Best MMORPGs of 2012
Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games—or MMORPGs for short—have been massively maligned ever since their inception as MUDs in the mid-90s.
Cast aside by most gamers as a genre that did not require much player skill, with game mechanics that consist of nothing more than pushing a single button to level up, and made fun of in various comedies (South Park and SMBC Theater, among others), MMORPGs have struggled to earn a place among more serious games.
Despite their humble beginnings, MMORPGs would soon overtake their single-player and competitive multiplayer counterparts with offerings like Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, and Everquest. Finally, Blizzard's release of World of Warcraft—made popular by the preexistence of the Warcraft series of real-time strategy games emerged as a top earner, ranking itself among one of the most profitable games ever made, alongside The Sims and the Call of Duty series.
Since then, other companies have attempted to cash-in on the genre with various offerings, some of which were mild successes, while others were total and utter failures.
With the dawn of 2012, we take a look at a new batch of MMORPGs that promise to keep the genre alive and invigorated. Some of the titles listed in the following pages have been out for awhile, but on-going patches and updates promise to make these games even more exciting, or at least allow them to live up to their initial promise.