The Lord of the Rings Online

Released in 2007, The Lord of the Rings Online remains one of the most enduring MMORPGs on the market, driven by a rare faithfulness to Tolkien's work. The game puts players in the shoes of an original hero of Middle-earth, alongside iconic figures like Gandalf or Aragorn, through a meticulous recreation of the geography and lore of the books.

Questing, crafting, housing, raids and dungeons make up the classic backbone of the genre, but it's Standing Stone Games' devotion to the source literary material - sometimes closer to The Silmarillion than the films - that sets this title apart from its competitors. Nearly twenty years after its launch, the game continues to receive major expansions, proof of a still-active community and a world far from exhausted.