The MMO Hall of Fame was created to recognize massively multiplayer online games from 1996 on up for bringing "years of excitement to millions of fans". Which games made it into the inaugural class of 2012?
Those first three come as absolutely no surprise to anyone. Ultima Online put MMOs on the map. EverQuest took the ball from UO and ran with it, and then World of Warcraft came along, casting it's shadow over the entire world and making it terribly difficult for any other game to get any ball running done. So those three getting 100, 70, and 80 percent votes makes sense.
What other games made the cut? With 60 percent votes each, NCsoft's Lineage and CCP's EVE Online round out the list of inaugural inductees.
"The voting committee did a superb job of selecting the best of the best in MMOs," said Doug Kale, museum director of the online MMO Hall of Fame in a press release this morning. "It was a well-rounded group that recognized the games that have set standards. Congratulations to the winners!"
The voting committee for the MMO Hall of Fame is made up of a combination of MMO journalists, industry professionals, and the lead vocalist of Blue Oyster Cult, Eric Bloom. Why Eric Bloom? The man's the veteran of a thousand psychic wars; he knows fantasy combat.
You can hit up the MMO Hall of Fame website to see how the rest of the voting played out and soak up the stunning web design of the website, one animated fire GIF away from being older than the games it celebrates.
MMO Hall of Fame [Official Website]