Posi Confirms: COH Largest and Most Active MMO Ever Shut Down
By
Adar_ICT,
Posted on: 2012-10-29 18:54 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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Hi, I've never met you nor have an informed opinion about what knowledge, competencies or areas of expertise you may have. I wish you well generally simply as a fan and player of City of Heroes.|
Originally Posted by Evil_Legacy
1, you have no idea what I have knowledge in or dont have knowledge in. Do you even know me? I dont recall ever meeting you. [edit]
2, I used that analogy because I've seen people compare this death of a game being compared to someone killing a family member, or death, and or death of a family pet. And yea my point in pointing it out, was that it was not that serious. As you have seem to confirm but didnt call it stupid when others used that anology for the closing up. So it seems it wasnt the content of that statement that made it stupid but more so of who was saying it. |
I agree that shutting down an MMO/killing it isn't the same as murdering another person. I do however disagree with your opinion the loss of city of heroes is not comparable to the loss of a family pet or even family member, since I and others have reported that what we feel/felt IS very like the grief experienced by such personal losses. I am glad however if your own emotional response was not as extreme.
On to "Forever". Notwithstanding caveat emptor (generically, not limited to real estate) and the need to be savvy to potentially misleading but legal advertisement puffery (what an appropriate term!), does "PLAY FREE FOREVER" http://images.mmorpg.com/images/cont..._header_us.jpg mean
1. Play Forever, until your death or the heat-death of the universe, whichever comes first?, OR
2. Forever Free; i.e., you have the option to play for free forever, as long as you/your interest and the game shall endure, with an implied, non-binding pledge not to rescind the Free to Play business model?
If you think it's option 1, i won't call it "stupid" or otherwise use derogatory language; however, I'd always assumed option 2 was what this meant.
aka @Kristoff von Gelmini, leader of small SG bases (Infinity/Victory/Virtue/Protector), member of The House of Tera (Justice) and various others (Champion/Infinity/Victory/Guardian/Freedom).
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Ah yes minecraft. not sure I thought it was starcraft. yes minecraft, sandbox game right with the cubes I believe. my error. |
Originally Posted by Feycat
I think it's kinda funny that you say "where did I say that?" and the respond to things I never said.
I never said anything about companies being forced by law to make their games Minecrafty. Nor did I say that current MMO companies are "doing it wrong." What I said was to disagree with you saying that IF gamemakers were forced by such a law, that they would take their business elsewhere, stop making games, and stop innovating. Minecraft proves easily that gamemakers can make innovative, creative, evolving games, within the model where you buy a game once and then don't pay for anything else (Minecraft doesn't even have a cash shop!) and still make plenty of profits. Heck, GW1 and GW2 do as well, though they have a cash shop, should one choose to use it. Gamemakers would in no way be put out of business if the law was enforced to say that only the SERVICE they provide is removable, but not the PROGRAM which we paid for. Which, really, is a far more sensible interpretation of the law to begin with. I've heard people say they'd be happy to keep playing this game with no new content updates, so clearly a singleplayer version would do fine. I've also seen people say they wouldn't play without an enormous community to draw on, so server service and community policing would STILL be something people are willing to pay for. Oh, and Minecraft and games of its type aren't limited to 10 players. I have a 10 player server because I have 9 friends who are interested in the game and who I trust to play with. There are servers out there with hundreds of players, who have sub fees even, in order to pay for server infrastructure and community policing. This setup really IS the best of all worlds, because you can intimately choose the setup that works most for you. The gamemaker gets your money, and can charge for the original game, large server communities, and/or content updates as they please. Those of us who only wanted to solo/duo the game anyway can have our nice empty worlds to fill as we choose. Everyone wins. Also, have you actually played Minecraft? Because it is FAR more similar to WoW than to Warcraft 3 or 2. By FAR. It's not even a reasonable comparison. Minecraft has NO goals, no structure, no "build X before Y event happens in order to win the scenario," no pre-fabbed structures that take X time for NPCs to build for you, etc. There's literally not a single thing about a strat game that has anything in common with Minecraft. |
Sure they can make games like that, there is no doubt about that.
Where would the line be drawn between service and program. I would assume the program is out of the box and the updates are service or is it something else? Or should, with the above model, should game makers start charging for updates, if they are considered part of the program once they are released?
But yes, while a single player version would be fine, and a game maker can already make that type of game where there is a single person version but you can go online, why take that choice away from them where they have no choice but to build that model? Is that model kind of like a console game so what would even be the point of having a PC version?
-Female Player-
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Originally Posted by mauk2
Evil_Legacy became one of my favorite posters with two words.
"Kick Rocks." I laffed so hard.  Never change, E_L! |
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It's number 2 it is. Except they didnt rescind the buisness model per se, they discontinued the product. |
Originally Posted by JohnRobey
Hi, I've never met you nor have an informed opinion about what knowledge, competencies or areas of expertise you may have. I wish you well generally simply as a fan and player of City of Heroes.
I agree that shutting down an MMO/killing it isn't the same as murdering another person. I do however disagree with your opinion the loss of city of heroes is not comparable to the loss of a family pet or even family member, since I and others have reported that what we feel/felt IS very like the grief experienced by such personal losses. I am glad however if your own emotional response was not as extreme. On to "Forever". Notwithstanding caveat emptor (generically, not limited to real estate) and the need to be savvy to potentially misleading but legal advertisement puffery (what an appropriate term!), does "PLAY FREE FOREVER" http://images.mmorpg.com/images/cont..._header_us.jpg mean 1. Play Forever, until your death or the heat-death of the universe, whichever comes first?, OR 2. Forever Free; i.e., you have the option to play for free forever, as long as you/your interest and the game shall endure, with an implied, non-binding pledge not to rescind the Free to Play business model? If you think it's option 1, i won't call it "stupid" or otherwise use derogatory language; however, I'd always assumed option 2 was what this meant. |
Even if the game continued, free forever is a common ad loophole that many marketers use. In law it usually just merely mean a "reasonable person's standard as nothing really last forever." And you know, as vague as that is of a "reasonable standard" varies.
But if you want to persue for false advertising, you might have somewhat of a case given the short time period, if you can get a super suave lawyer and NCSoft dont bring their A level game. In reality though, it probably wont make it beyond the first set of paper work.
Hell even life-time warranties are not always life time. California and some other states have laws that say that a life time warranty must be a min. of only three years. The average one is only five years overall. So much for "life time"
-Female Player-
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Originally Posted by mauk2
Evil_Legacy became one of my favorite posters with two words.
"Kick Rocks." I laffed so hard. Never change, E_L! |
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A "life time" warranty might conceivably be for the expected life time of the product rather than the user.
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Originally Posted by Evil_Legacy
Hell even life-time warranties are not always life time. California and some other states have laws that say that a life time warranty must be a min. of only three years. The average one is only five years overall. So much for "life time"
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Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound
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exactly.
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Originally Posted by Tenzhi
A "life time" warranty might conceivably be for the expected life time of the product rather than the user.
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-Female Player-
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Originally Posted by mauk2
Evil_Legacy became one of my favorite posters with two words.
"Kick Rocks." I laffed so hard. Never change, E_L! |
I'm pretty sure by "Free Forever" they were talking about the emulator!
@Zethustra
"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
I think another important aspect about people's perceptions, expectations and reactions to the potential life of CoH (and its sudden shutdown) has a bit to do with the history of previous successful/popular mmorpgs.
We basically have the first generation of successful/popular MMORPGs in Ultima Online, Asheron's Call and Everquest - The front runners who seem to have earned their place to continue to this day.
I know we could place UO in a generation before all of them, but the big wave of greater popularity and familiarity of these games in the U.S. started somewhere during EQ, around the release of Star Wars Galaxies (that really pulled in a lot of brand new players who'd never played an mmorpg before through the license... they just didn't keep them) and then it exploded with WoW (This era, I would term the 2nd generation, in this poor man's summary).
There have been others, within this 2nd generation, before CoH and after, but CoH survived for 8 years and seemed to remain respectable, popular and innovative (as well as one of a kind, even after other MMOs within the genre came out).
UO is still going. EQ is still going. AC is still going. Heck, Dark Ages Of Camelot is still going... So is Ryzom.
People mention that mmorpgs don't last forever; that 8 years is a "good run". However, there seemed to be a bit of a precedence for mmorpgs that had reached a certain amount of success and loyalty. If they continued to have players supporting and enjoying it (maybe even without so much of that in some cases, hehe), they could/would continue indefinitely. It seemed almost as though these great ones could reach a certain point where they earned their right to continue on indefinitely. That those communities and those players and those games would not simply be shut down. This view may not be right (obviously, it is not... not under NCSoft's control, at least). However, I certainly viewed CoH as a game that needn't worry about being ended, despite people that'd say "it'll die eventually". Well, as long as UO and EQ and DAoC and AC and Ryzom were around... why in the blazes wouldn't CoH still be around? Surely it would be. Surely, for now, that's not even a concern, because things are going well and so many improvements, additions and such are continuously being added and scheduled for down the road.
It certainly appeared as though CoH had attained such a status as to be considered among those classic MMORPGs. CoH seemed to deserve its place in the MMORPG Hall of Fame and remain playable for a long time.
That's how I saw it. That's how I see it.
I'm really not down with the idea that these games will vanish after a handful of years. I'm not that kind of customer. Heh, I just busted out my old NES and played some Super Mario Bros with my wife. And this game had/has a lot more room for expansion than any old cartridge I can pull out and still enjoy.
Anyway, it seemed like some mmorpgs would reach a certain status - These ring bearers would be carried along the sea and live forever in the Valinor of mmorpgdom, where we could continue to enjoy them.
@Zethustra
"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
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You really bring out the best in any thread you visit, don't you.
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Originally Posted by Brillig
I was just demonstrating to Codemoron that I knew what an ad hominem was.
Just to, you know, follow up his. Oh look, there's another. |
Thought for the day:
"Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment."
=][=
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The conclusions you're drawing are not entirely unreasonable given the specific data points you're looking at. However, let me ask a question. Do you believe the rumors that a set of insiders attempted to buy the game from NCsoft? Because whether one believes that or not has a dramatic impact on any analysis of the profitability of the game.
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Originally Posted by Father Xmas
The game could have been very profitable as long as you only included operating costs like the server hosting, bandwidth, customer support, the forums and the website. But as soon as you include Paragon Studio into the mix and can't see how it could be considered very profitable on sales of only $10-11 million a year. Unless of course people are suggesting that the numbers NCSoft reported as sales revenue are a fabrication.
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Paragon Studios, working on two projects, might not have been profitable. City of Heroes, standalone, was profitable. At least, that's how I've been seeing it.|
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
The game could have been very profitable as long as you only included operating costs like the server hosting, bandwidth, customer support, the forums and the website. But as soon as you include Paragon Studio into the mix and can't see how it could be considered very profitable on sales of only $10-11 million a year. Unless of course people are suggesting that the numbers NCSoft reported as sales revenue are a fabrication.
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| So NCSoft killed off a studio in a foreign country that was behind a game which was rejected in NCSoft's home market, a game whose sales revenues have been declining over the years, a studio haven't shown you a new game idea that you liked and are part of the wholly own subsidiary that has been majorly in the red for the last several years. Sorry but from their point of view, it's the logical play to make if they want to show their investors that they are trying to reduce costs. |
Have a meeting to run to, I'll ramble more later.
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Strongly disagree. That sounds like it would be an absolutely stupid and useless piece of legislation.
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Originally Posted by Lucky666
Sorry but selling something to someone one day then taking it away the next cause it's digital and your EULA BS said you could should be criminal and I hope one day it is.
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I have my suspicions about that.|
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Unless of course people are suggesting that the numbers NCSoft reported as sales revenue are a fabrication.
Assuming the sales numbers are accurate, the game's revenues have been on a steady downward slope for several years now. Freedom hadn't reversed this trend but may have leveled it out for the time being. There was no hope for growth into NCSoft's most profitable region, Korea, as the game died in Beta there years ago. |
I can't prove it as I don't have access to NCSoft's internal accounting, so this *IS* pure speculation, but I'm not entirely convinced that the "Game Sales" breakdown in the quarterlies includes microtransactions.
I think it's much more likely that PS as a whole was breaking even and possibly not contributing "enough" back to the mothership. But still, if that wasn't good enough, why not simply halt development on the extra project, lay off half the studio, and keep the steady income around? I don't think they could have started that project without NC's approval in any event.
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The piece that you're missing is that WoW is the anomaly.|
Originally Posted by Evil_Legacy
I'm still wondering why the hell isnt this game the 900lb Gorilla even without counting the Asian population (no offense), especially since it came to be prior to WoW. We had good devs, good concept, good communication between players and devs, frequent updates relatively, yet...what happened? Originally I thought that it just failed to pull WoW players away but this game seemed to have been here first.
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Before WoW came along, MMOs just didn't pull in those kind of numbers, period. Starting a new one (say, one about superheroes) and getting 200k subscribers would have been considered a huge success.
WoW was huge because it played off the existing massive Warcraft fanbase from the strategy games. It got people playing MMOs who would never have played one if it didn't come from Blizzard and have the Warcraft name on it, and who will probably not play another one when that game shuts down.
Yes, the vast majority of WoW's players are in China, Taiwan, and Korea. Those markets often don't use the same subscription model as is used in the US, so the numbers are inflated by all of the Internet Cafe players who log in every once in a while. Last US estimate I heard was a bit shy of a million players, which is still unusually high, though that was before Cataclysm when the numbers dropped quite a bit.
And even since, no other MMO has come anywhere close to WOW's numbers. It is the outlier -- you can't use it as a metric for anything other than itself. Any company that thinks they can put together a "WoW-killer" is just setting themselves up for disappointment.
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I believe that they do include microtransaction.|
Originally Posted by Codewalker
I have my suspicions about that.
I can't prove it as I don't have access to NCSoft's internal accounting, so this *IS* pure speculation, but I'm not entirely convinced that the "Game Sales" breakdown in the quarterlies includes microtransactions. |
This is because in the PDF file in the quarterly results, they state that the drop in Aion revenues was due to poor item sales.
Look at the actual financial report... and what do you see, Aion revenues dropping. And considering that it is Free2Play *worldwide* now, if they didn't include microtransactions in the revenue model, then it would be non-existent in terms of revenue.
Now, extending that further, why would they choose to include it for one game, and not another?
Or infact, why would they include it for their *other* games, and not City of heroes?
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It could be. All I know is that something doesn't add up. Numbers don't lie, but when you have two different sets of numbers that don't agree with each other, then there's got to be a missing piece of the puzzle somewhere.
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Originally Posted by Gangrel_EU
I believe that they do include microtransaction.
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I think what has people upset is that the right move for NCSoft should have been to sell the game to another producer. They get to pocket some money, and the game continues on. There's no reason for them not to do that.|
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Saying this doesn't make me an NCSoft supporter or an apologist but a realist. They messed up, we payed the price. Is it fair to the employees of Paragon Studio or the players of CoH? Hell no. Is it the right move for NCSoft? Probably.
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Actually, I can think of one reason, and it's my biggest fear. NCSoft might be keeping the copyright in order to design a new hero game using the Korean grind-fest gameplay. Think 'Lineage' set in Paragon City. That's the only scenario that makes sense -- otherwise, NCSoft's refusal to sell the game looks like they just threw money away.
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Just to correct you, WoW and SWG are usually talked about as being in the third generation of MMOs. The second generation included DAOC (Dark Age of Camelot), AO (Anarchy Online), and several other games that never got very big. There were two years between the first generation and the second, three years between the second and the third.|
Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
We basically have the first generation of successful/popular MMORPGs in Ultima Online, Asheron's Call and Everquest - The front runners who seem to have earned their place to continue to this day.
I know we could place UO in a generation before all of them, but the big wave of greater popularity and familiarity of these games in the U.S. started somewhere during EQ, around the release of Star Wars Galaxies (that really pulled in a lot of brand new players who'd never played an mmorpg before through the license... they just didn't keep them) and then it exploded with WoW (This era, I would term the 2nd generation, in this poor man's summary). |
To support your overall point, the second generation games DAOC and AO are still running. But a lot of the smaller games in all generations have been shut down.
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Yes. Considering that The Realm Online is still running, and it doesn't look like its in any danger of suddenly disappearing. Take a look at the release date, its been going for 16 years. For those that have trouble with math, that's twice as long as CoH, and longer than Everquest, Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Ryzom, and just about any other MMO that I can find on the internet. I'll even bet that the vast majority of those reading this have never even heard of The Realm. Yet, it is still running to this day.|
Originally Posted by I Burnt The Toast
Did people really think CoH was going to be around 20 years?
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If the Realm Online with its 16 bit graphics is still going, why can't we believe that CoH could last just as long if not longer?
There I was between a rock and a hard place. Then I thought, "What am I doing on this side of the rock?"
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There is that whole Korean "Kibun" honor-type thing. If someone were to buy the game from them, and do BETTER at it then NCSoft did, that can be seen as a loss of face to NCSoft.|
Originally Posted by RemusShepherd
I think what has people upset is that the right move for NCSoft should have been to sell the game to another producer. They get to pocket some money, and the game continues on. There's no reason for them not to do that.
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Kibun also dictates that it is dishonorable to have people continue to work on projects after informing them that they are being fired, so the lack of warning on the Paragon Studios shutdown has some reason behind it, even if people from other parts of the world see things differently.
-np
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I don't think anyone believes it couldn't. But turn your question around. Instead of pointing at the few old time MMOs still in existence, how about all those that HAVE been ended? There is precedent both for old MMOs puttering along with sub one-percent market shares AND for companies just not finding it worth doing. This is unfortunately a case of the latter. Of COURSE they could have found a way to keep it running for years to come, even if only in a maintenance mode with a much reduced population. So why didn't they?|
Originally Posted by Twisted Toon
If the Realm Online with its 16 bit graphics is still going, why can't we believe that CoH could last just as long if not longer?
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Something made them decide to close it down and I have trouble believing the reason was, "Hey Paragon Studios! Stop throwing money at us! We hate money. We already have enough! You're fired!"
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What numbers are you referring to that makes you believe mtx revenue isn't included?
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Originally Posted by Codewalker
It could be. All I know is that something doesn't add up. Numbers don't lie, but when you have two different sets of numbers that don't agree with each other, then there's got to be a missing piece of the puzzle somewhere.
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These forums have become a really long funeral.
We are saying our goodbyes. Talking with one another. We are going through emotions.
I just don't understand why we have so many people telling us to move on and not to hate NCSoft.
We can choose to hate, dislike, not care about or still love NCSoft, any of that is ok. But this is a funeral, I'm not sure its appropriate to tell us to move on and I'm not sure why the people so intent to tell us to move on haven't just taken their own advise. Let those of us still grieving grieve.
We aren't getting nor are we likely to get a good picture of why they shut down CoH. CoH was profitable enough to stay open at least with some changes and NCSoft has chosen to close it down permanently without giving an articulate-able reason backed up by any facts. NCSoft doesn't have to give us a reason, and I don't have to like NCSoft or recommend them to others. I'm also entitled to stand on my soapbox and tell people how bad a custodian they have been for our MMO.
CoH was also the only strong Super Hero MMO in the market. We as customers do not have a quality substitute. Its similar to a cable company deciding your area doesn't make enough money to service and you as a customer loosing channels you can't get back. I believe this is actually regulated by the FCC's requiring coverage, so a law would not be out of order.
Law evolve at a very very slow speed. IP law is in its infant stage, and it would be entirely appropriate for the government to step in and create laws to protect consumers. Because when you buy/lease an intangible good, you still are supposed to get exactly what you thought you paid for. In order for a contract to exist there must be a meeting of the minds and both minds must materially think the transaction means the same thing.
NCSoft may very well have opened itself to lawsuits when it allowed its developers to put videos out that show cased new material if they knew the business was getting shut down. They advertised it as "forever" and that has meaning even if its puffery, it still has meaning and NCSoft is in a position where they control more information on the health of the game and their company. We as customers rely on them to keep the game running as long as is reasonable. NCSoft hasn't provided any proof that it was reasonable to shut down CoH. To the contrary, their own stock reports seem to show that enough money was coming in to keep Paragon Studios afloat.
IP law is so in flux, that its possible NCSoft could lose a lawsuit from CoH customers. (I don't think its likely only possible). I do foresee either the industry doing something to allow servers to run in perpetuity or a new law being created to increase customer rights. Because MMO customers want assurance their game will last a year so they feel good about their investment of time and money to help create a good community and once they create a community those customers want to have a say in maintaining the community.
In the long end, I'm hoping that better business model will be created where the MMO's can stay in existence in perpetuity.
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Also, compare to some other game franchises that are out there. EA's Madden series has been around since 1988. Now, the delivery system is different from CoH's as the game is re-released yearly, but the franchise is still going strong. Sometimes installments highlight just a few features but are essentially the same as the last version (like CoH's issues), sometimes they have more meaningful overhauls like this year's "new physics engine promoting real in game physics" (compare to CoH's own ragdoll changes, or Ultra Mode).|
Originally Posted by Twisted Toon
If the Realm Online with its 16 bit graphics is still going, why can't we believe that CoH could last just as long if not longer?
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This is what gets me about people saying that CoH is an eight-year-old game. It's not. If you were to able to play I24 and then I1, you would be playing two different games. Sure, the games would be the same thematically, but they would be vastly different in content and in technology. Just as Madden '13 would be from Madden '04.
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Said it before and say it again: Arcanaville, I will miss your special brand of burn.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
My point was that was the stupidest thing I've read in weeks. Its stupid because:
1. Pointing out that you can use other content when content access is revoked completely misses not just the point of Rangle's post, it fails to comprehend what the point of viewing content is. Human beings don't generally view content because they have a content viewing minimum they have to maintain, like calories or oxygen. If someone takes away my copy of The Avengers its not a trivial loss if I can just watch Halloween 5 instead. The loss of access to specific content is not replaceable with completely different content because content is not fungible. 2. Pointing out that other forms of games do not have a revocation problem is missing the point of a discussion of what MMOs *should* be as opposed to what they currently are. That's comparable to saying that if you were opposed to Aparteid, rather than complain about it you should simply avoid countries that practice it. 3. Speaking of analogies, analogizing the shutdown of an MMO to capricious and random ways of dying isn't stupid because of its extreme exaggeration, its stupid because it analogizes the shutdown of MMOs to other situations people would oppose and fight to prevent even more strongly. Which is a case of someone shooting themselves in their own foot, and having the bullet ricochet off the ground and blow a hole in their own forehead. Its implying the exact opposite of what was intended, in a manner worthy of ridicule besides. 4. And it ends with an implied statement about the profitability of the game, a subject you have zero knowledge about and are as a result completely wrong about. The game was, in fact, very profitable, and not in any danger of being unprofitable for the foreseeable future. That's the primary reason the developers themselves were surprised by the shutdown; they are simply barred from commenting on the specific circumstances of the shutdown. Certainty in the face of ignorance, nonsense masquerading as logic, self-annihilating extreme exaggeration without irony, semantics without substance, all with the implication of the exact opposite of its vacuous extent. "Stupid" seemed to cover it colloquially, but I'm generally open to elucidation upon request. |
If those games are doing it the way it "should be done" then why have you bothered giving a company that is "doing it wrong" any money or time at all when you had the choice to go to a company that was doing it what you considered "should be forced by law" way of doing it?
Also Mincraft is a totally different kind of game than WoW. It's more similar to Warcraft 3 or Warcraft 2 if anything. WoW is considered to be Blizzrd's first true MMORPG just like COX is considered a MMORPG. If WoW servers were to go down, can you play it as a single player?
I never said anything about companies being forced by law to make their games Minecrafty. Nor did I say that current MMO companies are "doing it wrong."
What I said was to disagree with you saying that IF gamemakers were forced by such a law, that they would take their business elsewhere, stop making games, and stop innovating. Minecraft proves easily that gamemakers can make innovative, creative, evolving games, within the model where you buy a game once and then don't pay for anything else (Minecraft doesn't even have a cash shop!) and still make plenty of profits. Heck, GW1 and GW2 do as well, though they have a cash shop, should one choose to use it.
Gamemakers would in no way be put out of business if the law was enforced to say that only the SERVICE they provide is removable, but not the PROGRAM which we paid for. Which, really, is a far more sensible interpretation of the law to begin with. I've heard people say they'd be happy to keep playing this game with no new content updates, so clearly a singleplayer version would do fine. I've also seen people say they wouldn't play without an enormous community to draw on, so server service and community policing would STILL be something people are willing to pay for.
Oh, and Minecraft and games of its type aren't limited to 10 players. I have a 10 player server because I have 9 friends who are interested in the game and who I trust to play with. There are servers out there with hundreds of players, who have sub fees even, in order to pay for server infrastructure and community policing. This setup really IS the best of all worlds, because you can intimately choose the setup that works most for you. The gamemaker gets your money, and can charge for the original game, large server communities, and/or content updates as they please. Those of us who only wanted to solo/duo the game anyway can have our nice empty worlds to fill as we choose. Everyone wins.
Also, have you actually played Minecraft? Because it is FAR more similar to WoW than to Warcraft 3 or 2. By FAR. It's not even a reasonable comparison. Minecraft has NO goals, no structure, no "build X before Y event happens in order to win the scenario," no pre-fabbed structures that take X time for NPCs to build for you, etc. There's literally not a single thing about a strat game that has anything in common with Minecraft.