Why should I choose ASP.NET over PHP? (re: can I access raw HTML generated from ASP tags?)

I'm still really undecided whether or not I should start learning ASP.NET or PHP.

I'd really like to create a web-based MMORPG type of game but I'm also interested in learning either of them for the job market. I really don't want to learn both (at least not right now) so I'm hoping somebody can help me decide.

It seems like ASP.NET is superior in almost every way to PHP except that with PHP5 you can access (and are forced to access) the raw HTML for your page. This is both a curse and a blessing but it seems like in ASP.NET you really don't have much access to the raw HTML generated from the ASP controls.

So why should I choose one or the other? My main purpose is to create a web-based MMORPG (as I mentioned)...

Thanks for any advice!

Sofa-

Are you familiar with any existing PHP or ASP.NET MMORPGs? I'm not heavily involved with game development, but my understanding is that neither of these technologies are really well suited for interactive game development. Most MMORPGs are actually created with DirectX (for Windows) and C++ and installed on Windows machines. They use connections to central servers from the installed game to make the "MMO" come to life. If you're after a more lightweight game, I imagine Flash would be the next best choice for creating a game that could be run in the browser. Silverlight, when it's finished, may be another good alternative, but that's a ways off in the future.

If you're looking to learn a language for the job market, it is a tough question to answer. It just depends on the the employer you want to work for. Usually, corporations are either PHP shopsor .NET shots and not both. I find .NET by far the superior language both for performance and productivity, but I think that will be the general bias in these forums.

Let me know if that addresses some of what you're after. I'll be happy to answer any additional questions you may have.

Thanks~
Todd

I started off with PHP. I was just learning how to build websites and needed a dynamic language, and PHP was free. About a year and a half ago I began my current job and head to learn C# (.NET 2.0). And I would say - go with .NET. The tools (Visual Studio) cost more than the free stuff that's out there for PHP, but I love it.

I don't know what you need to access the html for, but I can't think of anything that you can't do in .NET if you know how. It's all about learning the language.

Thanks for the replies...

By the way, I'm looking to create a web-based MMORPG (example: Kingdom of Loathing) not a standalone game. (example: World of Warcraft)

I've wanted to make my own web-based MMORPG for quite some time too.

Personally I'd go with .Net since I've been working with it for quite some time. And the good news is: you can use it with MySQL too, in case you need it.

Asp.Net offers more structure, allows you to work faster and increases your productivity. The fact that ASP.Net is Object-Oriented is definatelly a big plus.

Edit: a MMORPG game is quite a challenge. I suggest you start small and do a few websites before starting such a big project. You may get frustrated real fast if you try to start too big.