My first MMO, as I'm sure it was for many people. Free is free and when you've never played anything like it before, stepping into Runescape is a mind-blowing experience. The idea of playing a game largely populated by actual people was so hard for me to wrap my head around that the first time I ran into an aggressive human NPC I pleaded with it to stop because I thought it was a player. That was embarrassing, but I learned quickly and really enjoyed plugging away at my list of quests. Each time I leveled up it felt like a genuine achievement, and finally grinding out the skills and the gold required to don my first set of rune armor was a transcendent experience. I never played as a member back then, and by the time I got around to trying it there were way more modern and interesting games available. Even still, I think it's a testament to the more charming qualities of Runescape that I was perfectly happy with a free account. Yes, I was always a little jealous of people who got to go beyond those annoying fences and had those extra-fancy dragon weapons, but the little corner of the world I was allowed to gallivant about in still appealed to the adventurer in me. Sea Shanty 2 forever.

Haha, wow, Gaia Online. I dipped my toes into this as a teen and had some really... Interesting interactions. Then I came back to it two separate times with several years between each visit. And each time the vibes were decidedly different. It was a very strange site with a very obvious appeal, especially in its earliest days where western anime culture was starting to flourish. I made some really good friends here (and lost some, too), but the mood of the site and amongst its users has definitely changed with time. What originally started out as a simple site for anime fans to dress up cute avatars and mingle with a in-house manga providing a behind-the-scenes narrative has turned into a place turned upside-down by careless and predatory monetization. Also of note is the now considerably older playerbase that seems more concerned with interpersonal drama and clout than anything else - although it's probably fair to say that was always true to some degree and I was simply ignorant of it as a kid. I do have a lot of fond memories of this site, but you're better off keeping a safe distance these days.

An entry that isn't technically an MMO, but everybody treats it like one so I'm just gonna roll with it. Honestly, its gameplay structure is genius and it is absolutely oozing with that turn-of-the-millennium Sega charm. I played it with a few good friends back in the day and still have fond memories of it. Yeah, it hasn't aged especially well, but it is very much a pick-up-and-play kind of loot-grindy experience, and thus it's no shock to me that people are still running popular private servers for it to this day.

Another MMO that I played with a few friends back in the day, and one that I had no particular interest in otherwise. As a general rule, any game that makes a point of showing off its main heroine's jiggle physics within moments of the tutorial starting isn't one that's likely to grab me. But it does have some genuinely interesting systems, with strange rock-paper-scissors stance-based combat and an "aging" mechanic that asks you to rebirth your character on the regular to make them stronger. Not to mention the weird food mechanics that I didn't understand leading to my twiggy elf archer to developing a pot-belly... It's a weird game. And while it would have been pretty easy for me to write it off as just another MTX-laden anime fantasy deal, it did have some fun stuff going on in the background. When I joined up, the latest story beat was basically an over-the-top retelling of the Romeo and Juliet - I had absolutely no idea what was going on in those quests, but I have to give them props for trying something wacky like that. I came back to it just to nose around for a few and immediately uninstalled when I saw that they'd implemented a gacha system. The game's cute, but cute is all it is by today's standards.

Don't have a lot to say about this one - it was another tickbox turning my "exploratory" phase of MMOs, trying to install anything and everything free to see if a game was worth a damn. Fiesta decidedly wasn't, though I did like how colorful it was. The fact I can't remember anything else about it says a lot.

I barely played this game at all. I had it briefly installed on my aunts PC when I was desperate to play any kind of MMO while on a vacation. It was an absolute pain in the ass to get running, as I recall. But hey, the sprite work was kind of nice.

World of Warcraft wasn't something I was able to play as a child. The fact that it required an initial purchase plus a subscription to play meant it was firmly out of my reach - not that I think most of my childhood computers would have been able to run it well anyways. I finally got around to it as a teen, and I was immediately sucked in by how seamless the world felt and how alive it was with regards to player activity and interaction. I still think these are two of contemporary WoW's biggest strengths; the lack of "gates" makes the world feel much more immersive and being as famous as it is, there are never not people playing it. While I did have a lot of fun in the short time I spent with it, I think its legacy and wealth of content was a bit too daunting for me to really dive into. Seeing how modern day Blizzard tends to treat its games and playerbase, I think I probably dodged a bullet by not getting too invested.

Imagine does a fantastic job of translating the Shin Megami Tensei experience to an MMO format, at least with regards to thematics and its core mechanics. In practice, its timing-based combat, poor dungeon design and slow gameplay speed leave a lot to be desired, to say nothing of the microtransactions and grindiness that is standard for its genre. It's very rough around the edges and not a lot of fun to play, but there aren't a lot of MMOs out there like it in terms of aesthetics, which I presume is why (aside from the general tenacity of die-hard SMT fans) it still has active private servers to this day.

An experiment by Sony that was admittedly pretty cool even if its business model was an unfortunate sign of things to come. If you'd like to read more of my thoughts on it, click here.

I remember seeing tons of ads for ToonTown along with stuff like Wizard 101 and Pirates of the Caribbean Online. I always thought it looked kind of neat but for some strange reason I just never went out of my way to give it a try. At some point, though - presumably on a rainy day with nothing else to do - I gave in and installed it. I love the style of this game and I think its interpretation of your typical turn-based JRPG combat is just simple enough to be pleasing in a mellow sort of way. I can't say that it really stuck with me, though - for as nifty as it was in some ways, I just think it was lacking in overall staying power.

No, this isn't an MMO in any context, but the social aspect of TF2 is so important to its identity that I would be a fool to exclude it from this list. The kinds of shenanigans players get up to when they're not sweating up a storm trying to shoot each other have provided some of the most comedic moments in any game I've ever experienced. There's a strange sort of link TF2 players share where they can often express emotions without even needing to say a word. Those who have spent many hours with it just develop a certain "body language" and can easily read other's intentions. Team Fortress 2 at times really feels like you're living in a cartoon, and I absolutely adore it for that, even for as hilariously toxic of an environment it can be at times.

Ah, Elite, my darling, how I love you... And how I hate you. I've already written a review summarizing my general feelings about the game, but I'll reiterate the core of it here: Dangerous' model of our galaxy, its background narrative, its ship design and flight model are all cool as hell. There is no greater pleasure than picking from your garage of customized ships and setting out with a singular goal in mind for the day, one which you have complete freedom in accomplishing. Unfortunately, the systems surrounding all of it are painfully droll and uninspired, and require an unreasonable amount of investment on your part to get to all the fun stuff. I still think there's really nothing else out there quite like Elite: Dangerous (save for perhaps Star Citizen, but that's its own can of worms) and if you love flight sims, space sims, or just like super open-ended sandbox gameplay, I think it may still be worth a try. I still play every now and again... When I can be bothered to set up my HOTAS.

Well, this is the big one. The game that basically swallowed up a few years of my life. I don't want to get super deep into it; I'll write a proper review one day and save my big story for it. To me, XIV's biggest strength is hands-down its accessibility and its willingness to do away with some (though only some) of the most annoying aspects of the MMO experience. I think what I appreciate most is the ability to experience every job on a single character, which is a boon all the sweeter when you realize it means you don't have to power through XIV's absolutely gargantuan main story again just to try something new. At the end of the day, the core gameplay loop is very stale and the lack of things like skill trees or unique equipment means that after a while I had completely turned my brain off playing it. Dungeons all run together and every big set of side content tends to just be rehashed from the previous. It's honestly a pretty boring game if you're not interested in the narrative... But it's pretty, it lets you play dress up, and the world and lore are very imaginative even for as often as it pulls from other aspects of the broader Final Fantasy mythos. I met a lot of cool people playing it and even though I can't justify pouring money into it anymore - especially since I know the game will never make any meaningful changes to its dullest aspects - I still poke my head every now and again just to see how the realm fares. I will always love this game even if I have a hard time recommending it to anybody.

Yes, it's old and clunky and not especially pretty, but this is a Final Fantasy MMO that feels like Final Fantasy. The world is expansive and its systems are great, and the fact I can play it effectively with just a keyboard is very refreshing. And people were playing this on the PS2! Both XIV and XI get mad props from me for being perfectly parse-able on consoles, which is something I feel like a lot of other devs just don't see the value in even attempting. It's one of the coolest MMOs of all time for me, and I have never had a greater sensation of FOMO than trying this out as an adult and realizing what I was missing out on as a kid. C'est la vie and all that, but I think this would easily be one of my favorite games of all time if I could have played it in its heyday.

Never played the original MapleStory, but I got roped into the sequel by a few friends and spent a decent number of hours with it. Pro: The customization features on offer were actually really cool and let you develop a very unique style for your character. Con: This was naturally weighed down by an absolutely abhorrent monetization system, which is probably no shocker if you have any familiarity with Nexon. Otherwise, it looked cute, the music was pretty catchy and the gameplay, while mind-numbingly simple, was at least kind of fun in a button-mashy hack-and-slash kind of way. I wish I could say I'm surprised it died, but I'm not. A shame - if it had been treated right, it could have at least been a fun hangout space.

For all the weird, free online stuff I fooled around with as a youngun, I never actually got around to Club Penguin. I think it seemed a bit too "kiddy", even for me. But when I heard the original was closing down, I got this kind of strange tinge of sadness that a piece of history might be lost to me altogether. When I heard fans were resurrecting the game I made a point of giving it a go. And it's very obvious to me now how it could have accrued such a dedicated following. It's cheesy and goofy in all of the right ways, and absolutely drowning in activities to keep you bouncing from spot to spot. It's a shame I never got to watch it grow back when it was new, but I am happy to see how many people are still keeping the dream alive... In spite of how happy Disney is to try and kill it. Fuck you, Disney.

Never played GMod Tower so I have no frame of reference for how this standalone version stacks up. I will say I think it's an excellent little package, with plenty of diversions and ways to hang out with others. The fact that it's a one-time purchase is great and I hope that model never comes back to bite the devs in the ass. I also appreciate the Steam Workshop integration and all the customizable items, as I've seen some players put together authentically remarkable creations using them. With all that being said, the general vibe of the game is just kind of... Off. Most players don't really seem to interact and the interactions I do hear aren't always the most friendly. That's not the game's fault, and while I'm not going to delve into my philosophies regarding how prolonged time spent within these kinds of spaces can affect people I do get the impression some of Tower Unite's most avid players probably don't have a whole lot going on outside of it. Still, I love the concept on display here and I hope the devs can slap together a sizeable update sometime soon that will pump some new blood into it.

Just a little wizard-themed online chat space that the dev really doesn't seem to have any interest in updating. But it is cute, and I met some fun people there, so it's fine. I do kind of miss how stuff like Wiz Mud used to be everywhere, with another weird and quirky 3D chatroom type deal cropping up every other month. Honestly, I wish the creator would pick this back up - it scratches a very particular itch and I'm sure a lot of people would pile onto it if it wasn't such an anemic experience.