Role Playing Games, or RPG's, started to become popular in the 1970's from the creative minds of Gary Gygax and David Arneson in the form of Dungeon's & Dragon's. This phenomenon slowly set the stage for the Virtual RPG's that we have come to know today. But what makes one better than the other?

While the traditional style of Dungeon's & Dragon's is still played, most RPG's are in the form of a video game.

Whether it is played on a home computer or on a console, the story is designed to whisk you away to another land or time as a character that you literally "role play". You may be a janitor, a teacher, or a doctor in real life, but while playing a RPG, you can become a knight, a sorcerer, an elf, or even a Jedi!

Single Player Role Playing Games

If you have never played an RPG before, this may be the way to start. While massive multi-player online role playing games, or MMORPG's, give you the best experience by interacting with other people, single player games are a good way to get used to the idea of playing a character in first person. Plus, the story doesn't continue until you say it does, unlike playing online. You still interact with other characters; however, they are controlled by the computer.

One of the most important aspects of a single player RPG is the story-line. If you don't like it, playing a character hours upon end will become extremely boring, and not worth the time. Most have a theme setting centralized around a distant planet on a far-off galaxy or another place in time right here on Earth. To say one is better than another is completely by personal opinion and needs to be decided by what theme you would most enjoy playing.

The Top 10 Single Player RPG Series*

1. Final Fantasy
2. The Legend of Zelda
3. Secret of Mana
4. The Elder Scrolls
5. Fire Emblem
6. Baldur's Gate I & II (video game version of a Dungeon's & Dragon's campaign)
7. Suikoden I & II
8. Neverwinter Nights I & II
9. Fallout I & II
10. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I & II

Massive Multi-Player Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG)

It's time to get your real-life friends involved, and maybe make a few more as well. With online playing capability, tens-of-thousands of people log-in on a daily basis to melt the stress of everyday life away. And the best part of a MMORPG is, you help create the story-line! Most online games of this nature have a central theme (just like single player games), however unlike regular RPG's, there really is no end.

Usually a monthly cost is involved for playing online, but it is literally pennies on the dollar in comparison to the amount of entertainment one can have. Some companies have even developed spin-offs from the bigger titles that don't charge monthly, but you will still need to purchase the game itself.

The Top 10 MMORPG's*

1. Final Fantasy XI
2. Entropia Universe
3. World of Warcraft
4. Runescape
5. EVE Online
6. Guild Wars (no monthly fee)
7. Maplestory
8. Lineage II
9. Dark Age of Camelot
10. Silkroad Online

Which one is best? That is entirely up to you. With so many different genres and themes, you have plenty of choices to find the one that fits your style of playing. Just beware, once you get hooked, there may be no turning back!

References:

The Top 10 lists were derived from the following web pages and may be different than at the time this article was written:

*http://www.the-top-tens.com/l ists/best-rpg-series-of-all-ti me.asp

and

*http://www.the-top-tens.com/l ists/top-ten-mmorpg-games.asp

Learn more about this author, David Dubrava.
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