Adventure Games.

World of Warcraft, people. Seriously. There's a reason it draws people in of all ages; the interface and gameplay are both simple and compelling, the game is balanced for both group and solo play, your enemies can be both computer-controlled NPC's and other players, the gameworld is vast, sprawling, pictureseque, and seamless (almost no zone loading screens), and its stylized graphics give an incredible sense of immersion without requiring top-of-the-line PC hardware. (It helps to have a lot of memory, though.)There's few gaming experiences I've had that are as truly rewarding as sitting astride your sabertooth tiger mount, charging down a snow-covered hillside in Alterac Valley into the thick of battle with dozens of your teammates at your side. Awesome.Look me up on the Ursin server, if you decide to play a character from the Horde. I'm "Fallowblade".

Did we play the same game? Did you play on one of the servers specifically dedicated to role-playing? Did you delve into any of the instances, where problem-solving and puzzling are required to make it out alive?Granted, I haven't played all that many MMO games, but I was orignally - and still am - astounded by a number of WOW's really obvious innovations, like weapons that don't disappear when you put them away, and mounts you can ride. Maybe that stuff is in the other games, but coming from solo RPG play (like NWN), that stuff blew my mind. It's so obvious and it improves immersion a hundred-fold.I hear you about the grind but it's the funnest grind I've ever played. And honestly, as perverse as it sounds, the real game doesn't even begin until you hit 60. It's like a 60-level tutorial on how to play your class, to get you ready for battlefields and the high-end instances. Eh, I tried it in the beta; had some fun with a Necro/Elementalist, and it is indeed fun to run around as a goth, but I don't like the way they set up their servers. I play WOW with a bunch of my buddies and, as long as we're all on the same server, we don't have to worry about zoning into the right shard or whatever; we're in the same world, always.