Is Warframe an MMO?
Warframe is a looter shooter action RPG. Warframe (2013) was developed and published by Digital Extremes. Warframe has been praised for its fast-paced gameplay, replayability, and amount of content. Considering that Warframe is a video game which requires an Internet connection, players wonder whether Warframe is an MMO and whether it could be described as an MMORPG.
Warframe is technically an MMO due to the large number of players simultaneously on the same persistent server, a distinctive characteristic of MMOs. However, its gameplay is quite different from traditional MMORPGs.
Technical Characteristics of an MMO and Characteristics of Warframe
Technical Characteristics of MMOs
- Requires an Internet connection
- Hundreds or thousands of players on the same persistent server
Characteristics of Warframe
- Requires an Internet connection
- Hundreds or thousands of players on the same persistent server
As evidenced by this bullet-points comparison, the video game Warframe (2013) does share many characteristics with traditional MMOs. At the same time, the gameplay of Warframe is very different frmo the gameplay of traditional MMO video games, and especially traditional MMORPGs, such as EverQuest, Guild Wars and World of Warcraft. Instead, the instance-based gameplay of Warframe is much more similar to that of MMOs such as GrandChase and Path of Exile. In these games, hundreds and thousands of players share the same server, but mostly meet on hub locations or lobbies, while in the gameplay itself there will be only a few player characters at the same location. Much like Warframe, Path of Exile is usually not described as an MMORPG, as its experience is quite different from the experience of traditional MMORPGs. While Path of Exile is technically an MMO, its core gameplay experience is much more similar to that of traditional action RPGs such as Diablo and Titan Quest.
Are All MMOs Actually Similar?
While players may think of World of Warcraft as a standard for MMOs, World of Warcraft is in fact a standard of MMORPGs. In this sense, many MMORPGs share similarities with this classic of the genre, such as Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars, The Elder Scrolls Online, among other video games. However, MMO as a genre is quite broad and includes many different massively multiplayer online video games, including video games that are not open world or in which there are not hundreds of players at the same location, although there are hundreds or thousands of players online in the same server. Some examples of these MMOs are GrandChase and Path of Exile.
In this sense, Warframe is more similar to these lobby-based, or hub-based MMOs, rather than to traditional MMORPGs. However, is a lobby-based video game such as Warframe is technically an MMO, why other lobby-based online multiplayer games are not MMOs as well, such as Left 4 Dead? Video games such as Left 4 Dead are video games in which any player can host a dedicated server, an important difference to MMOs and MMORPGs, in which there is a single, persistent server to which all players connect to.
The Popular Idea of MMO vs the Technical Concept of MMO
Indeed, it seems that there is a popular concept of what MMO is, and there is a technical concept of MMO. If you ask most players to mention MMOs, they will most likely mention video games such as EverQuest, Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars, The Elder Scrolls Online, World of Warcraft. While these are very popular and well-known MMOs, these are one type of MMO. More precisely, they are open world MMORPGs. However, there are also other types of video games that are technically MMOs.
Continent of the Ninth Seal (C9), GrandChase, Path of Exile, Warframe, among others, are instance-based video games with the technical characteristics of MMOs. C9, for example, is a third-person hack-and-slash action RPG, with a gameplay similar to Devil May Cry. GrandChase is a side-scrolling beat 'em up video game. Path of Exile is an isometric action RPG, with a gameplay similar to Diablo and Titan Quest. Warframe is a third-person looter shooter RPG. Each of these video games has very unique gameplay, to the point of being quite different among themselves. They are so different that it would be unreasonable to say that these video games are similar. However, all of these video games have the technical characteristics to be considered MMOs. Moreover, it seems that there is a technical definition of MMO and there is a popular idea of MMO as a genre. If MMO is considered a genre, which would only include video games similar to World of Warcraft, then Warframe is not an MMO. If MMO is considered a technical definition, then Warframe is an MMO.
Analysis - Possible Causes of Confusion in the Case of Warframe
Warframe is a third-person looter shooter action RPG, and most of its content can be experienced without the presence of other player characters. For this reason, it is usually not described as an MMO or as an MMORPG, as these genres are usually associated with video games in which thousands of player characters inhabit an open world. However, this common idea, while true in the case of many classic MMORPGs, does not apply to all MMOs. There are many MMOs with thousands of players on the same server and in which there are not thousands of players in the same location at the same time, such as GrandChase and Path of Exile.
Warframe is most often described as a looter shooter video game, which is indeed an accurate description. However, Warframe is also technically an MMO video game, due to the possibility of presence of thousands of players on the same server at the same time. Despite being technically an MMO, the gameplay of Warframe is much different to the gameplay of traditional MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft. Warframe is only technically an MMO, as its gameplay is much more similar to the gameplay of other third-person looter shooter video games, rather than the gameplay of traditional MMORPGs.
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