| Well, I don't see how you have to pay for patches for an MMORPG, while with other non-MMO games, patches are released without paying any monthly fee.
But additions and alterations, that's what Aegis is talking about, how his $10 USD should go toward the growth and changing of the online world, not just running a server. There are some games that still have some servers always running, although there is no monthly fee (ie. TRIBES always has online servers running, though there is no monthly fee. Same with Unreal series and Quake series.)
Just the thing I don't like about MMORPGs is that you can't actually WIN it, you don't seem to have a large common goal. I think it'd be great if the online world was broken up into different parts. One part is Quest X, then another is Quest Y, etc. Once you win one quest, you just go to the other world, with all your previous items, experience, etc. THEN your money can go towards getting new quests (new worlds), not just server maintenance and minor patches/alterations/tweaks.
Of course, the quests would have to be long in order to not have a bunch of people waiting for the next quest once they're done one. I think this would work quite well.  |