Most "massively multiplayer online games" -- for example, EverQuest or Second Life -- start out as more work than fun. Players must go through long introductory periods of trekking back and forth across the game's universe before they see any real kind of action.

Guild Wars is a massively multiplayer game for the rest of us. For starters, you can play it by yourself instead of having to assemble a party with four other people (although it is more fun that way). You just set up your character, based on one of six available classes, equip him or her and set off into the land of Ascalon. Guild Wars' vast maps are filled with monsters, treasures and no lack of combat -- as well as cities that allow you to meet other players, trade, buy and sell items and form parties for further adventures.