Leaderboard: MMO RvR versus FFA PvP

Last month, we did a little post on MMORPG PvP asking about two-faction PvP and whether it was really suited for all the MMO themeparks that seem to jam it in. But there are other types of PvP out there, and today’s Leaderboard will pit them against each other.

In one corner, there’s RvR — realm vs. realm (vs. realm!), and I don’t mean instanced World of Warcraft battlegrounds and largely irrelevant Guild Wars 2 WvW. I mean games built from the ground up to focus on RvR combat: Think Camelot Unchained, Dark Age of Camelot, even Warhammer Online, where the RvR isn’t a tacked on PvP side-game; it’s the game.

In the other corner, there’s FFA PvP — free-for-all PvP. Sometimes pejoratively called gankboxes, these games may or may not allow or encourage actual ganking; they employ different rulesets to govern player behavior, from heavy-handed justice systems to laissez-faire blank slates where players can do whatever they want, but one thing’s usually for sure: There are no predetermined sides. Think classic Ultima Online and games inspired by it, like EVE Online, Darkfall, and Revival.

Let’s say you have to choose a PvP-oriented MMO to play. Which style would it be?

 Loading ...