MMORPG News - Roleplaying and the MMO

An editorial about how roleplaying fits intro MMOs (or actually how it doesn't fit) can be found on Warcry.

For starters, in an MMO you can't be the hero. One of the foundational ideas of an RPG is that events swirl around you. Sure, you may start as a group of peons and you may never rise much above that, but there almost always is the sense that you can be so much more. There is the idea that if the game goes on long enough (and provided your character survives), you may just make a name for yourself. You and your fellow gamers ARE the story. MMOs, on the other hand, are played by thousands of people and you can have thousands of heroes. Sure RPGs have their stock adventure sets which thousands of people play, but they all occur in separate worlds distinctive to each group of players.