MMOs have been around for more than a decade, constantly boosting its capabilities while coming up with various ways to make the experience better than ever. What was once a game of grinding and running has evolved to questing and riding, and what was once an ingame taxi service has become a free-roaming flight experience. It's amazing how MMOs managed to evolve throughout the years, continuously coming up with new titles and new subgenres to welcome into the MMO industry.
I remember playing RF Online Gold for the first time and being blown away by its awesome mechanics. Being transported into a war-filled universe where your only purpose is to help your race reign supreme is just awesome, and I'm sure you enjoyed your first MMOs as much as I did. Remember what it was like back then when only a handful of MMOs existed? Everyone was always waiting for the next patch/episode, and as an RF Online Gold player, I was waiting for the next siege kit for my Accretian Annihilator. The game evolved continuously, constantly giving us new class rebalances, and various features that made the game better than ever.
How I wish MMOs could stay the way it was back then... back then when the genre was growing rapidly, where the only way to go was forward. Sadly, progression stopped, and developers started to lack ideas, or at least the means to enact said ideas. Enclosed is my take on the Evolution and Devolution of MMO gaming. I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
MMOs have progressed in a variety of ways. Back then, during the MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) days, players weren't blessed with epic visuals. Instead, they operated on a DOS/IRC like interface and used their imagination, much like the table top games they were modeled after. Back then they did not deserve the M in MMORPG, as the game could only hold a few players. Back then it was all about reading and projecting, which would most likely bore you to death if you were to play it on this era. But we had lower expectations of what was awesome!
