What is an MMORPG?

MMORPG stands for massively multiplayer online role-playing game. You level one character in a persistent online world that hundreds or thousands of other players share at the same time.

The world doesn't stop when you log off, and your progress stays on the server.

How an MMORPG works in practice

You make a character and build it up over weeks of levels, gear, and skills. Nothing resets between sessions, so you're logging back into the character you left.

Other players are in that same world rather than in a separate match. Some group up with you for a dungeon, some ignore you, and a few grief you for fun.

Payment models vary: some MMORPGs charge a box price or a monthly subscription, and others are free to install and make their money from in-app purchases instead. Both MMORPGs in our guides install free.

MMO vs MMORPG

MMO is the wider term, short for massively multiplayer online. It covers any genre built on a large shared world, so a survival game with 200 players on one server counts.

MMORPG is the subset with role-playing structure: a character you level, gear you collect, quests you work through. Every MMORPG is an MMO, and plenty of MMOs aren't MMORPGs.

MMORPGs and MMOs from our guides

• SAO Integral Factor - MMORPG is the only MMORPG in our best anime mobile games list. Bandai Namco's Aincrad world rates 4.5 on Google Play from 309,161 ratings.
• Lords Mobile runs kingdom conquest and MMORPG battles inside one game, ninth in our mobile strategy games list at 4.5 from 9,178,016 ratings.
• Path of Titans isn't an MMORPG but a survival MMO, and it sits sixth in our open world Switch games guide. Its servers are listed for as many as 200 players.