I've been thinking about it recently, and reading articles on why WoW was a freak accident and that investors and developers just can't seem to understand why. The common explanation was the large population in game, like a black hole, the game would absorb more people. But they never explain this. Blizzard previously had a brilliant game record, with huge online communities in WC3 and Diablo so when WoW came out it had the fan base to successful support an MMO.

The problem with today's developers is that they start as these small, poxy companies and attempt to take the crown off WoW, you can't do it like that. Firstly you need to develop some small single players games, but make them noticeable, then you move on to larger single player games with online such as WC3. After giving yourself a credible name in the industry THEN make an MMO, the build up is just as important as the development.

/done