Player versus player (PvP) competition has been an essential part of almost every western MMORPG released. Although PvP isn't as popular in Asian MMORPG games it does exist in games like 9Dragons and Perfect World. Fighting another player is always more interesting than fighting monsters or even fighting a boss, as there is a distinct sense of challenge; a sense of competition, as the victor would determine who the better player is.

Ultima Online, the first popular MMORPG had an open PvP environment where anyone can participate in PvP no matter where they were. No need to request a duel or teleport off into a special "zone" designated for fighting. You were able to fight almost anywhere you wanted to. The game's PvP was also unique, as the game's PvP combat relied entirely on skill rather than whoever had the best items. The difference between the best weapon in the game and the worst was almost negligible, which created an even playing field for everyone. The drawback to Ultima Online's balanced PvP system is the game's boring PvE experience, where monsters were plagued with stupid artificial intelligence and posed no threat even to the weakest players.

Everquest was the second popular MMORPG released. Unlike Ultima Online, in order to fight someone you had to request a fight with them which was a big step backward for fans of player verses player combat. In order to attract new players who preferred PvP, Everquest created a special server designated as a "PvP" server where players could attack each other almost anywhere in the game world. PvP duels and combat never became quite as popular in Everquest as it did in Ultima Online as the game wasn't designed for balanced PvP combat, as Everquest didn't impose level restrictions on items, which led to the player with the best equipment to usually win the fight.

Dark Age of Camelot, a game which was rumored to be the "Everquest killer" introduced a unique PvP system called "Realm vs Realm (RvR)" combat. Players would select a faction upon creating their character and fight to control strategic outposts in a designated "PvP zone". Each realm, or faction, fought to gain control of the game's relics. Each relic provided an in game stat bonus for the entire realm's population if they managed to gain control of that particular relic. Dark Age of Camelot was also the first that successfully fused siege weaponry with PvP combat. Realms would have to use catapults and rams to knock down the walls of enemy outposts in order to steal that particular faction's relics.

Today's MMORPG games offer a very limited PvP experience as newer games aren't being designed with PvP in mind, but are rather being tossed into the mix to simply add another feature. Even World of Warcraft, the most popular MMORPG on the market has a very limited PvP system. In order to participate in PvP combat on regular servers, players have to wait in line to be teleported to a special combat zone called a "battleground" where skill means nothing, as there are simply too many players in a single "battleground" at once for any single player to have a strong impact on the fight's result. Even on "PvP servers" World of Warcraft is lacking. Duels and fights are almost always determined by whoever has the best gear. I'm still waiting for a game that has both a balanced PvP system and an equally fun PvE system.

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