Is Diablo an MMO?
Diablo is a franchise of action RPGs (role-playing games), or ARPGs, known for their dungeon crawling elements and immersive atmosphere. The first Diablo video game, Diablo (1997), was developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Diablo video games have been praised for their atmosphere, replayability, variation in builds and overall unique action RPG experience. Considering that there are a number of Diablo video games, players may wonder whether Diablo is an MMO video game, or an MMORPG.
Most Diablo video games are not MMOs, because they lack the distinctive characteristics of MMOs. However, Diablo Immortal is an MMO, and an MMORPG.
Why Most Diablo Games Are Not MMOs
Most Diablo video games, and especially the early Diablo video games, including Diablo (1997), Diablo II (2000) and Diablo III (2012), are single player video games. These video games provide a single player video game experience, with a storyline and single player gameplay. While these video games are single player video games, some of them also have multiplayer features. However, to be considered an MMORPG, or even an MMO, there are some characteristics which a video game must feature.
Most Diablo video games are not MMOs because they can be played in single player. The original Diablo (1997), for example, can be played offline, as well as the original Diablo II (2000). While some Diablo video games have multiplayer features, this characteristic alone is not enough to constitute a video game as an MMO.
The Characteristics of an MMO
- Persistent, shared game world or game universe
- Presence of large numbers of players on the same server
- Player characters are able to interact with each other (either through PvE or PvP)
The Characteristics of Most Diablo Video Games
- Separated game world, as in most single player video games, unless a game is created with other players
- Only the main game character and NPCs, no other player characters (in a single player game)
- Player characters not able to interact with each other in single player
Considering that most Diablo video games feature a single player game mode, it is not technically accurate to describe them as MMO video games. However, many Diablo video games feature multiplayer game modes, in which players are able to create multiplayer games and cooperate with other players in the game world. However, this characteristic alone does not constitute an MMO, otherwise other single player vidoe games with multiplayer game modes would also be considered MMOs. This would necessarily mean that video games such as, for example, Borderlands and Dark Souls are MMOs. Instead, these are single player video games with multiplayer features, such as Diablo.
Is Diablo Immortal an MMO?
Considering that many Diablo video games are single player, and that at the same time many of them feature multiplayer game features, players may wonder whether Diablo Immortal is an MMO, and whether it has the distinctive characteristics of an MMO.
While most Diablo video games are single player video games, Diablo Immortal is an MMO, and an MMORPG, because in this game a large amount of players is simultaneously connected to the same persistent server, a characteristic of MMOs.
Why Diablo Immortal Is an MMO
Diablo Immortal features many of the traditional characteristics of the Diablo video games franchise, such as the isometric camera perspective, the action RPG gameplay, monsters, leveling, dungeon crawling, classes, among other characteristics. However, Diablo Immortal also features unique characteristics that constitute it as an MMO, unlike other Diablo video games.
Diablo Immortal is an MMO because it fetures a persistent, shared universe, in which player characters may encounter each other while adventuring, form parties, as well as trade through the marketplace.
While earlier Diablo video games also featured multiplayer modes, such as Diablo II (2000), in most cases, in order to play in multiplayer, the player had to specifically create a multiplayer game with this purpose. This is similar, for example, to other single player video games such as Borderlands and Dark Souls, which can be played in single player and offline, and in order to be played in multiplayer, the player must specifically allow this option or create a multiplayer game.
Diablo Immortal, unlike Diablo II (2000), features a persistent, shared universe. While the game can be played solo, the player character will often encounter other player characters while adventuring, a characteristic of a shared game universe. In traditional single player video games, in order to interact with other players, the player must specifically allow this option, create a multiplayer game or lobby, or invite other players to their game.
Is Diablo 4 an MMO?
Considering that many Diablo video games are single player video games, with multiplayer features, and that Diablo Immortal is an MMO video game, and an MMORPG, players may wonder whether Diablo 4 is an MMO and whether it is an MMORPG, and which multiplayer features it has.
Diablo 4 is not a typical MMO, but an RPG with a shared world and multiplayer features. Some part of the content can be experienced in single player or in parties, and other player characters can be found in town hubs and other locations.
While Diablo IV is a not a typical MMO video game, in which players are able to find hundreds of players while adventuring, it has many characteristics of shared world video games. Moreover, compared to traditional MMOs, its multiplayer and shared world features are subtler, resembling the multiplayer features of video games such as Dark Souls, in which players are able to see various elements of shared game world. At the same time, Diablo IV has some characteristics which resemble the characteristics of MMOs. For this reason, I will provide a more deep analysis of these characteristics.
Analysis of Diablo 4: Single Player or MMO?
The Characteristics of an MMO
- Persistent, shared game world or game universe
- Presence of large numbers of players on the same server
- Player characters are able to interact with each other (either through PvE or PvP)
The Characteristics of Diablo IV
- Shared game world or game universe
- Presence of some players in some locations
- Player characters are able to interact with each other (either through PvE or PvP)
Diablo 4 allows player characters to form parties and engage in PvE content, as well as fight each other in PvP. However, the multiplayer features of Diablo 4 are not visible at all times, as other player characters are mostly found in specific locations, such as town hubs, and sometimes in the wild, which is a much more subtle presence than what is generally seen in traditional MMOs, such as World of Warcraft. This subtler presence of other player characters has some resemblance to the Dark Souls video games. However, the presence of other player characters in a town hub is a characteristic more similar to traditional MMOs than to traditional single player video games.
While Diablo 4 may not be a traditional MMO, it is not a traditional single player video game either. Although it can be played solo, it has shared world elements, PvE, PvP, and requires an Internet connection to be played.
While Diablo 4 may not be a typical traditional MMO, with hundreds of player characters found in the wild at the same time, or with a constant presence of other player characters at most times during the gameplay, Diablo 4 has important shared world elements and connectivity between players. Moreover, Diablo 4 requires an Internet connection in order to be played. Due to the characteristics of Diablo 4, I would not describe it as a typical MMO video game, and I would not describe it as a traditional single player video game either.
In the aspect of the single player experience, Diablo 4 could be viewed as a single player video game with shared world elements, and which requires an Internet connection to be played, with similarities to games such as Dark Souls (2011) and Warframe (2013). These video games can be played solo, and they also feature multiplayer characteristics. In the aspect of MMORPG experience, Diablo 4 is a video game with some MMO elements which can be played solo, with similarities to games such as Guild Wars (2005) and Path of Exile (2013), in which much of the content of the game can be experienced solo, although it is possible to encounter other player characters in town hubs and other locations.
Conclusion of the Analysis of Diablo IV
As seen in the previous section of this article, Diablo IV features many elements of MMOs and MMORPGs. At the same time, Diablo 4 features elements also seen in traditional single player video games. This unique blend of MMO elements and single player video game elements required a deeper analysis in order to provide a more accurate description.
Perhaps the most adequate description for Diablo 4 is that it is an RPG with shared world characteristics, which requires an Internet connection to be played and which can be played solo.
Due to the presence of MMO elements and also the presence of single player video game elements, it does not seem accurate to simply describe Diablo 4 as an MMO or as a single player video game. Instead, it has elements of both of these types of video games. Diablo 4 is not a traditional MMO, and it is not a traditional single player video game. In the aspect of the single player experience, Diablo 4 could be described as a single player video game with shared world elements, and which requires an Internet connection to be played. In the aspect of MMORPG experience, Diablo 4 is a video game with some MMO elements which can be played solo.
Is Diablo 3 an MMO?
While the early Diablo video games are mostly considered traditional single player video games, such as Diablo (1997) and Diablo II (2000), Diablo 3 introduced new features, with more similarities to MMO video games and to the MMORPG genre. For these reasons, players often wonder whether Diablo 3 is an MMO and whether this game can be described as an MMORPG.
Diablo 3 is not an MMO, because it does not feature a shared, persistent game world. It can be played in either single player or multiplayer, but it requires an Internet connection to be played.
Diablo III (2012), or Diablo 3, features many of the traditional characteristics of Diablo video games, such as action RPG gameplay, acquiring loot and dungeon crawling. Diablo II (2000) allowed players to create multiplayer video games in order to play online with other players, and this is a characteristic that remained in Diablo III as well. Unlike the original Diablo II (2000), Diablo III (2012) requires an Internet connection to be played, a similarity to MMOs. Diablo 3 also features PvP. Like Diablo II (2000), players can experience the content of Diablo 3 in online cooperative gameplay with other players. However, this does not constitute an MMO, otherwise other video games which feature online co-op video games would be considered MMOs as well, including video games such as Left 4 Dead and Borderlands.
Is Diablo 2 an MMO?
Diablo II (2000), or Diablo 2, has often been praised as one of the best RPG video games. Diablo 2 has been praised for its gameplay, atmosphere, and storyline. Considering that Diablo 2 can be played online, players sometimes wonder whether Diablo 2 is an MMO and whether it can be described as an MMORPG video game.
Diablo 2 is not an MMO, but a video game which can be played in either single player or multiplayer. It is not an MMO because it does not feature a shared, persistent world.
In order to play Diablo 2 in multiplayer, players must create a multiplayer game, similar to a multiplayer lobby in other video games, which other players may join. This type of online multiplayer is similar to the multiplayer of video games such as Left 4 Dead and Borderlands. However, this is quite different from the shared, persistent world of traditional MMOs such as World of Warcraft. In traditional MMOs and MMORPGs, the persistent game world is shared between all, or most players, often including hundreds and thousands of players at the same time.
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