If you look out into the deep fog of other MMOs that crowd the genre behind WoW, it can be confusing to know which ones are worth while. World of Warcraft, while it redefined the genre, left many gamers with little choice about what games to play. My initial thought was that if you didn't want to play WoW, you couldn't play MMOs anymore without being completely alone online. After over 100 dollars of my money and more than 100 hours of my time, I'm finally able to give a status report of most MMOs out there. Let me remind you, these are my opinions on the status of these games, and you don't necessarily have to agree with me.

Star Wars Galaxies-

Ahhh SWG, how messed up you are. After completely redoing the entire game and losing most of your fanbase, time has done a number on your population. What I found is that the game itself is very fun, and if you weren't a part of the pre-new game experience crowd, theirs still a lot to be enjoyed about this game. However, the worlds really are huge, so don't expect to find people all the time. On the Bria server it was quite often that I found people in town, but most of them were pretty quiet and didn't seem to interested in helping a new player.

City of Heroes/Villians-

This MMO is very different and it can be very fun. Although the population is a little lower than it used to be, the game still has plenty of people probably mostly due to just how different the game really is. Most people were helpful and actually went out of their way to invite me into a party. Oh yeah, and the gameplay is fun too : ).

Everquest 2-

Now this one almost makes me cry when I think about it. Everquest 2 could have been so much to the MMO community, but it's release with bugs and WoWs domination have sent EQ2 into a realm of empty cities and confusion. The tutorial island was fine with people everywhere for me to interact with, but when I entered the actual game I felt alone. The once crowded streets of the main city were all but empty except for three people I saw in the general store. I also felt rather alone as this was another case where higher levels didn't seem at all interested in answering the simple questions I had.

Dark age of Camelot-

I picked this one up just for kicks to see if anyone was still playing, and not many people were. The once great game has not aged well as some of the basic aspects of todays mmos just don't exist in this game. To give you a sense of the population I experienced, there are seven expansions to this game, and out of all that space only 78 people were online in my server. The highest population of the servers being 750.

The Lord of the Rings Online-

This is by far one of the greatest basic mmos to play if you want to get away from WoW. The gameplay mechanics aren't really that different from WoW so anyone transferring over shouldn't have any problems figuring out what to do. Also, the population is very good considerring the game was released only 5 months ago. Actually, a news report was just released stating that LOTRO now has 4,000,000 unique characters registered. That population along with the fact that this is the first high ranking next gen mmo to incorporate player housing and you have a game that will last you a while. Hopefully we get some expansions soon.

Dungeons and Dragons Online-

This is the game to play if you want to try something that doesn't have a grind. Some places you can actually find this game for fifteen dollars, but don't let that fool you, this game is GOOD. The population is actually not that bad and the game has been updated often with big patches of content to keep people going. Most of the early levels let you solo while later on you are encouraged to group. That being said, I never had a problem grouping and people were generally nice.

^These are not the only options out there but they are the MMOs that I played specifically to test. The top option is definately LOTRO, followed by Dungeons and Dragons Online, and then City of Heroes/villians. A lot of exciting mmos are coming out soon as well and I will be updating my examination once they all come out. These new mmos include tabula rasa, age of conan, pirates of the burning sea, and Warhammer online.

Now, let me start out by saying that I am an inventor by nature. I love creating new things or finding something wrong with an existing object and making it more useful.

As a large fan of videogame/computer games I have always looked to them for innovation and even though I have been pleased with development on many occasions, I still have problems with the MMO genre. Particularly, the way they seem to stick to the idea of leveling and experience.

To start, if you are not familiar with the term MMORPG it stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing game.

Now, theirs nothing wrong with this name, but it's more how the development companies seem to be handling it.

Let me ask the development companies this....where does it say in "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing" that it has to have tedious leveling? Youll notice that it doesn't, this is where my problem lies.

If I went back in time to the dark ages and lets say I were being attacked, I would need to defend myself.

In the current setup of most online roleplaying games, my particular level would need to be higher than my enemy and I would have to have more a proficient armor defense rating. A lot of it is based on statistics, very interesting for a game that's supposed to be based on realistic fantasy.

Let me tell you my vision in hopes that it becomes true. Eventually I want a game to rely on weaponry, different types of armor, and strategy. Something where if you ran into battle with leather armor you would be sliced into pieces and weapons of war are your only battle savior. I hope that some day online, my skill won't be based on how long I've played the game, but what armor I have been provided and how many times I've seen battle, and no, not with statistics, with my brain and how I have learned from those experiences. If I'm a ranger, I want to stand back in a line and shoot arrows down upon my enemy. If I'm a knight, I want to charge torward my enemy and raise shields when the hail of arrows begins to drop. If this idea were done right it would work and the game would be praised. But no, developers love their shell of leveling, it's easy. I guess I'm going to have to wait for someone with an open mind to show them all the way.

Many gamers would disagree with what I am about to propose. To them I say this is my own opinion of I believe to be true and it is only so.

MMO games for the past few years have been dominated by one game, World of Warcraft (WoW). For a long while, it has been the trend that if you wanted to get into the MMO genre, you were to play World of Warcraft and that was your "only choice" (according to 8 million people across the globe).

However, one gripe that I tend to hold against WoW, something that completely erases all my interest in the title, is what it did to the rest of the MMO world.

Now, it is not beyond my understanding that one game was going to be released to truely redefine the genre for the better at one point or another, it was going to happen eventually. However, if you had asked me how long I thought that revolution would last before WoWs release, I probably would have told you "one year".

The triumph of WoW is undeniable, it's player base undefeated, and as the years have gone by WoWs domination has destroyed many good and bad mmos. Many of which have come from leading companies in the genre (one example being the "defeat" of Everquest 2).

Only, now the tide of battle seems to be moving torward a revolution, a public backlash against the one game that redefined all we know about massively multiplayer online gaming. Game developers know the success of WoW, and they have not been sitting idle. Many say that the revolution started with the release of Guild Wars and it's unique formula (something that could be disputed), but regardless, those same companies that were forced into the background by WoWs domination have in a way started to fight back, and hard. Soon, games like Warhammer online, The lord of the rings online, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Guild Wars 2, and Tabula Rasa will start taking a large bite out of WoWs fanbase.

We were all really spoiled with the amount of choices that we had in the pre-WoW era within the MMO genre. but now it's time to stand up for the game companies that have fought through these hard times and enjoy the wave of innovation brought upon us to fight the World of Warcraft trend. I personally feel that if people take the time to put down their magic swords in trade for a plasma rifle (Tabula Rasa), they would not only feel refreshed, but would see just how imaginative and grateful the rest of the MMO genre is to have our attention once again.