Massively Multiplayer Online Game

Game genre theme

Multiplayer games that are capable of supporting hundreds or thousands players simultaneously.

715
games
24
platforms

Alternate names: MMO, MMOG, Persistent Online Game

Editor/usage note: In recent years (2012 onward, possibly even earlier), MMO has become a term used to refer to simply multiplayer games, thus its usage is often very misleading and vague.
The term "massively multiplayer online role-playing game" (MMORPG) was coined by Richard Garriott of Ultima fame. This style of game was formally called "graphical MUDs".
Mandatory traits:
* Persistent world - world continues to operate even when the player disconnects and is there when they reconnect the next day, changes made by the players are somewhat permanent.
* Hundreds of concurrent players on same server/shard where they can interact with each other. - not when they're separated into instances of 4-32 players each, even if on same server.
If either of the above is missing, then it's not an MMO.

Traits that indicate it is NOT an MMO: (not exclusive as MMOs may have extra modes where these are present, but they're really good indicators)
* Player lobby
* Matchmaking

The first Massively Multiplayer Online Game video game was released in 1987.

Sony Online Entertainment, Square Enix and Electronic Arts published most of these games.

Parent groups

Corrupted terms, Multiplayer

Child groups

MUD, Pay-once MMO

Platforms

Windows 338
Linux 216
Internet Only 45
Mac OS X 29
PS4 16
PS2 11
Flash 9
Xbox One 8
PS3 7
Android 7
X360 6
BSD 4
Mac OS Classic 3
iOS 2
OS/2 2
Wii U 2
MS-DOS 2
Unix 2
Saturn 1
Apple II E 1
Mobile 1
Solaris 1
N-Gage 1
TizenOS 1

By year

868890929496980002040608101214161820 521326390 A
A1986 - First graphical MMO

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