GigaOM has a list of the Top Ten most popular MMOs by active/paying subscriber base. It's a curious list: it includes the far more casual examples of MMO - Habbo, Penguin et al - thereby giving a far broader picture of "MMO" than has previously been understood:
1. World of Warcraft, released 2004 - 8.5 million subscribers.
2. Habbo Hotel, released 2000 - 7.5 million active users.
3. RuneScape, released 2001 - 5 million active users.
4. Club Penguin, released 2006 - 4 million active users.
5. Webkinz, released 2005 - 3.8 million active users.
6. Gaia Online, released 2003 - 2 million active users.
7. Guild Wars, released 2005 - 2 million active users.
8. Puzzle Pirates, released 2003 - 1.5 million active users**.
9. Lineage I/II, released 1998 - 1 million subscribers.
10. Second Life, released 2003 - 500,000 active users.
The PuzzlePirates figure has been updated to 200,000 actives (hence the asterisks), and you can see the full list with comments and explanation here. Runescape I've heard has 9million unpaid subs; and Penguin there is growing shockingly fast.
Gaia Online is the one I don't get yet. It's dense, and the least graphically pleasing (IMHO), and apparently just huge with teens - but then again, maybe I'm getting old ;-)
I apparently have a much narrower definition of "MMO", so my list would be more like,
1. WoW
2. Runescape
3. Guild Wars
4. Lineage
Interesting that 2 of my top 4 (and of the top 10) are published by NCSoft.
Posted by: Melissa Della | June 16, 2007 at 03:19
Yeah, I think most folks would consider the Big Games With Quests to be MMOs specifically, and the others to be something else.
But do we need that level of granularity? As long as it has a progression mechanic, some kind of narrative, and millions of players, presumably it's (some form of) an MMO.
Even SL is an MMO in the sense that you can level up your avatar from the dud that you start with :)
Posted by: Alice | June 16, 2007 at 03:41
It's amazing what crap people will play. I mean RUNESCAPE come on! I remember working at that LAN place, and all the kids would come in and play it all day, up to 8 or 9 hours a stretch (and they would only leave when I kicked them out to close up). When I tried it out of curiosity it physically hurt me, I actually felt pain inside me due to it's awfulness!
WoW and Guild Wars are several shades of ace though, so it's not all bad :-)
Posted by: Tom | June 16, 2007 at 11:33
MMOG -> massive multiplayer game ... so there is no need for quests or leveling up or anything to me MMOG ... what you mean is probably MMORPG..
Posted by: jankoM | June 16, 2007 at 11:40
I am sorry ... While I was so pedantic up there... I forgor O - online ;)
Posted by: jankoM | June 16, 2007 at 11:42
I think we should arrange the top 10 according to length of ears. At least then The Endless Forest would have a chance. ;)
Is there a bunny MMO?
Posted by: Johny Zuper | June 16, 2007 at 20:31
hey...check out rakion chaos force...its free online and its awesome...the website is gunbound.net rank it
Posted by: ..... | January 14, 2008 at 08:18
excellent stuff. i think the confusion is between mmos and mmorpgs. mmo is just massive multiplayer online, so it doesnt necessarily have to be a rpg.
Posted by: Guild Wars Cheats and Dupes Guild Wars Farming and Guild Wars Guides | January 05, 2009 at 19:06