well i''ve try to play many MMORPG, and one things which really sucks is to be a newbie...getting so much time to have decent level to enjoy playing in repeating task (go kill monster) it''s a kind of dream breaking it''s seams the story is not about living great heroic adventure full of dragon, hero and princess with your fidel companion in a quest of holy grace but''s more like chatting basic subject, hack and slash, stealing stuff from dead, cupidity and egocentrics wishes of power...everything is delusion, dude, Xp is the illusion hey!! we are the evil!! we came from nowhere, beat the indigene and steal their land while making profit on their genocide (poor orc)... where is the dream?? where is the justice?? stop the propagade, black arachne have a soul too... well, i pokemon is an example of "polically correct" well that''s for the intro (don''t take too serious i know some will too bad...) while i''m playind MMORPG it''s seems that the base gameplay is wrong and kill most part of the true possibility of the genre most game want''s to achieve a gameplay that both satisfied individualism and social achievement, since MMORPG rely strongly on social between player it''s very difficult, and the more efficient gameplay is, i''m afraid, chatting the things is we have a gap between newbie and long time runner which is impossible to fill, its the level up it''s a system that kill the gameplay but also relation between player and a system which bring discrimination and injustice it tend to make player rely most of strength than brain (i''m stronger because i''m older there is anything you can do) well i prefer when the two are balancing rather than one or the another its definitly not a well balance system this sys was inherit from single player rpg or team rpg setting and it''s base on a selfish and cupid gameplay as a race of power but, Hey, how can you expect to rewards the player on the effort he put on the game?? it is a fate?? definitly NO i know ONE game a game wuich break the rule of the genre (online et offline) a game which come with a unique and original setting a game wich is a best sellers a game which come from nowhere and build a strong reputation a game with only FOUR color and less 4mo, where game come with more 16m color and many cd storage content a game with emergent gameplay, strong social play and deep gameplay a game which is endless for somepeople a game which definitly kick my ass (i knew him before he had become success ful) this game is............... POKEMON WAHHHH!!!!! it''s a kiddy game...and then?? it''s the best MMORPG i have ever ply but off line (go figure!) well as i say i knew the game in his early realease while nobody have heard of him and quickly form a gang of fan around me (we were amaze that the game were so successful) pokemon as many thing which lacks in many online rpg one things is an endless goal to acheive to keep playing and improve well the gameplay is build in a way where some goal are suggested but they are not precise and the player can interpret this in many way depending of his personnality. another things, you cannot master the game without getting involve with another player, the major innovation (in a marketing and gameplay way) is there is different version of the same game with little difference but things are needed in aversion and are only in the another one, player HAVE to deall with each other the other things is , even if the game still rely on level up and collection, there is many restriction which temper the muscle orianted gameplay that other rpg have first, the limit of technique a pokemon can hold and the difficulty to find these rare consumable teach tech item(ct), which drive the player to think about the efficient way to manage them (who will get this, which set of technique i will learn to this pokemon while new tech erase previous one when the slot are fll), the building of the team and in which order i have to send them (since it''s head to head battle) not to mention genre and type opposition you can see weak pokemon easily wipe out strong level pokemon because his trainer have made the right choice and build good strategy and tactics this keep player creating each day new strategy build also on bullshit than intimidation, and each trainer has his own view of what is the better way of playing the second it''s the whole hunt, capture ad raise gameplay which is far more complex that u can see at a first look (pokemon have area , frequency and capture strategie different for each of them) and raising is more complex than simple chain battle because there some stat bonus allowed against each pokemon (defeat magneti raise level but raise also raise the speed stat by hidden variable), and wild pokemon have not the same potential (which is difficult to see simply by checking the stat because there is hidden variable and the raising use a formula instead of simple table addition, and that greatly affect prevision) the whole hidden variable and formula setting is something which bring some mystery and mistake to keep player arguing on how they work and lead to different approch of the gameplay according of what "pokemon religion" you have aruond this the game have a lot of little detail that enhace the gameplay like farming berry (which are strategic and important item) hour/day/night/week day time (some technique like suncasting are more efficient at 12h and inefficient at night while some pokemon evolve differently at night or appear only one day of the week), the personnality stat that affect technique, level up relation between pokemon and evolving, breading pokmon strategy and radio emission!! well these bring the game into a deep world which at a first sight seems very simple (maybe the kiddy look) the game rely also on irrationnal choice like the style of pokemon (some are very powerful but look like dumbass, that most don''t want to raise this pokemon in his team or player have an elgible cool pokemon they will raise because they simply love it), and not all pokemon are good but you can bluff with them making the opponent to confident... there is so much to say another thing which bothering me in MMORPG is the class system you choose rather build your path, if you change your style you are trap and having to redo is so much pain -_-; in pokemon there is not exactly class but style of gameplay first when i play the game i think of the team as a whole character where you plug custom module (pokemon) to build yourself and this is the way you custom youre gaming style but it''s all, if you are a casual player you can still have a way to get involve with other player, and i coming to the greatest strength of pokemon towards MMORPG and the main point of the demonstration >> social gaming well in usual MMORPG if you are not a hard core online player you are definitly out the game, casual gamer (like me because i can''t have stable connection to the net) have pain to play persistant world and acheiving good time because they remain weak in pokemon gaming type leads to gaming style because due to constrain the player rethink is aproach of the game. you can see casual gamer which becomes HUNTER, FARMER or RAISER when hardcore gamer tend to become CATCHER, COLLECTIONNER, FIGHTER and BUILDER, even those who don''t own the game can be involved like "PET SITTER", ENCYCLOPEDIST or JOURNALIST which can be cross an divide on subgenre like AQUACATCHER, NIGHT HUNTER or ITEM HUNTER and in which class you have different belief on how to acheive them the strong exchange gameplay between player tend to make them blend in a community due to the need generated by the gameplay, and when they come in community they specialize themselve to fill need of the others, but geeting in community raise belief becuse you have different style of gaming quickly from the economic system you see emerge a politic system and finally a whole social system whith even a kind of religion grow!! player of pokemon tend to blend in strong community well it''s a thing which already exist in other game, but in pokemon they are emergent from the gameplay and stick to the gameplay another things which is difficult to acheive when someone think of MMORPG, the diversity of gameplay and the quest system to keep player with some stuff to do , well as we see in pokemon most of quest are request by player not npc that''s add a great value to them and there is always sometging news (hidden variable and formula will let them chatting and arguing endlessly too) pokemon acheive what lacks in common setting of mmorpg in a stong way like emergent gameplay and goal (mostly trough social) emergent way of gaming emergent belief that affect strongly the gameplay emergent quest between player emergent social gameplay emergent way of rewarding yourself emergent strategy well i took pokemon as an example but the starting point is level up system base on gaining experiance mostly through battle as i try to show in pokemon case there is anther way to make the feeling of acheivement and implication in long term gameplay for a persistant world i don''t ask to remake a pokemon clone online but to take idea from it current mmorpg experiance system can exchange be for the player own experiance of gameplay and completion by finding new possibilty of playing (through strategy, customizing and collecting item and technique to enhance possibility) and let a chance to smart newbie to kick ass dumb older player which have lot of possibility but aren''t able to use them in efficient way the level up will, for myself, be use only to indicate how long the player is making effort and rewarding effort by new possibility acqired than pure power (these ability still have requirement to be fulfill) what do think of this i hope i have not bothered you, and i apologize my poor english,hope i express myself well, it''s hard to speak in a foreign language... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> be good be evil but do it WELL >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>