I would advise people to look at the broader picture. MMO (especially MMORPG) has become the universally despised video game genre. The old and successful MMOs are dying out. Many have moved to F2P/microtransactions (or combined). Still, the future is clear: slow agony, long and painful death, no matter how many painkillers (a.k.a. XP/SP/GP runes, limited vanity offers etc etc) are used before the final demise. To view them as anything else but rapidly deteriorating (failing) isolated ecosystems would be very short-sighted. On the other hand, newly released MMOs show troubling trends: overcrowded on release, yet deserted after first nightfall. Naturally, AAA titles manage to last a year or two before succumbing to the aforementioned omnipresent plague. MMO players can rest easy (for now), as each victim is replaced by a new, different MMO. Still, the trend is obvious. People do not like MMOs. They do not want to play MMOs. Yes, that means they do not want to play ANY MMOs and no MMO will be successful in a market that despises them. I assume some people will definitely object, describing what a MMO they would play would be like. The question you should ask yourself is "Would I play a deserted MMO?". Players never ask themselves that question. When they see a deserted MMO, they LEAVE. EVERY [bleep]ing TIME. And since all those new MMOs become deserted after first nightfall...