It's been a long time since there's been a revolutionary MMORPG... Maybe that's being too generous. Has there ever been one? From Meridian 59, to Ultima Online to Everquest to World of Warcraft and to what is probably the highest species of the genotype Lord of the Rings online, players have been pretty much been riding the same horse.
Meridian gave us a graphical MUD. Ultima Online crafting and an economy. Everquest gave us a beautiful world and raiding. World of Warcraft lowered the time and entry requirements. Lord of the Rings took a snip here and a snip there and spent a lot of time polishing things up, but we're still pretty much playing Meridian 59. Today I am going to kill a monster, loot his corpse and use the sword he had to help me kill a tougher monster tomorrow.
Some games have given us different beautiful worlds (Pirates, or Space or Alien Landscapes or Technoworlds), some games gave us instances or dragons or new trade skills, but though the games have been refiend and are evolving, there hasn't been an evloutionary leap probably since the original Everquest and even that can be argued.
Going over the list of upcoming games, only Tabula Rasa is looking for a way to change the landscape. Why is that? Is the lure of the windfall Warcraft created so strong that financiers are only willing to try to better that game in an effort to steal its market share? What would you do if you were making an MMORPG? Would you try to Out-WoW World of Warcraft or would you take a step away and try to step forward and deliver something new?
