Alright, I know I'm going to catch some slack for this, so let me say here and now: I play World of Warcraft. Yes, I know, all you people who dislike Wal-Mart, think MacDonalds is a terrible company, and percieve Capitalism as a Russian lady stabbing communists while riding a train probably think I am nothing but a sheep. Fine, to each his own.
Bahhh.... crap. It's hard to keep them in sometimes.
Anyhow, on to the subject: MMO creators and your foolish, foolish idealization of we, the consumer. Firstly, I must tell you, you picked a horrible market to suck up to. We are really hard to attract because we've become so jaded as of late with games like Auto Assault and The Matrix Online. Yeah, I know, people actually paid others to make that stuff. Horrible, I'm quite aware.
I know what many of you are thinking: but Zweikin, whoever you are, people will buy the game, play it for a few months, and then quit. In theory it's a success since most people buy console games, play it for a month, then sell it. Sure, I suppose in that light it is a success. However, they are ruining not only the genre but their own chances of ripping us off again. Do you honestly think I will ever, EVAR play another NCSoft game? Well, maybe I will, but chances are I won't because I don't trust them. The same can be said for S.O.E. Blizzard, on the other hand, has grabbed me in their little web.
That's right, brand loyalty. Do you know why I will be play The Old Republic? Simple and easy: because I trust them to deliver. Sure, it might suck, but I don't think it will, so I'll buy it and Dragon Age and anything else they poot out. The same can be said for Blizzard and Square-Enix and Bioware (I know, I mentioned them already) and even Rockstar!
Secondly, and perhaps worst of all, you did it all wrong! Bad game studio, bad! You have been making games about things we have NO idea about. Ask yourself honestly: would you ever play a game which costs a regular fee each month if you had no link, connection or otherwise tie to its story, characters, and squishy bits? Of course you would... wait, what? Well, you would for a month, then you would quit. Think Age of Conan or Warhammer Online.
Oh, and to all of you people who are yelling at me right now because you play those games... yeah, sure, you do, but how many others are? I'm sorry, it just does not match up to World of Warcraft. And, before you start crying, I can defend WoW entirely because this is a free market and we use profit and durability as a sign of success. Can you say that any game I have listed has even touched a half of WoW's success? No? It's not worth it then.
World of Warcraft is not undefeatable. Anyone, and I do mean anyone, could make a better MMO and do it with more success, but they don't follow the obvious signs:
1. It has to have a defined video game base, not one which comes from miniatures or card battles.
2. Everyone must be able to run it! I'm sorry but if 90% of your audience can't play your game, they don't care about it.
3. You must attract EVERYONE! Not just PvPers or PvEers. EVERYONE! Inclusion my friends, it's called inclusion!
That's it... seriously. Now, you have to take into account that each of those steps has about a million more, but the simple truth is that MMO's are incredibly easy to make in theory: make it fun, friendly to casuals, and rewarding to hardcore players.