It might very well be the next question your average fan asks: "Who needs MMORPGs when you have Massive Multiplayer Offline Card Playing Games?" This week at Gen Con, both World of Warcraft and EVE Online will be showcasing collectible card games based on their online worlds.

Upper Deck Entertainment will preview WoW TCG in the very first public demonstration of 2006. As stated before, sign-up for the event started one month ago and participation will be extremely limited. Less than 200 lucky winners will receive an appointment, a ticket, and a personal demonstration from a member of the UDE Warcraft TCG design team. Attendees are encouraged to visit the UDE booth in the convention exhibit hall just the same, and watch the lucky few in their one-on-one sneak peek at the game. I bet most participants dreamed about one day fighting game designers with their own tools, so gen Con is the closest thing. The only question remaining is who gets the loot; can you roll 1d100 on a normal dice?

EVE: The Second Genesis developers didn't take light to its competitor and will blow everyone away with a massive tournament on the scene. From the EVE announcement: "CCP will have a 128-person tournament at Gen Con in Hall G of the Indianapolis Convention Center on Saturday, August 12th with cash prizes totaling $10,000. The tournament will be open to everyone and since EVE: The Second Genesis will be launched at the show, those competing will have as equal a chance of winning as possible. The tournament will be a Swiss double elimination tournament with cash prizes for the top 32 players, with additional prizes for random players between rounds. A double elimination tournament is a competition where participants are eliminated from the tournament upon having lost two matches. All players will receive a starter deck free of charge when they come to the EVE booth for a demonstration."