Long before the average PC had any sort of graphical capabilities, text based mmorpg games were played on university LANs over super slow dial-up connections. Commonly known as MUDs (multi-user dungeons), many of these text-based web games have been altered for play over the Internet via a MUD client, or most recently, a web browser.

A poor internet connection has very little affect on game play, and they can handle huge numbers of concurrent users, often referred to as Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). This is largely due to the fact that most text based RPGs have little or no graphics.

Another advantage to text based rpg games is that they have much lower system requirements than graphical games, enabling them to be played on pretty much any computer connected to the Internet. People are now playing them on modern handheld devices and mobile phones.

Every text based browser game worth its salt will have the power to build a character, increase their status, equipment, weaponary, trade items etc, and complete tasks in the game. With a huge number of new games popping-up over recent years, competition is stiff, players expectations are generally higher and building a successful text-based web game requires time, effort, regular feature updates and lots of caffeine. The best text MMORPGs are hugely addictive and retain loyal players for months, and sometimes, years.

Facebook observed the attraction in text-based mmorpg games and has recently launched Mafia Wars, Farmville and Frontierville, produced by Zynga. Although much more graphical than traditional text based rpg games, under the bonnet, they are almost identical to the majority of other text based mmorpg games.

Torn City is a hugely popular text based MMORPG which has been live for over 6 years. A great place to start experimenting with text based browser games.

Students played text-based MMORPGs many years ago on college networks over very slow dial-up connections.

A poor web connection has very little affect on playability, and can also handle large numbers of users, often referred to as MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). This is largely due to the fact that most text-based web games have very few graphics.

Another advantage to text-based browser games is the ability to play them on, pretty much, any computer connected to the Internet, due to their low system requirements compared to graphical games. Many serious gamers also play them on handheld gadgets and wap enabled mobile cell phones.

Every text based browser game worth its salt will have the power to create an in-game character, improve their skills, health, wealth, items, status etc, and complete tasks in the game. With so much competition, players expectations are generally higher and developing a successful text-based web game involves time, effort and constant feature updates. The best text rpg games are addictive and keep players loyal for many months or years.

Facebook observed the appeal in text-based MMORPGs and launched Mafia Wars, Farmville and Frontierville, produced by Zynga. Although Zynga’s games are more graphical than the original text based web games, the game play is almost identical to the majority of other text-based web games.

Take a look at Torn, Mafia Wars, Frontierville or many others, if you fancy giving text-based rpg games a try.

Football Superstars holds a massively multi-player online football Wold Cup; this year’s champions became the England football team, who in the real world barely managed to get out of the group stages and were stopped by Germany 4-1 – in the virtual world, they took home the cup. The virtual German v England match took place in the group stages, with the virtual team managing to finish with a 1-1 draw, a much better result than the 4-1 loss in South Africa. The German team failed to recover from the loss and saw themselves out of the tournament in the group stages after being unable to best the Ukraine, losing 2-1 in a close match. In order to get to the Semi Finals, England were forced to face Portugal, a team they now have a history with – because of earlier questionable actions in matches, England were feeling good thanks to the 9-1 win over Lithuania in the Quarter Finals. England headed off adequately and went on the offensive; the game was decided in the midfield where England managed to hold onto the ball for longer than the Portuguese, eventually creating more opportunities and scoring 4 goals, while only letting in 2 themselves. The score ended 4-2, and England headed to the final. The final was wish Russia and went over well for the English; in less than one minute, a goal was ripped from the Russians without much of a defense. The Russian team fast retaliated, knowing they needed to equalize quickly to be within a shot, and so they did. Scoring a goal from an interception after a bad clearance by the England keeper, the Russians became even; however, it was short-lived, as an almost identical goal was scored by the England team at the other end. Though Russia did their best to get back in the game and had some promising counter attacks, the end result went England’s way as they managed to land a number of goals. The Russian team showed a lot of energy, but were simply out matched and seemed unable to muster the energy needed to turn the game around. In the end, after a grueling game, the final whistle blew, and for the first time, England were the World Cup Winners for the Football Superstars MMO fantasy football games. Commenting on the event Andre Ruddick the CyberSports Community Manager labelled it a huge success, thanks to the fervor of all those involved and the great organization from each team. It had been the most substantial event hosted to date by Football Superstars. He stopped things by thanking everybody taking part in the event and congratulated the England team for the fantastic level of play they had shown throughout the tournament. There might be another World Cup tournament later on this year.

Antonius Meyer is a lead commentator on England world cup winners and continues expressing his thoughts and opinions for the past 10 years.