Choose your character class

What kind of world do you want to immerse yourself in? Do you want to cruise around cities taking out super villains, go up against massive undead armies or enjoy the view of supernovas from your spaceship? MMOs are a huge time commitment, so choosing a genre (or universe) you like is important. Here are a few of the most popular ones.

Fantasy
Games: “EverQuest II,” “The Lord of the Rings Online,” “World of Warcraft,” “Rift”
Fantasy MMOs take place in worlds where weird, unbelievable things like dragons, cow people riding raptors and other oddities are commonplace. Elves, dwarves and humans are often playable races, but some games feature stranger player characters. They tend to focus on familiar class systems with some form of rogues, warriors and mages being present in most games. “World of Warcraft” is the reigning king of this genre, with six years and three expansions worth of content to explore. “WoW” set the current standard for MMO game play, where combat occurs in real time and attacks require players to cool down on usage.

Sci-fi
Games: “EVE Online,” “Star Trek Online,” “Star Wars: The Old Republic” (upcoming)
Sci-fi MMOs take place in the cold reaches of space, where your player character is rarely seen compared to your spaceship. Ship-to-ship combat is the main focus of combat in “EVE” and “Star Trek,” and upgrading your spaceship takes the place of leveling up your character. Role-playing can be a huge part of the games, especially in “EVE,” where slow-building assassination plots and political upheavals have occurred in the player base. “Star Wars: The Old Republic” will feature a different take on the genre, focusing more on “WoW”-style, real-time combat and battles between damage dealers, damage takers and healers rather than ship-to-ship combat.

Superhero
Games: “DC Universe Online,” “Champions Online,” “City of Heroes”
Superhero MMOs merge sci-fi and fantasy into a cityscape setting. You begin the game as a hero or villain fighting street thugs until you become strong enough to fight big-name characters. The biggest strength in superhero MMOs is customization. Players get to choose nearly every costume piece found on their hero or villain, allowing players to stand out from others. While combat is similar to that found in “WoW,” superhero MMOs have a strong emphasis on movement and action. “DC Universe Online” controls like a shooting game, encouraging characters to lock on and run around during combat. However, “DC Universe” is the only game of this genre to feature real comic book characters, as “Champions” and “City of Heroes” feature worlds created specifically for the game.

Miscellaneous
Games: countless other games
One of the best things about the MMO genre is the sheer variety of game play styles that are being adapted into an RPG. There are racing MMOs like “Need For Speed: World,” shooters like “Battlefield Heroes” and “Combat Arms” and even MMOs for kids like “Disney’s Toontown Online” and “Free Realms.” There are even MMOs for golfers. Many MMOs follow the free-to-play model where playing the game is free, but you can spend money to buy in-game goods.