My votes go towards:

Past: Asheron's Call - Darktide

Present: Guild Wars

Future: Darkfall

Past:  UO all the way man!

Present:  Current games have PvP?

Future:  You know the one.

Ok I just felt like posting.  UO with all its flaws had a real sense of danger when you ran into ruthless players out in the wilds.  It was pretty easy to avoid them if you were alert but it was easy to get killed too.  It just kept you on your toes.

Past: UO

Present: UO

Future: WAR hopefully .. but probably UO.

UO... end debate! best pvp ever

current...ummm

Future, all depends on whats realy vapor and whats not.

   agreed Past ..UO

                 Presesnt UO

                 lol future will probably sadly be UO

                 Always was a great sense of danger in the UO world really wish some of the current developers would look at this system closely and pull all the good out of it .

Past: Old School Dark Age of Camelot

Current: None really

Future: Dunno.  It's up in the air. 

There is a difference between what hardcore players call pvp, and what pvp players call pvp. For hardcore players, pvp is just the risk to loose the items you spend weeks and months to acquire. The feeling of danger and anxiety resulting is what they call pvp. However, the conditions are not fair : gear and level advantage, number advantage (gank), etc... ultimately it is your character who decide of the outcome of the battle, not you. Hence I believe that this isn't what pvp is really about as far as we are talking of interesting gameplay.

Gameplay-wise, Guild Wars is the best for me. I don't need to explain more... it is like playing chess in real time in a fantasy setting. Although hardcore players don't recognize it as pvp because of its cooperative/competitive nature, the excitement comes from the gameplay which reward player skill. There is a real learning curve, and as explained in the new topic I started "Player skill vs Character skill", the feeling of accomplishment comes from this. You have to use your brain to win, and this has nothing to do with the hardcore (i.e. grinding) mentality. Although I didn't play UO, I think that gameplay-wise GuildWars is better.

That being said the next pvp game for me could be Darkfall or Fury. Warhammer Online is interesting too and I will try it to compare its advancement mechanics to WoW, I wonder how they will "fix" faction imbalance. What I am really looking for however is a "pure pvp" game, with a ladder and a good matching system (similar player skill), competitiveness at a pro level to enjoy the replays, multiplayer or single-player, with a good interface (no radar, no numbers, no clickfest) good animations with environmental effects, and most importantly "very good balance" with a lot of viable strategies.

Past: UO of course!

Present:  Probably still UO though i haven't played in years.  Shadowbane aside from that.

Future:  Vaporware all the way.  Darkfall and Trials of Ascention.  2 games we'll likely never see but who have the best PvP gameplay since UO.

Past: Played UO, still gonna have to say original DAoC

Present: It all sucks. Default is Guild Wars, I suppose.

Future: WAR = Original DAoC

If WAR is done right, it will bring RvR back onto the main stage. If not, there's always hope Darkfall will move past the vaporware stage. Haven't seen anything else that I'm too hopeful about.

        Old RvR: DAOC

        Current RvR: none

        Future RvR:WAR!!!!!!

as for PvP

I never really played a real PvP game so any way

        Old: I don’t know, I played DAOC

        Current: none, everything requires a PvE grind to do anything

        Future: Darkfall, and who the hell knows when that is coming out.

Past: UO

Present: n/a

Future: n/a

UO is the only game to get pvp right. It was completely skill based when it came down to 1v1 yet it could also be sudden and unfair which led to a constant state of anticipation and excitement. No game has come even slightly close to the old system. When you went out in the woods alone you felt like you needed to be careful, as would make sense in that time era. No matter where you were you did not feel fully safe. Some people didn't like this, some did. But even getting past that, UO had some of the most skill based 1v1 pvp there was. There was no waiting for cooldowns or anything, it was all smart thinking and timing along with quick hands and reaction that made you win.

Im saddenend that no one mentioned shadowbane. I cant even think of another MMO like it. Its got the best pvp of any game period.

Originally posted by deucallion

Past: UO of course!

Present:  Probably still UO though i haven't played in years.  Shadowbane aside from that.

Future:  Vaporware all the way.  Darkfall and Trials of Ascention.  2 games we'll likely never see but who have the best PvP gameplay since UO.

Thanks for mentioning Trials of ascencion, this game is the closest I have ever seen to my actual design. Skill synergy (sub-skills), innovation (skill creation), non-humanoid races, permadeath, religion, communication. I am so excited about these features, I want to help them find money to finish the game... By the way do any of you guys know another good vaporware ?

Past: Ultima Online

Present: Shadowbane,  if they have any servers left. or DAOC probably.

Future: Time will tell.

Very VERY interesting.  A healthy majority citing UO!  

I have often thought about that sense of danger and excitement in UO.  It is the closest I ever felt to that real feeling of adventure in an MMORPG (in single player I recall fondly U7, ahh).  And it was one of the earliest MMOs out there.  Since then do any of you feel that we have been in a steady and obvious backward slide?  If only we could go back to UO where things were off to a good start and begin again down another path what would games be like today.

That feeling of meaningful danger, not just the fear of loosing stuff you worked countless hours to get, but the feeling of I DON'T WANT THAT GUY TO GET ME, that is what we are missing. 

It is always in the back of my mind as I work out my design.  Maybe I should change forging to re-forging, ha!

UO and Starport

UO, AC1 darktide, Shadowbane, EVE.

Those have pretty much been the only relevant true PvP games past and present. DAoC probably the best RvR with WAR looking like it will be strong RvR too.

Past: DAOC pre-NF and pre-TOA

Present:  meh

Future: WAR hopefully

Past: too young to know.

Present: Hands down, Guild Wars.

Future: maybe TR though I doubt. Maybe WAR