I prefer a one time fee like with the Guild Wars games but I guess I would make an exception for subscription fee in case the game is good enough which they never are and I doub I think they will be.

The future will be a mix of all mentioned but I think it's possible advertisement will be more common (both during installation, loading, downloading patches and in-game that will seem like it's supposed to fit the game).

I like the idea that you pay for a game once and you own it forever.

Revolutionary huh

F2P of course, P2P is kinda dead atm, and when WoW is gone, the term will be dead as well.

Clearly the best answer is for MMO's to stop existing altogether.

EVE is more niche than many other MMOs but it has been reasonably successful with P2P.

I think if you can find a niche then pay to play can work. If you want to go mass market then free to play is really the only viable option these days. However, there are very different models of free to play and some I think are much more annoying then others.

Why can't there be a story focused MMO? Like all MMOs are about loot and quests, why can't it not be more like a game of D&D where my characters has a back story, and the Dungeon Master lays out the plot.

Probably because fictional stories in computer games are reliant on immersion, and it's easy to have that immersion broken with a party of characters who are real people who talk and treat the game like a game, not like P&P players roleplaying an adventure.

Probably the biggest immersion breaker ever if the female elf cleric in your party suddenly starts chatting in log and uses bad grammar and spelling with internet memes and abbreviations like a 14 year old.

The easiest thing is just to play a single-player game. People who play MMO's are like people who play MOBA's, they don't care about story experiences, they treat the whole thing like a competitive e-sport.

Or have friends who take it seriously, I heard that for people to play D&D they have to litirally "role-play" by acting like their character.

Also whats with your dislike of MOBA games, I rarely play them, but I notice a lot of hate, why?

Multi-player Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption was supposed to be a lot like this. Not sure how well it ever took off though.

But that's a multi-player RPG - not an MMOG. For the number of players you get in a popular MMOG it'd just be impossible to actively dungeon-master and script an individual plot for each group of players.

Also, as Crosmando says, it would also rely on the players actually going along with it. Even on designated RP servers you get enough MMO players that don't that it breaks immersion.

Basically what I said, they are like sports. Not about a fun "experience" but some kinda powergame-y competition to get the best gear, highest level, best "build", etc without any regard to the "lore" or story. Yeah I know some people exist who like sport and competition, but seriously fuck them, it's not what games should be.

Eh? They're not the only two options. People play many single player games (from tetris to torchlight) without any regard for "lore" or story and without "sport" or competition. It's still fun. The big draw of MMOs is the social aspect which you don't often get in single player.

I don't see where the hate is coming from to be honest. If you don't enjoy playing MMOs then that's fine. I don't like some gaming genres but I don't think that they should stop being made.

No, what I was saying is that in a single-player game there's no need to competitive about how you build your character and what gear you get, because who are you competing against? Yourself?

The multiplayer part of MMO's is what makes the stories and irrelevant. I mean does anyone in MMO's read what NPC's say for the great atmospheric dialogues with lots of choices? Of course not, they just click yes and go do the fetch quest.

Actually - I generally do.

But regardless, there are good points being made about why it matters to you... If you don't like them, fine - don't play them. Comments like "but seriously fuck them, it's not what games should be" don't help though. Who are you to say what games should or shouldn't be?

Does anyone playing torchlight care about the paper-thin story? Or do they just get on with killing things? I'm not sure there are big differences. There was recently talk.about people skipping the story bits in Heroes Chronicles and just enjoying the game. The story isn't the be all and end all. And some people in MMOs actually do care about the story stuff but that isn't the big draw for most. Fighting enemies with your friends is what's fun.

And yes some people will competitively go for the best gear but most people I know are just in it for the raids with friends. Nothing compels you to go for the best gear. You're playing WITH friends not against them. You help each other out and share.

On the other hand some people who play single player games will feel compelled to be the first to max out everything and go everywhere and then boast about it on a forum. So what? If that's the way they want to play I'm not going to call for an end to single player games because of them.