those games really are all the same, they’re just like MD with all its hack and slash grind of levels and skills only with a pretty color pictures attached. Very few games are a break from that.
You can put most into what we call the “wow’ category, started mostly by everquest and now a dime a dozen. Make a character, pick a class, and spend all your time grinding to get better stuff so you can go out and grind to get better stuff. Maybe throw in a little crap for filler, little community, mostly just full of people working to the end game.
Some games, like eve, star wars galaxies, and a few others don’t have such a structured advancement. Any game where you can be successful in a non combat pursuit without being limited is a winner in my book.