This is because MMORPG's are more commercially motivated than any other type of game, and as such, rely upon contrived mechanisms to artificially extend gameplay, or otherwise coerce prolonged(and ever escalating) subscription fees.

There are traditionally two ways of doing this:

One is the 'grind' factor, which usually encompases an increasingly monotonous leveling/item accruement scheme, and is aptly named to imply an excercise in fustration, with diminishing rewards over time in accordance with individual tolerances.

The other is player created content(which I will describe in more detail below), including PVP.

Here I'll offer my take on some of JVC's quotes from the interview:

"GS: What can you tell me about the product?

JVC: My goal has been to build what I call the next-generation online title.

GS: Which means...

JVC: What I mean by that is that all the products currently are what I view as either first generation, or basically spin-offs of the EverQuest model. What I’ve been looking at is to take that next step, and the next level product is not that"

Translation: the next generation MMORPG will incorporate a new, innovative, next-generation pricing model: $19.95 per month.

And the generation after that: $27.50(hmmm, I sense a theme here).

And finally, all will culminate in pentultimate generation: YOU pay US, even before any work has begun, to make the game YOU want! And for those who cannot afford these 'modest' development fees, we'll even provide access to online credit/loans with competitive interest rates(I swear, if MMORPG's are around long enough, their business models will ultimately devolve to this level of shameless corporate greed)!!!!

"GS: Where do you intend to take it?

JVC: I’d like to bring the experience that people loved from the stand-alone products that I built for 20 years into the online model. My joke is that if any of the current MMOs were released as a stand-alone, they’d probably have failed miserably, so part of what I want to do with this next product is to solve that [problem], so anyone who would have bought a stand-alone product is going to enjoy my new game.

Right now there's a mind-set that enjoys either online products or stand-alone. So my biggest goal is to widen the user base to not just the few hundred thousand, but potentially millions who can play."

Ah yes, the quest for the phantom market.

There will never be 'millions' of people who are willing to shell out $15+(and rising) a month(in relative monetary terms), to play a persistent online RPG. Sorry.

"GS: Don’t you get the feeling that ultimately you can’t extract enough of a rewarding experience from other people--that you need your AI to egg and to encourage the gamer along?

JVC: You need tools and avenues where human players can have much more of an active role in the game...and then create the game. Not giving away too many things, you know, that’s really my goal, and that’s a lot of the ideas I have. That will create that situation where a new player or a seasoned player, or the guy who’s on all the time, will have a way to interact with each other and to create situations that are going to be compelling and interesting for all the players.

My biggest goal is you log on and there’s something new, exciting, and interesting to do every single day. One of the things we’re talking about here with a lot of guys, explaining my vision, is that almost all current [persistent world] games were built the same way we built stand-alone retail products. You build the game, you ship the box, and it’s version 1.0. The server’s locked down, and everyone who’s online playing is playing 1.0, and it’s treated like the updates and patches are the same as a retail product. [For example], in two weeks we’re going to have a patch. It’s identical to a retail product. To me the biggest thing everyone has missed is that you don’t have to do it that way. This is a live server that’s in one spot that all hundreds of thousands of people are playing off of. There’s no reason why it can’t be a live game, and not treated like: “We’ve got to wait two weeks for this new gameplay system to come out.”

Without giving away too many of the functions I’m talking about, [mine] is a different way of looking at it, in terms of how you build the product and what people can expect."

This has all been proposed before, and it NEVER works.

Because of the idiots who inevitably populate any given server, player created content is an inherently flawed concept that will neither provide a convincing, or satisfying substitute for the kind of single-player gameplay we have all come to know and love.

And despite any initial grandiose claims of 'streaming' content updates, in reality, these become less and less frequent, until eventually they are little more than monthly updates, and then finally, quarterly(commercial) expansions.

Some more food for thought:

"CGW: How involved were you with Heroes of Might and Magic IV or Might and Magic IX? How did you feel about the release of these games?

JVC: I worked on the initial design for Heroes IV, then when things started to go awry(too many cooks in the kitchen, I had to help finish the game and get it into a shippable state. To the credit of the team involved, I think we were able to create a fun game, even though it had many flaws that I was very unhappy with. I had little to no involvement with MMIX; if it had been my decision, it would have never shipped."

(From April issue of Computer Gaming World)

"WELCOME LETTER FROM JVC Dear Might and Magic fans, If you’re an old-time fan of the Might and Magic series, then you’re in for a real treat. We’ve taken your excellent suggestions and used them to make what we think is the best Might and Magic game ever. If you’re new to Might and Magic, you are about to take your first step into a world that is filled with fantastical monsters, foreboding dungeons, and legendary heroes. We’ve made a lot of new changes that will make this experience as fun a game experience as you’ve had. We’ve enhanced the skill system, made the dungeons better, and the monsters smarter. Due to your suggestions, the NPCs you hire will once again be able to fight alongside you in your quests. We had a great time making Might and Magic, and hope you will have as much fun playing it as we did making it. Have fun! Sincerely, Jon Van Caneghem Creator and Designer Might and Magic I–IX"

(MM9 Manual)

(A former NWC's opinion of JVC)

"The guy sold his company and still wanted to have something to do with it, but pretty much didn't have the creative decision making power to trust his peers. He created Heroes 1 & 2 and didn't have as much to do with 3. Then he got involved into Heroes IV and really kinda worked against the flow of the general river of design setup by Jenifier Bullard, Joseph Mcguffin, David [Mullich] and Terry Ray. (...) if it wasn't JVC it was 3DO. He not only screwed up Heroes 4, but Legends. It was his decision to pull the design away from Role playing FPS to Counter Strike."

http://dynamic3.gamespy.com/~homm/

Now don't get me wrong; I will always be grateful for JVC's legacy and contribution to the CRPG genre.

But I must again repeat my earlier sentiment that his recent career move is horrid and disturbing news.

And while I will be the first to admitt if my reservations turn out to be unfounded, I think that for the time being, I will instead reserve my support and enthusiasm for the MMT project, which I feel will ultimately honor the MM legacy moreso than anything likely to come from JVC during the misguided twilight of his career.