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Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Keep that in mind before you tell that me the games that fill out the following list of "best-looking browser-based MMORPGs" are ugly as sin. Sure, some of them are an acquired taste, but I wanted to display just how much variety there is now in browser gaming. It's not the delivery system it once was; we have had fancier-looking Flash-based titles for a while, but now with engines like Unity or Silverlight and even HTML5 coding, we have games that look no different from their client-based counterparts.

There are still some ugly-as-sin games out there as well, but they have endearing qualities all the same. So keep that in mind; this is my top 10 list. If you want to suggest your own in the comments section, I would love to hear them!

Now, on to the list, in no particular order...

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Last month we introduced you to Eldevin, a new browser-based fantasy MMO being developed by Hunted Cow Studios. If you're looking for a story-driven game filled with quests, PvP, and dungeons, all set in a corrupt fantasy world, Eldevin might be the place for you. And now, you can jump in and experience the world as the game moves into the closed beta stage.

Developers are also very eager for player feedback. John Stewart, the studio manager of Hunted Cow, stated:

"The closed beta test is a very exciting milestone for us in our development of Eldevin, our goal was to create the best browser-based roleplaying game on the market. Our small studio has been working on Eldevin diligently for the best part of 8 years and we're incredibly proud of what we've accomplished. We hope players enjoy the close beta test and we're looking forward to finding out what they think of the game!"

The first wave of invitations for beta testing has already been sent out, but more will be sent over the course of the beta. Players wishing to participate should head on over to the official site to apply.

[Source: Hunted Cow Studios]

Warstory: Europe in Flames is one of those deceptively simple MMOs that makes me feel a bit lost for most of the week that I look at it for this column. It seems as though I stumbled into a game that features not only a time-limited server but one that is about to restart once the capital city of Berlin is taken by either the Russians (my side) or one of the other Allies. The goal is to race through content until Berlin is finally nabbed. I was even able to roll a new commander on a new server, but that game was far enough along to convince me that I really need to play in a brand-new game to see what happens from the very beginning.

I am getting ahead of myself, though. How about we talk about the gameplay and how it all feels? Then I'll allow myself to scheme about my possible glory.

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Innogames' hit browser-based game Grepolis has been receiving some pretty exciting updates lately. It's one of my favorite MMORTS titles because it's simple to learn and can be played on practically any schedule, so I've really been enjoying the updates that have added music and sound effects, holiday mechanics, and more animations. There's a lot more to come, however, according to Grepolis' developer crew.

What sort of things? Well, besides the usual updates and additions to gameplay, the team is promising that how players interact with the community will change as well. Sure, plenty of developers have promised better communication and more interaction, but what Grepolis is promising might just be some of the coolest community tools yet. If they work, of course.

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First released in Russia in April 2011, Dragon Eternity was later localized in English and grew to include players in other countries. Now, the browser-based fantasy game is expanding into another frontier -- mobile devices. In this exclusive video diary, developers announced that the game is being developed as a cross-platform experience; Dragon Eternity will release for the iPad this spring, then Android and Facebook versions will soon follow.

The video also discussed different aspects of the game, such as the newly implemented naval battles and the quests' tie-ins to minigames. Upcoming content in the works includes player battlegrounds and private castles where players can give others quests to each other. Check out all the details in the video after the cut.

[Source: Game Insight press release]

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MMOs are a very serious business these days. If you ask someone what type of MMO she prefers, you're more likely to get an explanation that sounds as if she's telling you what political party she belongs to. As a person who writes about games, it's easy to slip up and suggest that these virtual worlds we play in should offer different types of gameplay and even offer different ways to pay for them. If you're not careful, your readers can get angry and call you insensitive and inaccurate names like noob, sell-out or, even worse, journalist.

In steps Innogames. On the surface, the developer and publisher doesn't seem to be more than a peddler of semi-challenging browser-based games, but spend a few weeks with the lineup and you'll find yourself appreciating not only the innovation in the German game-maker's lineup but also the variety.

Kartuga is the latest to come from Innogames, and it's fun. I know, I know... fun seems to have become a dirty word when it comes to MMOs (it's not immersive or hardcore?!), but I for one am so happy it came along.

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Star Wars has gotten the MMO treatment not once, not twice, but three times. This is assuming that you count SOE's Clone Wars Adventures browser title, which I do since it features extensive progression, non-combat activities, and a slew of other MMO-like features in spite of its heavy use of instancing.

Then there's Star Wars Galaxies, of course, followed by Star Wars: The Old Republic. For today's Leaderboard, help us pick the best Star Wars MMO (or at least, the most popular according to Massively commenters). Vote after the cut!

Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!

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There are several things that Game of Thrones Ascent, a social game by Disruptor Beam, does right. At the top of that list is the way the game works as a vehicle for easily digestible content, content that comes from some of the densest reading material in modern fantasy. For the record, I still haven't read any of the books that the Game of Thrones television series is based on, but luckily I have a wife who will simply burst with excitement when she reads some new tidbit... unless she tells the nearest person (me).

It must be hard making a game based on such a popular piece of fiction. The fact is that I didn't expect the little-known developers to do much good. I thought players would be smashing through a game that served as nothing but a cheap commercial for the HBO series. I was very wrong.

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Have you noticed a reduction in RuneScape's bot population today? That could be because the game recently banned 20,000 gold-farming accounts in a single night! Thanks to the latest phase of RuneScape's Botwatch anti-botting technology, which targets third party clients and botting software as well as gold farmers, botters are being weeded out even better than before.

But even with one battle won, the war on botting is far from over; RuneScape maintains its zero-tolerance policy and promises ongoing advances in eradicating this infestation. In fact, Jagex is already working on the next phase of the anti-botting technology and will be rolling it out over the coming months.

When I play a game like Dragon's Call by GameDP, I am reminded of a riff on that old meme: "In Russia, game plays you." If you do what I do and explore almost any MMO or MMO-like game you can, you often find yourself joining in to play games that really boggle your mind and challenge your perception of what an MMO should be like. Dragon's Call is one of those games. Now, look, I'm up on all of the latest trends, even the ones that are super-fringe and crazy-bad; these are the trends that really interest me the most because they eventually filter into the West quietly but effectively. One of these trends is putting out games that are essentially nothing more than a button pushing contest.

I've talked about the Chinese market before and how it is absolutely filled with browser-based MMOs, some of them lasting for only a few months until they are shut down. The crowd plays as hard as it can, hopes to get ranked highly, and then moves on to the next game. It's so odd.

Dragon's Call has to come from this sort of design mindset, if not from China directly. The good news is that many games from the East are phenomenal, and just like the market in the West, the Eastern market offers a smaller percentage of good games versus bad -- but the good titles are really good. Unfortunately, Dragon's Call is not one of the good ones.

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It's been a while since I visited Remanum, an interesting trade-based MMO brought to us by Travian Games, the same studio that brought us Travian and other interesting titles. I was initially turned on to the game's non-combat options simply because combat is used so much that many of the current combat systems are outdated or just plain boring. Non-combat, or optional systems for play like trade and exploration, are the hope for gamers like yours truly who cannot stand to play a game as though they're clocking in to work.

The only problem with Remanum? I suck at, well, trading. I know that I can grasp the principles of "buy low, sell high" and other market staples, but I simply can't grasp the finer nuances of buying and selling. I have a brother who seems to have a natural way with numbers, but I've always been more of an artist. Numbers and me just sort of stare at each other from across the table.

So why do I like Remanum so much?

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Avast ye mateys! After 10 years of working together to sail ships and fight foes utilizing puzzles, players in Puzzle Pirates get to set off on a completely new adventure. Well OK, to be precise the adventures will actually remain the same, but how players can access them will change; the pirate-themed social game focusing on cooperation is heading to tablets.

Three Rings co-founder and CEO Daniel James explained that the company has been exploring the possibility of bringing the game to mobile devices since last year, and now it's reached the point where expanding platforms is feasible. Players will be able to switch between the PC and the tablet, playing the same game on the same account. Plans are also in the works to make the game accessible on other devices as well. James did note that with this change, anticipated upcoming features such as the Kraken will be delayed until after the launch of the game on tablets.

Want to learn more about Puzzle Pirates? Check out Massively's exclusive interview with James.

Those old-school RuneScape servers we told you about earlier this week are launching an early access period today. The shards will revisit the title as it was in late 2007, a window that Jagex says is "heralded as one of the defining periods of the game by its players."

The firm is opening up a voting period through which players will decide how much developer investment should be devoted to old-school RuneScape going forward. The options range from a basic service with critical maintenance to a full dev team that will iterate based on player input.

Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard notes that this isn't the first time his company has left major decisions in the hands of its users. In 2011, RuneScape's Free Trade and Wilderness mechanics were reintroduced to the game following a player poll. "Our players' dedication, passion, feedback, and enthusiasm all provide the compass, energy, and satisfaction that powers Jagex," he said. Jagex says that over 250,000 votes were cast in the old-school poll.

[Source: Jagex press release]