About this site
The (admittedly somewhat ambitious) goal of this site is to collect
information about all persistent online game worlds around, be they in
development, happily up and running, or retired from service. It’s not
very likely that all such worlds will find their ways to this list.
However, with your help, we can probably come pretty close.
How to contribute
Everybody, especially the companies involved, is invited to contribute
with information to the list. To do so, send me an email. I also
appreciate comments and constructive criticism about the site itself.
I reserve the right to publish or reject any material submitted.
What qualifies for the list
A couple of required properties:
- The world is persistent.
- The world is available through the Internet.
- The interaction is done in real-time through a graphical user interface.
- There is an element of gaming, role-playing or character development involved.
- The number of simultaneous users that can interact in real-time is large (diffusely defined as anything from a couple of dozen to thousands of people).
In most cases, the above properties loosely define the term “Massively Multi-user Online Role-Playing Game”, MMORPG.
What does not qualify
In order to define the scope of the list, we have to draw the line
somewhere. First, this list does not include text MUD’s. They are
the venerable ancestors of their graphical counterparts and still
have a lot of active followers. I’ve heard that there are in the
order of 1500 listed text MUD’s around, which would overflow this
list. Second, this list does not include pure community worlds.
For example, Cybertown is quite cool, has persistence, and a
character customization more flexible than any game, but a
non-existent role-playing or character development side.
Third, it does not include games like Diablo, which has cool
multi-player features but doesn’t have controlled persistence.
Disclaimer
The information on this site is a collection of rumors, speculation,
guesswork and the odd piece of official fact. I try to make reasonably
certain that the information presented on this site is correct. However,
because of the nature of the information and its sources, there can be
errors and subjective views. As with any information (especially on the
Internet), don’t trust it too blindly.
Personal note
I who maintain this list work with the development of one of the worlds
in the list. However, this site is maintained purely in my spare time and
with no connection to or special information from my employer.
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