Short for massively multiplayer online role-playing game, MMORPGs are a form of online gaming that grow in popularity with each passing year.

MMORPGs are virtual world style games capable of handling thousands of simultaneous players.  While there are dozens, if not hundreds, of different games out there, handling themes from fantasy, anime, science fiction and more, but they all share similar characteristics: massive areas to explore, ways to progress your character(s), socializing amongst the players and more.

Many games, such as the immensely popuar World of Warcraft, feature a pay-for-play structure where you pay a monthly subscription to access the game.  Others are free, but you need to pay for things like equipment, armor, healing devices and more.  If the idea of paying for trying out something you aren’t even sure you will like, there are free MMORPGs out there that go from simplistic to fully developed that rival any of the pay-for-play ones.

The biggest drawback to MMORPGs are their ability to take up immense amounts of your time.  If you want to advance in the games to higher levels, you need to work at it, and then can take weeks of intense game play to do it.  You shouldn’t let this stop you from giving them a try, but don’t be surprised if you find days passing without noticing.