I have read the forums here for a while and I have seen alot of ideas thrown out there and alot of them shot full of holes (one of mine included, but rightfuly so). With games like Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, City Of Heros, and the like being the popular ones out there, what genre would be able to survive against those? I have three questions to all who read this: What setting would you use (past, present, future) that is different than the ones listed above? What style would it be: FPS, MMORPG, MMOFPS, etc... What genre what it be: SciFi, Fantasy, Comic, etc...? I am just curious to see what you all think what would make a good game idea. Not that I am mocking any of you, you definitely have more experience in this field than I do. I want to get into the game design field once I get out of the military and I am just trying to get a feel for it.

Put all thoughts of competing with the big MMOs like WoW out of your mind for the time being. It is virtually impossible to compete with them until you have established some IP and some experience in the field. You don't have the money, you don't have the manpower, and you don't have the interest of the players.

You could develop an indie MMORPG; certainly there are indie MMORPGs that have achieved some level of success. However, I would still suggest that the best route to take would be to establish some IP with some smaller scoped games, and build up from there.

So, to answer your questions:

1. Doesn't matter. Find the sweet spot between unfamiliar originality and familiar clichés that players will be comfortable with, while still capturing the imagination and feeling fresh.

2. Whatever you want to design, just leave the letters MMO out of it for the time being.

3. See 1.

Personally i would go for

Setting: SciFi
Genre: Turnbased 4X Strategy (MOO style)

Why? :
1) There hasn't been that many decent games in that genre since MOO2 (Galactic Civilization 2 is the only one i can think of).
2) I just love that genre and obviously alot of others do aswell.
3) There still hasn't been any game that managed to pick up the ball that got dropped after MOO2 in 1996.

You don't have to target the largest market to be successful, as an indie developer you might be far more sucessful by targeting smaller markets since it lets you avoid much of the competition.

Past
TBS
Historical

A turn based version of Paradox's Crusader Kings.

I think that whatever choices of setting and genre are made they could equally become a great or horrible game depending on how they were developed. Taste is also a really personal thing - I can tell you I don't play anything that's horrific or too realistic, but lots of people love that stuff.

future
RTS
SciFi

I would make a Sci-fi space MMO that would let you be either a peacefull money maker, that buys ships and fly's stuff out(he can also kill things and be a warrior at the same time), or an adventurer that kills things in a deep jungel, but also has the ability to fly with planes to diffrent planets. Also i would love it if there where player made cities, or even entire planets...But i'm a bit of a dreamer...

I've got a hankering for a TBS/RPG. I really miss the old *real* Shining Force games, and just have not found anything close to the feel of those games since the first third of SF3 (so ticked I bought 1/3 of a game - great 1/3 though). I know there's Desgaea, but I just can't get past the quirky/childish character themes. I did like Final Fantasy Tactics a lot, but I can't find the disk, and quite frankly, I'd rather have something for my PC or at least PS2-quality (have a PS3).

I think an online SF-style TBS would be pretty sweet too.

Do what you can do well.

Thanks for all the input..

My original idea for a game was style of play and features of Star Wars Galaxies but remove the Star Wars theme. There are some features of WOW that I like and would want into include: PVP battale grounds, PVP ranking structure, and the technical support (SONY sucks at it)

Maybe it is just a modified version of SWG, but I fell that SWG is not just there for the ultimate MMO. Maybe I am wrong.

I just thought that if you took the popular features of WOW and SWG and removed the themes of the two then merged it into one game, it would be a hit.