I don't see why there has to be some big dramatic battle between champions of good and evil going on at all times in the world. Why not just let drama arise from the playerbase, like EvE does?

I'm a generic shmuck in EvE. I can't fly any of the awesome high-tech ships, I don't have any commerce skills to speak of, and even in the field of mining, my chosen trade, I'm just above mediocre. I have a good time, and I've had some really terrific fights, and I've made enough money to keep myself equipped with the necessary hardware. The game is perfectly fulfilling for me, even though my character isn't particularly noteworthy.

If a game can keep people engaged without blowing sunshine up their ass about how all the gods in heaven have gotten together and decided that they, in particular, above all others, are in face The Chosen One who will lead the universe to balance, order and scantily clad girls, then I'd say your game is pretty good.

There's a good article on terranova.blogs.com about a SWG fan fest, where the majority of the attendees just want to get by in the game world as traders, smugglers, and general low-life.

I think it's a great point that a game can be very rewarding if it allows a player to get by and make progress using their own style of play. There shouldn't be a need to 'grind' all the time - although this makes development somewhat easier (and allows future gamestate in terms of player separation) to be predicted, it sure doesn't put the RPG in MMORPG.

The problem is two fold:

- RPG's have become too technical and serious.

- Losses are now worth something in terms of real world time.

IMHO, the MMORPG world should be more realistic. Bear with me. You don't get a label floating over a player's head telling their name and their numerical statistics. Why is all the precise nitpicking neccesary? I shouldn't just get to look at a player and have the names and numerical statistics of all his items, let alone just get his name. You should still have to reveal your name to people at will, unless you just want it to be public knowledge.

Now, the problems that people see with griefing and item loss are a symptom of a genre that requires too many time sinks. It's a business thing, you make more money if your players pay to play longer. Why should it take hours upon hours to get "gear" and equipment? It's too serious. Too much of a job. Too many statistic and too much stuff like obviously visible player names. What the OP posted about was more than just not seeing the player name - it was knowing the world based on it's characteristics as opposed to reducing it to the pen and paper calculations most games are based on. It's about more detailed worlds and REMOVING the neccesity of obvious identifiers and player names - it's about more detailed game worlds. Think about it. MMORPG's, for all their massively multiplayerness, are very impersonal. Do you see labels floating around all your coworkers' heads?

Well, my interpretation anyway.