   How many MMORPGs are being completed?
  I find it interesting that there are a lot of questions about MMORPGs being worked on, but I have not seen very many completed projects from indies.  Is it something that people pick up and then drop when they lose steam, or is this just something that isn't well advertised on the net?  I've seen a handful of completed projects in banners (one such is on the gamedev site now) but overall I haven't seen very much out there.I don't want to hear about in-progress work here (unless it's at version 1.0, has been distributed already, and you're just working on patches.)  What I'm looking for is a list of completed projects people have done, and, as well, a list of projects people have completely dropped.Basically if I could get a show of hands for who's attempted and finished one and also people who have not finished and will not.  Again, please don't mention in-progress work because there is plenty of that to see by browsing the forums (that's a good thing, not a bad thing.  It just doesn't belong in this topic.)Just to be clear, I'm not trying to shut down anyone or to hurt any feelings or anything like that.  I believe any programming is valuable and experience is priceless.  I am sure that even cancelled projects were worthwhile, I just want to see if there are more MMORPGs out there than I've seen and if the numbers are even close to the number in development.Battlenet style online accessability that works properly can be mentioned too as long as it conforms to my previous statements.   
  Depends on your definition of finished, especially if the game is not released for profit (like many indie MMORPGs). I'd count Eternal Lands as fairly completed although they have staff that continue to add stuff, but the game mechanics are up and they have hundreds of players on at once.;  I don't think these games tend to fall into the 'completed' ideals.  Even Warcraft is putting out patches and new content every few months.  So it depends on what you definition of "completed" is.   It seems that MMORPG has a stigma attached to it and I am not sure why.  Sure there is a lot of stuff and can be a complex system but so is everything else.  The hard part about MMORPG's, I think, is the content and that is why a lot of projects start up and fail.  You can only see programmer art so long before you wonder if you will ever see any good art.  Our project is "in progress" ( sorry ) but we do have an active server with over a 100 people online.  Right now it's just adding onto that base. Here's a link to a ScreenShot thread that some players have posted to that can show some our project. ( Some of the older images might not be available but continue on to the other pages.  )=========Andrew   ;  if mmorpgs aren't always being worked on, they're dead. sure people will play them sometimes but for the most part, they're dead. an mmorpg needs to be continously updated or people won't want to invest their money into them.   ;  Well - given the definition of "up and running with users", you're still going to get very few projects. Already the only two that I can think of have been listed (Eternal Lands and Planeshift).   ;  theres rubies of evertide as wellbut thats depends on what you call "indie", theoricly many mmorpgs were made by (at least initialy) relatively small companies and never had publishers   ;Quote:Original post by M2tMI find it interesting that there are a lot of questions about MMORPGs being worked on, but I have not seen very many completed projects from indies.  Is it something that people pick up and then drop when they lose steam, or is this just something that isn't well advertised on the net?  I've seen a handful of completed projects in banners (one such is on the gamedev site now) but overall I haven't seen very much out there.Projects on mentioned forums seem to have a large failure rate as they lose steam and never get finished - this isn't a problem exclusive to MMORPGS. However, with a MMORPG the biggest problem is that people don't understand how difficult one is to make.First, you have assemble and be able to work with a team. I would guess that most people saying they are working on a MMORPG never actually get this far.Second, you're going to need a decent sized team. While you might be able to get away with just one programmer, you probably need more. Don't forget the artists, world designers, etc. To truly make a massive game you're going to need an incredible amount of content.Third, at the minimum you need money for a server, bandwidth, and possibly to pay the salaries of the team (unless you can get people to work for free), and other costs. It all adds up. An indie may not be trying to create the next World of Warcraft, but don't forget that WoW apparently had a development budget larger than $40 million.   ;  Minions of Mirth was just released.  I haven't tried it yet, but its an mmorpg that was created by 2 indie developers using torque.  I believe you can also play single player or start your own server.Minions of Mirth Link