I like MMORPGs, but what makes them hard for me to stick to is that weeks or days after playing, I'm still a nobody like I was when I started off. Many MMORPGs say you leave your mark on the world, but really, you're just doing what everyone else is doing. I need a MMORPG which isn't so much about doing quests which everyone arround you is also doing, but more about being a character, in other words, actually making an impact on the world. Guild Wars 2 sounds like the type of game I'm looking for, but that doesn't come out for a few months. I need something that's already out and free-to-play. I need a game where it isn't just online so you can socialise and form guilds and groups. I need something that's online because your actions actually affect the world of other players. I know what I'm asking for might sound a bit to much, but surly I'm not the only one to come up with something like this!

GW2 is not what you are looking for. You are looking for ArcheAge.

Sounds more like the details of a MUD rather than a MMORPG.

EVE is what you might be looking for, but it's not free to play (at least at first) and it takes far more than months to make your mark.

wakfu

MMORPGs don't offer what you're looking for.  Try looking towards other online games that aren't so massive.  The mere fact that MMORPGs are designed for massive amounts of people tends to limit what developers can deliver for dynamic content.

Have you played Minecraft on any multiplayer servers?  It may be hard to find a server that you like, but you can definitely make your mark in the world in that game.  Beware of rules and respect others' property if you do play it.

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Originally posted by Lightman9000
I like MMORPGs, but what makes them hard for me to stick to is that weeks or days after playing, I'm still a nobody like I was when I started off. Many MMORPGs say you leave your mark on the world, but really, you're just doing what everyone else is doing. I need a MMORPG which isn't so much about doing quests which everyone arround you is also doing, but more about being a character, in other words, actually making an impact on the world. Guild Wars 2 sounds like the type of game I'm looking for, but that doesn't come out for a few months. I need something that's already out and free-to-play. I need a game where it isn't just online so you can socialise and form guilds and groups. I need something that's online because your actions actually affect the world of other players. I know what I'm asking for might sound a bit to much, but surly I'm not the only one to come up with something like this!

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Very needful person aren't ya eh? Well you're choices are going to be very limited bc of that f2p mentality you seem to be hinting, however, I'd suggest that you try Wurm Online, even ArcheAge if you know how to bypass their Korean cb registration.

I will attest for Wurm Online, as you can visibly *see* the ruins left by previous players, and the ever-extending work by long-time and current ones. You leave a serious mark on the world.

To a lesser extent, Mortal Online, because you can become a power player in economics, politics and PvP depending on the situation. In most cases, you will need an uber-alliance to deal with another uber-alliance... but clout is clout. A person *can* get by solo if he knows how to deal with people better than most (or how to take advantage of them).

Eve Online *seems* like the type, but I can attest that as a long time player you have a high probability of leaving zero marks on the game world. It's a game about player-corporations... and completely obliterating the competition. Stopped playing when a PvE mission-running corp I started with some friends got ransomed and camped 24-hours a day for a week. Not a fun game when you are outgunned by people with an incredible amount of time to wait for you to stick your head outside a station. Borderline pathetic, but at least I can understand the draw to that kind of playstyle.

~None of these are truly F2P, because allowing that much of a change to a gameworld by players with ZERO barrier to entry = utter chaos. They can't survive as an F2P game, because they are already open enough to abuse, which is exacerbated by multiple free acounts, mutli-boxing, no fear of bans because of zero monetary investment in the product, etc... but perhaps this is exactly why the OP wants a F2P game like this. Hmm?

Originally posted by pierth

Sounds more like the details of a MUD rather than a MMORPG.

Im going to echo this sentiment. MUDs have a lot of what OP wants. Check out TopMudSites.com and give a few of the ones at the top a try. Or the ones listed here @ mmorpg

Well thanks for your ideas. I've started playing Wurm Online, and it seems pretty good so far. Research I've done on Mortal Online shows it has mixed reception, but I'll give it ago. Keep posting any other games you think meet the critera for other people to find or if I change my mind about either or both games.

Dont want to be rude but why should you be any more of an important person in an MMO than any of the other thousands of players and/or NPC's that are vital to the story?

In most MMO's your an "elite" soldier, you still have your commanders and some minor changes you may be able to influence but in reality if you want to be the focus of your gaming experience you're playing the wrong genre.

You become "special" when you accomplish e-feats that few others have....

Originally posted by potbellyrhi

Dont want to be rude but why should you be any more of an important person in an MMO than any of the other thousands of players and/or NPC's that are vital to the story?

In most MMO's your an "elite" soldier, you still have your commanders and some minor changes you may be able to influence but in reality if you want to be the focus of your gaming experience you're playing the wrong genre.

You become "special" when you accomplish e-feats that few others have....

What do you mean "vital to the story"? The thing is, in most MMORPGs, the story is driven by quests and expainsions added by the game's creators rather than the actions of the players. The reason I'm interested in Guild Wars 2 is because you have your own unique story rather than a story driven by the quests everyone else is playing.

sounds like swtor

Honestly, it does sound exactly liek the swtor hype from pre-release, in the end you cant make everyone in an MMORPG the single point of success or failure without breaking emmersion or making it  co-op single player game. You may end up being the hero or YOUR part of the story but it won't be you saving the world kinda thing =/

Just trying to help out sorry if it came off as smug.

Just to add my 2 cents. Story =/= lore. The older MMORPGs had a ton of lore and let you truely RP your own story even in themepark mode. Now story is just fed to you whether your the main hero (swtor) or an integral part of the world. IMO everyone wants different "stories" out of their MMO's to tie a character down to a specific series of event that dictates to the driver of that character why he/she is special takes away from the MMO experience.

But like i said my 2cents =)

making a difference in the world is more or less domain of players in indie sanboxes (wurm, xsyon, haven & hearth ....) but i would say the only game where players could really make a difference (by which i mean advance the world) was horizons (istaria) when it was released - player actions where opening new areas, unlocking new races etc.

edit: typos

Originally posted by Benedikt

i would say the only game which where players could really make a difference (by which i mean advance the world) was horizons (istaria) when it was released - player actions where opening new areas, unlocking new races etc.

Mabinogi had the same thing, where players could open routes to new areas that leave a marker saying who did it. Sadly, I've only seen about a dozen of these spots in the game, some opened by the same guy, and years before I even started playing. The books explaining how to open the paths are still on vendors and now serve absolutely no use... beyond making that which I missed out on much more concrete. Stupid...

As others have said the only ones out there where you can really change anything in the world are the sandbox type indie games..

These you can actually physically change the world

Wurm online - free to play

Xyson - p2p

There are other Sandbox games out there i guess like Darkfall and Mortal Online but you are limited to what can be done, but i guess the main changes made by people are done via the big guilds controlling different areas of the open worlds..

GW2 does not really come close to provising what you want.

Let me just clarify why I chose Guild Wars 2 as an example:

In most MMORPGs, if there's a village in distress, you're given quests to supposedly help it, but in reality does nothing to the village.

In most MMORPGs, when you're told monsters could be a threat and you're the only one who can stop them, the mosters are actually just patroling one area and it makes no difference to anywhere if you kill them or not.

Guild Wars 2 has promised to make events actually happen in the game and be preventable rather than just be quests which don't matter to the world, they only matter to leveling up your character.

Originally posted by Lightman9000

 

Let me just clarify why I chose Guild Wars 2 as an example:

In most MMORPGs, if there's a village in distress, you're given quests to supposedly help it, but in reality does nothing to the village.

In most MMORPGs, when you're told monsters could be a threat and you're the only one who can stop them, the mosters are actually just patroling one area and it makes no difference to anywhere if you kill them or not.

Guild Wars 2 has promised to make events actually happen in the game and be preventable rather than just be quests which don't matter to the world, they only matter to leveling up your character.

yeah and thats the main reason why i am eager to play gw2 - only problem is, that it is not a pernament change - event are cyclical, after some time (after couple of events) it will more or less go into same state it was before