I feel your pain. I recently dropped out of WWIIonline because the game had gotten static. However, I must add that I didn't play that game for any role-playing experience. It was all about the flight-sim.

I've started playing Planetside (beta), but that game seems to be more of the same. That is, more like WWIIonline than say, Everquest. There's not a lot holding me there, either. While polished, the gameplay is fairly shallow and devoid of innovation. They've just replaced capturing flags with hacking a console. In fact, when the free Beta is over, I'm probably going to drop it.

I'm hoping that SWGalaxies will deliver what I'm needing: compelling role-playing in a non-fantasy (i.e. elves and goblins), engaging (and somewhat familiar) environment. My friend just started the phase 3 beta of it, so I'm waiting for his verdict on it. So far character creation sounds incredibly exciting, which is important, because without a deep character generation process (he claims it takes 2 hours), it's hard to stay invested to your character, at least for me.

Well most of the games you listed from a mmo gamers point of view Suck, Some do have good points Ac2, ao, Shadowbane, Daoc, but none can really hold your attention for the timespan a good mmo should.

The reason I say this is because my first and favorite mmo lasted me 6 years of hardcore play "what does hardcore play mean?" well often in the summer I would spend 16 hour days playing this game, and in the winter I still got in a good 12 hours a day regularly. What game you ask? well Ultima-Online of course.

Theres really only 2 kinds of mmo players, thous who like uo=Ultima-Online or those who liked eq=Everquest. Well I should say 2 kind of mmorpg's, since now we are getting to the point where there are other kinds of mmo players like mmofps players "WWIIonline etc"

I really feel sorry for the last few generations of gamers who weren't able to experience a true mmorpg everything since uo/eq that has been put out has been put out not for longevity/great gameplay/mechanics, but to ride the mmo bandwagon and hopefully grab some cash during the ride, none were made to be "good".

Hopefully swg, and WoW change that, as well as some other games that are coming out this generation.

In closing I just hope you dont "like others have" hold judgment on the mmo genre just because of the current money grubber games and wait until you are actually able to play a real mmorpg, hopefully that will end up being swg.

Personally, I love MMOGs. It's probably the genre I'm most interested in, but it's a fledgling science at this point. I've seen the same mistakes happening to every game since they started coming around. It's easy to determine what is "fun" for single player games (or I should say easier) because that's a science that's been advancing since gaming started.

I'm pretty sure MMOGs will recieve a burst of attention and it will be a trend for a while, but hopefully through that when the trend dies people discover what it takes to make a good MMOG. Seems like alot of people want to turn everything into a MMOG which is a horrible idea, but I guess you learn from mistakes better than anything else.

I can sympathize with anyone that can't get into them currently, but just like any other section of gaming I wouldn't rule it out (ie- if you hate one RPG doesn't mean you'll hate them all).

Feel sorry for them Jared?

You should be glad that they haven't wasted so much of their life on such a trivial thing!!

Hehe, naw, I got sucked into EQ for a long time too, and while it's definately not the be all end all mmorpg... it was definately good enough. Good enough being it still holds the time of the rest of my family, all of us which have been playing since the first day of release.

I dropped my addiction after the second year, but picked up CS. Lately I've been spending time with Planetside, I'm beta, but I agree with bowler that it doesn't have all too much holding power. Or atleast the magic that EQ had.

Don't diss da PSO, it was really sweet back in the day of the DC! I mean, online gaming... on a console. No one had heard such blasphemy since days of the Xband!

As far as recommendations... nothing beats the original, I'd suggest an account with EQ or UO, both are really good. Though they both have been explored to the point where everything is on *vault.com, or linked off of there.

Otherwise, I hear DAoC has a nice little following, but you are right over all.

You have to find what game setting and style you feel comfortable in, and then let the community suck you in. Because it's the game that initially sucks you in, but it's the people that keep you there. :)

I agree with what most people have suggested here: MMOGs are games to be absorbed in, not dabbled with. In addition, recent experimentation in genre blending with MMOGs has resulted in rather lackluster results IMO. People that didn't get an opportunity to enjoy Ultima or EQ stand a chance to get turned off by the mediocrity of recent titles. It takes a great game to enjoy a MMOG. The sort of game that draws you in and makes you think about it whenever you aren't playing it. That sort of game will draw other like minded people and develop an excellent community within it. Several next generation MMOGs worth watching out for are on the horizon: WOW, Galaxies, and particularly the project being worked on over at Sigil. Be careful not to discount the entire genre based on its current state.

If you're the kind of person who can't get sucked into one game without an attachement to a community... well... maybe it follows that you can't get sucked into online communitywhen you have the choice of engaging with real community.

I'm really looking forward to WoW and Uru, whenever they're coming out. I've fallen behind on my constant checking of the official sites for them. :/

Personally, I've not played EQ yet, but I'm a fan of DAoC, although I'm on the European servers and it's almost impossible to find fellow Euros on DAoC message boards etc. But I've got to say that I'm a freshly hooked huge fan of CS, although I'm not sure if that classes as an mmo. :\ Har.

To the point though. The main problem I found with DAoC was that the gameplay up to level 20 was tedious and then there was the RvR, which could also be frustrating as hell. Especially if your connection is as crap and unreliable as mine is. (Broadband's coming to my town on june 11th though! Wooh!)
My main annoyance with DAoC was that I'm a bit of a social idiot. I met my initial group of friends and didn't bother trying to meet anyone else, so when they all started leveling forty million times faster than me, I was always left on my own. :( Then to make matters worse, I started a new job and found I only had time to spend a couple of hours a -week- playing it.
These games are marketed as being playable by hardcore and casual gamers. Playing it now as a casual gamer, I find it hard to enjoy MMORPGs as much as I used to as a hardcore gamer. Which, again, annoys the hell out of me since I don't have much time anymore.

My point, I think, is that the key part to pretty much any of these online games is community. You have to get involved in it to get the most enjoyment out of the game. So casual gamers will play one MMO for a while before moving on to another one, or a different game entirely.

Speaking of which, I'm away to play some DAoC. ;)

I've just started playing lineage and Shadowbane. Need to make characters more permanent though. I'd love to bring up a character with someone if anyone is interested.

-k

http://www.gne.net is another Massive Online Play game, with an emphasis on social gameplay. I played in the alpha, and had a great time.

okay, i am a complete geek but... lately all these MOGs have only re-awakened my desire to play tabletop RPGs... i've been perusing the Third Edition D&D Player's Handbook and dreaming of getting a game on... fuck graphics cards, let's do it dice-style!

I'm getting Shadowdane in the next week (hopefully), despite the fact that I've been told by numerous people that it is just DAoC without a plot and more PvP. :/ But I -like- DAoC despite all it's weak points, and the plot doesn't have much effect on the gameplay (to be frank), so maybe it'll just be a nicer looking version of DAoC with more races and classes to choose from. :D Fine by me.

Here are my past, present and future mmorpg and what I think made the game note worthy. or not.

Anarchy Online, impressive backstory with anecdotal detail laid out in a full lenth novel; much more compelling than the usual hack and slash story (the such and such monsters have invaded). Really cool stuff like flying cars, and really big guns. PvP for the the true power gamer. Repetitive missions and hours of implant sorting where all parts look the same. Lacks edge after retooling to suit the masses.

Daoc, a little cartoonish in look, slow leveling, not very interesting looking gear or variety in loot. Small world to explore with nothing really surprizing. Struck me as the bargain basement mmorpg... what you could get for the least possible money as a game company.

AC2, very detailed graphics but a rendering of an uninspired pretty landscape, streamlined all the tedium out of gameplay except inventory management... but leaves little that is challenging. PvP in end game and on PvP server but completely unbalanced (high lvls kill noobs)

Shadowbane, probably worse or equivalent graphics to AO. Extremely involved character skill development. Repetitive fighting at lower lvls but requires some focus (something like the Diablo2 rhythm). Edgier ideas...steal from others inventory, kill them most places and take their stuff, guilds build their own cities and knock down other cities.

Future games:
A Tale in the Dessert, amazing crafting system opening up new technologies for the whole world, a completely changing world affected by players.

Star Wars Galaxies... started with ambitious ideas, seems to have been scaled back so as not to offend anyone?

Ryzom offers a sci-fi environment where the players enmeshed in an symbiotic relationship with the ecosystem with competition for supremacy and resources.

World of Warcraft. Blizzard. May be falling into the AC2 trap of over streamlining to avoid anything tedious.

Guild Wars. An idea where newcomers can still compete/play with higher lvls and strategy will defeat an older player. Where you can only use a subset of your skills in battle but your total skill set increases with play. An idea including a round robin tourney of guild teams in a controled mission environment

So many games coming... so little time.

Justin's right of course -- with MMOGs, game mechanics are nothing compared to community dynamics. So here's a little bit of MMOG metadynamics I learned about at E3 that knocked my socks off:

Turns out Second Life is now the favorite second MMOG of a large subcommunity of WWIIOnline players. Why? Because it's a completely open space that can be reshaped more or less at will by players, which means it's a great place to go to plan and practice WWIIO battle strategy! The first little platoon that discovered this suddenly started kicking everybody's ass in WWIIO. This of course was basically an advertisement for Second Life, which now has dozens of WWIIOers swarming around in it.

Oh and get this: Not too far from the spot in Second Life where the first WWIIO contingent started hanging out, there was already a little shop where some guy was selling guns. The soldier boys discovered this ("Hey, practice rifles!") and quickly made the shop owner one of the richest players in 2L. His shop now has a sign outside saying "Welcome WWIIOnline Players."

Amazed none of you have mentioned Dragon Empires. Stunning looking with a lot of interesting design behind it.

The others bore me, all but Neocron which is a real laugh and fun in PvP. I don't hold out much hope for SWG and WOW. Same of bash-the-foozle gameplay.

Pete

Try Eve Online :)