Once again, the best MMORPGs go head-to-head to determine the number one MMORPG of the Year. In the MMORPG Showdown and MMORPG Showdown 2, Guild Wars managed to come out on top. This year there are several new games due to a few major releases like Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, and Pirates of the Burning Sea. Will Guild Wars finally be beaten by a newcomer or another free MMORPG or is it possible that will Guild Wars make it three straight?

Past MMORPGs

Quite a few MMORPGs that competed in a previous Showdown did not make it this year such as Final Fantasy XI, Dark Ages of Camelot, City of Heroes/Villains, and EverQuest 2. All these games are still very solid, but we have a hard time seeing any of them going far in the tournament based on how they fared in past tournaments.

The Tournament

GameOgre.com will have 16 of the top MMORPGs square off against each other in battles to the death in order to determine the MMORPG champ. The winning MMORPG will also be the MMORPG of the Year at GameOgre.com's 2008 Online Game Awards. Since the goal is to find only one winner, Free MMORPGs and Pay-to-Play MMORPGs will be able to go head-to-head with each other. This tournament will also be a major factor in determining the Best Free MMORPG of the Year. 

The Rules

MMORPGs will face each other until only one game is left. You will be able to vote and leave comments for each game on special pages solely dedicated to this tournament. For example, you can leave a 10 for the game you love and then a 0 for the game you hate. This is a battle after all! The game with the highest total score at the end of each week will move on. Comments that capture the spirit of the battle without bad language and overuse of caps will be displayed in the results article at the end of the week. Tiebreakers will be decided via voting in our MMORPG Forum. 

The Competitors

Guild Wars - Last year's winner and GameOgre.com's Online Game of the Year for 2006. Guild Wars Nightfall is one of the highest ranked games on GameOgre.

World of Warcraft - World's most popular MMORPG with one highly successful expansion and another on the way. Was the runner-up in the first tournament. 

Runescape - Popular free MMO that continues to be one of the most loved and hated games on the entire Internet. 

Eve Online - Continues to be one of the strong pay-to-play MMOs.

Maple Story - Free MMORPG that looks more like a console game than a popular MMO. Managed to pull off a mild upset by beating RuneScape last year.

Lord of the Rings Online - Has become one of the best pay-to-play MMOs in the last 2 years.

Sword of the New World - Has become a major player in the free MMORPG genre over the past year with great graphics.

Warhammer Online - Major MMORPG that has woven Pvp expertly around a great game.

Age of Conan - Brutal MMO with an innovative combat system. Started out strong but has ran into problems due to lack of content after the starter area.

Perfect World - One of the best reviewed games on GameOgre and the winner of the first annual Online Game Battle Tournament in the forums.

Pirates of the Burning Sea - The best pirate-themed MMORPG in an increasingly crowded sub-genre.

Dungeon Runners - Humorous take on MMOs like World of Warcraft that has developed into a fun MMO itself.

Silkroad Online - A leading free MMORPG.

Tibia - Like RuneScape, does not have the best graphics but remains a very popular free MMORPG.

 

AQ Worlds - Browser MMO from the makers of such games as AdventureQuest, DragonFable, and MechQuest.

 

Rappelz - One of the first free MMORPGs to offer the type of gameplay that is found in Pay-to-play MMORPGs like World of Warcraft.

 

First Round Match-Ups

World of Warcraft vs. Warhammer Online - Forum Discussion

Age of Conan vs. Lord of the Rings Online - Forum Discussion

Tibia vs. Maple Story - Forum Discussion

Perfect World vs. Silkroad Online - Forum Discussion

Guild Wars vs. Dungeon Runners - Forum Discussion

Pirates of the Burning Sea vs. Eve Online - Tiebreaker: Forum Discussion

Rappelz vs. Sword of the New World - Tiebreaker: Forum Discussion

RuneScape vs. AQ Worlds - Forum Discussion

Second Round Match-Ups

World of Warcraft vs. Perfect World - Forum Discussion

RuneScape vs. Maple Story - Forum Discussion

Guild Wars vs. Sword of the New World - Forum Discussion

Eve Online vs. Lord of the Rings Online - Forum Discussion

Semi-Finals

World of Warcraft vs. RuneScape - Forum Discussion

Guild Wars vs. Lord of the Rings Online - Forum Discussion

MMORPG Showdown 3 Final

RuneScape vs. Guild Wars - Tiebreaker: Forum Discussion