I feel that a lot of this has to do with the attitudes of the most vocal of MMO players. These players, usually veterans of this form of gaming, have very strict ideas pertaining to what makes a game worth playing. Many of the folks who are actually creating these games are these very sorts of people. The overriding philosophy that's driving the ways these games are designed can be distilled to a very puritan ideal: that those who work hard should be the most successful. Players willing to organize large groups of their fellows in order to engage in repetitive content are the ones who will get the most out of these games. They'll have status, wealth, and in theory, access to the most engaging content. Of course, it doesn't always pan out that way. Usually, the perks that they'll have access to are forms of content that are more or less identical to what they started with, only all the relevant numbers are bigger.

Is this what we're doomed to? Are MMO players essentially pixel addicts whose notion of fun has been skewed by designers whose sole motive is to keep us trotting on the treadmill that they've so nefariously conceived? I certainly hope not. And I truly believe that the only reason that they keep giving us these sorts of games is because 1) it's what they think we want, and 2) it's probably what they themselves feel to be fun. See, they're ultimately on the same boat that we're on. We're actually not that different, apart from the fact that they get to make games and we get to play them.

Molten Core is not fun.

I've said before that it's this "generation" of MMOs that will spawn blockbuster games in the form that we're familiar with. Not that I believe the genre is going anywhere -- far from it. There will always be at least a couple million people willing to kick it on the treadmill, and I am one of these people. What I'm saying, though, is that the next "huge" MMO will probably bear only a passing resemblance to the games we play now. So what does the post-WoW world have in store?

If I knew, I certainly wouldn't be here talking to you. Actually, I have an idea, but you know... everyone has ideas. If I had to place a bet, I would say that the next big breakthrough will come in the form of a console game. This coming generation of consoles is making even more meaningful movements into online than the one that's about to elapse, and with that will surely come persistence. And let's face it: Console players aren't trying to mess with level grinds, repetitive raid content, and things like that. I hope they're not anyway, for the sake of the genre.

As for those of us already playing, well, we're pretty much doomed. Hopefully, we'll take to the next big thing the same way we took to WoW for its strides in alleviating the least attractive elements of the games we play. Our estranged friends and relatives will certainly appreciate it.