OMG it’s an MMOG!

Social and Economic Evolution of Online Gaming

Growth of the MMOG

             MMOGs have been continually growing since their introduction in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.  As evident by the graph below, the MMOG truly began to become popular in late 1996 and early 1997.  This data was collected by requesting the number of current subscribers from the respective MMOG companies.  This data only includes those games which require a monthly subscription.  Click here to view the main website.

Growth of MMOG subscribers in the past nine years.

             The graph above strongly indicates the growth of MMOGs in the past nine years.  The proportions which are favored by gamers are not balanced, rather they are significantly skewed towards the heavily favored MMORPG (see graph below). 

This genre receives the greatest attention because it fits the four criteria according to Richard Bartle.  The popularity and success of the RPG genre is explained by the endless supply of achievement, exploration, socialization, and imposition that is presented to the player.  World of Warcraft, by market externalities, has become a current industry standard for MMORPG.  However, given the rate of technological advancement in graphics, software and hardware capability, such externalities are only relevant in the short term (as evidenced by the rapid growth of World of Warcraft itself). World of Warcraft was launched in November 2004 and currently has over 8.5 million subscribers. 

             The average time played by the average MMOG player averages at 20 hours per week, however some play less than a few hours while some play over 60. 

 

                 The average number of hours per week for MMOG players mostly goes down as age increases.  In addition, gamers who play MMORPG often play 3-4 times the amount that a normal person watches television. 

             There are many potential causes that could explain this high level of average playing time.  According to Prof. Mark Griffiths, director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, games such as World of Warcraft, “are hard to switch off and walk away from.  That's because they have no end, and there's always someone online somewhere in the world.”