In MMORPGs, an instance dungeon is a special area, typically a dungeon, that generates a new copy, or instance, of the dungeon map for each group that enters the area. This saves server work and ensures that there will never be competition (kill stealing, spawn camping) over resources such as mobs within the instance and that player characters experience minimum lag. An image from World of Warcraft, one of the largest commercial MMORPGs as of 2004, based on active subscriptions. ... In games, a dungeon represents a dangerous area with many hidden secrets to explore. ... Kill-stealing, in video games and computer games, is the act of defeating an enemy, such as a monster, when it is at its weakest before another player, who has been weakening the enemy, gets the chance to kill it. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Lag is a common term used to describe a symptom often encountered in computing and especially networked systems, where results of actions appear much later than expected. ...

This also preserves the gaming experience, since some gaming scenarios do not work if the player is continually surrounded by other players, as in a multiplayer setting. Instance dungeons may contain stronger than usual mobs and rare, sought-after equipment. They also may include level restrictions and/or restrict the number of players allowed in each instance to balance gameplay.

Instances were first proposed by Richard Garriott in the late 1990's as a way to solve a set of related problems which had become obvious in Ultima Online. The problem is simple to state: everyone wants to be "A Hero" and slay "The Monster", rescue "The Princess" and obtain "The Magic Sword". When there are 2,000 and more players all playing the same game, clearly not everyone can be a hero. The problem of everyone wanting to kill the same monster and gain the best treasure was terribly obvious in the game EverQuest. The creation of instances largely solves this set of problems. There are few examples of boss camping and kill stealing in World of Warcraft - because a copy of the dungeon (instance) is always created on demand for you or your party. Richard Garriott in Lord British attire Richard Allen Garriott (born July 4, 1961; nickname Lord British) is a significant figure in the video game industry. ... Ultima Online (UO) is a popular graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), released on September 25, 1997, by Origin Systems. ... EverQuest (EQ) is a 3D fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that was released on March 16, 1999. ... World of Warcraft (commonly abbreviated as WoW) is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment and is the fourth game in the Warcraft series, excluding expansion packs and the cancelled Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. ...

Games that have been known to use instancing include:

• Anarchy Online
• City of Heroes/City of Villains
• Dark Age of Camelot
• Dungeon Runners
• Runescape (uses instancing for numerous 'minigames')
• EverQuest (instances added in 2003)
• EverQuest 2
• Final Fantasy XI (instances added with the Treasures of Aht Urghan expansion)
• Granado Espada
• Guild Wars (uses instancing for every area where monsters must be fought.)
• Myst Online: Uru Live
• The Realm Online
• World of Warcraft; see Instance (World of Warcraft)
• The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

One game known for not using instance dungeons is EVE Online. Because of the vast amount of space available in the EVE universe, missions for players are created in real space, which any other player could in theory travel to. This allows multiple players to perform the same mission at the same time (in the same manner as an instanced dungeon) but also allows other players to view or participate in the mission, if they discover the location, or if invited to assist by the player who was initially given the mission. Anarchy Online (AO) [1] is a science fiction MMORPG released in June 2001 by Funcom set on the world of Rubi-Ka and its extra-dimensional twin, the Shadowlands. ... City of Heroes (CoH) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing computer game based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft. ... City of Villains is a massively multiplayer online role-playing computer game based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCSoft. ... Dark Age of Camelot is a 3D medieval fantasy MMORPG that revolves around the war between three realms at the end of King Arthurs rule: Arthurian-inspired Albion, Norse mythology inspired Midgard and Celtic Hibernia. ... Dungeon Runners is a 3D Fantasy Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) developed by NCsoft. ... RuneScape is a Java-based MMORPG operated by Jagex Ltd. ... EverQuest (EQ) is a 3D fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that was released on March 16, 1999. ... EverQuest II, the sequel to EverQuest, is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and shipped on November 8, 2004. ... Final Fantasy XI ), also known as Final Fantasy XI: Online, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) as a part of the Final Fantasy video game series. ... Sword of the New World, known as Granado Espada in the original Korean version, is a fantasy MMORPG developed by IMC Entertainment, and published in North America by K2_network. ... Guild Wars is an episodic series of multiplayer online role-playing games, for the Microsoft Windows operating system, created by ArenaNet, a Seattle game development studio and a subsidiary of the South Korean game publisher NCsoft. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... World of Warcraft (commonly abbreviated as WoW) is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment and is the fourth game in the Warcraft series, excluding expansion packs and the cancelled Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. ... It has been suggested that Karazhan Tower be merged into this article or section. ... EVE Online is a persistent world multiplayer online game set in space. ...

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is another game that does not use instance dungeons. However, it is envisioned that, through the Advanced Encounter System (AES), certain "boss" NPCs can be triggered when a group enters an area; this NPC would then be "tagged" to that group, meaning no other players could attack or interact with it. AES was not implemented in the commercial release of V:SoH, but Sigil programmers are reportedly working on it and are planning to release it in a future patch. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is a high fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) in development by Sigil Games Online. ...

In RuneScape, instance dungeons are used mostly in quests, so that other players cannot interfere with the player who is doing the quest, such as battling boss NPC's or having to accomplish a special task. RuneScape is a Java-based MMORPG operated by Jagex Ltd. ... NPC can stand for: National Panhellenic Conference, an organizing body of fraternal University campus organizations National Paralympic Committee, equivalent to the National Olympic Committee National Peoples Congress of the Peoples Republic of China National Provincial Championship, the name of a now-defunct domestic rugby competition in New Zealand. ...

Several games use instancing to scale the mobs to the players' levels, and/or the number of players present. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...