Most Successful MMOs Ever.

[redruMPanda]

1. WoW
2. Runescape
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
4. Halo
5. Rift.

You said MMO not MMORPG so the 2 fps made it to the list. Rift deserves to be on any list for the simple fact that blizz took some ideas for MoP from it like the PvE scenarios.

[Biggayshammy]

I think Final Fantasy XI should be on that last or at least an honorable mention... That game was so fantastic before they raised level cap and things just got ridiculous

[Toccs]

If you people had the ability to read my OP, then you fools would know that I said MAKE YOUR OWN LIST.
Herpa derpa duuurrrr.

No i read it just fine was just shocked how you could not list EvE Online and Star Wars: Galaxies, because they are deemed quite successful.

My List,

WoW
EvE Online
Star Wars: Galaxies
Everquest
ultima Online

[Deleted]

Ranking succession by number of subscribers is not the right way to go. For example, when UO first came around the MMO market was really, really small, practically non-existant, but still managed to rack up importance. That if anything is a big success, practically inventing a new genre.

WoW built on that and expanded the market with say a thousand percent, which obviously accounts for something too.

[darxide]

Ultima Online. End of story. Just had their 14th anniversary in September. The game is still populated enough to play on almost any server even today. It was the first modern MMO by nearly any definition and it's still going. Not to mention no less than 8 Guinness world records associated with the game.

You said "Successful" not "best" or "most popular" and I'd call that success beyond anything that's existed before or since.

Honorable mentions:

WoW & EQ

[KeyserSoze]

While the best we have, those charts aren't completely accurate, but that's not what I'm going to nitpick :P

SoE killed EQ itself, WoW was just there to pick up the pieces. If I remember correctly, the biggest factor was that the Gates of Discord expansion was horrible. Note SWG NGE horrible, but close (it's still regarded as either the worst, or damn close to the worst expansion for EQ ever).

EQ2 suffered from other problems. WoW didn't necessarily "kill" either, it just provided another (*better*) place for jaded EQ1/2 players to go to.

Isn't that pretty much the definition of one game "killing" another? Yes, I know EQ kept on for a long while after WoW was launched, but there's no denying that EQ post-WoW was a mere shell of its former self. If you don't like "kill" then just say that WoW put EQ in the ICU on life support.

[Shrute]

Ranking succession by number of subscribers is not the right way to go.

that's usually how you measure success

[MrWolly]

Everquest and WoW. Others are either laughable or I haven't heard of them.

[Wildmoon]

If it's business side then 1st must be WoW.

[hoprom]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned World War II Online. It was not a very successful game (although it is still up and running thanks to a dedicated playerbase), but it introduced very innovated gameplay. No level system, no gear to grind. You progressed through the army based on your skill and leadership, not the number of hours you could spend playing. It had (and still has) the most realistic physics engine I've ever seen in an MMO, and to this day, it is the most realistic depiction of combat I've ever played. Probably too realistic to ever garner a huge number of casual players.

[Tya]

1. WoW
2. Runescape
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
4. Halo
5. Rift.

You said MMO not MMORPG so the 2 fps made it to the list.

What the hell

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/MMO
A massively multiplayer online game. A computer game in which a large number of players can simultaneously interact in a persistent world.

Halo? CoD? Really?

[Gsara]

While the best we have, those charts aren't completely accurate, but that's not what I'm going to nitpick :P

SoE killed EQ itself, WoW was just there to pick up the pieces. If I remember correctly, the biggest factor was that the Gates of Discord expansion was horrible. Note SWG NGE horrible, but close (it's still regarded as either the worst, or damn close to the worst expansion for EQ ever).

EQ2 suffered from other problems. WoW didn't necessarily "kill" either, it just provided another (*better*) place for jaded EQ1/2 players to go to.

While I do agree with you about the soe killing eq, I will have to also add that quit a few of the biggest guilds in eq(progression big, not size)all got alpha f&f and /or closed beta invites to wow. Word spread to alot of eq players by those means and soe just sealed the deal with the shit game killing xpac. A smaller part of it as well was that the guild leaders of the two most successful eq guilds both were hired by blizzard and still work for them to this day. I know at the time everyone in the guild I was in (Fires of Heaven) all went to wow beta along with many many other eq guilds.

My list, subs do not matter to me.

1. DAoC, the best pvp game made
2. WoW
3. EQ1 until gates of discord
4. swg
5. several ftp mmo's

[Deleted]

that's usually how you measure success

Not when the number of elligible customers varies so greatly between which periods of time the games were considered active.

[klaps_05]

EQ and WoW, rest are just really really crappy executed, hope swtor gives wow a run for its money, competition breeds better results!

[Sumatran]

Lineage 2 by numbers is the second most sucessful Pay to play MMO to WoW. At its peak there was 3.5 mil subscribers.

Its a korean mmo tho, so not many westerners/europeans have heard of it.

[WaitingforSWTOR]

My undeniable list:

1-Lineage 1 : You dont know it because you are not korean or too young to play with computers
2-EQ Saga : No king rules forever
3-WoW : Actual king
4-SWG : best MMO ever, if not for that stupid patch
5-Lineage 2 : Lineage 1 for the western playerbase (not even close)
6-EVE : mmO-game (c wut i did thar)

Successful=quality+playerbase

[adece]

4 Rift - honestly I think Rift was just ahead of its time, more and more lately people are getting away from using really high PC requirements, in favor of having a broader audience, once thats tapped out, people are going to want something pretty again, I think a game similar to Rift will be wildly successful at that time

I like how you refer to Rift in past tense.

[dremnit]

did anyone mention planetside?

anyone stoked for planetside 2?!

edit well it kinda went down the shitter when battleframes were introduced

[Digglett]

Truthfully, it'd have to be WoW, now I'm not a fanboi don't misunderstand me (I quit in March), but WoW is huge, and has lasted for a long time, it's been on top for a long time.

I do loves Dark Age of Camelot though for being my first MMO.

[Deleted]

As I dont know how successful they all are, apart from the fact that wow is by far the most successful (anyone who says otherwise is braindead o.0)

So ill go on a list of first MMO's I personally enjoy most
1. WoW
2. LotRO
3. AC (may your rest in peace)
4. DDO
5. AoC (shame about the bugs)
.
.
.
99999. RIFT (I just hate it)