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With a growth of new ways for people to engage with each other online, there’s a question if MMORPGs can remain the same or if they’ll be replaced by metaverse. Are they in direct competition? Can they work together? Let's find out!
Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) were created to allow players to interact with other people in various fantastical worlds. They are equally part social hubs to meet others but also games to explore and master.
Players can participate in the main storyline and tackle various challenges alone or with other players.
It’s no exaggeration to say that each game can create their own “societies”. New words that exist only within the game are used, in-game economies that often spill out into the real world, alliances and rivalries between individuals and groups.
It’s easy to consider MMORPGs as real as the real world. After all, the social interactions are often authentic, just in a video game world.
Metaverse as a concept isn’t yet universally agreed upon. The original idea came from the sci-fi novel “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson. It was a place which encompasses ALL virtual worlds and can be accessed so long as a person has a tool to do it, kind of like entering the matrix.
We’re not there yet in terms of technology unfortunately, so metaverse is currently more of a marketing concept, with large companies trying to create online spaces for users to interact with each other in a 3D virtual space using avatars.
Second life, VR chat, Fortnite, Roblox are a few examples of what could be considered a metaverse but on a smaller scale. As the technology develops, there’s a possibility of the original concept being implemented, it’s unlikely that it’ll happen anytime soon though.
MMORPGs, as most video games, have set objectives that player(s) can achieve within the confines of the game engine and game mechanics to achieve them, either solo or with other players.
There’s a limit in what they can do within the game itself, just as developers are limited by technology and resources to implement more content and interactable environments.
Gaming platforms like Fortnite or Roblox are often considered as metaverse games due to the large scope of different content available. Users themselves have an option to design various types of games within their respective game engines.
Since its user created, they can be virtually anything (so long as the engine itself allows it) that the creator wants it to be. It’s a lot less focused and polished but at the same time the possibilities are immense.
MMORPGs often focus on an overarching storyline which players can follow. It usually starts slow but gradually builds into much more impactful events and quests. Cinematics (or in-game cutscenes) are often present to build the hype further.
Metaverse has a “potential” to create an immersive storytelling experience but they’re not tailored specifically to serve that purpose. They’re meant to allow players to build their own stories with given tools (virtual rooms, in-game engine etc).
It would be closer to a group of people roleplaying a story, where quality is dependent on participants themselves more than anything.
A core focus for both. MMORPGs often give some sort of extra activities aside from the game content, mini-games, events and other ways for the community to engage with each other and immerse themselves further. It’s not unusual for the players to invent their own fun and enjoy the company of their friends online.
Metaverse has various platforms, some are simply role-playing rooms for people to join in and have fun. The interactions themselves are the focus, quite different from what video games offer but it also requires some sort of “tools” to make these interactions interesting. Not everyone is an improv master ready to entertain others.
Online games in general have very intricate economical systems. While there’s a lot that can be purchased from NPCs, the most useful items come from trading with other players. While it’s usually frowned upon (both the players and developers) or just straight up banishable offense, real world purchases for in-game items or accounts can also take place.
Metaverse are often very open about introducing some sort of in-game money that allows purchases or battle passes. While at the same time giving a chance to win some of that currency in the game. The purchases are mostly cosmetic and rarely create advantage for the players/users.
“Second world”, a multiplayer virtual world, allowed purchase of virtual land, houses and other commodities. Selling and renting virtual property was a lucrative business that generated profits in real life money.
There’s plenty of MMORPGs that have a really deep and impressive level of character customization, such as the character’s look, height, race, overall equipment etc. It varies from title to title.
There's a good deal of personalization allowed on most metaverse platforms.
In VRChat for example, the avatars can be created by the users and the limitation comes from their own creativity. No one bats an eye when there’s Kermit the frog skateboarding together with Naruto.
MMORPGs are playing the balancing act of making the game look as good as possible but at the same time making sure it’s accessible to the largest group of people possible. Better looking games ,obviously, have higher requirements but most titles are quite accessible to everyone.
It’s quite similar in terms of what is currently considered as a metaverse, they’re quite accessible for everyone who wishes to participate. The main difference comes from anything that requires VR headsets.
It’s one of the reasons why VR metaverse is still a very distant prospect, the affordable technology is still not there yet.
It’s not surprising that MMORPGs lean strongly towards entertainment, escapism and social interaction with other people. Each individual game might have a different setting/style but they’re designed with these in mind as a core focus.
Metaverse can be many things. It can serve as a company meeting space, a place to hang around with friends (both online and real life), entertainment and virtually anything that participants wish it to be. It's meant more as a social platform for people who wish to engage with others in some way.
If we ever achieve metaverse at its original concept, it’ll be capable of virtually (ha!) anything the user wants it to be.
It’s hard to judge metaverse since it’s essentially still in development. There’s not even a full agreement as to what it really is or will be.
Its original concept, a single unified and universal virtual world that can be accessed by anyone with VR set and internet connection, demands some mindblowing technological requirements and agreements between various tech giants and most world governments.
With that in mind, we can safely assume that MMORPGs aren’t going to be replaced anytime soon. Especially since they’re serving a different function than what is considered metaverse today does.
They’re both capable of attracting large crowds of people but they’re not necessarily competing against each other. If metaverse does reach its full potential, there’s no doubt that it’ll be capable of assimilating the MMORPG concept into itself.
But that future is still very, very far away.
MMORPGs have set goals and overall settings for the players, while metaverse can fill many different roles that users deem interesting. Everything is dependent on individual platforms.
As it is now, MMORPGs aren’t affected by the metaverse. If metaverse achieves its full potential though, then it’ll be impossible for MMORPGs to not adapt to it.
Very small, as the VR sets themselves are still too expensive to create large enough appeal for MMORPGs usage.
Technology, implementation, user privacy protection, cooperation between companies to name a few major ones.
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