Metal Gear Online

For the current Metal Gear Online, see Metal Gear Online 3.

Metal Gear Online

Developer(s)

Kojima Productions

Publisher(s)

Konami

Version

1.36

Platform(s)

PlayStation 3

Release date(s)

^INT June 12, 2008
Standalone
^JP July 17, 2008
Shut down
^INT June 12, 2012 (see below)

Release chronology
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)	Metal Gear Online (2008)	Metal Gear Solid 2: Digital Graphic Novel (2008)

Metal Gear Online, commonly abbreviated MGO and also known as MGO2, was an online multiplayer spinoff of the Metal Gear series.

The game was officially unveiled in Kojima Productions' 20th Anniversary Party of the Metal Gear series. While Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops featured optional online game modes that were both dubbed "Metal Gear Online", this incarnation of the online game was initially announced as a separate standalone product based on the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots gameplay and setting. However, it was later announced as being a part of Metal Gear Solid 4. A standalone version was released in Japan on July 17, 2008.

On June 12, 2012, the servers for Metal Gear Online 2 were shut down,^[1] although fan servers have been created.^[2]

Gameplay[]

The game featured 16-player online battles. Players could upgrade skills that their character could use such as hacking SOP, CQC mastery, enhanced lock-on, and more, all of which could be leveled up. The player could keep tabs on allies and enemies with nanomachines.

The SOP system from Metal Gear Solid 4 was implemented through a link-system where teammates could connect to each other and share information such as location and where friendlies are aiming. The system, however, could be hacked with an SOP plug, allowing the opposing team to receive information regarding enemy positions.

The player was allowed to customize their character in variable clothing, face paint, gender, voice, voice tone, ethnicity, and whether they were young or old. The player could collect reward points in gameplay to achieve more customizations for their clothing. However, all the clothing was simply decorative and did not change the gameplay or gave players a tactical advantage in any way, shape, or form, with the possible exception of using certain varieties of clothing and face paint to camouflage oneself on certain areas of certain maps (which wouldn't work the same way as Snake's OctoCamo).

In the later years to follow, the online community became marred with hackers, modders and glitchers who would dampen the online experience with various ways of cheating such as lag switching, teleporting, aim-botting, and exploiting gliches in the CQC mechanics which continued until the game's final shut down.

The player could also train other players in a training room (assuming they had the necessary Wi-Fi to host a game) and could choose which players they graduate. Depending on player's character gender and selected voice, they would each hold their own unique speech. This voice would affect your in game singing voice too when typing in the command "<SONG>

For more information, see MGO Graduation Speeches.

Beta testing[]

An online beta test was released exclusively in Japan, which occurred from August 20, 2007 through September 3, 2007. The beta was only open to 3,000 players. In addition to announcing a ship date and hardware bundle for Metal Gear Solid 4, Sony Computer Entertainment America revealed that a beta for the game's online component would happen before the June release. Metal Gear Solid 4 came with a "starter pack" that would be expanded upon with extra content.

In North America, the multiplayer beta test for Metal Gear Online was made available to download on April 16. The beta test was originally scheduled to begin on April 21 and end on May 6, but high levels of server traffic forced Konami to delay the start of the beta until the servers were stabilized.

On April 11, 2008, Konami announced an open Metal Gear Online beta for Europe and would be available for download from April 17 and would be entirely open to everyone who downloaded it until May 6.

On April 21, the open beta was launched in Japan and Europe. Due to mass appeal, many gamers applied to participate in the beta, but the servers were met with severe user traffic within the opening minutes, resulting in a system wide crash. The beta therefore, had been postponed in Japan and Europe, as well as the launch of the North America beta, so Konami could fix and stabilize the servers. According to the Metal Gear Online teaser website, the beta was aimed to begin at midnight of April 25, with a comment mentioning a possible further delay if the solution hadn't then been resolved. Konami also set the new beta test closure date on May 11, 2008.

Release[]

Metal Gear Online went live on June 12, 2008, the release day of Metal Gear Solid 4. It featured all the same levels and gameplay modes as the Beta, as well as adding two extra stages, totaling five stages, and a new gameplay mode, totaling at seven gameplay modes.

Gameplay Modes[]

Mode	Description
Deathmatch (DM)	A free-for-all match with no teams. Defeat other players for points. The player with the most points when the tickets reached zero, or when time ended, won. The SOP System caused the character with the most points to glow.
Team Deathmatch (TDM)	A Red Team vs. Blue Team match. The object was to defeat opposing players. The team that reduced the other team's tickets to zero first, or had more tickets when time ended, won.
Capture Mission (CAP)	Race to capture KEROTAN and GA-KO targets. After capturing one of the targets, each team must take it back to their team's goal and protect it until the timer reached zero to win.
Base Mission (BASE)	Battle to control bases located throughout the map. The first team to capture all bases, or the team with the most bases when time ran out, won.
Sneaking Mission (SNE)	One player controls Snake, fully equipped with OctoCamo! If twelve players joined, one player became Metal Gear Mk. II and could support Snake. The MK. II was a stealth reconnaissance unit very useful for this match type. Asided from cloaking itself, it could pick up dog tags and drop them in another place, instantly knock out players with an electric shock, display an image from Playboy magazines on its display (acting like a Playboy Playmate) and disarm and pick up traps. Snake won if he collected a set number of dog tags. To obtain dog tags, Snake must knock out or held up other players and then do a body search by pressing the Triangle button. The other players won by taking down Snake a specified number of times. If the time expired first, the team that had killed more players from the opposing team won.
Rescue Mission (RES)	Battle over the fate of GA-KO! The defending team guarded GA-KO. The attacking team must bring GA-KO back to its goal to win. There was no re-spawning in this match type.
Team Sneaking (TSNE)	A battle between two teams with different gear. The sneaking team was stealth-equipped and must eliminate all enemies, or bring KEROTAN or GA-KO to their goal to win. The defending team must defeat all enemies or keep KEROTAN and GA-KO safe to win.
Stealth Deathmatch (SDM)	Stealth deathmatch was a game mode released with the MEME expansion pack. It was a free-for-all based game. It consisted of every player in the game (16 max) equipped with stealth camouflage. However, unlike Team Sneaking mode, all players had lethal weapons instead of non-lethal. The game area receded towards the center as time passed; standing outside the shrinking boundary caused the player to steadily take damage. Each player had an alarm that activated when near another player. The winner was the last person standing. It should be noted that despite being released with the MEME expansion pack, this match type was free for players who had not purchased it.
Interval	Interval was merely a break from the stress of Metal Gear Online, matches. Similar to the Lecture Mode of Combat Training, everyone was divided into two teams and was unable to die by gunfire or be knocked out. Automatching hid this feature in its desired rules section until the player's soldier had entered one. A bomb could be taken and used to kill their soldier if held for more than twenty seconds. Stealing the bomb could be accomplished via CQC, grenades, or RPG fire. The player's soldier's stats would not be affected by what they experience in Interval, nor would it enable skills to grow.
Bomb Mission (BOMB)	A battle to destroy or protect target areas on the map. The attacking team would claim victory if they could plant time bombs in the target areas and protect them until any one of them detonated. The defending team could win by protecting all of the target areas on the map until the timer expired.
Solo Capture (SCAP)	All players attempt to hold KEROTAN for as long as they could. Whoever held it the longest or had it the longest by the time the game ended, won.
Race (RACE)	2 teams ran through a set of 5 checkpoints with either GA-KO or KEROTAN.

Skills[]

Key: * = Unlockable Skill ' = Preset Skill

Skill	Effect	Unlocking/Leveling
'Surveyor	Extended lock-on range for auto aim.	Damage enemy player's health or stamina while locking on to them with the auto aim. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 300 hits. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 600 hits.
'Hawkeye	Increased zoom range for first-person aim.	Damage enemy player's health or stamina while in first person view. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 75 hits. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 125 hits.
'Quarterback	Skill wielding throwing weapons. Allowed the player to throw grenades further.	Throw any form of grenade. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 100 Throws. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 200 Throws.
'Trickster	Skill wielding traps. Allowed the player to set traps more quickly and increased their effective range.	Place any form of trap. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 100 Traps set. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 200 Traps set.
*Quick Recovery	Decreased the time it took players to wake themselves and teammates up. At level 3, they would wake teammates with one pat.	Unlocked by waking 50 unconscious teammates in order to earn this skill. Must be equipped to level. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 100 wakes. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 150 wakes.
'Monomania	Displays tactical data on enemies the player shot. This allowed them to see them if they were behind a wall for a duration of time. Levelling this skill extended the time the player could see them. Could be shared through SOP.	Damage to an enemy player's health or stamina in any way while equipped. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 150 hits. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 300 hits.
'Sixth Sense	Put glowing markers around the player's enemies and teammates traps, allowing them to see these through walls. Could be shared through SOP.	See any form of a trap while equipped. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 50 traps spotted. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 100 traps spotted.
'Narc	Showed enemies that had locked onto the player, or at level 3 enemies who aimed at them. The player could share the information through SOP.	Had someone deal damage to the player while they're locked on to them with Auto Aim. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 150 lock-on hits taken. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 300 lock-on hits taken.
'CQC+	Close Quarters Combat Skill. Allowed the player to choke their enemies unconscious faster and made the player throws stronger.	Grabbing and releasing of enemy players. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 50 grabs. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 100 grabs.
*CQC Expert	This skill allowed the player to counter CQC attacks to the front and made their attacks stronger than CQC 3.	Have the CQC Mastery Lv3 equipped and execute 200 CQC maneuvers.
'Blades+	Skill wielding bladed weapons. Allowed the player to attack faster with Knives. If they had Blades lvl 3 and CQC 1 skills equipped, the player would gain the ability to cut their enemies throat when in a CQC hold.	Slice or zap the player opponents with the equipped skill and respectful knife. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 150 slices/zaps. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 300 slices/zaps.
*Shield+	Increased speed when moving and attacking with a shield.	Unlock Shield+ skill: 50 slams. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 150 slams. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 300 slams.
'Assault Rifle+, Sniper Rifle+, Handgun+, SMG+, Shotgun+	Decreased reload time and increased firing rate and accuracy with guns.	Hit the player's opponents with the equipped skill and respectful weapon. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 150 hits. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 300 hits.
'Runner	Enabled to run faster with each level.	Levels through running. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 3000 steps. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 6000 steps.
*Box Move	The player became faster at moving in a box with each level. At level 3, the player could charge through people (which launches them through the air) by pressing the X button.	Unlock Box Move skill: spend 60 collective minutes in a box. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 120 collective minutes. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 240 collective minutes.
*SOP Stealth	Enemies attempting to use skills such as Monomania, Scanner, Narc, etc. on the player would had results as though their SOP Stealth level was subtracted from their skill level. Ocelot's SOP skill would still take effect.	Opponent must had Narc 2 setup and the playet must use auto aim and lock them on around a collective 5 minutes.
'Scanner	Gave the player the S.S Scanning Plug which will show them the location of the enemy they scanned. This could only be used if the player had the Scanning Plug equipped and had them in a CQC hold. Pressing Triangle, the player could then inject the Scanning Plug into the opponent's neck. Enemy location would be shown until they die or time ran out on the scan. Higher levels increased the time the scan lasted.	Level through successful scan of enemy players. Did not level if the said enemy had already been scanned. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 50 scans. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 100 scans.
*Scanner EX	Gave the player a S.S Scanning Plug that can be used on unconscious players as well as being used in the same fashion as the regular S.S Scanning Plug. Lasted for the same duration as a Level 3 Scan from the Scanner skill.	Set the player's scanning skill to 3 and scan the opponent 200 times.
*Toughness	The player would be able to endure knockdown attacks and recover time would be decreased.	Have either a knockback, knockdown or blow away type attack executed on the playet 100 times in order to earn this skill. Must be equipped to level. Lvl.1->Lvl.2: 200 knockdowns taken. Lvl.2->Lvl.3: 300 knockdowns taken
*Charm	Caused the player to attract enemies like a magazine by changing their salute to one of 3 poses, different for male and female.	The player must be distracted by a magazine 100 times.
*Instructor	Allowed the player to host games for training, changed salute pose, and preset Codec messages. In addition, position and Codec messages were broadcast to all characters.	The player must had an accumulative 20 hours of playtime, had a general level of 4 or higher, and complete "combat training" under a hosted instructor.

Ranks[]

Rank (No particular order)	Description	Requirement(s)
Snake	Prefers Sneaking missions.	Total play time of Sneaking Missions divided by total play time in a week of roughly 50 rounds = 0.70 or above.
Fighting Fish	Prefers Deathmatch.	Total time playing Deathmatch divided by total play time in a week of roughly 50 rounds = 0.70 or above.
Ga-Ko	Prefers Rescue Mission.	Total play time of Rescue divided by total play time in a week of roughly 50 rounds = 0.70 or above.
Killer Whale	Prefers Team Deathmatch.	Total time playing Team Deathmatch divided by total play time in a week of roughly 50 rounds = 0.70 or above.
Chameleon	Prefers Team Sneaking.	Total time playing Team Sneaking divided by total play time in a week of roughly 50 rounds = 0.70 or above.
Hog	Prefers Race Mission.	Total time playing Race Missions divided by total play time in a week of roughly 50 rounds = 0.70 or above.
Kerotan	Prefers Capture Mission.	1. The amount of kills in capture divided by the amount of stuns you have in capture = 0.5 or above 2. (Total play time of capture) divided by (total play time in a week of 50 rounds) = 0.75 or above
Elephant	Prefers Base Mission.	Total time playing Base Missions divided by total play time in a week of roughly 50 rounds = 0.70 or above.
Arctic Skua	Prefers Solo Capture.	Total time playing Solo Capture divided by total play time in a week of roughly 50 rounds = 0.70 or above.
Komodo Dragon	Prefers Stealth Deathmatch.	Total time playing Stealth Deathmatch divided by total play time in a week of roughly 50 rounds = 0.70 or above.
Cuckoo	Prefers Bomb Mission.	Total time playing Bomb Missions divided by total play time in a week of roughly 50 rounds = 0.70 or above.
Eagle	High percentage of headshots.	1. 1.3 Kill + stun/Death + stunned ratio overall in a week of applied rounds. 2. (Headshot kills + Stun Headshots) divided by (All Kills + All Stuns) Must be higher than .3 in a week of said rounds.
Rat	Often gets stuck in traps.	Total rounds played divided by total of "Times Fallen For Traps" per rounds you've played, which involve Playboys, types of mines, C4, etc. in the week of applied rounds rounds must be .60 or higher.
Tortoise	Uses the Cardboard box a lot.	Total Cardboard Box uses divided by the applied rounds in a week played must be higher than 15.
Sloth	Gets shot in the head a lot.	1. .85 Kill + Stun/Death + Stunned ratio or lower overall in a week applied rounds. 2. Total headshot deaths divided by total deaths in a week of said rounds must be .60 or higher.
Pigeon	Prefers to use non-lethal attacks.	Total stuns divided by total kills in a week of applied rounds must be higher than .75.
Crocodile	Very good kill/death ratio.	1.5 Kill + Stun/Death + Stunned ratio or higher overall in a week of applied rounds.
Bee	Uses a lot of scans.	Total number of Scans performed divided by the applied rounds in a week played must be higher than .50
Flying Squirrel	High number of rolls.	Total rolls divided by total applied rounds in week played must be 10 or higher.
Jaws	Large number of knife kills.	1. 1.25 Kill + Stun/Death + Stunned ratio overall in a week of applied rounds. 2. Total knife kills divided by total kills in said rounds must be higher than .075
Bear	Large amount of CQC attacks.	1. Average 5 Melee hits per rounds played (overall in a week). 2. Average 5 CQC attacks given per rounds played (overall in a week).
Night Owl	Uses ENVG a lot.	Time using ENVG divided by total 50+ rounds in a week of applied rounds must be higher than .05
Water Bear	High Survival rate.	Survival/Death ratio of total applied rounds Team Sneaking in a week must be higher than .70.
Tsuchinoko	Rarely plays.	Do not log in for 30 days
Chicken	Rarely participates in battle.	1. Total kills divided by total applied rounds in a week = 0.3 or below 2. Total stuns against enemy divided by said rounds = 0.3 or below 3. Total stuns divided by said rounds = 0.5 or below 4. Total deaths divided by said rounds = 0.5 or below
Hound	A superior soldier.	1. 1.3 Kill/Death ratio or above (Apply to TDM and DM in the course of a week). 2. 55% win ratio or above (Apply to Rescue, Capture, and Team Sneaking in the course of said week). 3. Bases Conquered divided by total Base games played in the course of said week must be higher than .9.
Doberman	A top class soldier.	1. 1.4 Kill/Death ratio or above (Apply to TDM and DM in the course of a week). 2. 60% win ratio or above (Apply to Rescue, Capture, and Team Sneaking in the course of said week). 3. Bases Conquered divided by total Base games played in the course of said week must be higher than 1.0.
Fox	The best of the best.	1. 1.45 Kill/Death ratio or above (Apply to TDM and DM in the course of a week). 2. 62.5% win ratio or above (Apply to Rescue, Capture, and Team Sneaking in the course of said week). 3. Bases Conquered divided by total Base games played in the course of said week must be higher than 1.1.
Foxhound	A Living Legend.	1. 1.5 Kill/Death ratio or above (Apply to TDM and DM in the course of a week). 2. 65% Win ratio or above (Apply to Rescue, Capture, and Team Sneaking in the course of said week). 3. Bases Conquered divided by total Base games played in the course of said week must be higher than 1.2.
Big Boss	Legendary Mercenary	1. Male characters only 2. 2.0 Kill/Death ratio or above (Apply to TDM and DM in the course of a week). 3. 70% Win ratio or above (Apply to Rescue, Capture, and Team Sneaking in the course of said week). 4. Bases Conquered divided by total Base games played in the course of said week must be higher than 1.3.
The Boss	Legendary Soldier	1. Female characters only 2. 2.0 Kill/Death ratio or above (Apply to TDM and DM in the course of a week). 3. 70% Win ratio or above (Apply to Rescue, Capture, and Team Sneaking in the course of said week). 4. Bases Conquered divided by total Base games played in the course of said week must be higher than 1.3.

Experience Level System[]

In addition to ranks, Metal Gear Online had an experience level for a player's skill as well. These levels went from 0 to 22. What the game took into consideration in terms of levelling up is as followed:

The player's score at the end of the round.
The number of other players above the player on the scoreboard at the end of the round.
The number of other players below the player on the scoreboard at the end of the round.
The individual level of every other player above and below the player at the end of the round.

The game rewarded the player experience for every other player who placed below them, and remove experience for every other player above them. How much the player lost or gain was dependent on the level of every other player, as well as how close the scores were together. In summary: if the player played against higher level players and finish better than them, the player gained levels fast. If the player played against same level player and finish better than them, the played gained levels slowly. Finally, if the player played against lower level players and did not finish in the top half, the player lost a lot of levels.

The player doesn't get any real reward from this. If anything, level 4 gave them the opportunity to host Combat Training as an Instructor should they manage to accumulate 20 hours of playtime, and already had graduated by an instructor of combat training themselves.

Many players would also use accomplices, in order to easily gain ranks or achievements which would require significant time or skill to achieve during regular play. This involves two or more players killing each other to get kill streaks of headshots, effectively termed "boosting", in order to have themselves recognized by elite players to get into a team for "Survival" or "Tournament" matches where elitism is rampant in forming such teams. Like all forms of cheating, however, this more often than not tends to not work in the player's favor, and their actual skill wouldn't match up with the level they are recognized as having. Hence, they would be easily defeated, and eventually cut down to size in rank by other players who also may or may not be cheating themselves in some form or another.

Maps[]

Main article: Metal Gear Online Maps

Online Shop[]

Main article: Metal Gear Online Shop

Expansions[]

Main article: Metal Gear Online/Expansions

Metal Gear Online received three downloadable expansion packs titled Gene Expansion, Meme Expansion, and Scene Expansion. Each expansion included new characters, items, and maps. Expansions could also include new skills, game modes and updates to other areas of the game.

Earlier versions[]

Subsistence (MGO1)[]

Main article: Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence

Being the first online mode in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, players played as members of the three units: KGB, Ocelot Unit and GRU. On some servers, the highest scoring player could play as the leader of the Ocelot and GRU units: the highest scoring player in the Ocelot Unit would play as Major Ocelot, while the leader of the GRU unit was Major Raikov. In contrast, the lowest scoring player in the KGB unit was given control of Sokolov. Naked Snake was also playable character in the game. Other special characters included Reiko Hinomoto from Rumble Roses, who came in a heel and face versions, one for each team. In addition, it was also the only game so far that allowed the player to use a flamethrower during gameplay. The Japanese servers were closed in December 26, 2006, the North American servers in April 2, 2007 and the European servers in October 30, 2007.

The game was made up primarily of games in which players competed against each other for points. The following modes were featured:

Mode	Description
Sneaking Missions	A "one vs. many" battle between a player who was controlling Snake against a team that must find and kill Snake. Snake must capture a microfilm and bring it to one of two goals before being killed. The person who killed Snake became Snake in the next round.
Capture Missions	Two Teams battled to capture Kerotan or GA-KO.
Death Match	Free for all death match. Whoever had the most points at the end of the round won.
Rescue Mission	Red Team had to protect the GA-KO until time ran out. Blue Team had to bring the GA-KO to their goal.
Team Death Match	Each unit represented different groups from within the Metal Gear Solid 3 story. The player who got the highest score in the previous round got to play as the leader of that group i.e. if the player's group is the Ocelot Unit, they got to play as Major Ocelot.

The maps in Subsistence were:

Lost Forest
Ghost Factory (Later ported into MPO+)
City Under Siege (later ported into the PS3 version of Metal Gear Online (MGO2) as Urban Ultimatum)
Killhouse A (Later ported into MPO+)
Killhouse B (Later ported into MPO+)
Killhouse C (Later ported into MPO+)
Svyatogornyj East
Krasnogorje (Mountaintop)
Graniny Gorki Lab
Pillbox Purgatory (Later ported into MPO+ & Peace Walker)
High Ice
Brown Town (later ported in the PS3 version of Metal Gear Online (MGO2) as Coppertown Conflict)

Portable Ops (MPO)[]

Main article: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

In the single player game, the player is able to recruit soldiers into their unit as part of the story. These soldiers would then be available in the online portion of the game. However, characters that die in the RC mode die permanently and can not be used in single player. These characters were then offered to the opponent, to become part of their team. Because of this, the player could surrender a match to save the rest of their unit. Characters that die in VR are not killed permanently. This could only be played through a wireless ad-hoc network on the PSP.

Portable Ops Plus (MPO+)[]

Main article: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus

The later version, Portable Ops Plus (MPO+) was released on which was mainly focused on online play and had plenty of new and extra characters (like Genome Soldiers, Old Solid Snake, Roy Campbell, Raiden, Tengu Soldiers, High Tech Soldiers, etc.,) and new features like in-game text chat, animations/taunts that the character can use along with new maps, from classic MGS games and others.

The Multiplayer Modes, in the Match category, consisted of:

Infrastructure + (Online Mode + / Main Online Mode)
Ad-Hoc + (Local Multiplayer +)
Infrastructure (Original Online Mode)
Ad-Hoc (Original Local Multiplayer)

Unlike Portable Ops, this game had no story, just a set of missions (EASY, NORMAL, HARD, and EXTREME) and Snake (Big Boss) would be unlocked later. However, it included single player match modes like 'Training' and 'Boss Rush', the main focus being on the online mode rather than single player.

According to Kojima, Portable Ops's official abbreviation, MPO, was intended to stand for "Metal Gear People Online," paralleling how Metal Gear Online was abbreviated MGO.^[3]

Portable Ops and Portable Ops Plus online servers were shutdown in 2012.

Later versions[]

Peace Walker[]

In this incarnation, up to 6 players would be able to choose their own character skins, which could be collected from single player game-play as "Versus Ops Uniforms," for decorative purposes as well as the various suits they had access to in single player for tactical purposes in multiplayer. Players could also receive downloadable uniforms that were also available via pass codes and DLC. They would also be permitted to choose which weapons to use in game-play, which had been collected in single player. However, the equipment would be restricted to a shield and Fulton balloons, the latter of which would be used to neutralize (not recruit) stunned or tranquilized players by non-lethal means (see Peace Walker weapons and equipment for information). Players also had the option of CO-OP for a multitude of missions. There were missions that involved 2-player CO-OP on conventional sneaking missions and 4-player CO-OP vs. Boss battles, both of which were available in story missions and Extra Ops missions. Players had the option of playing as Snake, assuming they initially managed to register as his character before anyone else in the server. Players could also choose characters of certain traits that would help boost the effectiveness of the mission being carried out (see Character Traits for information). Some of the Extra Op missions excluded Snake from gameplay, leaving the players with recruited characters. Players also had this could also only be played though a wireless ad-hoc network on the PlayStation Portable. In the Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection version, online play is compatible through the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, respectively. Each Versus-Op can only still be played by only 6 players, however.

Maps for multiplayer can be unlocked by completing Extra Ops missions. These included maps that originated from Subsistance and Portable Ops.

The maps included in Peace Walker were:

Bosque del Alba
Bosque del Alba (Night)
Bananal Fruta de Oro: Farm
Bananal Fruta de Oro: Farm (Night)
Aldea Los Despiertos
Aldea Los Despiertos (Night)
El Cadalso
El Cadalso (Night)
Ruinas de Xochiquetzal
Ruinas de Xochiquetzal (Night)
Miners' Residence
Miners' Residence (Night)
Underground Passage B
Soviet Patrol Base (originally from Portable Ops)
Silo Entrance (originally from Portable Ops)
Pillbox Purgatory (originally from Subsistence)

Cameo appearances[]

Although not directly related to a new version of Metal Gear Online, the second version was briefly referenced in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance with the 3D Photo Frame, which used as its female model the Type A Female Soldier from that game.

Metal Gear Online (2) Shutdown[]

On February 15, 2012, Konami announced that the game would end in several phases. On March 21, the Online Shop was shut down. From April 24, registration for new player characters was no longer available. However, expansion packs, Preset Codec Message Appeal Packs were made available for free download, and reward shop equipment was available for free, with the exception of some "non-sale" items. During the last 24 hours of gameplay, Konami allowed all players to use the Patriot. On June 12, the servers were shut down for good, exactly four years after its release.^[4] A farewell event ran by Konami was also held that day.

After the shutdown, some fans on the web community from SaveMGO decided to revive the game with their own server,^[2] first with MGO1 in July 2014, and then later with MGO2. On February of 2021, MGO2PC launched- a service that allows you to connect with PS3 players and enjoy the online experience using a custom build of the RPCS3 Emulator. The dedicated player base is continuing efforts on preserving the rest of any unreleased content and bring tournaments, new custom maps and gear through game updates. Information on how to play the game can be found on their website, there have currently been no conflicts between the legality of SaveMGO or MGO2PC with Konami.