Reason why Guild Wars is a CORPG and not a MMORPG

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After I've seen several issues and discussions about Guild Wars being a MMORPG or CORPG. I decided to place the following Q&A on the MMORPG.com forum. Hopefully this will sort everything about this endless discussion.

	Question
	Is Guild Wars an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game)?
	Answer
	Guild Wars has some similarities to existing MMORPGs, but it also has some key differences. Like existing MMORPGs, Guild Wars is played entirely online in a secure hosted environment. Thousands of players inhabit the same virtual world. Players can meet new friends in gathering places like towns and outposts where they form parties and go questing with them. Unlike many MMORPGs, when players form a party and embark upon a quest in Guild Wars, they get their own private copy of the area where the quest takes place. This design eliminates some of the frustrating gameplay elements commonly associated with MMORPGs, such as spawn camping, kill stealing, and lines to complete a quest. Guild Wars takes place in a large virtual world made up of many different zones, and players can walk from one end of the world to the other. But Guild Wars eliminates much of the tedium of traveling through the world. Players can instantly return to any safe area (town or outpost) that they've previously visited just by clicking on it in the world overview map. Rather than labeling Guild Wars an MMORPG, we prefer to call it a CORPG (Competitive Online Role-Playing Game). Guild Wars was designed from the ground up to create the best possible competitive role-playing experience. Success in Guild Wars is always the result of player skill, not time spent playing or the size of one's guild. As characters progress, they acquire a diverse set of skills and items, enabling them to use new strategies in combat. Players can do battle in open arenas or compete in guild-on-guild warfare or the international tournament. But engaging in combat is always the player's choice; there is no player-killing in cooperative areas of the world. Finally, unlike existing MMORPGs, all characters in Guild Wars inhabit the same virtual world -- they are not divided onto different servers or shards -- so players can always team up with or compete against any other player in the world.

morgande

I thought that was pretty obvious by now



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CORPG

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Originally posted by morgande

I thought that was pretty obvious by now



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CORPG

 

So did I, but some people still claimed Guild Wars being a MMORPG instead of CORPG.

SneakyGnu

it aint obvious for everybody, I can assure you that..

sven101, the last part is something ArenaNet has written right ?

Razorteets

God bless you, Sven.

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Originally posted by SneakyGnu


it aint obvious for everybody, I can assure you that..
sven101, the last part is something ArenaNet has written right ?

 

The Q&A was writting by NCSoft. You can find the official Q&A  here.

RK-Mara

I think there's already enough topics like this.

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Originally posted by RK-Mara

I think there's already enough topics like this.

 

I agree with you. The thread I created contains facts only. Hopefully people can now agree that Guild Wars is a CORPG with MMORPG functions. I didn't created this thread to provoke another spam thread about ''Guild Wars being a MMORPG or CORPG'', I only tried to sort it out.

exanimo

really ? whats the point of this thread ? are u sure you are not talking about how guildwars should not be in this webpage ?
becose thats is what it sounds like to me ...
anyway

GW = CORPG or MMORPG

NO ONE CARES !!!

Akaraxle

However you look at it, common sense still dictates that Guild Wars is Massive (the last paragraph on sven's post makes it more massive than other "real" MMORPGs), Multiplayer, Online and an RPG. And common sense tends to prevail any source you might cite, including the highly disputable Wikipedia. Even I did some edits in the past on the Guild Wars page, because of people posting unclear "facts" about a game they don't even play.

Guild Wars doesn't fall in the crap MMORPGs are considered to be now, but from a purely objective point of view it fits in the category like a charm.

Cokey

Even the developers don't regard this game as an MMORPG. 

 It doesn't need the massive infrastructure to run it like other mmorpgs as everywhere outside meeting spots is instanced (and not hosted by them).  The 'world' that you play in is only accessible by you or a few others - certainly not massive.  Certain multiplayer FPS's (battlefield etc) are more massive than this in actual player numbers (in combat etc).

Akaraxie - according to your argument, Diablo 2 could be classed as mmorpg because all characters can play against each other (ie inhabit the same 'world') - which  in practice they don't, there is a common meeting spot (a bridge between parallel universes), but when you go out and play you create your own private world/universe.

There is really no point to this discussion.

Guild wars is not, never was, never will be an MMORPG.  It is however a pretty good multiplayer online RPG.

Akaraxle

Diablo 2 was perhaps a MMORPG, yes. It fits all the categories. Just because MMORPGs now are a craptastic pile of crap with races, mounts and trade skills it doesn't mean all MMORPGs have to be like that.

Oh, btw WoW is not "massive" by your definition either. It doesn't let me talk to or play with the 8M subscribers it has. It's sub-massive.

Guild Wars is as close to being a good MMORPG by definition as many other games listed on this portal.

P.S. I'll add that if you consider GW not a MMORPG, it's pretty sad that it beats the vast majority of games on this site by user's preference: "true" MMORPGs must really suck after all.

AutemOx

Is there even such a thing as a CORPG or is it just some fancy name some guy made up to make GW look different?

godpuppet

All 3D Online RPG's belong on this site imo.

Secrom

While not following the beaten path of "real" MMOs, it's still the category GW shares most aspects with:

• Played exclusively online (Diablo 2 doesn't fit in that category)
  
• Interaction with other live/human players in-game
  
• Persistent character progression
  

Very few seem to understand those simple facts.

Akaraxle

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Originally posted by godpuppet
All 3D Online RPG's belong on this site imo.

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Well, being 3D isn't a requirement. For example, UO and RO aren't.

sl4y3r6363

If you ask me it is a nice mixture of the both and i found that it also changed with each different guild wars you played as factions to me is more of a CORPG than prophicies

thetank

IMO Guild Wars IS an MMORPG. The game creators just made a smart commercial move by calling it a CORPG. Alot of ppl ran into this game looking for something diferent and they found it. It was due to this tht the concept of CORPG's was created as a pararel to regulars MMORPG's where grind is in every day's life and PvP's is in the bottom of the bag. However it cant be differencied because ppl compete in a huge world and as in any other game they'll have to party with humnas.

Just because GW is focused on :

PvP

it's full instanced

and it's has a low lvl cap

Pppl cant give him a separeted class from all others games. IMO there arent enough dramatic changed. Just 3 medium ones.

 

P.S. I love this game. it's one the best ever

Decun2001

   The way I see it is who cares if Guild Wars is a MMORPG or not... It should still be compared to other MMORPG's because lets be honest people, nothing else really comes close to comparison when it comes to similarites for Guild Wars..

Riotact007

Originally posted by Cokey


Even the developers don't regard this game as an MMORPG. 
 It doesn't need the massive infrastructure to run it like other mmorpgs as everywhere outside meeting spots is instanced (and not hosted by them).  The 'world' that you play in is only accessible by you or a few others - certainly not massive.  Certain multiplayer FPS's (battlefield etc) are more massive than this in actual player numbers (in combat etc).
Akaraxie - according to your argument, Diablo 2 could be classed as mmorpg because all characters can play against each other (ie inhabit the same 'world') - which  in practice they don't, there is a common meeting spot (a bridge between parallel universes), but when you go out and play you create your own private world/universe.
There is really no point to this discussion.
Guild wars is not, never was, never will be an MMORPG.  It is however a pretty good multiplayer online RPG.

Correct me if im wrong but what does MMORPG stand for? Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing. its massive multiplayer always heaps and heaps of players online and its a role playing game. how is not not a MMORPG?

only really because u cant form huge partys?

and y does it have to? played online with heaps of people and its an RPG: thats good enough for me.

dariukx

I played guild wars about  3 moths (with factions) and i can say it isn't MMORPG cause MMORPG gives freedom  and guild wars just makes joke from MMORPG games. Playing guild wars is the same like playing Dunegon Siege 2 multi-player. And i  got  bored from GW . PvP isnt good at all (joke arenas 16Vs16) maybe cause i like massive PvP or better clan wars  l and PvE playing longer gets very annoying.

Shastra

Its definietly not an MMORPG. But people can enjoy it anyway they like. For me its like action game more like Diabolo play style.

RPGnub

People are still arguing about that ?



Whether GW is an MMoRPG or not I don't want to argue but I would like to see some MMoRPGs out there actually manage to pull off a fun pvE campaign that doesn't feel like grinding. So far only GW succeeded with that in my opinion and whether you like it or not, the instancing, low level cap and linear pathing are major parts of why PvE is actually fun in Guild Wars. It may not fit the classic sandbox idea of online RPGs but few modern MMoRPGs do. However if by some miracle a developer actually succeeds in making a sandbox, consistant world RPG without degrading levelling to the point of it being a mere excuse for content I'm so going to throw my money at them.



By the way I also don't get why people even say MMoRPG because it would appear that the RPG part has died long ago in this genre anyway.

Akaraxle

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Originally posted by dariukx
I played guild wars about 3 moths (with factions) and i can say it isn't MMORPG cause MMORPG gives freedom and guild wars just makes joke from MMORPG games. Playing guild wars is the same like playing Dunegon Siege 2 multi-player. And i got bored from GW . PvP isnt good at all (joke arenas 16Vs16) maybe cause i like massive PvP or better clan wars l and PvE playing longer gets very annoying.

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Well, your opinion would've meant something if it wasn't for the text I highlighted in red. 16v16 arenas do not exist, you haven't played PvP, so you're not entitled to an opinion.

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Originally posted by RPGnub
By the way I also don't get why people even say MMoRPG because it would appear that the RPG part has died long ago in this genre anyway.

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Quoted for truth and emphasis.

joeyboots

The difference, is persistence. All the content (save for towns and outposts) is instanced. The only time you see other players is in towns and arenas, aside from whomever you're grouped with at a given time. When you venture out into the world, it is just you, your party, npcs, and ai monsters. The "C" in the title,  stems from the fact that this game is very pvp-centric and focuses heavily on pvp/gvg competition. It shares a lot of the same qualities as MMOs, but also has a lot of disimilarities. But, all in all the biggest division between the two genres is a matter of persistence.

Akaraxle

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Originally posted by joeyboots
The difference, is persistence. All the content (save for towns and outposts) is instanced. The only time you see other players is in towns and arenas, aside from whomever you're grouped with at a given time. When you venture out into the world, it is just you, your party, npcs, and ai monsters. The "C" in the title, stems from the fact that this game is very pvp-centric and focuses heavily on pvp/gvg competition. It shares a lot of the same qualities as MMOs, but also has a lot of disimilarities. But, all in all the biggest division between the two genres is a matter of persistence.

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Your post is entirely true, but where does the word "persistence" fit in Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game? Persistence is not a requirement of the genre, just a common trait among most.
Plus, I would argue that persistence is only an illusion in games like WoW: if you "destroy" a city, it doesn't stay down. Something like Shadowbane was way more persistent.