Massively multiplayer online games are some of the most rewarding games out there, but they require some serious dedication. Unfortunately, that means people burn out, and the games lose players gradually over time. Eventually they can no longer afford to operate and close down.

The genre’s been going for about 20 years now, so which ones are still thriving? Which ones are easy to get into even today?

We’ve collected a list of some of the MMOs that are going strong so you can check them out.

Artwork from the World of Warcraft Legion expansion. Image: blizzard entertainment

World of Warcraft

We might as well start with the elephant in the room. Launched in 2004, World of Warcraft is the granddaddy of the modern MMO. Sure, games like Meridian 59, Ultima Online and EverQuest preceded it, but WoW took the genre to stratospheric popularity for the first time.

At 12 years old, you might be surprised that WoW is still the most popular MMO in Western markets like the United States and Europe, and by quite a large margin.

To date, six major expansions have been released for the game, with the latest, Legion, out this week.

WoW is also more accessible than it’s ever been. Buy the new expansion and you’ll be able to boost right up to level 100 to experience all the new content. But if you want to create a character from scratch, the leveling and gearing experience is easier and more fun than at any time in the game’s history. Features like the Raid Finder mean even the most casual players can enjoy all the content.

It’s unfortunate that the 2014 expansion, Warlords of Draenor, was not as well-received as most of its predecessors. The game is currently at an all-time low in subscribers, but even with that dip, it’s still the most popular Western MMO. But with Legion receiving positive reviews from players, we expect some spikes in those numbers.

WoW is also one of only a few surviving subscription-based MMOs. That means that if you’re turned off by in-game boosts purchased with real items, it’s the biggest, best bastion against that trend. The downside: You’ve got to pay a monthly fee to play. There is a free option, the Starter Edition, but it only gets you so far in the game. You’ll have to upgrade to go past level 20, do anything with a guild or access any expansion content.

The Elder Scrolls Online

I (writing for Mashable) was pretty hard on The Elder Scrolls Online when it launched, and for good reason. The game that came out two years ago was buggy, it had tons of gameplay flow problems, the endgame experience was decidedly unfun and the whole thing lacked the freeform appeal of the franchise that inspired it.

Fortunately, ESO has experienced a turnaround rarely seen in MMOs under its new Creative Director. In 2016, it’s one of the best games out there. The endgame experience has been overhauled, two excellent expansions (Orsinium, The Thieves Guild) and one okay one (The Imperial City) have brought new quests and modes of gameplay to the world of Tamriel, and the whole thing has been fine tuned to be more fun.

It’s still not exactly Skyrim Online. It will probably always resemble WoW more than the single-player Elder Scrolls games in all the ways that really matter, but the difference is that it’s become one of the best WoW-like MMOs out there. It was previously one of the worst.

It’s very easy to recommend now, particularly on consoles, where the largest community resides. The launch woes hurt the PC community, but PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players got the much-improved version of the game when it launched on consoles last year, so the story is only positive on that front.

Best of all, it’s free-to-play after the initial purchase, and the real-world currency store is far from intrusive on the experience, offering mostly bonus content and cosmetic items.

Image: ncsoft

Guild Wars 2

A lot of people will swear to you that Guild Wars 2 is the best MMO ever made. While it’s apples and oranges to compare to World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2 takes a decidedly different approach that is particularly appealing to more casual players. That explains some of the passion from fans burnt out on the WoW formula.

It’s a free-roaming game with areas that match your character’s level, so it’s easy to play with friends even if you’re at different stages of the game. Furthermore, the endgame content grants cosmetic and customization perks, not greater combat prowess, so the playing field is always open for new players. That’s the biggest distinguishing feature compared to WoW and games like it.

The game has no subscription fee; its online store offers XP boosts, cosmetic items, and other minor bonuses just like The Elder Scrolls Online’s.

If you’re looking for an MMO with a more arcadey feel and a great deal of flexibility and accessibility, Guild Wars 2 is worth checking out. Its first expansion, Heart of Thorns, came out relatively recently, breathing new life into an already-vibrant community.

The Lord of the Rings Online

This classic from Asheron’s Call developer Turbine doesn’t see nearly as much press buzz as the first three, but it’s thriving more than you would expect from a 9-year old game that gets hardly any media coverage.

Maybe that’s thanks to the well-known Lord of the Rings license — though you should be aware the game takes more cues from Tolkien’s books than it does from Peter Jackson’s movies — but it’s also because it’s an excellently conceived World of Warcraft-inspired game.

When the game launched in 2007, just a few areas that played prominently in The Fellowship of the Ring were explorable. Since then, the world has expanded to include Rohan, Fangorn, Gondor, tons of places only passingly referenced in the books, and a massive recreation of Moria. Only the dark land of Mordor remains to be added from the trilogy’s major regions.

A server merge occurred earlier this year, meaning low-population worlds joined forces with others to create more thriving communities. That means there hasn’t been a better time to plug into the community in a long time. Log in and you’ll see tons of players, events, and conversations going on.

The only downside: The Lord of the Rings Online may be free-to-play, but its real-cash store is much more invasive than those found in Guild Wars 2 and The Elder Scrolls Online. Basic features like horse riding speed, storage, and other quality-of-life things are rigidly blocked by sometimes far-too-expensive real-money purchases. You can subscribe to solve all of this, making the game experience more like that of World of Warcraft, but we can’t honestly call this game “free-to-play.”

Image: bioware/ea

Star Wars: The Old Republic

We’ll be honest; this one is struggling more than the others we’ve mentioned. The game launched to much fanfare with a WoW-like subscription model in 2011, but the reception was disappointing. Many fans felt it resembled early WoW, but didn’t replicate many of the huge improvements made to that game over the years. Hardcore players felt that its story-driven game design meant they ran out of things to do far too quickly.

The game went free-to-play a year later, and its in-game store is just as egregious as that of The Lord of the Rings Online, if not moreso. The move may have saved the game, though, as it’s still going with a small but passionate community. Its newest expansion, Knights of the Fallen Empire, even earned it a spot in EA’s high-profile E3 press conference last year.

If you can stomach the microtransactions —or just fork out the $14.99 per month for a subscription — The Old Republic is a great game for fans of Mass Effect and Dragon Age-style storytelling and, of course, Star Wars. Other games may do basic MMO gameplay better, but The Old Republic’s stories are top notch.

EVE Online

EVE Online is not at all like the other games in this list. You spend all your time in space, for one thing. But even beyond the aesthetic and fantasy difference, there is a dramatic difference in underlying philosophy. In other words, it’s the only game on this list that isn’t inspired by World of Warcraft.

In most WoW-like MMOs, you level up by doing quests, and then you hit a level cap. At the level cap, you grind for better gear or perks by doing group dungeons, raids and PvP content.

In EVE Online, the quests are barebones, and there are no dungeons or raids. Rather, the players are the content. EVE’s 13-year history is filled with stories of player wars, upsets, politics, and economic dramas. It all happens emergently in the game’s simulated galaxy.

Since the game’s entire community plays in one shared space, rather than on separate servers, the game’s 500,000 subscribers (as of 2013) keep the environment feeling lively and populated.

Like WoW, EVE requires a subscription fee to play, though there are some free-to-play content is coming to the game in November.