A new survey of online players conducted by the NPD Group has revealed some interesting developments as far as what MMOs gamers are playing.

NPD surveyed 19,000 gamers (68% male vs 32% female) and found that  Dungeons & Dragons Online has replaced Guild Wars as the third most popular MMO. World of Warcraft is of course king at 30%, and RuneScape comes in second at 10%. For the past two years Guild Wars has been in the #3 spot, but Dungeons & Dragons Online edged out ArenaNet's CORPG by 1% in this year's survey.

DDO has also enjoyed a surge in popularity when the NPD asked what former WoW players were playing, knocking Guild Wars out once again and becoming the second most popular choice behind RuneScape.  The number of former WoW players playing DDO has more than doubled since 2008, and most gamers probably won't be surprised to know why DDO has enjoyed the surge in popularity. As it would turn out, the popularity of the traditional subscription model has declined sharply, from 30% in 2008 as the preferred model, to just 18% this year, while the free-to-play model is on the rise. DDO gets to have their cake and eat it too as they offer both.

via Massively.

[Thanks Cecropia for the tip!]