Racing MMOs combine competitive elements from sports games with classic game mechanics. They can involve cars, real sports, air or space racing, or be completely fantastical. Players compete for titles and character customizations, and some games involve combat or strategy.
Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) with a racing theme tend to be a very specific game genre that takes some competitive elements from sports games and combines them with a variety of other classic game mechanics. Many racing MMOs involve cars, in one form or another, and a variety of race tracks for players to compete on. Some racing MMOs are based on competitive versions of real sports, such as skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, or boating. Less common are air or space racing games where players fly around obstacles. Some racing MMOs are completely awesome in nature, allowing whichever avatar the player has chosen to race through the world, competing with other players, and sometimes involving elements of combat or strategy.
The most common racing MMOs involve players driving cars modeled after real-world models and racing each other around different race tracks or through different environments in match-based gameplay. Games can use online persistent servers to store racing data, or they can be match-based extensions of single-player games with no persistent data. In a persistent racing world, players usually strive to collect items that can improve their vehicle’s performance or to earn other rewards or medals as a symbol of prowess. These types of games generally lack combat elements and usually stay grounded in real-world physics and mechanics.
Some types of racing MMOs take real-world sports, or approximations of those sports, and convert them into multiplayer racing games. Many events, such as snowboarding, skiing, and swimming, are all competitively modeled for the players of these games. Players often compete, both for titles and for character customizations that make their in-game avatars more unique. In some cases, sports have fantasy elements, such as rockets, implemented to give players a wider range of racing options and strategies.
A handful of racing MMOs offer players full freedom of movement in air or space racing scenarios. These games mostly involve real or imagined vehicles racing through obstacle courses floating in the sky. Some of these types of games have official real-world gaming leagues with playoffs happening on a periodic basis.
Some racing MMOs don’t attempt to model any sport, technology, or real-world situation and instead are completely fantastical. These games may allow players to have a variety of avatars, while the race itself might involve combat, puzzle solving, or real-time strategy. In a persistent game world, some racing MMOs only include racing as a subset of the activities available to players.
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