Every time I write an article on MMOs, I get two emails. One from my editor-in-chief, and one from my copy editor. Both of them tell me to explain what an MMO (massively multiplayer online game) is, in the off-chance some of our readers really do live under a rock. PoetCode, the creator of Dynasty of the Magi MMO for the iPad, has provided a handy crash course guide to all things MMO so that, hopefully, one day we can safely assume you all know what it means.
You’ll find the infographic below, complete with sales data and an MMO jargon glossary. MMOs stem from MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) such as EverQuest and World of Warcraft, but they have branched off to include first-person shooters such as Planetside and vehicular action games such as World of Tanks, all with persistent world elements and hundreds or even thousands of players sharing a single server simultaneously.
Top image: Idiot Nerd Girl via Quickmeme