a persistant environment.
 
As long as the game has the capacity for over 1000 players per server I'd class it as an MMO, I've played 64vs64 games before and wouldn't class it mmo.

- Has to have the capacity to have 1000 players per cluster
- Has to be persistent, no lobby (I wouldn't call Guild Wars an MMO)


anything else is a plus.
 
I'd say any game where 80+ people can be engaged in a meaningful way.

MAG for the PS3 had 128vs128, but were tiny proxy battles between squads. Not an MMOFPS.

Guilds Towns are just glorified chat rooms. Not an MMORPG.
 
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