"As in all RPGs, players assume the role of a character (often in a fantasy world) and take control over many of that character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player RPGs by the number of players, and by the game's persistent world (usually hosted by the game's publisher), which continues to exist and evolve while the player is offline and away from the game."
So no, Diablo 3 is not an MMO. Not even close, the world is not even persistent.
Massive Multiplayer refers to the amount of people in the game world at one time, not how many people who are in an online lobby, with this logic any game with an online multiplayer feature would be an MMO.
Diablo 3 allows 4 players at one time to play a game, thats hardly massive. Starcraft 2 for example has ladder matches that allow 8 players to play at the same time, is SC2 an mmo now?
On the flipside world of warcraft has hundreds of players in the same game world at the same time, there is an obvious difference.
You do realize that with that definition it loses it's meaning completely, as every single online multiplayer would be called MMO? Or would you rather call it MVGWICOSHOTOPSIAPW (multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously in a persistent world) or something along those lines?
From what i have read and researched about the game it is a multiplayer dungeon crawler, or a sort of CO-OP type of game. Although if they are including an auction house (i know about this due to the massive about of QQ that arose due to the Real Money AH) it would seem as though it is an MMO of sorts.
Agreed. That is why they came up with the name "MMO" in the first place, to differentiate it from other online game models. Just because a term is not in the dictionary, it doesn't mean that you should go and stretch it's meaning to your convenience :P
If D3 is an MMO then D2 and D1 were also MMOs. Which they were most certainly not.
My Gaming Setup | WoW Paladin (retired)
"This is not a dress. This is a sacred robe of the ancient psychedelic monks."
I hope you haven't forgotten my role in this little story. I'm the leading man. You know what they say about the leading man? He never dies.
If you give in to your impulses in this world, the price is that it changes your personality in the real world. The player and character are one and the same.
Chatroom? That's what makes online multiplayer game MMO now?
And by persistent I meant that the world you play in evolves with or without you. A chatroom doesn't evolve one way or another, it's just a chatroom.
In World of Warcraft, if you stopped playing before Cataclysm and came back now, the world have changed without you. All new stuff, no way of going back, even if you start new character. In Diablo 3 the story does not progress unless you play the game.
Chatting with hundreds or thousands people does not make a game MMO. Playing in the same SERVER (not an instanced dungeon inside the server), but playing with them does.
Last edited by Santti; 2012-01-31 at 10:12 PM.
You can't play it offline. Might as well be an MMO. /immadbro
If Diablo 3 is a MMO then Halo, COD, and BF3 are has well why? Because you have over 1 million players playing the game online, it is a multiplayer game and is online.
No Halo, COD and BF are not MMOs same with Diablo 3.
The auction house is a very small portion of the game that a player can completely ignore if desired. The genre is decided by the entire game, not a small part that doesn't even fit into the MMO genre in and of itself.
With such a broad definition, you could label just about every game as an mmo...Madden, Fable, NBA 2k12, etc.
Really, an AH is an MMO? Since when? So I guess EBay is an MMO? Also, many many other games have had lobbies that allow you to interact with other players and setup games. Doesn't make them MMOs.
EDIT: Thought I'd add that adding built in AOL chat rooms instead of simple automatic matchmaking also does not make it an MMO.
Last edited by Chrysia; 2012-02-01 at 12:57 AM.
I am positive that blizzard has called it an mmo before, but I don't want to go fish up the quote.
It's something along the lines of "People misunderstand the meaning of mmo/rpg. Diablo is massive, it is multiplayer, it is online, but it's not traditional like, say, World of Warcraft."