Is Dragon Age an MMO?
Dragon Age is a franchise of role-playing video games (RPGs). The first Dragon Age video game, Dragon Age: Origins (2009), was developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. Dragon Age video games are known for depicting high fantasy worlds, as well as warriors, magic, and magical creatures. Players who have played MMO and MMORPG video games, such as World of Warcraft (2004), may notice similarities between these video games, including the high fantasy elements and the RPG elements, and wonder whether the Dragon Age video games are technically MMOs and whether they can be considered an MMO or MMORPG video game.
Most Dragon Age video games are not MMOs or MMORPGs, they are single player games. While Dragon Age: Inquistion features multiplayer co-op gameplay, it is not an MMO as it lacks a persistent, shared server connecting hundreds of players.
Why Dragon Age Video Games Are Not MMOs
Over the course of development of technology of the video games industry, the differences between MMO and MMORPG video games and single player vidoe games become increasingly blurred. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, most MMORPGs followed a similar, traditional structure, which rectroactively became increasingly associated with the core elements of the MMORPG World of Warcraft (2004). In other words, World of Warcraft became a standard for most MMORPGs of that decade.
Unsurprisingly, many MMORPGs of that time presented a similar structure, with third-person gameplay, quests, open world and other features which became classic to the genre. Over that decade, MMORPGs, as well as single player RPGs, evolved and adapted to make use of the technology advancements. More single player RPG video games began to feature open worlds, and more MMORPGs began to feature dialogue cutscenes, voice acting, as well as other features traditionally associated with single player RPG video games. These advancements made the differences between the single player RPGs and MMORPGs increasingly subtler.
Dragon Age video games are not MMORPGs because they do not feature persistent, shared servers with hundreds or thousands of players. They are single player RPGs, with some featuring multiplayer gameplay, such as Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Despite the increased similarity between MMORPGs and single player RPGs, the technical definition of an MMO video game remains. MMOs and MMORPGs are games that feature persistent, shared servers to which hundreds or thousands of players connect at the same time. This definition surpasses the characteristics of World of Warcraft (2004), and also includes many different video games featuring a variety of gameplay, including games such as Path of Exile and Warframe, which, while being quite different from the traditional experience of World of Warcraft or other MMORPGs of the 2000s and early 2010s, are still technically MMO video games, even though these games can provide an experience which could be described as a single player video game.
The technical definition of MMORPG is an important reason why most Dragon Age video games are not MMORPGs, including Dragon Age: Origins (2009), Dragon Age II (2011) and Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014). These games are single player RPGs, and do not feature persistent, shared servers to which hundreds of players connect at the same time to play. Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014) features multiplayer gameplay, but this characteristic does not consistute an MMO, otherwise many games with multiplayer would be considered MMOs, such as Borderlands 2 (2012), Dead Space 3 (2013), Left 4 Dead (2008). Many games feature multiplayer, but only games with persistent servers capable of connecting hundreds or thousands of players, gameplay-wise, are technically MMOs or MMORPGs.
Is a Dragon Age MMO Possible?
While most Dragon Age video games are not MMOs, the world of Dragon Age could theoritically be adapted to an MMORPG video game. Moreover, it would allow for much freedom of gameplay regarding the several factions, characters, locations and monsters present in the Dragon Age games lore. A Dragon Age MMORPG would be a high fantasy MMORPG, and could possibly allow players to play as humans, elves, dwarfs, and visit the many locations present in the single player games.
Perhaps a Dragon Age MMO could be a persistent world MMORPG such as World of Warcraft (2004), or it could be more instance-based and focus on dungeon crawling. Regardless of the possibilities, most Dragon Age video games are single player video games, including Dragon Age: Origins (2009), Dragon Age II (2011) and Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014). While a Dragon Age MMO or MMORPG is possible, these video games are technically single player games (with the observation that Dragon Age: Inquisition features multiplayer) and not MMOs or MMORPGs.
While it is possible that we may see a Dragon Age MMO in the future, many of the mainstream Dragon Age video games are not MMOs or MMORPGs, they are single player video games, with some of them featuring multiplayer, such as Dragon Age: Inquisition. Moreover, Dragon Age: Inquistion is also not an MMO.
Analysis: Possible Causes of Confusion in the Case of Dragon Age
While Dragon Age: Origins (2009) and Dragon Age II (2011) are single player RPGs, Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014) is an RPG which features both single player gameplay and multiplayer gameplay. Perhaps due to the presence of multiplayer in Dragon Age: Inquisition, as well as some of the similarities, including the high fantasy setting, with mainstream MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft (2004), many players wonder whether Dragon Age: Inquisition is an MMORPG.
As explained in the previous section covering the technical definition of MMO, Dragon Age: Inquisition, although featuring multiplayer, is not an MMO due to the absence of a persistent, shared server connecting hundreds or thousands of players. The presence of multiplayer could lead some players to confusion, however, Dragon Age: Inquisition is not an MMO or MMORPG, it is a video game with both single player and multiplayer, similarly to Borderlands video games, Dark Souls video games, and to many other franchises.
Moreover, while a Dragon Age MMO game is possible, as it stands, most of the Dragon Age video games are single player games (even though some feature multiplayer), but they are not MMOs or MMORPGs. Even though there may be similarities between the gameplay in these games and the gameplay of high fantasy MMORPGs, due to the technical definition of an MMO, the Dragon Age games cannot be considered MMOs or MMORPGs.
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